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1970 ES335 Question: Would You...

torren61

Active member
Joined
May 11, 2010
Messages
228
Would you replace but keep the original wiring and use the pups with a new pre-wired solderless MojoTone wiring kit if the guitar's tone was sub-par to what you THINK it should sound like? I've been playing several other guitars through my tube amp into a Captor X into an Apollo Twin through my computer and they all sound great except my ES335. I'm wondering how much it would hurt the value to swap out the original wiring for this MojoTone kit. Opinions?
 

fakejake

Well-known member
Joined
Sep 3, 2010
Messages
1,274
That's exactly what I did with mine (also 1970 335). It really changed the guitar for the better. The pots were unresponsive and the new prewired kit really opened up the guitar and made it so much more usable.
I'd say: Go for it. :salude
 

torren61

Active member
Joined
May 11, 2010
Messages
228
Dang. I was hoping someone was going to talk me out of it. I think we all know it's going to be a PITA, lol.
 

EdmundGTP

Member
Joined
Aug 12, 2016
Messages
41
Do it. Value loss on a 1970 for swapping electronics should be close to zero, and certainly much less than the value of actually having usefully functional tone/vol controls.

If the F-hole will allow it, I found it's much easier to install the wiring harness through that opening, than through the bridge pickup opening (if your ES has one).
 

El Gringo

Well-known member
Joined
Apr 8, 2015
Messages
5,657
What I would do is replace the wiring harness with a harness from ThroBak www.throbak.com and get the 50's wiring spec which will give you a tonal spectrum that will give you so much tonal variety and versatility and you will be amazed at the sonic bliss that awaits your ears . Paper in Oil caps with the 500 K pots will work wonders !
 

OKGuitar

Member
Joined
Jan 20, 2011
Messages
938
I convert a lot of 345's to 335 (at least a dozen a year) and I use the Creamtone harness with the "drifted" vintage bumblebee caps. Fairly easy install if you take your time and don't get frustrated easily. I order the harness with the correct "long" Switchcraft 3 way (most harnesses use the short one now which feels wrong and looks wrong. I've used nearly every harness made and these are the ones I'm sticking with.
 

Aloha_Ark

Active member
Joined
Apr 2, 2020
Messages
154
I use the Creamtone harness with the "drifted" vintage bumblebee caps. ... I've used nearly every harness made and these are the ones I'm sticking with.

Excellent suggestion. The bumblebee and black beauty caps are all over the map when they are harvested from vintage equipment (e.g., organs and radios). I found the only thing that could measure them properly were magic eye capacitor testers. Modern multimeters from Tektronix and Fluke get confused. Takes a lot of patience to filter out the appropriate caps from a bulk lot of Sprague caps, but it will allow an owner of a vintage guitar to replace just one or two parts rather than forking out $199 for an entire harness. If you do plan to go for the full harness replacement, save the old parts. There are times when hum can only be eliminated with a new harness, but old pots are important for dating.
 
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