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Columbus ES335 copy refurb

Posts related to vintage guitars manufactured in Japan or other Asian countries

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by stevestrat » Wed Apr 17, 2013 9:05 am

Taken a wee while but that's my Columbus ES335 copy finished, that's what I get for buying a guitar just before a house move!

Guitar was in good nick when I got it, had been owned by a guy who played it in a band and had been set up by a studio tech. All that had been done to it is a pickup replacement but I worked on one of these a while ago and knew the quality of the standard electrics so replacing them was a priority. CTS pots, Switchcraft switch and jack, treble bleeds and paper/oil caps (including on the treble bleeds). These are the new electrics waiting to go in:

Image

The result is better than I ever imagined, sweet is a major understatement, sustain is unbelievable. The treble bleeds made it a real pain to refit the electrics but they were worth it, tone doesn't vary irrespective of the volume.

Image
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by Phizix » Wed Apr 17, 2013 11:13 am

It looks beautiful, great work!
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by stevestrat » Thu Apr 18, 2013 8:36 am

I love the way this turned out but I can't help feeling it would be even better with mellower pickups. The ones in are some high output generic things the previous owner got from Ebay, although the tone is great the sound is a bit harsh.

Ideally I'm probably looking for something around 8K, I looked at Gibson 57s but modern sets come with the bridge a lot hotter than the neck, that wasn't the case with early 335s (which is what I'm aiming for), both were the same. Anybody got any suggestions?
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by Phizix » Thu Apr 18, 2013 11:48 am

The Seymour Duncan "Seth Lover" pickups seem to be a popular 335 choice with 7.2k neck and 8.1k bridge output. Alnico II Pro's seem to be a mellower pickup as well.

You can compare and listen to sound samples of all the Seymour Duncan pickups here

http://www.seymourduncan.com/comparetones

I've seen good reviews on these Lollar pickups too, the Low Wind Imperial is a popular choice for 335's.

http://www.lollarguitars.com/mm5/mercha ... er-pickups
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