Any tips or tricks for removing pickups and electronics from 335 type guitars and replacing them with new pickups and electronics?

JohnnyGtar

JohnnyGtar

Well-known member
Any tips or tricks for removing pickups and electronics from 335 type guitars and replacing them with new pickups and electronics?

My good friend @JackBootedThug hooked me up with 4 vintage Japanese pickups, 2 Yamahas and 2 Maxons. The Yamaha pickups are from a 70's or 80's Yamaha SG700. The videos I've seen of that model guitar with the stock pickups sound really nice. A good friend of ours passed away around 10 years ago on the same day that one of our grandkids was born. His widow gave me all of his musical gear. I've got an Ibanez AS73 (ES-335 type guitar) that he used to own. I haven't done anything to it since he passed away, but I want to start playing it as one of my main guitars...I want it to be the one I reach for when I want to get in the ball park of old school Gibson-type tones. Unplugged it's loud, with a good amount of top end and the bones of the guitar are great.

I've watched some YouTube videos, but if you have any tips or tricks to make this job easier, please let me know. Thanks!

Haven't done any repairs or mods on guitars for several years until recently. I'm disabled with neurological stuff and it's a big deal for me to work on my guitars again, so YAY ME! LOL I got some other guitars from my friend who passed away, one of them being an Ibanez RG 120, which was made exclusively for Guitar Center. This guitar has great bones, too. The neck is crazy good; it feels as rock solid to me as a lot of high end guitars I've played. The body is Agathis (Agathis wood, also known as Kauri or Dammar, is a classification of 22 different species of evergreen trees from the conifer family that are grown mainly in the southern hemisphere. Similar to Adler, it is widely used for affordable guitar bodies and is typically used for instruments that are painted, as it isn’t a highly figured wood. Agathis hardness is 710 lbf, Alder is 590 lbf and Basswood is 410 lbf) The electronics blow. Gonna slap a Duncan in the neck with a couple of tricks: put the slugs toward the neck and remove the adjustable screws and a DiMarzio FRED in the bridge position.

The RG 120 has 1 vol and 1 tone. I'm gonna make it separate volume control for each pickup. Also, I want to change the pickups, install a series/parallel/single switch for each pickup and a phase switch...each of those functions will be controlled by mini switches. I figure it'll nice to have an inexpensive shredder guitar and yesterday I counted how many extra pickups there are on my shelf. I've got 13 of 'em plus all the pickups that are in my guitars! LOL
 
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JohnnyGtar said:
Any tips or tricks for removing pickups and electronics from 335 type guitars and replacing them with new pickups and electronics?

My good friend @JackBootedThug hooked me up with 4 vintage Japanese pickups, 2 Yamahas and 2 Maxons. The Yamaha pickups are from a 70's or 80's Yamaha SG700. The videos I've seen of that model guitar with the stock pickups sound really nice. A good friend of ours passed away around 10 years ago on the same day that one of our grandkids was born. His widow gave me all of his musical gear. I've got an Ibanez AS73 (ES-335 type guitar) that he used to own. I haven't done anything to it since he passed away, but I want to start playing it as one of my main guitars...I want it to be the one I reach for when I want to get in the ball park of old school Gibson-type tones. Unplugged it's loud, with a good amount of top end and the bones of the guitar are great.
I've watched some YouTube videos, but if you have any tips or tricks to make this job easier, please let me know. Thanks!
Click to expand...
Never done it but there are several videos offering advice on youtube. I'm sure you can git r done. Good luck Johnny I hope you are well bro and wuuuuuuhhhhhhhhzzzzzzzaaaaaap? :LOL:

 
For pots, I fed a wire through the top and fished it out the F hole. Then I wrapped the wire on the knob and pulled the wire up through the hole. You then slide the nut and washer down the wire onto the shaft and tighten it up before you remove the wire.
 
Surgical Tubing, Pneumatic tubing, tying shit to strings, there's a bunch of different ways - none of them pleasant.

I'd love a semi-hollow, but even if I could afford one, it'd have to be one with great pickups because I fucking hate changing pickups on semi hollows.

I charge people 250$ to change pickups on semi-hollows and hollowbodies. It's my "fuck off" price.
 
JohnnyGtar said:
Any tips or tricks for removing pickups and electronics from 335 type guitars and replacing them with new pickups and electronics?

My good friend @JackBootedThug hooked me up with 4 vintage Japanese pickups, 2 Yamahas and 2 Maxons. The Yamaha pickups are from a 70's or 80's Yamaha SG700. The videos I've seen of that model guitar with the stock pickups sound really nice. A good friend of ours passed away around 10 years ago on the same day that one of our grandkids was born. His widow gave me all of his musical gear. I've got an Ibanez AS73 (ES-335 type guitar) that he used to own. I haven't done anything to it since he passed away, but I want to start playing it as one of my main guitars...I want it to be the one I reach for when I want to get in the ball park of old school Gibson-type tones. Unplugged it's loud, with a good amount of top end and the bones of the guitar are great.

I've watched some YouTube videos, but if you have any tips or tricks to make this job easier, please let me know. Thanks!

Haven't done any repairs or mods on guitars for several years until recently. I'm disabled with neurological stuff and it's a big deal for me to work on my guitars again, so YAY ME! LOL I got some other guitars from my friend who passed away, one of them being an Ibanez RG 120, which was made exclusively for Guitar Center. This guitar has great bones, too. The neck is crazy good; it feels as rock solid to me as a lot of high end guitars I've played. The body is Agathis (Agathis wood, also known as Kauri or Dammar, is a classification of 22 different species of evergreen trees from the conifer family that are grown mainly in the southern hemisphere. Similar to Adler, it is widely used for affordable guitar bodies and is typically used for instruments that are painted, as it isn’t a highly figured wood. Agathis hardness is 710 lbf, Alder is 590 lbf and Basswood is 410 lbf) The electronics blow. Gonna slap a Duncan in the neck with a couple of tricks: put the slugs toward the neck and remove the adjustable screws and a DiMarzio FRED in the bridge position.

The RG 120 has 1 vol and 1 tone. I'm gonna make it separate volume control for each pickup. Also, I want to change the pickups, install a series/parallel/single switch for each pickup and a phase switch...each of those functions will be controlled by mini switches. I figure it'll nice to have an inexpensive shredder guitar and yesterday I counted how many extra pickups there are on my shelf. I've got 13 of 'em all the pickups that are in my guitars! LOL
Click to expand...
It is doable, and if someone else can do it, you'll be able to do it also.
Having done that many times on ES type guitars, mostly vintage ones, I have three advices only:
-Watch as many videos you can before starting the project. Different approaches might make a difference of even hours to get it done for the first time. So, pick the one that might suit you better, or even mix them up to better help you.
-Prepare yourself to have a lot of patience during the process.
-Use all the patience you have prepared for!
 
SBlue said:
It is doable, and if someone else can do it, you'll be able to do it also.
Having done that many times on ES type guitars, mostly vintage ones, I have three advices only:
-Watch as many videos you can before starting the project. Different approaches might make a difference of even hours to get it done for the first time. So, pick the one that might suit you better, or even mix them up to better help you.
-Prepare yourself to have a lot of patience during the process.
-Use all the patience you have prepared for!
Click to expand...

Thank you. :)
 
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