Finally finished modding my Epi ES-339!!!

[LtKojak]

Here it is.



It's going to be the controller of my Roland GR-55 guitar synth.

I've heavily modded the Probuckers that came with, here are the threads documenting the modding process:

https://forum.seymourduncan.com/showthread.php?265550-Epi-Probuckers-A-close-view-pt-1

https://forum.seymourduncan.com/showthread.php?265567-Epi-Probuckers-A-close-view-pt-2

https://forum.seymourduncan.com/sho...etting-the-job-done-pt-1&highlight=Probuckers

Enjoy! :cool2: :wave:

 

[Bludave]

Re: Finally finished modding my Epi ES-339!!!

Cool guitar. Good luck with it. I have a 359. Completely stock love that guitar. Semi holes are fast becoming my favorite guitars. The 359 is a great guitar but I also have a 335 that is just a killer guitar. The Epi 339 is. Very cool guitar. A buddy of mine has one and he just loves it.

 

[Gearjoneser]

Re: Finally finished modding my Epi ES-339!!!

I just tried one of those out a few days ago, and had to say it was one of the best guitars I've ever played at that price point.

My first thought was that the guitar would be perfect with a nice bone nut and Seth Lovers or Whole Lotta set, but it's cool to see how you brought the over potted Epi pickups to life. I just bought a heat gun at Harbor Freight, and flowing wax out of pickups like that will prove to be a good use for it.

 

[LtKojak]

Re: Finally finished modding my Epi ES-339!!!

I just tried one of those out a few days ago, and had to say it was one of the best guitars I've ever played at that price point.

My first thought was that the guitar would be perfect with a nice bone nut and Seth Lovers or Whole Lotta set, but it's cool to see how you brought the over potted Epi pickups to life. I just bought a heat gun at Harbor Freight, and flowing wax out of pickups like that will prove to be a good use for it.

Well, the nut in this guitar is good. No complaints there. But I wished I could've said the same about the frets. It sorely needed a fretjob to be able to use it as a guitar synth controller. Now the frets are leveled, re-crowned and mirror-polished; and i can tell you it makes all the difference in the world.

I've modded the Probuckers only to prove or not a suspicion I have: since Epi is doing the winding in China in a hi-volume production facility, I thought, what is stopping Gibson to do the production there of their own p'ups as well? Today they don't use Plain Enamel anymore, and their chinese winding machines are optimized for SPN wire. Another detail is that the polepiece spread in the neck p'up is NOT the usual 50mm metric measure, but standard Gibson 49.2mm. Can you see a pattern here?

Be careful with the heath gun. I've learned the hard way that you can ruin a perfectly good bobbin if you over-do the wax-thinning. A simple hairdryer will work as requested with little risk, it'll take a little longer. Also, don't try to empty the bobbin of the wax; it'll flare and you'll have trouble assembling it again, specially if it had covers.

HTH,

 

[Myaccount876]

Re: Finally finished modding my Epi ES-339!!!

I know what you mean on the frets. My experience with Epiphone is their frets wear down very fast, along with an uneven fret or two per guitar. But I tend to have medium-low action so it isn't as much of a problem as it is with the low-low action guys.

And the heat-gun is a little overkill hahaha.

 

[LtKojak]

Re: Finally finished modding my Epi ES-339!!!

I always classify the parts are left from the modding jobs I make, and I'd like to share this particular detail:

Getting my ES-339 where it's now, I made a nice harness with good components, Seymour Duncan YJM 500K volume and CTS TVT 500K tone pots, both actually measuring a little bit over 500K.

When I've measured the Alpha pots that came with the guitar, I was quite surprised how HIGH they'd measured: for volume were linear, push-pull pots measuring 525K and 527K. The tone pots were Audio taper, measuring 578K and 553K.

I thought this could be of interest for somebody, so here it is!

HTH,

 

[LtKojak]

Re: Finally finished modding my Epi ES-339!!!

I know what you mean on the frets. My experience with Epiphone is their frets wear down very fast, along with an uneven fret or two per guitar.

Yeah, Epi's fretwire always seemed to be on the soft side, and the one I got on my guitar is no exception to the rule.

If with time this instrument gets broken-in and resonant, I'd consider a refret with SS fretwire. So much I'm digging it.

But let's see what happens after the honeymoon period. The modded Epi p'ups are delivering big time, and I wasn't expecting any of this.

If by next weekend they continue to behave as now, I'll be hitting the road with'em. So confident I'm feeling 'bout'em.

If they deliver put through their paces, it'll be the first time I perform in public with p'ups other than Seymour Duncan or boutique like Electric City Pickups or Zhangbucker since I joined the Forum in 2006.

HTH,

 

[Rand-O-Monium]

Re: Finally finished modding my Epi ES-339!!!