I try my best to make the videos short and to the point. Sometimes I do waffle on, but I edit a lot of it out because even while I'm watching my own footage when editing, I think "BORING" "IRRELEVANT" "NEXT" hahaha. So I would hate to put you viewers through the same feeling. Thank you for your encouragement and support.
Really excellent video. I've had an Epiphone Sheraton II since it was a wee baby in 1997 and I've always loved the guitar but felt the tone was dull and lifeless. I'm comfortable working on my Strat, but I've always been filled with trepidation when considering replacing the electronics and pickups in my Sheraton. I think I'm finally ready to bite the bullet once I figured out what pickups to put in the thing. Thanks!
Very well made instructional video. I'm sure it will take a lot of the worry out of the process for anyone considering this kind of upgrade. So many people including myself are a little intimidated by the thought of working through the "F" hole, but not anymore. Loved that you were using your crescent wrench just as I would. I'm sure that mortified a lot of "tool specific" watchers. Lol
Thank you for the love and support. There's nothing wrong with using a crescent wrench. Just how you use it. Also, this is a good quality one that has very little play in it. Good quality, and using it appropriately means you won't round off any nuts or bolts. Always take your time. There's no rush.
Better late than never ... it's a nit, but feed the pull wire FROM the jack hole to the ƒ hole. lots easier to grab than what you did. And as leftyfusion83 said, tone pots go closer to the jack.
Yes. Sorry. When I first started making these videos, I was just repairing them, testing them and giving it back to the customer. I'm trying to work out a better way to record as I go. Thanks for the comment and support.
Very instructional video thank you, you earned a subscriber. Talking about not so good electronics, I have a Dean Thoroughbred Deluxe, I took a look recently at the electronics cavity and was impressed to see, on a 600 eur guitar, such small pots, green caps and normal cabling. Guitar sound good to my novice ears but now I can't stop thinking about upgrading it! (not the pickups)
Thank you so much. Glad it could help. I'm not really sure how much of an improvement an upgrade like this makes audibly. However it's good peace of mind to have high quality parts.
@@whatsstefon yes the decision is also going to a 50s cabling style instead of the modern one, and split pickups using push pull pots... I may just prepare a harness to spend some time now that we have a lot... Do you buy your materials locally?
As long as you had all of the components out. I would’ve replaced the toggle switch with a higher grade toggle switch and I would’ve upgraded the input jack. just my opinion . ✌️
You’re right. But the customer was more right. I did what they asked of me and what they could afford at the time. I agree with you 100% though. Thank you for the comment.
The customer was informed of that and in fact they mentioned to me that it’ll likely need it as the pot shaft will be a larger diameter on higher quality pots. They’re drilled out to industry standard. The way you’re saying it is like I drilled it out with a flat blade screwdriver. 😂😂😂
The 2 reasons that has kept me from buying the Sheraton until now 1. The input Jack is on the body. I wish it was at the side. 2. It’s humongous size! The 339 pro seems a viable option but I might actually be converted to buy one. More like a case of arranged marriage, it would be. You slowly fall I love and realise along the way, you can’t do without her.
The larger body works for me. And to be honest, the amount of repairs in the past with the jack on the side outweighs the setup in this. When they're dropped, they seem to land on the jack, getting pushed in and breaking the wood. A sad situation.
The 339 is top heavy too. All neck and headstock, and the only way to prevent it taking a nosedive to your side is a strap with immense traction. A full-bodied f-hole model such as this one is better balanced. So, you favor the Les Paul-style placement of the jack, Christopher? I understand that, even though I feed my lead/patch cable through my strap before plugging in.
Do not understand why some object to the jack being on the top and not the side. This is standard for 335 style guitars. I prefer it. Especially jazz players appreciate it since jazz is often played sitting down so the patch cord is better plugged in the top
Great job! I’m puzzled though, since you went through all that bother, why not also replace the crappy chinese PU switch and output jack with a good Gibson/Switchcraft toggle switch and a proper Switchcraft output jack respectively? Were those standard USA/imperial sized CTS pots?
The customer wanted the changes and was advised on the rest. However they didn’t have the budget and only wanted these upgrades. I will recommend things to customers but I’ll only do the repairs they wish to be done.
@@whatsstefon Ahhh. I understand. This was the first time I watched one of your videos. I figured you were working on your own guitar. My bad. Thanks for answering - I hope I didn’t come across as being critical or judgmental - I was puzzled, is all.
Might as well change all the loom wiring if you are taking it all out anyway. The stock stuff adds a ton of capacitance imho. Quick and easy to replace it all with cloth pushback.
Thank you. Deoxit is best for pots. You can buy contact cleaner but they are too strong and chemically different, so they strip the carbon off the track of the pot.
I have a 2007 Korean made Sheraton II that I inherited when my father died in 2015. Overall, it is a very well made guitar. It doesn’t sound as good as a multi-thousand dollar Gibson ES-335, but neither does it suck. I haven’t taken a pot out to double check, but as best I can tell by ‘looking’ in through the f-holes, it appears to have full sized pots, and the switch ‘looks’ like a Gibson/Switchcraft toggle switch. My Sherri was made in the Unsung factory. In an old Wildwood video, Greg Koch stated that the vintage burst 2007 Sherri II that he was reviewing/showcasing, had genuine USA made pots and switch. . . Have you ever seen a stock Korean Sherri where that was the case? ua-cam.com/video/dLZBJX-XOiU/v-deo.html
Hi great easy to follow vid. I have a 1991 Epiphone Sheraton. Would I gain much of a better sound if I was to change all the pots, jacksocket, switch and all wiring. I had a Seymor Duncan 59 bridge pup installed about 16 yrs ago. I asked the guy to change all that I have mentioned and he reckoned I wouldnt gain much for the effort.
The only thing thay really matters is the capacitance of the wiring loom and the resistance of the pots. These Asian guitars often have fairly high capacitance wiring, which shaves off high frequencies.There's often a lot of extra capacitance in the pickup leads too. Which can be somthing you might want to tweak if the guitar is sounding overly muddy or compressed. It can be like have several extra feet of cable between you and the amp etc. If you are otherwise fairly happy with how it sounds, I would measure your existing pot resistance using a multimeter on the amp end of the guitar lead. If they are not reasonably closely matched (+/- 20%), you might consider changing things. Its obviously not ideal to have a neck vol pot read too much lower than a bridge one etc. Apart from the electrical variables, the other main reason to want to change pots on any guitar is if you want to use 50's wiring AND you don't like the taper on the stock pots. Again its all subjective. I have some guitars where I have changed all the guts purely because if I have to pull it all out to change to 50's wiring, I may as well change everything for better quality components which will be more reliable long term and more closely match my preferred gigging setup on my other guitars. Likewise if you are changing pickups, it makes zero sense not to change the wiring loom and switch at the same time. Taking all of the above in to considerstion, nothing really affects the overall tone quite so much as the pickups themselves. The stock pickups on more recent Chinese epis are perfectly OK for 99% of people imho. The older ones, especially if you have a HOTCH (overwound) one in there for some reason (which sometimes happened), can sound like they are under a blanket for sure. Nothing worse than a dark/dull sounding 335 type guitar - a lot of the awseomeness of these guitars is IMHO how versatile they can be. You're not going to want overwound or overly compressed pickups in these. I generally go for PAF specs and lower output for clarity and to let the acoustic properties of the guitar shine through. I'm also a weirdo and I like the fact that 335s can be setup to be always on the edge of feedback, which I can actively utilise as part of my playing style in live shows. Especially when playing rock, hard rock and blues!
@@cgavin1 it's true, the Asian made guitars can generally have lower quality components, however for most purposes the customer was happy and that's all that matters.
Unfortunately not. Sometimes these tops are thick and adding a star washer doesn’t leave enough thread out to screw down a smooth external washer and nut.
Is it my mind messing with me or did you put the 1st volume pot in the wrong hole? They should both be up front, tones closer to the input jack, correct?
isnt it worth changing the wiring at the same time ?i might buy the whole harness.i play mine with gibson 490s ,but i always have it on full as i have no confidence in the pots or caps
To be honest, I don't see a lot wrong with the quality of the wiring. I think the pots and tone caps make a significantly bigger difference. But in saying that, if you're going to get in there, you might as well do the entire thing.
It’s a great question. Generally, ground will always be the outside “shield” wire. Another way to check if that’s not so obvious is to use your multimeter and set it to Ohms or Continuity/Diode setting. If you get continuity that’s it’s ground. If not, then it’s signal. I hope that clears things up. I might do a video on it to help.
I would start by removing the strings, which will then give you easier access to the pickups, all electrics as well as the tailpiece and bridge. Unsolder the pickups from the pots and switch once you have removed these through the F-hole. Then you will be able to unscrew the pickup, being careful not to lose the screw or the springs under them.
No. But I have in the past for other hollow body guitars. You still have to remove everything so you can solder the pickup wires to ground and other components.
@@silent6090 I believe pickups are really such a personal preference. Only you are going to like the pickups you install. So I unfortunately can’t really recommend anything personally. As for tone caps, I either use orange drops, or zoso caps. Depending on the customers needs and wants.
You realize that 500K ohms is 500K ohms in every 500K ohm pot ever made, right ? And that capacitance doesn't change with style. right ? The only caps that should not be used in guitars is ceramic caps because they tend to become 'microphonic' due to the piezoelectric effect.
Yes. But there are many other factors. The feel of the pot. The quality of the carbon track. The quality of materials used to make the wiper. The quality of the terminals. And of course, the taper.
@@whatsstefon Hello Stefano, thanks for sharing the video. I'm planning on buying a Sheraton and upgrade it, but I think will put my best effort on changing the hardware (bridge and tailpiece). As you explained here this mod will only give a better quality electronics, but not a better sounding guitar.
@@ALBERTOGARCIA-nk9bo I think like with most modifications on a guitar, some can be more subtle than others. However, while changing the pots and tone caps won't give drastic improvements, it will still improve the sound, even if it's by a small amount. Overall, I think it's still a viable modification, even if it's just to have nicer feeling pots and the peace of mind knowing that the electronics are of higher quality material.
@@whatsstefon Hello Stefano. Yes I agree with you. Even if there's no audible improvements still benefits from the quality and reliability of the new components. But if you let me I will like to talk to you about the really audible improvements. Do you know any mod? What do you think will happen if you change the bridge, tailpiece and studs for the same material alloys used in the vintage ES-335 for example? I'm trying to learn here.
@@ALBERTOGARCIA-nk9bo I think there will be an audible difference. I believe the weight, the resonance and the material will alter the tone and volume of the instrument. I think it's worth doing. Even if only for the better quality metals that come from the United States or Europe compared to the pot steel from China.
@@whatsstefon Out of interest, is that a personal choice ? - my Sheraton of 30 yrs old with no mods and 2 humbuckers is fitted with 2 x .047uF . Thks....
@@whatsstefon Thats why i'm asking - above you said "0.022uF for humbucker pickups" But now you state "my opinion the 0.022uF caps might be too dark for humbuckers"....;) ??
Cheers for the thorough explanation and technique, and for moving it along without a lot of extraneous commentary. Thank you!
I try my best to make the videos short and to the point. Sometimes I do waffle on, but I edit a lot of it out because even while I'm watching my own footage when editing, I think "BORING" "IRRELEVANT" "NEXT" hahaha. So I would hate to put you viewers through the same feeling. Thank you for your encouragement and support.
Really excellent video. I've had an Epiphone Sheraton II since it was a wee baby in 1997 and I've always loved the guitar but felt the tone was dull and lifeless. I'm comfortable working on my Strat, but I've always been filled with trepidation when considering replacing the electronics and pickups in my Sheraton. I think I'm finally ready to bite the bullet once I figured out what pickups to put in the thing. Thanks!
Glad to have helped. Looking forward to maybe hearing the results in your work.
I put in Seth Lovers Gibson harness Kluson tuners .guitars a monster now .
I admire the patience that was shown in real time how long did it require. thanks for the info
Thank you for your comment and support.
Very well made instructional video. I'm sure it will take a lot of the worry out of the process for anyone considering this kind of upgrade. So many people including myself are a little intimidated by the thought of working through the "F" hole, but not anymore.
Loved that you were using your crescent wrench just as I would. I'm sure that mortified a lot of "tool specific" watchers. Lol
Thank you for the love and support. There's nothing wrong with using a crescent wrench. Just how you use it. Also, this is a good quality one that has very little play in it. Good quality, and using it appropriately means you won't round off any nuts or bolts.
Always take your time. There's no rush.
Better late than never ... it's a nit, but feed the pull wire FROM the jack hole to the ƒ hole. lots easier to grab than what you did. And as leftyfusion83 said, tone pots go closer to the jack.
Tone pots go wherever the customer says.
And yes, great advise on the pull string. I usually use a nylon guitar string or flexible tubing.
It would be nice to hear a before and after comparison
Yes. Sorry. When I first started making these videos, I was just repairing them, testing them and giving it back to the customer. I'm trying to work out a better way to record as I go. Thanks for the comment and support.
Very instructional video thank you, you earned a subscriber.
Talking about not so good electronics, I have a Dean Thoroughbred Deluxe, I took a look recently at the electronics cavity and was impressed to see, on a 600 eur guitar, such small pots, green caps and normal cabling. Guitar sound good to my novice ears but now I can't stop thinking about upgrading it! (not the pickups)
Thank you so much. Glad it could help. I'm not really sure how much of an improvement an upgrade like this makes audibly. However it's good peace of mind to have high quality parts.
@@whatsstefon yes the decision is also going to a 50s cabling style instead of the modern one, and split pickups using push pull pots... I may just prepare a harness to spend some time now that we have a lot... Do you buy your materials locally?
As long as you had all of the components out.
I would’ve replaced the toggle switch with a higher grade toggle switch and I would’ve upgraded the input jack.
just my opinion . ✌️
You’re right. But the customer was more right. I did what they asked of me and what they could afford at the time. I agree with you 100% though. Thank you for the comment.
@@whatsstefon Ok. I understand! If that’s what they wanted.......you did what they wanted!
Oh, you drilled out the holes and didn't tell anyone you'd done that.
Shame on you!
The customer was informed of that and in fact they mentioned to me that it’ll likely need it as the pot shaft will be a larger diameter on higher quality pots. They’re drilled out to industry standard. The way you’re saying it is like I drilled it out with a flat blade screwdriver. 😂😂😂
The 2 reasons that has kept me from buying the Sheraton until now
1. The input Jack is on the body. I wish it was at the side.
2. It’s humongous size!
The 339 pro seems a viable option but I might actually be converted to buy one. More like a case of arranged marriage, it would be. You slowly fall I love and realise along the way, you can’t do without her.
The larger body works for me. And to be honest, the amount of repairs in the past with the jack on the side outweighs the setup in this. When they're dropped, they seem to land on the jack, getting pushed in and breaking the wood. A sad situation.
Stefano Musica eye-opening fact. Thanks!
The 339 is top heavy too. All neck and headstock, and the only way to prevent it taking a nosedive to your side is a strap with immense traction. A full-bodied f-hole model such as this one is better balanced.
So, you favor the Les Paul-style placement of the jack, Christopher? I understand that, even though I feed my lead/patch cable through my strap before plugging in.
Do not understand why some object to the jack being on the top and not the side. This is standard for 335 style guitars. I prefer it. Especially jazz players appreciate it since jazz is often played sitting down so the patch cord is better plugged in the top
Great job! I’m puzzled though, since you went through all that bother, why not also replace the crappy chinese PU switch and output jack with a good Gibson/Switchcraft toggle switch and a proper Switchcraft output jack respectively? Were those standard USA/imperial sized CTS pots?
The customer wanted the changes and was advised on the rest. However they didn’t have the budget and only wanted these upgrades. I will recommend things to customers but I’ll only do the repairs they wish to be done.
@@whatsstefon Ahhh. I understand. This was the first time I watched one of your videos. I figured you were working on your own guitar. My bad. Thanks for answering - I hope I didn’t come across as being critical or judgmental - I was puzzled, is all.
I thought the Sheraton guitars had push/pull pots ?
Not in this case. I don’t think this mode did. It certainly didn’t when it came in.
Might as well change all the loom wiring if you are taking it all out anyway. The stock stuff adds a ton of capacitance imho. Quick and easy to replace it all with cloth pushback.
Indeed. However, that was not in the customers budget. So I did what only needed to be done.
It adds capacitance ? Nope.
Wow!!!
Great job dude!!!
Thank you. Appreciate the comment.
Awesome work. What do you recommend to clean old pots that make noise when turning?
Thank you.
Deoxit is best for pots. You can buy contact cleaner but they are too strong and chemically different, so they strip the carbon off the track of the pot.
I have a 2007 Korean made Sheraton II that I inherited when my father died in 2015. Overall, it is a very well made guitar. It doesn’t sound as good as a multi-thousand dollar Gibson ES-335, but neither does it suck. I haven’t taken a pot out to double check, but as best I can tell by ‘looking’ in through the f-holes, it appears to have full sized pots, and the switch ‘looks’ like a Gibson/Switchcraft toggle switch. My Sherri was made in the Unsung factory. In an old Wildwood video, Greg Koch stated that the vintage burst 2007 Sherri II that he was reviewing/showcasing, had genuine USA made pots and switch. . . Have you ever seen a stock Korean Sherri where that was the case?
ua-cam.com/video/dLZBJX-XOiU/v-deo.html
That is an amazing story. Wow! I can’t say I have seen one. But that’s pretty cool. Some of those Korean made instruments are spectacular.
Hi great easy to follow vid. I have a 1991 Epiphone Sheraton. Would I gain much of a better sound if I was to change all the pots, jacksocket, switch and all wiring. I had a Seymor Duncan 59 bridge pup installed about 16 yrs ago. I asked the guy to change all that I have mentioned and he reckoned I wouldnt gain much for the effort.
The only thing thay really matters is the capacitance of the wiring loom and the resistance of the pots. These Asian guitars often have fairly high capacitance wiring, which shaves off high frequencies.There's often a lot of extra capacitance in the pickup leads too. Which can be somthing you might want to tweak if the guitar is sounding overly muddy or compressed. It can be like have several extra feet of cable between you and the amp etc. If you are otherwise fairly happy with how it sounds, I would measure your existing pot resistance using a multimeter on the amp end of the guitar lead. If they are not reasonably closely matched (+/- 20%), you might consider changing things. Its obviously not ideal to have a neck vol pot read too much lower than a bridge one etc. Apart from the electrical variables, the other main reason to want to change pots on any guitar is if you want to use 50's wiring AND you don't like the taper on the stock pots. Again its all subjective. I have some guitars where I have changed all the guts purely because if I have to pull it all out to change to 50's wiring, I may as well change everything for better quality components which will be more reliable long term and more closely match my preferred gigging setup on my other guitars. Likewise if you are changing pickups, it makes zero sense not to change the wiring loom and switch at the same time. Taking all of the above in to considerstion, nothing really affects the overall tone quite so much as the pickups themselves. The stock pickups on more recent Chinese epis are perfectly OK for 99% of people imho. The older ones, especially if you have a HOTCH (overwound) one in there for some reason (which sometimes happened), can sound like they are under a blanket for sure. Nothing worse than a dark/dull sounding 335 type guitar - a lot of the awseomeness of these guitars is IMHO how versatile they can be. You're not going to want overwound or overly compressed pickups in these. I generally go for PAF specs and lower output for clarity and to let the acoustic properties of the guitar shine through. I'm also a weirdo and I like the fact that 335s can be setup to be always on the edge of feedback, which I can actively utilise as part of my playing style in live shows. Especially when playing rock, hard rock and blues!
@@cgavin1 it's true, the Asian made guitars can generally have lower quality components, however for most purposes the customer was happy and that's all that matters.
Thank you. I am glad it's easy to follow. That's the idea, I hope! Hahahha
I think it'll make a difference if you change the lot.
Noticed star washers on the bench. Did you use any on the pots?
Unfortunately not. Sometimes these tops are thick and adding a star washer doesn’t leave enough thread out to screw down a smooth external washer and nut.
@@whatsstefon Makes sense. Good Video. Thanks
Is it my mind messing with me or did you put the 1st volume pot in the wrong hole? They should both be up front, tones closer to the input jack, correct?
leftyfusion88 yes you are right, I have the same guitar from Korea.
I fitted them the same way the guitar arrived to me. However, while I didn't make a point in the video, you are right.
Wonder why gibson/Epiphone couldn't leave a solid compartment there.
Nostalgia
@@whatsstefon Hello. I don't reason a compartment that small would give that guitar a different sound.
interesting i watched it twice
Thank you! Thank you!
Appreciate the love and support.
isnt it worth changing the wiring at the same time ?i might buy the whole harness.i play mine with gibson 490s ,but i always have it on full as i have no confidence in the pots or caps
To be honest, I don't see a lot wrong with the quality of the wiring. I think the pots and tone caps make a significantly bigger difference. But in saying that, if you're going to get in there, you might as well do the entire thing.
how can i tell which wire is sig nal and which is ground? sorry for the basic question
It’s a great question. Generally, ground will always be the outside “shield” wire. Another way to check if that’s not so obvious is to use your multimeter and set it to Ohms or Continuity/Diode setting. If you get continuity that’s it’s ground. If not, then it’s signal. I hope that clears things up. I might do a video on it to help.
great I just bought one all seems OK pickups are a bit tarnished, I did wonder how you would replace anything if required.
I would start by removing the strings, which will then give you easier access to the pickups, all electrics as well as the tailpiece and bridge.
Unsolder the pickups from the pots and switch once you have removed these through the F-hole. Then you will be able to unscrew the pickup, being careful not to lose the screw or the springs under them.
Is that an original-edition Sheraton with the mini-Hs?
No. I believe it's got full size humbuckers.
Thank you for the clarification, Stefano.
Any idea where can I get the original saddle ?
I'd say any Epiphone authorised dealer will be able to help. Or for something nicer for not much more money, you could get a Gotoh one.
EBay. I sold the pickups from my sheraton and I'm going to list the bridge and saddle soon
Do you have changed pickups also?
No. But I have in the past for other hollow body guitars. You still have to remove everything so you can solder the pickup wires to ground and other components.
@@whatsstefon some, help to change humbuckers and cap for my sheraton? What's the best pickup to install, in sheraton? Orange drop are ok cap?
@@silent6090 I believe pickups are really such a personal preference. Only you are going to like the pickups you install. So I unfortunately can’t really recommend anything personally. As for tone caps, I either use orange drops, or zoso caps. Depending on the customers needs and wants.
@@whatsstefon thank you
@@whatsstefon Cool video! Question, pls: What's the value of the caps you use for a double humbucker like this? Thx.
You realize that 500K ohms is 500K ohms in every 500K ohm pot ever made, right ? And that capacitance doesn't change with style. right ? The only caps that should not be used in guitars is ceramic caps because they tend to become 'microphonic' due to the piezoelectric effect.
Yes. But there are many other factors. The feel of the pot. The quality of the carbon track. The quality of materials used to make the wiper. The quality of the terminals. And of course, the taper.
@@whatsstefon Hello Stefano, thanks for sharing the video. I'm planning on buying a Sheraton and upgrade it, but I think will put my best effort on changing the hardware (bridge and tailpiece). As you explained here this mod will only give a better quality electronics, but not a better sounding guitar.
@@ALBERTOGARCIA-nk9bo I think like with most modifications on a guitar, some can be more subtle than others. However, while changing the pots and tone caps won't give drastic improvements, it will still improve the sound, even if it's by a small amount. Overall, I think it's still a viable modification, even if it's just to have nicer feeling pots and the peace of mind knowing that the electronics are of higher quality material.
@@whatsstefon Hello Stefano. Yes I agree with you. Even if there's no audible improvements still benefits from the quality and reliability of the new components. But if you let me I will like to talk to you about the really audible improvements. Do you know any mod? What do you think will happen if you change the bridge, tailpiece and studs for the same material alloys used in the vintage ES-335 for example? I'm trying to learn here.
@@ALBERTOGARCIA-nk9bo I think there will be an audible difference. I believe the weight, the resonance and the material will alter the tone and volume of the instrument. I think it's worth doing. Even if only for the better quality metals that come from the United States or Europe compared to the pot steel from China.
So....what size capacitor is it your using
SCOTT STRATTON 0.022uF for humbucker pickups.
@@whatsstefon Out of interest, is that a personal choice ? - my Sheraton of 30 yrs old with no mods and 2 humbuckers is fitted with 2 x .047uF . Thks....
@@slangking1 that's cool. Who knows what the manufacturers threw in as standard. I'm my opinion the 0.022uF caps might be too dark for humbuckers.
@@whatsstefon Thats why i'm asking - above you said "0.022uF for humbucker pickups" But now you state "my opinion the 0.022uF caps might be too dark for humbuckers"....;) ??
@@slangking1 whoops, I meant 0.047uF. Sorry, wrong way around. Had not had my coffee yet when I responded.