64 SG Special Replace Harness?

Ive got a 64 SG Special that someone in the 70s decided to put new electronics and humbuckers in. I love the guitar and have put Sheptone tributes in it and have a custom made set of Heaven 67s from Lundgren on the way for the guitar. But I'm thinking i might want to change out the pots and caps. Its a bit of a mess in there but everything works. As i understand it the caps are "tropical fish" and the pots are old Dimarzio pots. The guitar has a nice creamy top end but its very aggressive and can sound a bit hard at times and i wonder if that might be the caps? I use the controls a lot when i play and never have the bridge tone full out. If i replace it i will make a harness with NOS Russian PIO caps and either CTS 500k pots or the Dimarzio branded custom taper pots and save the old harness if i change my mind. What would you do and what is your opinion of the caps and pots that are in there now?

Ill put up some photos of the guitar just for fun!

that's a fun looking guitar :spabout

If it works and sounds as it should and the pots read within spec, the only thing I'd do is go over the connections (particularly on the volume pots) just for peace of mind, aesthetics, and reliability.

Other than that, I don't think it needs anything else. Of course, all IMHO

The caps are Mullard C280 metalised polyester caps - often known as 'Tropical Fish'. Yours look to be 0.015uF which is smaller than the more Gibson typical 0.022uF. You could try 0.22u in the capacitor type of your choice and see if you prefer it.

Thanks for your replies! I cleaned up the soldering a bit and redid the wiring to correct 50s wiring and switched out the bridge cap for a 0,22 NOS russian PIO and kept the original for the neck since i like the 0.15 caps that are a bit brighter. I must say that there was a real difference in sound for the better and the guitar has never sounded that good before!

I read in some old posts that the old 70s Dimarzio pots are basically Centralabs, don't know if thats true or not, but figured that since i like them as is it would be best to keep them in the guitar.

Hiwatt335 said:

Thanks for your replies! I cleaned up the soldering a bit and redid the wiring to correct 50s wiring and switched out the bridge cap for a 0,22 NOS russian PIO and kept the original for the neck since i like the 0.15 caps that are a bit brighter. I must say that there was a real difference in sound for the better and the guitar has never sounded that good before!

I read in some old posts that the old 70s Dimarzio pots are basically Centralabs, don't know if thats true or not, but figured that since i like them as is it would be best to keep them in the guitar.

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smart choice!

I usually like covers on humbuckers, but with metal buttons and battle scars on the front, it's totally appropriate to leave it hanging like that Need to get me an SG on of these days...

Yeah i like covers aswell but the routing wasn't done that well so there is no room for covers at the moment. Might fix that at some point in the future, but for now it sounds great as is and don't mind them without covers either.