Rewiring an es-130

[Professor Jones]

Hello,

I would like to know if cts pots and switchcraft switches fit into a tokai Es-130 without any modification.

Also, I'm a little afraid of doing the rewiring myself because of the difficulties related to the guitar construction. Do you have any advices for me ?

Thanks

 

[JohnA]

http://www.kevinyates.com/ES_335_re-wire/index.html

Also be aware that the shafts CTS pots may be too wide to go through the holes in the ES-130, they may need widening a little. If you do this use sandpaper wrapped round a pencil, not a drill

 

[Professor Jones]

Very nice link, thanks.

Do the jack and switch holes need to be enlarged too ?

 

[marcusnieman]

Very nice link, thanks.

Do the jack and switch holes need to be enlarged too ?

The parts on Tokai guitars are metric sized.....not imperial. You might have to tweak them too.

 

[Anonymous]

Why do you want to replace the pots and switch? They seem fine to me.

Mike

 

[Professor Jones]

They seem fine, but I wanted to put the best electronics available, just in case. I'm kind of a perfectionist, and I sometimes tend to be obsessed by very futile things .

 

[Anonymous]

:lol: Well that sounds like an honest answer! Are you going to change the pickups?

 

[Professor Jones]

I like the mkII's so far so I don't want to change them.

I did other mods : installing a tusc nut, and replacing the bridge with a tonepros.

 

[Anonymous]

Really? The only thing I have considered changing is the pickups.

 

[Professor Jones]

I mostly play jazz and classic rock, and I can get the sounds I want with them, so everything is fine .

 

[Rustyslide]

They seem fine, but I wanted to put the best electronics available, just in case.

I know it's the gold standard for guitars, but electrical engineers that I've talked to laugh at CTS stuff as pretty cheap and low quality (it's better than the even cheaper stuff, though).

Here's something much closer to "the best": Alessandro

(No, I don't have any, but I'm not picky).

 

[Professor Jones]

Well that's the first time I hear that. CTS pots are used in very expensive instruments (high end tokai or navigator for example) and they are generally considered to be the best pots for electric guitars.

Now those alessandro pots may be better but the prices are a joke. 50$ for one pot ? Very few people are stupid enough to pay that price for a pot...

 

[Goestoeleven]

There are different grades of CTS pots.

Mike from Guitar Parts Worldwide in the UK explains it this way:

"Want the best?..Our CTS Pots are the 450 model, which is THE BEST QUALITY. - brass bushing and shaft, custom taper, +/- 10% tolerance, and graphite wiper.

not the model 300 which is basically a budget version with the CTS name tacked on to add "value". The wiper is even silk screened!!"

Send him an email if you want any advice. I've used him for years and he's a great bloke. Nothing is too much trouble. I wish there were more like him on Ebay.

 

[JohnA]

Really? The only thing I have considered changing is the pickups.

I love the MK II's as well, people pull them out thinking they can't be great because they are relatively cheap, and I've picked a few sets up on ebay at great prices, I had a set in one of my LS-80's for a while and replaced them with SD Seth Lover's, the Seth's stayed in there a week before I put the MK II's back in.

 

[Paladin2019]

I was young an naive when I took out and sold the MkI's from my tokai a couple of weeks after I bought it. Through all the mods I've done to that guitar, selling those pickups is my one regret

 

[JohnA]

I was young an naive when I took out and sold the MkI's from my tokai a couple of weeks after I bought it. Through all the mods I've done to that guitar, selling those pickups is my one regret

If it makes you feel any better, I fitted a Dimarzio Super Distortion to a 1975 Strat using nothing but a hacksaw blade, hammer and chisel It wasn't the neatet job

 

[marcusnieman]

If it makes you feel any better, I fitted a Dimarzio Super Distortion to a 1975 Strat using nothing but a hacksaw blade, hammer and chisel It wasn't the neatet job

I hope you're not a dentist by trade :wink:

 

[JohnA]

If it makes you feel any better, I fitted a Dimarzio Super Distortion to a 1975 Strat using nothing but a hacksaw blade, hammer and chisel It wasn't the neatet job

I hope you're not a dentist by trade :wink:

I'm not, but if you need some work doing I can give it a try!! :wink: