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The ULTIMATE upgrade.

Joshabr1

Active member
Joined
Apr 25, 2021
Messages
102
C77A0E93-3E26-444B-89D5-039CB32058B5.jpegFolks if you want to take the blanket off your historic’s tone get up with Tyler Fitzgerald. He sells real50s 500k Centralab pots with real 50s Bees ,, correct hook up wire (the whole 9 yards). Super easy to work with. Can get you what values you want and is Jonnie on the spot with his customer service. Just can’t say enough! .Having owned vintage guitars I can tell you that this IS THE SECRET to THAT SOUND.. if this is in the wrong section feel free to move it. It is the best money you can possibly spend for your tone! Nobody ask me to write a review and I have nothing To gain personally.However I am very serious about these guitars and tone. The harness is the key ingredient The most important part in my personal opinion. No pickup change will make the difference these pots and caps will!!
 

El Gringo

Well-known member
Joined
Apr 8, 2015
Messages
5,655
View attachment 15748Folks if you want to take the blanket off your historic’s tone get up with Tyler Fitzgerald. He sells real50s 500k Centralab pots with real 50s Bees ,, correct hook up wire (the whole 9 yards). Super easy to work with. Can get you what values you want and is Jonnie on the spot with his customer service. Just can’t say enough! .Having owned vintage guitars I can tell you that this IS THE SECRET to THAT SOUND.. if this is in the wrong section feel free to move it. It is the best money you can possibly spend for your tone! Nobody ask me to write a review and I have nothing To gain personally.However I am very serious about these guitars and tone. The harness is the key ingredient The most important part in my personal opinion. No pickup change will make the difference these pots and caps will!!
May I ask what year your historic is ? Since Gibson Custom began using real paper in oil caps with 500k pots they are perfect (2019 ) Pickups do matter as well .
 

ADP

Well-known member
Joined
Jul 16, 2015
Messages
658
Mine is 2014. I will add I have tried every new production pot out there and nothing is even in the ballpark as a centralab.
I would argue that Vintage Inspired Pickups "VIP" Potentiometers are in the ballpark, so-to-speak. I have been very pleased with them, though in my experience they are not as rugged as original Centralab pots of the day. But for what's available nowadays - I give credit to the VIP pots for what they're worth.
 

TM1

Well-known member
Joined
Jun 27, 2003
Messages
8,349
I got a set of these about 2 weeks ago! they're amazing! I have 4 guitars with original, stock sets of Centralab's and these work just like those but slightly better since they are NEW Old Stock Pots! Tyler is a great guy to deal with too!!
Excellent upgrade for your guitar! I have the set I bought in my `59 Murphy Lab!! It sounds like an old guitar!!
 

Davidos

Member
Joined
Jun 19, 2010
Messages
94
How do you get in touch with Tyler? I tried to start a conversation but it said I can’t 🤷‍♂️
 

TM1

Well-known member
Joined
Jun 27, 2003
Messages
8,349
Go to “Reverb.com” and look up “Tyler’s Gear Locker” that should take you there.
 

Midnight Blues

Well-known member
Joined
Feb 20, 2011
Messages
1,703
Unfortunately, searching "Tyler's Gear Locker" doesn't work, which might mean that he currently has nothing listed. Anyone have another way I can get in touch with him? Also tried to start a "conversation" here on the Forum and that didn't work. If anyone knows what's up with that, I'd appreciated knowing that, too. Thanks in advance for your help.

No affiliation:

 
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1958teaburst

Active member
Joined
Feb 18, 2002
Messages
883
Hey guys, Tyler here. I was notified that I don’t receive messages on here for some reason and I’m working on it. I recently took this in full time and will be making a website that you can directly order from. I’ll have it set up so you can put in the exact ohm readings, cap values, aged or nos(just for looks) etc. I recently nailed down my process for the stress fracture lines because finding nos covers is hard enough without even considering have those cool lines we all want. I’ve been on this forum almost since it’s inception and consider anyone on here like “Vintage Guitar Brethren” and with that said, I really pour every bit of my heart and soul into these. Sometimes I get a couple hours of sleep or pull all nighters. Because consistently is very important to me even though Centralab wasn’t in some ways. I test every completed pot for scratching, taper, value(obviously), and torque. I would also like to put this old rumor to rest about the 500k pots being closer to 550k. That is 100% not true because I (and I commissioned my girlfriend at the time 😂) personally measured over 900 nos 500k elements and put them into different bins. When we were all done I would say that 65% were 450-500k, 20% were 500-550k, and the remaining 15% were either under 450k or over 550k. I’d say the chances are slim that I got some sort of anomaly with such a sample size. I also have the capabilities to rebuild old non functioning pots and bring them back to their former glory. Mods I do understand that I can’t post ads in the classified section unless I’m a sponsor. I’m sure the same goes for self promotion. Hopefully this post is ok as all it does is explain a little bit of what I do and my standards as a tone nerd. I’m going to work on this message problem but feel to email me as well with questions. Sunburst582@hotmail.com
 

TM1

Well-known member
Joined
Jun 27, 2003
Messages
8,349
Cool stuff Tyler! I’ve had a couple of friends buy your harness! I’m hoping their reaction is as positive as mine is!
 

My Guitar Weeps

New member
Joined
May 6, 2015
Messages
3
I ordered a few harnesses from Tyler. Looking forward to receiving and installing them. He was very easy to deal with through the ordering process. Definitely a fellow vintage tone enthusiast!
 

El Gringo

Well-known member
Joined
Apr 8, 2015
Messages
5,655
View attachment 15748Folks if you want to take the blanket off your historic’s tone get up with Tyler Fitzgerald. He sells real50s 500k Centralab pots with real 50s Bees ,, correct hook up wire (the whole 9 yards). Super easy to work with. Can get you what values you want and is Jonnie on the spot with his customer service. Just can’t say enough! .Having owned vintage guitars I can tell you that this IS THE SECRET to THAT SOUND.. if this is in the wrong section feel free to move it. It is the best money you can possibly spend for your tone! Nobody ask me to write a review and I have nothing To gain personally.However I am very serious about these guitars and tone. The harness is the key ingredient The most important part in my personal opinion. No pickup change will make the difference these pots and caps will!!
True , but if you have lame pickups the difference with the up graded harness will be that you have more dynamics ,but yet still lame pickups and tone . I know this as I upgraded a harness on one of my Les Paul's which still had the 57 Classic and 57 Classic Plus pickups and with the up graded harness all it did was make the pickups brighter ,which was like adding a tone/treble control . IMHO harness goes hand in hand with pickups as you can't have one without the other .
 

Joshabr1

Active member
Joined
Apr 25, 2021
Messages
102
True , but if you have lame pickups the difference with the up graded harness will be that you have more dynamics ,but yet still lame pickups and tone . I know this as I upgraded a harness on one of my Les Paul's which still had the 57 Classic and 57 Classic Plus pickups and with the up graded harness all it did was make the pickups brighter ,which was like adding a tone/treble control . IMHO harness goes hand in hand with pickups as you can't have one without the other .
Yea agree. I changed the the custom buckers which I thought were terrible out for a set of throbak Ed As which are unbelievably good. Also brass thumbwheels and good brass saddles for the ABR-1 are also very important to “that sound” still yet the HARNESS is the biggest difference maker. 100%
 
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