esp ltd ec-331fr

[slowist]

signed up for an account on mylespaul.com but I haven't gotten much response on it so I'm posting it here in the hopes that I can maybe get some help here.

"I'm brand new to this forum, made this account 5 minutes ago all though it pops up every once in awhile when i'm searching on google for guitar info. I don't really know how the community works or anything like that but what prompted me to make an account was that I had heard on a different forum I was looking through, that there were people on here that made custom wiring harnesses, and I've been wanting to get an esp ltd ec-331fr but the wiring is active, and I want to put passive pickups on it. so I wanted to see if I could get a wiring harness on here but I don't know where on here to go for that (also I don't even know how to wire a les paul style guitar, it seems like it would be harder since the toggle switch is so far from the rest of the electronics, I don't really know how that works)  also I want to make a pickguard for it, like this

the pickguard has been modified slightly at the bottom to accomidate the volume knob that gets in the way of the les paul pickguard. The thing is though, the ec-331fr has 24 frets

and so I'm also wondering if anyone can get me on the right track to figuring out how to modify a pickguard to fit onto it, I've looked for a long time for a forum where someone dicusses putting an lp pickguard on a 24 fret eclipse, but I haven't seen anyone do it."

 

[TonyFlyingSquirrel]

Well, this forum is only a discussion forum, but many folks on here should be able to steer you in the right direction.

Those EC's have a VVT+Toggle configuration, but the one thing that you may have issue with is that if the guitar comes stock with active pickups, the ground wire to the bridge will need to be added in order to ground the passive pickups.

Not impossible, but you need to be aware of this before hand.  If you're getting a Floyded version of an EC, this will make it much easier for you to accomplish.


While you're not necessarily wiring up a "V", this wiring kit should do the trick for you.

http://rs-guitarworks.myshopify.com/collections/upgrade-kits/products/premium-vintage-explorer-flying-v-electronic-upgrade-kit

 

[slowist]

Oh, thanks! So there's no ground cable going from the electronics to the tremolo claw on the back of the guitar when there's active pickups then? I'm guessing that means I'll have to drill my own hole to get a cable to the claw then...? damn

 

[rapfohl09]

Yes that is correct, it is normally recommended by companys to NOT ground active pickups. I know at least EMG recommends against it.

As far as the pickguard goes, here is how I would do it. I will preface this by saying I have a few tools at my disposal and some experience in woodworking, but by no means is it necessary (plastic would be very easy to work on).

I would buy a cheap Les Paul style pickguard so that I had something physical to work off of. Trace it out exactly on a piece of paper and then fill in the lines where the humbucker ring cuts into it. Cut it out of the paper, then you can do some rough placements of it on your guitar. Once you have it where you like it, trace where the new pickup ring cut out should be, and now you have a working template for your guitar. Then just transfer it to some pickguard material and cut/sand to shape.

One caveat is I have never really worked with a LP style guard, and I have never looked too closely at how they are attached, with the metal bracket on the side and one screw at the top. If you guitar has a carved top it would also have to be attached this way.

 

[Strat Avenger]

I converted a ESP M-II from EMG pickups to passives. You have to ground the bridge, and you also have to change the pots, because the active pickups use 25 ohm pots and passives use 250k to 500k ohm pots.

 

[slowist]

I never thought about cutting out my own pickguard from a blank, I was at first thinking of buying a lp pickguard for cheap and then just sort of cutting from where it would like it would fit with scissors or somethings and then soldering the cuts to smooth them out, but that seems like a smarter idea. Another note, I thought previously that they pushed the neck pickup down from the original design to accommodate the 2 extra frets but now it's starting to look as if they instead made the neck a little bit longer and pushed the bridge and bridge pickup up a little bit (to keep the 24 3/4) scale) can anyone confirm or deny this?

 

[slowist]

I take that last part back, took another look and it's obvious that the neck pickup is pushed down

 

[Strat Avenger]

I think they did both.