the mod squad

Cleaned up and checked over, our already modded 80s ibanez as-50 is playing well – so it’s time to delve deeper and consider the electrics. Dave Burrluck has some words of caution…

Last issue, we appraised a ‘player’s grade’ slightly downsized thinline semi from 1981. It’s far from original, having had a headstock repair and a change of hardware. Plus, its original pickups are long gone, replaced with a set of Seymour Duncan Seth Lovers. Whether someone has already done any work on the electrics remains to be seen – they might be the only original parts left on the guitar – but what was immediately obvious from our thorough appraisal is that the bridge pickup’s tone control isn’t working.

Now, if you’ve ever worked on a thinline semi you’ll know any electrics maintenance is doubly tricky because you can’t access the pots and selector switch by simply removing

“There are numerous ways to remove a knob. Personally, a wooden spatula (aka a lolly stick) works for me”

a backplate. To replace, repair or rewire, then, you have to pull the specific pot, or the whole wiring loom, out through the f-hole. And then you have to get it back in again.

Many ES-335-style guitars, not least contemporary Gibsons, have a larger cavity in the centre block under the bridge pickup so that the wiring loom can be pulled out and reinstalled more easily. Our Ibanez, by design, doesn’t have that, so that the centre block remains as solid as possible. Tonally, I don’t have a problem with that, but now that I’m faced with a bit of repair work… what were they thinking?

Selector Switch

One advantage of any twin-pickup guitar with individual volume controls is that the pickups go first to those volumes and then onto the selector switch. On a Les Paul, this is a godsend if you’re swapping pickups, as you don’t have to deal with the selector switch, which is at the other end of the body. On a ES-335, the selector switch (thankfully) is down with the other controls, so that’s not so much of an issue, unlike a Gretsch or a Guild that invariably has the selector and/or master volume on one, or both, of the shoulders or horns. For a pickup swap it’s usually possible to pull out the relevant pot through the f-hole, resolder the new pickup and put it back. Fiddly, yes, but way less of a pain than removing the entire wiring loom.

At this stage, I really don’t want to pull out all the wiring just to check what’s going on with the bridge pickup’s tone control – especially since I’m considering treating myself to a neat high-end pre-wired harness if this AS-50 continues to impress. Even so, it’s not the most straightforward of fixes…

First, then, we need to get that malfunctioning pot out. There are numerous ways to remove a push-on plastic knob, even specialist tools. Our Health And Safety department might suggest wrapping a cloth around and under the knob and simply pull it up, which works pretty well. Personally, a wooden spatula (aka a wide lolly stick) works for me. Simply place the spatula under the knob and, if there’s space, rest the tip on the pots washer or nut and slightly lever it up; rotate the knob a little and do the same and, slowly, the knob should come off. Screwdrivers or metal rulers and so on are a no-go unless you want to potentially relic your guitar, or indeed the base of the knobs in the process.

So, now we have a nut and a washer. To loosen the nut do not use pliers but opt for the correct-size spanner. (That said, if you don’t have the correct-size spanner then you can use pliers… tape the jaws with masking tape and be very careful, but I didn’t tell you that.) Now comes the tricky bit. If you completely remove that nut and washer, the pot can potentially drop down

into the guitar and be a right pain to get back in its place. In reality, more often than not, the wiring stops that happening (but certainly not always), so attaching a piece of wire to the shaft of the pot before you push it down and fiddle about to get it to the mouth of the f-hole means that, when you’re done, you pull back on that piece of wire to get it back in place. Some people slip some thin rubber tubing over the shaft to achieve the same result.

It proved easy enough to pull the tone control out of the of the f-hole, and immediately the problem was obvious: the earth wire – from the shielded cable used to connect it to the volume pot – had sheared off the back of the pot, probably when someone was reassembling the guitar at some point previously. Normally, I’d pull the volume pot out as well and resolder a piece of new cable between both, but here I decided to simply strip back the plastic cover of the cable and solder a new piece of covered wire to the lead, cover the joint with heat-shrink tubing to prevent any potential shorts, and resolder it to the back of the pot.

Soldering On

Even if you’re confident with a soldering iron, it’s not the easiest of jobs, but once I was done I was relieved that the tone control now worked. As ever, test everything before you attempt to get the pot back in place – the reverse of removing it.

As we concluded in last month’s initial instalment, we seem to have done quite a bit of work but achieved, well, not a lot. Still, with everything now working as it should, a cleaned-up fingerboard with nicely rounded fret ends, a slight bit of nut and saddle adjustment and, of course, the repaired circuit, finally, the AS-50 is all working as was intended.

We’re all keen to ‘improve’ our guitars, but how can we do that if the instrument isn’t playing to its full potential in the first place? Older guitars command some respect. We all need a bit of maintenance sometimes and so does a 38-year-old guitar. With the exception of my time and a small piece of cloth-covered wire, I’ve spent nothing and I think some solid play time is needed before I consider any upgrades.

Call it maintenance, modding or simply mucking around, but there’s an awful lot you can do before spending your hardearned cash. Food for thought.