I realize this vid is about 6 months old but found it informative. I had just ordered the same guitar before I watched your vid. I received it yesterday and pleasently surprised no issues with the master volume control. Very responsive.
I'll go for linear pots on the individual volumes and see if that gives me a bigger range of useful rotation when mixing the 2 pickups. I think wire a 120k across 2 adjacent lugs to approximate reverse log. Maybe a no-load on the master. Great ideas here!
Just did this swap yesterday on my G5220, went with short shaft splined CTS500k the stock G knobs fit over just fine. Pot upgrade is always the first thing I do on any import guitar.
I replaced the master volume with a 550k, the original measured 465k, and a CTS no load 500k on the tone, even doing that made a difference. I like the woody jazz sounding neck pickup it makes the guitar a good contrast to my Telecaster. Being chambered mahogany these guitars have a tendency to be dark sounding, some people replace the Broad'Trons with FilterTrons to get more chime, I just lower the pickups and raise the pole pieces which works for me.
Wow! What an absolute difference upgrading the pots made in the sound! Especially on the neck pickup! I was thinking about buying one of these and upgrading the pups but now Im thinking that its unnecessary once you upgrade the pots! The chime and clarity you were able to get out of it just from a pot upgrade is crazy! So just to be clear, you used 1 meg solid pots on the neck and master volumes and 500k on the bridge and tone knobs? Why didnt you just use the full 1 meg pots across the board? Also would you recommend upgrading any other stock parts on this guitar? What about the selector switch, the nut, the tuners, or the bridge? Thanks.
I didn’t use 1meg across the board because I didn’t want to add way more brightness to the bridge pickup. Tuners and bridge are fine. I did have to file the nut a bit for the g string binding.
I recently got one of these and love everything apart from the master volume which is a rather stupid rotary on off switch. I'll look into my options but if I have to replace anything more than the one pot I'll live with it as is. I think I am after a decent 500k metric pot that works with the knobs I have. Being in the UK changes the supplier options as well.
A bit of Googke and CTS is easy to buy in the Uk. There is an A500 pot with coarse 18 splines. I need to confirm sizes but it is looking like the straight swap that I was after.
@@NotoriousREV I gave up on the idea as I mostly leave it on 10. I have noticed though that they are not quite as bad as I thought. If I start on zero and turn up the volume increases reasonably well it is only going down it is not good. Must be a trick of the ears and brain.
Hi. Excellent video. Question. Have you experienced him? I am getting hum with my Gretchen 5220 jet. Do get the hum with my G&L Legacy that has single coil pick ups. Thank you…. Playing through a Fender 65 Princeton Reverb.
I'm gonna have to say I have one of these and the electronics are not very good. I think it's where they cut corners. My tone switch needed to be rewired and tweaked. I have the same problems you've addressed here. Can you list the parts you used including treble bleed and maybe a diagram? Is there an option for pots where I don't need to buy new knobs? Thanks!
Hey Lance. If you look through the comments I had listed the parts for Jose on here so you can find those there. I didn’t change any of the way it was wired so I would just draw a quick diagram of yours before you take it apart so you know all the connections. As far as the knobs go, the problem is the Chinese shaft on the pots are smaller than the good quality parts which is why there’s an import version of the Gretsch knobs vs the ones on the Japan or USA models. You may get away with using a short shaft regular spline shaft pot. You can slip the knob on and try to tighten the set screw and see if that works.
Hey, how’s the taper on the master tone pot after Changing to CTS500K audio? Is it an even sweep? Or does all the tone change happen close to when the tone is at 1~4?
Honestly as long as the pick ups aren’t too bright sounding I always leave my tone pots wide open so I really didn’t notice LOL. I mostly did all the changes just to affect the overall tone to get rid of the muddy sound from the neck pick up and to get better control of the volume from the master tone pot.
Unfortunately I don’t have a link because I bought them from reverb. You want the ones made in the US if you plan on using pots with a solid shaft. If you want to us the existing knobs gets splined shaft pots.
The master volume I went with 1meg, 1 Meg for the neck volume, and then 500k for the rest. That gave more clarity and bite overall more so for the neck pickup.
Hey, this vid is pretty much describing exactly what ive been wanting to do to my g5230 since i noticed a definite decrease in quality of the sweep on the pots over time. Any way you could share a full parts list with values for caps and resistors?
Actually scroll through the comments. I had put links for the pots and treble bleed for Jose. The caps for tone you can use whatever .047 cap you prefer. Orange drop caps are fine.
Can you just change the master volume pot so its more responsive or do you need to change any others for it yo work properly. I have very little electrical knowledge. Thanks man.
@@jvstrat1 but ideally I have to change all pots to get a decent sweep on the volume? I don't really want to change the guitars tone at all as I love it the way it is.
@@rkphilpot if you change them all you will get a better sweep on any knob. If you replace just master volume it will only help the master volume sweep.
Do you happen to know the original washer size for the pots? I have been looking on line the past couple days and you saying the originals are metric is the closest I got to finding the info online.
@@jvstrat1 that’s okay. Based on your saying it was metric I see that there are two sizes of washer threads for pots. M7 for tiny pots, and M8 for large pots. Gretsch I have had large pots so it has to be the M8. 🤠 fingers crossed when they come that they fit. Lol. I bought a Pro jet and it was super rusted so I cleaned with Apple cider vinegar and the washer dissolved all the way to no threads. Lol.
There’s a lot of good options out there. Depends on what type of humbucker sound you are looking for. Check out Porter Pickups, Lollar, mojotone, and Lambertones.
Standard hum buckers will not fit in the route for the gretsch pickups. These pickups are what makes the gretsch the gretsch. They do make a powertron pickup that has a high output comparable to a PAF hum bucker. Seymour Duncan makes a direct replacement Filter’Tron but not sure if it gives you anymore power
Both great guitars. The 5220 has a bit more flexibility as it has independent volume and tone controls for each pickup plus the master volume pot. I also like the V tailpiece. The 5421 has different pickups too. The blacktop broadtrons on mine sound great, haven’t played the other model.
I realize this vid is about 6 months old but found it informative. I had just ordered the same guitar before I watched your vid. I received it yesterday and pleasently surprised no issues with the master volume control. Very responsive.
Good job man. Really made a huge difference. Sounds great.
I'll go for linear pots on the individual volumes and see if that gives me a bigger range of useful rotation when mixing the 2 pickups. I think wire a 120k across 2 adjacent lugs to approximate reverse log. Maybe a no-load on the master. Great ideas here!
Never mind, you answered my question. Deleted my comment but did want to retain the portion about your excellent playing. Thanks for the video.
Thanks so much for checking out the video.
Just did this swap yesterday on my G5220, went with short shaft splined CTS500k the stock G knobs fit over just fine. Pot upgrade is always the first thing I do on any import guitar.
500k all the way around?
I replaced the master volume with a 550k, the original measured 465k, and a CTS no load 500k on the tone, even doing that made a difference. I like the woody jazz sounding neck pickup it makes the guitar a good contrast to my Telecaster. Being chambered mahogany these guitars have a tendency to be dark sounding, some people replace the Broad'Trons with FilterTrons to get more chime, I just lower the pickups and raise the pole pieces which works for me.
Nice job & video! 👌🏼
Thanks Bro X!!!
Wow! What an absolute difference upgrading the pots made in the sound! Especially on the neck pickup! I was thinking about buying one of these and upgrading the pups but now Im thinking that its unnecessary once you upgrade the pots! The chime and clarity you were able to get out of it just from a pot upgrade is crazy!
So just to be clear, you used 1 meg solid pots on the neck and master volumes and 500k on the bridge and tone knobs? Why didnt you just use the full 1 meg pots across the board? Also would you recommend upgrading any other stock parts on this guitar? What about the selector switch, the nut, the tuners, or the bridge? Thanks.
I left all the existing wiring. I did replace the capacitors with ones of the same value, but you don’t have to.
I didn’t use 1meg across the board because I didn’t want to add way more brightness to the bridge pickup. Tuners and bridge are fine. I did have to file the nut a bit for the g string binding.
I recently got one of these and love everything apart from the master volume which is a rather stupid rotary on off switch. I'll look into my options but if I have to replace anything more than the one pot I'll live with it as is. I think I am after a decent 500k metric pot that works with the knobs I have. Being in the UK changes the supplier options as well.
A bit of Googke and CTS is easy to buy in the Uk. There is an A500 pot with coarse 18 splines. I need to confirm sizes but it is looking like the straight swap that I was after.
Did you end up finding a good direct swap?
@@NotoriousREV I gave up on the idea as I mostly leave it on 10. I have noticed though that they are not quite as bad as I thought. If I start on zero and turn up the volume increases reasonably well it is only going down it is not good. Must be a trick of the ears and brain.
thanks man!
Hi. Excellent video. Question. Have you experienced him? I am getting hum with my Gretchen 5220 jet. Do get the hum with my G&L Legacy that has single coil pick ups. Thank you…. Playing through a Fender 65 Princeton Reverb.
Thanks. No I haven’t experienced hum. Have you tried different cables or a different guitar to rule that out?
I'm gonna have to say I have one of these and the electronics are not very good. I think it's where they cut corners. My tone switch needed to be rewired and tweaked. I have the same problems you've addressed here. Can you list the parts you used including treble bleed and maybe a diagram? Is there an option for pots where I don't need to buy new knobs? Thanks!
Hey Lance. If you look through the comments I had listed the parts for Jose on here so you can find those there. I didn’t change any of the way it was wired so I would just draw a quick diagram of yours before you take it apart so you know all the connections. As far as the knobs go, the problem is the Chinese shaft on the pots are smaller than the good quality parts which is why there’s an import version of the Gretsch knobs vs the ones on the Japan or USA models. You may get away with using a short shaft regular spline shaft pot. You can slip the knob on and try to tighten the set screw and see if that works.
Hey, how’s the taper on the master tone pot after
Changing to CTS500K audio?
Is it an even sweep? Or does all the tone change happen close
to when the tone is at 1~4?
Honestly as long as the pick ups aren’t too bright sounding I always leave my tone pots wide open so I really didn’t notice LOL. I mostly did all the changes just to affect the overall tone to get rid of the muddy sound from the neck pick up and to get better control of the volume from the master tone pot.
Nice video! Can you link the knob replacements you bought?
Unfortunately I don’t have a link because I bought them from reverb. You want the ones made in the US if you plan on using pots with a solid shaft. If you want to us the existing knobs gets splined shaft pots.
@@jvstrat1 awesome thanks
Great video. I just picked up a new G5210 w/ P90’s and this is still an issue.
Do you think the same work around will be helpful here?
I think so but you may need to think of a different value to use on the pots. Humbuckers and p90s usually run different value pots.
Very helpful!
I’m sure I can find this on Google but can you put 500k or high value pots on the p90’s anyhow or do you need a specific value.
@@YannickRivetiyes you can use 500. Lots of companies use 500k on p90. If you find your guitar too bright you could use 250k to get rid of some highs.
amazing upgrade bro! Can you say value about pots CTS ? Does it 500k? I would like upgrade it as well. Tks
The master volume I went with 1meg, 1 Meg for the neck volume, and then 500k for the rest. That gave more clarity and bite overall more so for the neck pickup.
Hey, this vid is pretty much describing exactly what ive been wanting to do to my g5230 since i noticed a definite decrease in quality of the sweep on the pots over time. Any way you could share a full parts list with values for caps and resistors?
Actually scroll through the comments. I had put links for the pots and treble bleed for Jose. The caps for tone you can use whatever .047 cap you prefer. Orange drop caps are fine.
Can you just change the master volume pot so its more responsive or do you need to change any others for it yo work properly. I have very little electrical knowledge. Thanks man.
You could replace just the master volume and it will help. Use a 1 Meg if you want to brighten the guitar just a little, if not 500k.
@@jvstrat1 but ideally I have to change all pots to get a decent sweep on the volume? I don't really want to change the guitars tone at all as I love it the way it is.
@@rkphilpot if you change them all you will get a better sweep on any knob. If you replace just master volume it will only help the master volume sweep.
@@jvstrat1 thank you
I think my Gretsch sounds dull for the crap pots... Please tell where did you bought them...
I got them from mojotone. The links for them are in the reply fo one of the comments on here. You can probably also get them from Sweetwater.
Nice video! I agree the stock pots are not great. Do you have the link to your purchases (including treble bleed)?
And if I may abuse of your good will, can I ask what height you recommend in the pickups?
www.mojotone.com/guitar-parts/Potentiometers_x/CTS-1MA-Potentiometer-Volume-Tone
www.mojotone.com/amp-parts/Solid-Shaft-Potentiometers/CTS-500KA-Solid-Shaft-Potentiometer-Volume-Tone
www.mojotone.com/kits/GuitarWiringKits_x/Volume-Mod-for-Guitars-2113347
@@josemaritano honestly I left the pickup height the way it was set from the factory and after the upgrades, it sounds fantastic as is.
@@jvstrat1 thanks, man! happy strumming!
@@jvstrat1 You just have to replace the master volume pot with the 1 MA, and the master tone with the 500KA, and you don't have to change anything ?
Do you happen to know the original washer size for the pots? I have been looking on line the past couple days and you saying the originals are metric is the closest I got to finding the info online.
No unfortunately I’m not sure of the washer size, sorry.
@@jvstrat1 that’s okay. Based on your saying it was metric I see that there are two sizes of washer threads for pots. M7 for tiny pots, and M8 for large pots. Gretsch I have had large pots so it has to be the M8. 🤠 fingers crossed when they come that they fit. Lol. I bought a Pro jet and it was super rusted so I cleaned with Apple cider vinegar and the washer dissolved all the way to no threads. Lol.
Do you have a problem with the pickup selector?
Not really. It has a little static when switching positions, but it functions fine. I do plan to eventually upgrade that to a switch craft jack.
I have a 5220. What would be a good pickup upgrade? Not necessarily after the Gretsch sound, just good humbuckers.
There’s a lot of good options out there. Depends on what type of humbucker sound you are looking for. Check out Porter Pickups, Lollar, mojotone, and Lambertones.
Standard hum buckers will not fit in the route for the gretsch pickups. These pickups are what makes the gretsch the gretsch. They do make a powertron pickup that has a high output comparable to a PAF hum bucker. Seymour Duncan makes a direct replacement Filter’Tron but not sure if it gives you anymore power
@@daddymacksgarage1981 But these are Broad’trons. They’re wider than normal Filter’trons. Are you sure they won’t fit?
You put a treble bleed on master volume? Im about to gut mine.
I put the treble bleeds back as they were.
I have just bought one and the G peg slips…as soon as tune it Clunk! straight down a half step. Help
I guarantee it’s binding in the nut slot. Mine was also. It needs to be filed with a nut file. If you aren’t comfortable doing it, bring it to a tech.
@@jvstrat1 thank you. I bought it online from guitar guitar…I refuse to shop in these draconian times….I know a tech. Thanks again ✌️
Wouldn’t it have been easier to use metric CTS pots to avoid drilling and buying new knobs?
Yes but I already had ordered the parts because I wanted the high end Gretsch knobs and I have the skill level to do it no problem.
What value cap did you use?
.047
@@jvstrat1 when you change the neck pots to 1 meg you also put a .047 cap?
@@jopppsss yes I did replace the cap with a .047
@@jvstrat1 thank you! If i put caps only on my neck pups will it brighten a bit? Or i need to do both 1meg pot + caps?
@@jopppsss replacing just the cap won’t brighten it
How install the treble bleed capacitor?
You would solder the capacitor across your volume pot terminals. I wired it the same as it was from the factory.
Log or linear pots?
They are audio taper CTS pots from mojotone
@@jvstrat1 Thanks, I'll look into that.
Hi which one do u advice this guitar or g5421
Both great guitars. The 5220 has a bit more flexibility as it has independent volume and tone controls for each pickup plus the master volume pot. I also like the V tailpiece. The 5421 has different pickups too. The blacktop broadtrons on mine sound great, haven’t played the other model.
@@jvstrat1 thank you for your answer, youre so kind. is this pickups are ceramic or alnico?
@@emir91. I think alnico, but I’m not completely sure. I tried looking it up and couldn’t find the info. You can probably email Gretsch to be sure.