Metropoulos Forum

Hi

how to change my ES-335 capacitor

thank

ooooo.... I've seen this done. It gets ugly real quick. Got string? Fishing line? Copious amounts of finesse and patience?

I spotted a tutorial on this a while back. It included tying string to the pots so they wouldn't get lost inside the body and then carefully fishing the wiring harness through the lower f-hole without scratching the finish... ...but what comes out, must go back in... and in place, thus the string. I hope I never actually have to do it... 'cause I'm trying to give up the potty mouth and I'd be cussin' like Sarah Palin watching the interview highlights.

Look it up from Stew-Mac, they even have tools for these semi hollow body guitars in their catalog..
yngwie308

This leaves out some of the assembly but it shows what a pain it is
http://www.mojomusicalsupply.com/video-335.asp" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

lcampz wrote:ooooo.... I've seen this done. It gets ugly real quick. Got string? Fishing line? Copious amounts of finesse and patience?

Doing ANY wiring on a Gibson thin-line semi hollow is a real mutha. A few years ago, I did a complete rewire of an ES-345, along with its Varitone . Categorically the most difficult guitar related thing I've ever done. I'd rather learn Dream Theatre's entire song catalog note for note... played backwards.

The last thing that Icampz wrote above:

lcampz wrote:Copious amounts of finesse and patience?

Copious=BUCKET load. WHEN you lose your patience (not IF you lose it... WHEN you lose it, cause you WILL lose it) put down the tools and walk away for an hour, cause after 4 or 5 times worth of dropping the pot back into the F hole, and scraping all the skin off your fingers trying to get 'em into those F%*#;ING holes, you're GONNA wanna break something.
Wiring a semi-hollow thin body guitar is a virtual LIFE-LESSON in patience.
No joke, bro.

fillmore nyc wrote:I'd rather learn Dream Theatre's entire song catalog note for note... played backwards.

fillmore nyc wrote:complete rewire of an ES-345, along with its Varitone

You're a better man than I! I would have given the stock GC answer to every issue, "...I'm sorry it can't be fixed. Would you like to exchange that?"

lcampz wrote:

fillmore nyc wrote:complete rewire of an ES-345, along with its Varitone

You're a better man than I! I would have given the stock GC answer to every issue, "...I'm sorry it can't be fixed. Would you like to exchange that?"

I WOULD have done that, except it was my guitar!! Maybe 15 years ago I picked up a '61 345 real cheap (at the time, like $1000) that had replaced pickups, and the wiring was totally screwed... the guitar didnt work at all, but otherwise it was pretty much original, so it was worth the restoration. Fortunately, someone had even put the stock pup covers on the DiMarzios that were in the guitar, and I had a pair of PAF's at the time, so I had the parts I needed.
I tried everything I could think of to get all that shit in there without getting some binding up of pots/wiring/switch occuring. I even made a plexiglass template of the control locations, soldered the whole thing up outside the guitar, and then "fished" the whole mess in there, of course, working thru the F holes.
The worst part was how many times a hot point in the guitar touched a piece of braided sheild wire, rendering some part of the guitar dead. I never knew WHICH point had been inadvertently grounded... I just hadda rip ALL that shit out again and start my "fishing expedition" all over.

NEVER again.

I recently re-wired an Epi Shertaton ll wich is a lot like an ES355. I was able to get the guts in and out through the bridge humbucker cutout. There was an access hole to the control cavity there. Good thing 'cuz the pots definitely weren't gonna fit through the "f" hole.

I used mojo's prewired harness.

The worst part is after you get it all in and you realize you have bad ground or a loose wire and you have take it all out again!

NY Chief wrote: The worst part is after you get it all in and you realize you have bad ground or a loose wire and you have take it all out again!

Man, you're not kidding. I dont remember how many hours it took to get it all straight, but it really was a nightmare.
I once ripped all the guts out of a Hamer Sustainer guitar (complete with its PC board and multi-strand wiring) and built 'em back into a Jackson Soloist (when I was young and "smart" and had not yet realized that Sustainers werent the answer to EVERYTHING guitar...)
That swap was a walk in the park compared to the 345.

myfoot wrote:This leaves out some of the assembly but it shows what a pain it is
http://www.mojomusicalsupply.com/video-335.asp" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

LOL! That's the kind of video that gets guys to say, "Sheee... I can do that... no problem." And, then, on day 3... they're pissin' bricks, mad as all get out.

[It's just like all the home improvement shows, stores and our wives. They're all in it together. Hardwood flooring... sure, honey... let's see... aching back, aching knees, inhaling a forest of saw dust, ruining the shocks on the car, renting half working pneumatic nailers, buying 3 different saws and spending the exact same amount of money as we would have if we had a professional come in and do it... the floor is still not done... because, I, quite frankly, would rather play my guitars and build amps, thank you very much! (...not bitter...)]

They don't call it a F HOLE because it's shaped like a F you know....

chubs wrote:They don't call it a F HOLE because it's shaped like a F you know....

lcampz wrote:[It's just like all the home improvement shows, stores and our wives. They're all in it together. Hardwood flooring... sure, honey... let's see... aching back, aching knees, inhaling a forest of saw dust, ruining the shocks on the car, renting half working pneumatic nailers, buying 3 different saws and spending the exact same amount of money as we would have if we had a professional come in and do it... the floor is still not done... because, I, quite frankly, would rather play my guitars and build amps, thank you very much! (...not bitter...)]

Truer words have NEVER (EVER) been spoken, in both cases!!
/ /

chubs wrote:They don't call it a F HOLE because it's shaped like a F you know....

they call it F hole because of the F words you say while putting together the electronics ?