TalismanRich Posted February 6, 2017 Posted February 6, 2017 My H157 had developed a couple of issues, a couple of scratchy pots, and the neck pickup ring had a crack. I figured that if I was going to go through the trouble to start taking things apart, I might as well do the whole job. Our member Knopfler74 had a pair of Seth Lovers in gold for sale last year. I snagged those, ordered a couple of sets of pickup rings, plus I had bought a few CTS vintage taper pots from Mojotone and some VitaminT oil filled caps at the Spartanburg show last year. Last Saturday, it was too cold for golf, so I pulled the harness and Schaller pickups. Time to get to work. I've got a roll of Belden shielded 3 conductor cable, so I made up a new cable to hook up the switch. The pots and caps were assembled. The pots were measured and were between 496 and 500K each. The Seth Lovers were mounted in the new pickup rings. Everything was ready to go. The harness and switch went in without issue. Things were looking nice and tidy. The bridge pickup just fit the rout. Then came the neck pickup. No dice. The Schallers are short leg and the Seths are long leg. I'm not going to pull out the speedbore and start hacking at the wood. Best to put the Seths aside and put the Schallers back in. They aren't bad, I just thought the Seths might sound nice in the 157 ( I like the ones in my Mille 2000.) I pull the old ring out, epoxy across the break, and let it sit for the night. The Schallers were remounted, and reinstalled. In the meantime, I might look at drilling out a new neck pickup ring to mount the Schaller on. Or maybe I'll look at a pair of Sheptones. I have a set on order to try in the 535. I'll see how I like them. Here are before and after shots of the control cavity and switch. One original volume pot had already been replaced with a long shaft Gibson pot. The others were MIM pots. I didn't realize until afterwards that the tone pots are 250K, not 500K. When combined with the vintage taper, it makes a big difference in the the amount of turn needed to really roll down the treble, but that's not a bad thing. You can take just a bit of edge off the bridge pickup. I didn't add in the treble leed circuit that I had added. I don't think its needed with the new pots and caps. The tone rolloff is more subtle. Before After Switch before Switch after So, after a weekend's work, half the job was finished. I gave the guitar a nice wax job while I had the strings off, put a new set of D'addario 10s on, and put her back into the rotation. Time to get back to relining the old Guild case.
schundog Posted February 6, 2017 Posted February 6, 2017 What a beautiful 157, Rich! Nice upgrades, even if only half-done. A player like you can make a Squier Bullet sound great, though.... Best of luck with the changes.
yoslate Posted February 6, 2017 Posted February 6, 2017 Tidy work, Rich! Sorry the legs threw you. I recently did a harness and p'ups, and the legs and shafts had me worried. Dandy 157!
golferwave Posted February 6, 2017 Posted February 6, 2017 Rich, Nice job on the wiring and what a beautiful H-157! I have a good unbroken set of black 3 hole pickup rings in my parts bin from one of my old H-157's. I'd be happy to send them to you if you'll PM me your address.
Millennium Maestro Posted February 6, 2017 Posted February 6, 2017 FYI - Those long leg Pups usually just require a center hole large enough for the screw to recess into the body for the retro... I have seen some require removal of wood large enough for the base plate... Want me to see if I can locate a clean/new set of short leg Seths?
TalismanRich Posted February 6, 2017 Author Posted February 6, 2017 Thanks for the offer. For now I'll just leave it as it is, and wait until the Sheptones come it. I want to hear how those sound. Its still functioning, purely cosmetic. I'll consider it as the start of my "relic" phase. Rich, Nice job on the wiring and what a beautiful H-157! I have a good unbroken set of black 3 hole pickup rings in my parts bin from one of my old H-157's. I'd be happy to send them to you if you'll PM me your address. Before I relegated the SLs to the plastic box, I tried using the screws pulled from the Schallers. The pickup sat so high in the pocket that it would have hit the strings. At one time, I read on the internet that MAY have an effect the sustain due to the screws being too close to the string! I've seen some short leg Seths. There are some sets on Ebay (or Reverb, I forget). For now, I'll leave it as it is, until I get another case of mini-gas. In the meantime, I am awaiting a set of Sheptones for the 535. We'll see how I like those, then assess my options. FYI - Those long leg Pups usually just require a center hole large enough for the screw to recess into the body for the retro... I have seen some require removal of wood large enough for the base plate... Want me to see if I can locate a clean/new set of short leg Seths?
JeffB Posted February 6, 2017 Posted February 6, 2017 Real nice 157. My Grandmother and Grandfather used to say, "if a jobs worth doing, its worth doing well" If I find that job, worth doing, I will definitely weigh up the merits of that advice vs the time invested and the monetary gain.
ElNumero Posted February 6, 2017 Posted February 6, 2017 Didn't realize you were handy with the iron and electronics Rich! Shemptones eh? Are they decent pups?
TalismanRich Posted February 7, 2017 Author Posted February 7, 2017 I've been smelling the lead and flux since I was a kid. It comes from building slot cars for years. We would build our cars from scratch from piano wire and brass. Unfortunately the days when you could build a frame and wind your own motors were over long ago.
deytookerjaabs Posted February 7, 2017 Posted February 7, 2017 Nice Beyond the other stuff...boy is it nice to just have the knobs work the way you like them to!
FredZepp Posted February 7, 2017 Posted February 7, 2017 That's always been a sharp looking 157... very photogenic. The Schallers can often sound really nice.... but a Sheptone PAF will give you a slightly different flavor, I think you'll like that.
TalismanRich Posted February 7, 2017 Author Posted February 7, 2017 I'm still waiting for my pickups to ship from his Black Friday sale. It's a good thing I didn't need them immediately. Apparently he was hit hard with orders and had to reorder parts.
tbonesullivan Posted February 9, 2017 Posted February 9, 2017 You can get short legged versions of the seth lovers if you want. Also dimarzio has a bunch of great pickups with short legs.
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