Time to rewire se245

[DHW]

Selector switch and jack are pretty well shot so figure I might as well do it all while I am in there... Stock pups and intend to keep them that way unless sufficiently compelled to put something else in...

Time for some brainstorming... The guitar is exceptional in fit and finish so I want to do it justice. What would be the ultimate rewire for this? I was looking at some vintage and vintage style LP wiring kits but not sure I want to pay high dollar for something already put together if I would be better to cherry pick components for values and such. What are your thoughts on "no load" tone pots? If I don't buy a kit what should I get for wire, caps, ect? Should I be doing anything else while I am inside the guitar? Shielding? Whatever I guess... I want to do it right.

Thanks

 

[mookyshoots]

For parts like no-load pots, Mojotone is going to be the best way to go. They also sell complete kits, prewired or just the parts, but their kits are just their standard parts and no option to customize.

For nice vintage-style prewired harnesses with high tolerance 550K pots and quality PIO caps, check out Martin Six String Customs. I have one of their pre-wired vintage Les Paul harnesses in my SE245 and I love it.

 

[Deleted member 2284]

Do you need extra brightness in your SE245, since you want to go the no-load route?

I rewired my Les Paul studio; I put in the 500k volume pots instead of the stock 300k (I think it was 300k), which really helped the tone; but there was a definite need for it in that guitar. I also got the "superpots" (i think it's called) which have a great taper. Before, in the middleposition, the sound would disappear when one pot was rolled down to like 6 or 7 - now I can get down to 2 or something with the other on ten before it goes away. Mind you, this doesn't change the tone, just how tweak-friendly the guitar is. With careful turns I could get the same tones before.

I think the gold lies with capacitor values mostly, so get some different values to try out. Doesn't have to be PIO or orange drops, either (other than for a sense of "perfection"- the value is of far greater impact).

I don't know if the SE245 is "50's wiring" or not; you could experiment with this vs modern wiring to see what you like the best.


In my LP, I kept the original tone pots, got volume pots with a good taper and 500+ kOhms (really, I don't think these last 50 kOhms are what makes the biggest difference), some "vintage-style" wire, orange drops (just for the heck of it). I think the price ended up at like 15% of the guitar's original price. Consider how much you want to pay

 

[DHW]

Do you need extra brightness in your SE245, since you want to go the no-load route?

I rewired my Les Paul studio; I put in the 500k volume pots instead of the stock 300k (I think it was 300k), which really helped the tone; but there was a definite need for it in that guitar. I also got the "superpots" (i think it's called) which have a great taper. Before, in the middleposition, the sound would disappear when one pot was rolled down to like 6 or 7 - now I can get down to 2 or something with the other on ten before it goes away. Mind you, this doesn't change the tone, just how tweak-friendly the guitar is. With careful turns I could get the same tones before.

I think the gold lies with capacitor values mostly, so get some different values to try out. Doesn't have to be PIO or orange drops, either (other than for a sense of "perfection"- the value is of far greater impact).

I don't know if the SE245 is "50's wiring" or not; you could experiment with this vs modern wiring to see what you like the best.


In my LP, I kept the original tone pots, got volume pots with a good taper and 500+ kOhms (really, I don't think these last 50 kOhms are what makes the biggest difference), some "vintage-style" wire, orange drops (just for the heck of it). I think the price ended up at like 15% of the guitar's original price. Consider how much you want to pay

The guitar has been solid enough and plays so nice for the last year that I am not worried about the cost so much. A wiring kit is much cheaper than a sc245 that's for sure! I feel my neck pickup is quite dark so that one needs to be brightened up. The "no load" thing was a thought since I will be in there. My strat has one in it for the rear pup and I tend to use it a lot on that guitar.

Is anyone aware of any hd videos showing stock vs modern vs vintage wiring for this beast?

 

[Deleted member 2284]

The guitar has been solid enough and plays so nice for the last year that I am not worried about the cost so much. A wiring kit is much cheaper than a sc245 that's for sure! I feel my neck pickup is quite dark so that one needs to be brightened up. The "no load" thing was a thought since I will be in there. My strat has one in it for the rear pup and I tend to use it a lot on that guitar.

Is anyone aware of any hd videos showing stock vs modern vs vintage wiring for this beast?

OK, cool. Yeah, makes sense to go for higher value pots then, my LP was dark too. Just a thought, though, do you know what value the pots are stock? I could imagine they are 500k already. Maybe you need more than that? Sounds like a lot, though, if so Don't know if the no load does that much to brighten up, no experience with it. How is the interaction between the two volume knobs in the middle position?


FInally, link to PRS' schematic for the SC245: https://www.prsguitars.com/csc/schematics/schem08/singlecut.pdf. Your SE might have the same wiring?

 

[Deleted member 2284]

Also: make sure you get the right shaft length; some are short, some are long. There may also be something about the diameter, but that may be tied to the shaft length.

You could write mojotone, or some of the other brands that have these kits. I'm sure they'll be happy to help. There's also http://www.rsguitarworks.net/cms2/ and http://www.martinsixstringcustoms.com/collections/.

 

[DHW]

OK, cool. Yeah, makes sense to go for higher value pots then, my LP was dark too. Just a thought, though, do you know what value the pots are stock? I could imagine they are 500k already. Maybe you need more than that? Sounds like a lot, though, if so Don't know if the no load does that much to brighten up, no experience with it. How is the interaction between the two volume knobs in the middle position?


FInally, link to PRS' schematic for the SC245: https://www.prsguitars.com/csc/schematics/schem08/singlecut.pdf. Your SE might have the same wiring?

I'm gonna have to pull the cover off it and take a look. I bet it's wired modern, though it wouldn't gain me anything brightness wise going to vintage unless I roll the volume down. The interaction between the volume knobs is about what I would expect in the middle position but the switch is getting so bad that the neck pickup tends to be hard to engage without a lot of fiddling. I did find this as well... Might be worth picking up a couple caps if it's still an issue after the rewire... http://www.seymourduncan.com/blog/tips-and-tricks/mod-squad-muddy-sounding-neck-pickup/

 

[DHW]

Also: make sure you get the right shaft length; some are short, some are long. There may also be something about the diameter, but that may be tied to the shaft length.

You could write mojotone, or some of the other brands that have these kits. I'm sure they'll be happy to help. There's also http://www.rsguitarworks.net/cms2/ and http://www.martinsixstringcustoms.com/collections/.

Yup, gonna open it up and verify shaft length, I believe they are short but will make sure. I will also have to ream the holes out to 3/8 which I am prepared for.

 

[DHW]

hmm... now I need to find a usa bridge for this beast...

 

[DHW]

Ok, 500k alpha short shaft. The switch is short shaft as well and EXTREMELY cheap. The wiring is nothing like I'd expect. The tones have a cap to ground on post 1 and no other caps in play. The wiring is very fine pvc coated. The pups have substantial enough wire from what it looks like. I think I will put a vintage lp kit in it. Would you put .22 on both pups like the SC or .14 on the neck like some of the lp's had? I'm gonna get an extra cap for the neck pup in case it's still too dark I guess. The cavities are shielded already so that's one less thing.

Mookyshoots, do you have the stock pups in yours still?

 

[Sneeks]

I installed CTS 500k audio taper pots with orange drop .022 caps and vintage wiring into my SE Akesson. Delighted with the results.

 

[Deleted member 2284]

Hmmm...

Yeah, a smaller value cap might be the way to go for the neck pup. But that has very limited effect on tone if it's on full anyway, I think. I upgraded my neck volume pot from 300k to 500k in my LP, and that helped with brightness/clarity. I don't know if a 1M pot is a good idea, though But these kits often have been measured to be on the good side of 500k, or at least to tighter tolerances, so maybe that's enough. Your current alphas might be in the lower tolerance range.

Buy a bunch of caps and experiment, they're dirt cheap. Maybe do this before you buy the wiring kit. Just get some film caps for now, you can always get orange drops or PIO or whatever once you find the correct values. But generally, yeah, sounds like you want the .0147 cap on the neck.

By the way, when you say the neck is dark, is that with all knobs on full?

 

[DHW]

Yes that is with everything on full.

I'm seriously tossing around putting a set of dimarzio 36th anniversary pups in there so it might be a non-issue.

 

[pac90]

Bare Knuckle pickups...worth a look

 

[vchizzle]

I haven't messed around a lot with different cap values or wiring. When I've had issues with a dark neck pickup, a Duncan Jazz neck pickup has always worked great. Dirt cheap and great clarity. There aren't a ton of neck pickups that I love, but the Jazz has always given me nice clarity when needed. Cap value doesn't have effect when everything is wide open.

edit: that Duncan link may be worth a try

 

[DHW]

Bare Knuckle pickups...worth a look

I've looked and they sound great, I hate exchange rates though! Do they have any dealers?

 

[DHW]

Pulled the trigger. Ordered a set of paf clones from jonesyblues.com being built by Tom Brantley for me with polished nickel covers. PIO vintage style wiring harness with .022 neck and bridge on premium 550k cts pots, switchcraft switch and Jack. Ordered a US bridge as well. Just need to grab some fine spline knobs now, not sure if I'm gonna pop for lampshades though(probably a ban worthy statement).