Non Pitbull ES330 Tribute

[ILRGuitars]

Woohoo! TonePro bridge arrived today. Very nice. Well machined, smooth finish and just better quality all round. Things are coming together. Body has been cleaned, sanded and stained with just the minor touch ups and binding scraping to go. Even got the colour approval from the MOWAF.

** Here's a tip on staining ** Stain around the neck pocket, binding and veneer joints first to find any leftover gluespots. Goof Off really sucks the colour back out and requires extra coats of colour to get the balance back. Better to do this before the final color coats go.

[wazkelly]

Good tip ILR.

[ILRGuitars]

Wiring question here:

This is the diagram I'm using for the P90's. I want to try vintage style with independent controls in the middle position.
Question is: Will this work using the main diagram and the smaller diagram in the bottom right corner? Not sure about the earth leads either.

Suggestions, confirmations or outright laughter appreciated.

[Simon Barden]

It will work fine. You'll get a slightly different response to the way the volume turns down compared to the non-independent way, but at least you can have keep the selector switch in the middle and have one pickup turned off and still get a sound.

Ground wires are a bit odd on the diagram (they are the ones shown connected to the back of the pots and three ground wires are shown connected to the ground tag on the selector switch). But they seem to be designed for as ES-330/335 style arrangement (rather than a Les Paul) where the controls and output jack are all in close proximity and you want to hide the wires from showing in the lower F-hole.

However they do create a ground ring arrangement, which I'd always try and avoid. If it were me, I'd drop out one of the ground links - either between the backs of the two tone pots, or one of the links from the selector switch to a volume pot back. Whilst it's a very small circuit and probably won't make much difference, it's simply good noise reduction practice.

Also, don't forget to shield the cavities as P-90s love picking up hum. I want to do a 330 style like this and will be looking for some metal covered pickups for extra noise reduction. A friend had a 1966 ES-330 with the metal covers, and he hardly gets any hum as a result.

I now fit Tone-Pros bridges to my guitars whenever I do an upgrade. Nice and solid and rattle free. If nothing else, they give peace of mind that the bridge won't be moving around. Gibson now do the same, so they must have thought it worthwhile.

[ILRGuitars]

Thanks Simon for the response. Hope you are feeling better too mate BTW.

I thought the earth circuits looked a bit odd too. I'm no electrician but my time as an automotive mechanic told me something wasn't kosher. My thought was to drop that tone connection too as it would disconnect the neck and bridge circuits, thus avoiding any 'cross contamination'. I've set up a template with some longer PUP wires to try it all first, so I think that will be the first test.

I'm thinking that it doesn't matter where the bridge earth connects either, as on the actual kit, it's easier to connect to the switch earth. It's a shorter path and avoids the 'f holes'.

I ordered the copper tape tonight. I'm shielding everything nowadays.

Nice tip about the covers. Will see how the budget allows.

Thanks for the advice. I always admire the generosity and wealth of your knowledge mate.

[Simon Barden]

Some of my knowledge is from experience, but a lot has been gained from other people, so I only feel it fair to help where I can.

Feeling a bit better, though we've just had another hot spell in the mid-30s, with no wind to cool things down, and it does stop you doing too much. Much prefer the mid-20s when I'm doing stuff.

[ILRGuitars]

30's?? Luxury! It's been in the mid teens here....then we get into the 40's in summer. But tell the kids of today that and they wouldn't believe you. I think if you lived here in summer, you would get nothing done in summer except drinking and watching cricket. Sound good?? hahaaha

[ILRGuitars]

Dont'cha hate it when your gluing in a new nut and the super glue squirts out all over your nearly finished neck?? Thank God for Goof Off!

[Simon Barden]

Super glue? I just use ordinary PVA. Does the job well and it's easy to remove any excess.

[wazkelly]

Things like that always happen when the end is in sight. Good to hear Goff Off has another use.