New pups

[FordFanJpn]

I got a set of Duncan Antiquities for my ES120 and replaced them over the weekend. They made a definite improvement in the tone of the guitar. The original pickups are rather cold and sterile sounding, without much harmonic content at all. The Antiquities are full of harmonic richness and produce a very full and juicy tone. They sound very good in the 120. I also replaced the tailpliece with a lightweight tailpiece and TonePros locking studs. I'll post a few pics of the pickup replacement and the studs.

Bill

 

[johan]

Hi Bill
I'll receive my ES-120 this week. Sent last friday.
I got a set of Fralin PAFs last week. Now I just bought a set of Antiquitys based on various reviews and your praise. I don't even own a HB guitar yet!
What's the main difference between the Fralins and the Ants.

The cherry red you have there is a beautiful guitar. Very sharp looking. Tell me about the lightweight tailpiece and the Tonepro studs. Recommended? What kind of tailpiece? Gotoh?

 

[FordFanJpn]

Hi Bill
I'll receive my ES-120 this week. Sent last friday.
I got a set of Fralin PAFs last week. Now I just bought a set of Antiquitys based on various reviews and your praise. I don't even own a HB guitar yet!
What's the main difference between the Fralins and the Ants.

The cherry red you have there is a beautiful guitar. Very sharp looking. Tell me about the lightweight tailpiece and the Tonepro studs. Recommended? What kind of tailpiece? Gotoh?

Congratulations on the new guitar. I'm looking forward to seeing and hearing about it when you finally get it.

The Fralins are a bit more hi-fi sounding, with a more pretty tone. Not quite so thick, but still harmonically complex. If you do a lot of chord work, the Fralins would be ideal. They are very musical sounding. The Antiquities are very thick and rich sounding, with tons of harmonic complexity. For my playing, I really love the thickness of the tones I get from the Antiquities.

The lightweight tailpiece is a Gotoh. I like the locking TonePros studs because they keep the tailpiece in place when you change strings, and you do get a very tight coupling of the tailpiece to the guitar. But I'm not so sure the lightweight tailpiece is worth changing. Any change it makes is very subtle, and will certainly be outweighed by a pickup change. If you are interested in trying a lightweight tailpiece, I would suggest that you initially change only the tailpiece and see if you can discern any change or improvement.

Bill

 

[hamerfan]

Hi Bill, i'm a proud ower of ES120SB (slightly used) since yesterday.
I know that changing pups in a hollow guitar (ES or L-Series) is a PIA, but did you really cut the hookup wire?
By the way who made the stock pups? GOTOH - did you find any hint on the back of the pups?

Armin

 

[catcat]

God theyre beautiful guitars. I am intending on getting an ES135 but Tokai dont have any in stock at the moment. As soon as they do though :lol:

Good to see some other people enjoying the Tokai 335's.

Cat

 

[tudor]

Hi Bill ... and the other folks who intend to change the pups ...

A German pup tech gave me the advice, to use the single conductor braided shield wires for the whole guitar (also the wires from the toggle switch to the pups and jack) ... more vintage sound he promised.

I gave it a try in my Edwards changing the caps to Mallory ones at the same time, and what can I say ...???

Tremendous upgrade ! Rich, woody sound!

I love it!! :wink:

Roger

 

[tudor]

... BTW - it looks actually so as he had cut the hookup wire !!! :-?


Roger

 

[TUNAFREAK]

I got a set of Duncan Antiquities for my ES120 and replaced them over the weekend. They made a definite improvement in the tone of the guitar. The original pickups are rather cold and sterile sounding, without much harmonic content at all. The Antiquities are full of harmonic richness and produce a very full and juicy tone. They sound very good in the 120. I also replaced the tailpliece with a lightweight tailpiece and TonePros locking studs. I'll post a few pics of the pickup replacement and the studs.

For the tonepros, did you have to do any mods?

Mark

 

[Le Chat Noir]

Sorry to resurrect this topic... but I am about to put new pickups in my ES120 and was wondering if anyone can suggest a better way to do the job than cutting the wires? How does one gain access to the pots for soldering? Should I just take it to a pro, and if I do, will it be a major (invasive and/or expensive) procedure?

 

[Paladin2019]

How does one gain access to the pots for soldering? Should I just take it to a pro, and if I do, will it be a major (invasive and/or expensive) procedure?

The wiring assembly is typically removed from the guitar through the bridge pickup cavity. Standard practice is to tie a long thread of cotton around the pots before you remove them so that the thread follows the pots out but stays in the hole and makes it much eaiser to put the pots back in.

It's much, much more fiddly than doing it on a solidbody but the work itself is pretty straightforward. A pro may charge extra because it's a hollowbody but it won't be super-expensive.

 

[johan]

i removed the wiring through the f-hole. not possible through the bridge pickup cavaty on mine.