Re-wiring an Epi Dot & 50’ wiring in general

guitarcookie1 · May 2018

Been putting this off for longer than some laminate flooring jobs - When I installled some Irongear humbucker-sized P90’s in my Epi Dot, I managed to wire up the tone controls so they worked backwards so this needed sorting (plus swapping the bridge P90 for an Irongear Blues Engine humbucker and 50’s wiring to see what that’s all about).

What a pita job, everything has to go in/out through the lower f-hole which is a right tight fit. Anyway, all went well until it was all back together for the first time. I’d tested it outside the body and all was working fine but now, back inside the body, insert jack and “loud clunk” followed by no output - somehow the jack plug had cut the live wire on the jack socket at the solder joint... Everything out again...

Fixed and on the way back in again, the piece of cotton that I’d tied to the jack socket comes off as I’m teasing it through it’s hole in the body (had to use cotton and not string, as tied to the pots, cos string was too thick to tie around the jack socket and push it down into the cavity).

Twenty minutes of holding guitar upside down & trying to ‘encourage’ the jack socket to fall through its hole, I managed to wedge a piece of matchstick down the side of it to hold it in place long enough to be able to get the washer & nut back on and secure it in place.

Job done & a nice distraction from Eurovision..

Now 50’s wiring, I like the way you can turn the volumes down and there’s no treble loss, but the tone pots don’t seem to do much until they get down to about 3 and there’s a sudden treble cut. Is this normal and will I notice more of a difference at band volumes tomorrow night?

Teyeplayer · May 2018

I’m a big fan of 50s wiring and generally feel it makes both the volume and the tone far more useable, less muffled and muddied. The tone feels smoother in my experience whereas so many guitars are of little use with the tone down past 6/7.

Experiment with it, it is definitely more responsive to the changes you make on the fly -though be aware some folk hate it and you may decide to go back as soon as you can be arsed with the faff.

ICBM · May 2018

Did you use log or linear pots for the tone controls?

Linear does that...

guitarcookie1 · May 2018

ICBM said:

Did you use log or linear pots for the tone controls?

Linear does that...

Not sure tbh as they were put in a good few years ago. Think the wiring kit came from Axetec along with the pickups, their website says 4 x log pots..

ICBM · May 2018

guitarcookie1 said:

Axetec

They're one of the suppliers who incorrectly recommend linear pots for tone controls. Although now they've changed to saying Log for volume and Log or Linear for tone, that's still the wrong way round - tone should *always* be Log unless you want to get the effect you have, with all the sweep at the bottom of the range. Volume can be either depending on your preference.

The result you're getting is the typical sound of a linear pot - although some cheaply-made Logs are similar. Either way, you'll need to replace them if you want the tone controls to work properly... sorry!

springhead · May 2018

I saw a top semi rewiring tip which I've used on the one occasion I redid the electrics on mine (1980's 335 dot reissue with 300K pots, now swapped for 500K). There are some 1/4" jacks with no shoulder - the bit the barrel/cover screws down onto. I had some patch leads with them on - just heatshrunk over the connector. The upshot being the whole jack will fit through the hole in the body. So you plug the jack (with some cable on it of course) into the socket, the washer and nut unscrew over the jack and you can feed it into the body and of course use it to pull the jack and assembly back when done as the spring pressure in the socket grips the jack enough.

I tried cotton on the pots with varying degrees of success. I'm told surgical tubing is the way to go if you can get some - fits over the pot shafts.

Good luck!

sixstringsupplies · May 2018

I tried cotton on the pots with varying degrees of success. I'm told surgical tubing is the way to go if you can get some - fits over the pot shafts.

Use some heat shrink tubing and shrink it over the shaft - works well too.

springhead · May 2018

Hey that could work - nice!

sixstringsupplies · May 2018

springhead said:

Hey that could work - nice!

It’s a bugger to get off! 3.5mm will work fine on the pot tip/shaft.

you would need 12.7mm tubing to shrink over the threads though (assuming pot shaft diameter is 9.52mm)

i tend to just cover the shaft itself and pull them through.

guitarcookie1 · May 2018

ICBM said:

guitarcookie1 said:

Axetec

They're one of the suppliers who incorrectly recommend linear pots for tone controls. Although now they've changed to saying Log for volume and Log or Linear for tone, that's still the wrong way round - tone should *always* be Log unless you want to get the effect you have, with all the sweep at the bottom of the range. Volume can be either depending on your preference.

The result you're getting is the typical sound of a linear pot - although some cheaply-made Logs are similar. Either way, you'll need to replace them if you want the tone controls to work properly... sorry!

Urgh, that’ll be another fun evening ahead

guitarcookie1 · May 2018

springhead said:

I saw a top semi rewiring tip which I've used on the one occasion I redid the electrics on mine (1980's 335 dot reissue with 300K pots, now swapped for 500K). There are some 1/4" jacks with no shoulder - the bit the barrel/cover screws down onto. I had some patch leads with them on - just heatshrunk over the connector. The upshot being the whole jack will fit through the hole in the body. So you plug the jack (with some cable on it of course) into the socket, the washer and nut unscrew over the jack and you can feed it into the body and of course use it to pull the jack and assembly back when done as the spring pressure in the socket grips the jack enough.
I tried cotton on the pots with varying degrees of success. I'm told surgical tubing is the way to go if you can get some - fits over the pot shafts.

Good luck!

That’s a good shout, even worth modifying a jack socket accordingly

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Re-wiring an Epi Dot & 50’ wiring in general

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