I watched quite a few of these pickup swap videos and i have to say this one was the most helpful. Especially 7:38. I didnt know the sheath was actually to be soldered as well. This was the first video I've ever seen include that I installed P94 pickups in my Luna Athena 501. Took me about 2 hours, part of which was taking breaks, asking for help on discord and watching instructional videos lol
This looks like the most infuriating rebuild. I can't wait to start! It's been too long since I last stuck my fingers in the F hole. Thanks for the tips!
I had scratchy pots so I have to change them. Vol and tone pot holes need to be drilled out with a "V" size 0.277 drill bit but first use a rotary rasp to round off top edge and tape the hole before drilling or you can chip or splinter the surface laminate. Also the underside of the hole needs to be deburred with a scraper. A scraper can be made from a 6 penny nail bent in an L shape then ground or filed to an edge at the bend. The top thickness is 0.215. The Bourns 500k pots have a shaft length of 0.335 from base to the top thread so you have 0.125 remaining for the top nut to spin on and tighten. I bought a premade ES335 wiring harness with original cloth covered wire. The cloth covered wire looks cool but its solid core. What happened is; in the process of stripping the wire, the solid core was scored, so a few flexes and the wire breaks. I rewired the pots with multi strand super flexible wire. The whole vintage cloth wire thing was a waste of time and money. The silicon tubing (from a Medical supply house) slipped over the shaft is the easiest way to guide the pot into position. The other way is to set the guitar upright in a guitar stand, and use stiff insulated wire to bend a guide to wiggle it in as best you can or use a little barrel of sticky tape to barely attach to the back of the pot and wire guide. Then use a micro needle nose or tweezers to grab the potshaft from the top and pull it through. Its a pain and takes patience.
Thanks for the video. I just bought an as73 body(with the neck attached) that didn't have any hardware... Not even a nut. So this will be my first time venturing into semi hollow electronics.
theArchive1O Sounds like fun. Here's a tip I learned (figured out) for cutting the nut. Measure the height of the frets then add to that the height you want the strings to be over the first fret (usually around .018" or 18 thousandths inch). Take a stack of feelers that thickness off of the screw that holds the thickness gauges together and rubber band the stack across the fretboard with the band going behind the neck and looping over each end. Now, if you file each slot down to that depth, then tilt the file toward the tuners and hit another stroke or two to make sure the string angles down properly in the slot you should have a properly cut nut. I did this on a mandolin a few weeks ago. Worked like a charm. No more guessing on the depth. Stewmack sells a tool for this but it's a lot cheaper to use a rubber band and a few flat thickness gauge leafs.
***** thanks alot! I think I will post a couple vids for the AS73 rebuild. I started some work today but already came across a problem. The bridge and tailpiece spacing is weird. I have a bridge and tailpiece already but they do not fit across. Either I can shave down a side of a slot on each piece or just buy a new set of hardware. What do you suggest?
theArchive1O I think that the Graphtech bridges will fit. Not sure but it's probably worth looking into. Why was the guitar stripped? Has it been broken and repaired? I just checked and the screw spacing on the Graphtech bridge and tailpiece on my LP is the same as the spacing on the AS73. I can't measure screw diameter without pulling the strings, but the spacing should be right. If needed, I wouldn't have a problem filing the tailpiece except that you will be cutting through the chrome finish. That will probably cause issues later. I wouldn't want to fine the holes in the bridge for fear of causing intonation issues or even rattles.
***** Thanks for checking! I already have the parts that I am using from an LP build that i decided not to put together completly(an art piece really), so i dont really want to spend any extra money. But the B/TP are the most important parts of a guitar so spending that extra will make it playable if I cannot successfully file down the B and TP. The Ibanez was stripped down, i have no idea why. The guy I bought it from said his friend gave him the blank body. I got it for a hot $40. The tobacco burst finish is really nice. Binding(i think it is real??) looks great. Fretboard looks awesome. Just some scratches on the back and no dings or dents at all
Nice job! I have performed this very same task several times over the years doing guitar mods and repair. Funny thing is my very first time went quite smoothly much to my surprise. I guess I got cocky too because the following couple of times were not so good. I too got wiring tangled when trying to re-install the pots and pickups. I used a few choice words and finally completed the task...lol! I had two of those very same Ibanez AS73's in cherry red. I have also owned 4 of the AF75's currently having one now. I am totally amazed at the finish and how true the necks and fretwork were on all these guitars costing only $399! I have owned dozens of guitars by many different manufacturers costing as much as $3800 and been doing repairs for 40 years. So, I have had many to compare the Ibanez's to. These Ibanez guitars are truly worth the cost and time to upgrade the pickups. I enjoyed the video...now subbed! BTW I am - KX4UL
How about the sizing? Does any after-market Humbucker pickup fit perfectly into any guitar that has humbuckers? ES335, Les Paul, SG? Do they all have exactly the same dimensions including the screw holes?
This is a fantastic help to me. Thanks. I need to change out the pup selector switch on my Ibanez. For some reason it stopped working in the middle setting. I can get either pup but not both at the same time. Now I just need to find the parts, but you mademe unafraid to do the work. thanks!
I know I'm late to the party, but depending the swith model there is two metal plates inside that can get "tired" and bend over time. The selector can be opened by bending out the small metal parts holding the bottom on place. The contacts can cleaned and bend back in right right place. I did that to my -67 ibanez because I wanted to preserve it's original parts. It really depends the selector type if it can be done, new ones are at range of 5-20$ (might even be cheaper) so the new one isn't really that expensive. I think it mostly comes down to if you feel like repairing stuff. I personally like to repair instead of buying new stuff. Besides you have to take the switch off anyway so it's around 5 to15 minutes more time spent, which in my books is more worthwhile than finding a part, ordering it or finding a store selling those. And it's more ecological and a rebellion against throwaway culture, which in my books is worth something =)
The wires in an electric acoustic guitar, like a Classical for example Must be very well placed otherwise they will cause vibration noise when played, even unplugged. Can this be an issue with Hollow body guitars as well? In other words, it Cannot have wires loosely touching the body's interior?
While I have heard badly anchored wires move in a guitar, I have never heard of them buzzing in the guitar or causing vibration. Keep them away from the top, the main sound board, of an acoustic, but otherwise, I would not go out of the way to prevent a problem that won't likely be a problem.
I wish this showed a more basic step-by-step method. For example, the very first thing he does is ties strings to the knob posts. Why? Even a hand-drawn diagram of the wiring (of the existing wiring and the wiring on the new pickups) would've been very helpful.
I'm sorry that I missed this post. I replaced the .37uf caps with .22uf poly film caps. No special old stock or anything like that, just new decent quality capacitors. I love the sound I get from the Seth Lover pickups and these caps. I would be interested to know what you wound up going with and how it sounds.
I’m planning to do the pickups on my old as73 too. Good video. In my opinion the pickups are the only thing on the as73 that aren’t great. Everything else is very well made. Thanks
No. Its simply a matter of splicing a wire. There is very little exposed in the process. Minor breaks in shielding are almost never a problem. Its the long unshielded wires that effectively become antennas for noise. I hope that helps.
Good movieclip but I don't get it, you pull out all the pots and switch but in the end you're cutting the old pickup wires anyway and solder the new pickup wires together?? All that trouble for a not so neat solution to replace the pickups. I have an AS73 which i plan to replace the pickups one day but i would not dream about doing it that way.
Yes, I did decide that the original pots were good enough, and I left them in place. But, at about the 4 minute mark of the video I describe the changes that I did make that required the pots to come out. That included changing the capacitors and adding a tone circuit. I hope that answers your question. Thanks for viewing.
Hi, Just purchased a used as73 in great condition for $100 and planning on upgrading the harness and pickups. Do you happen to know what the stock potentiometer values are? I think you said the stock cap value was .37uf... Thanks and great video!
That's very funny, I fi d myself feeling the same way, what a shitty soldering...I have a $500 metcal unit...10 years SMT/THT mfg. & assembly, repair, ect...it never comes out perfect, soldering is like welding or playing guitar the more you do it one one particular thing repetitively, that's the only way it comes out perfect, oh and to you reading that want to.do this make use you cover the guitar with say old jeans, leather gloves, fire retardant something, cover the body, all solder wire splatters and will burn holes in your guitars top...also use LEADED tin solder that's thin! Use an iron at least 30 bucks, with a tip that is thin with plenty of power, you'll thank me later, thought I'd throw in my 8 bits and mod questions related to components and values are welcome, I take my guitars to work on them after a long hard day and try new things so I got a few cool combos that work!
as a first timer I don't understand anything going on here. I guess you are assuming everyone here has done this before. Like, when you were saying you were watching a youtube and the job was messy just what are you doing there?? I'll look elsewhere bu thanks anyway. perhaps some of this will make more sense after I've tried it myself.
OMG 😯. Throw away that harness mess, and make a proper harness .. There's no need for that rat ness puppet strings and sticks .. Unnecessary frustration.. I've done many of these style guitars in just using fingers and a chop stick ..
