AS80 rewire tips wanted

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Author Message N4vgm Username: N4vgm Registered: 04-2004 Posted on Sunday, May 14, 2006 - 9:55 pm:    Greetings all, I am about to start working on a 1997 AS80. I got it about 2 years ago and loved the sound but it really needs some work. I'll be doing a fret leveling/crowning and since one of the volume pots seems to have a flaky solder joint I want to go ahead and redo the wiring. I'll likely replace everything but the PU's. Looking in the f-holes the guitar seems to have had the wiring installed before the top! Has anyone been down this road (or other ES335 types) and have any tips? Thanks in advance. Fox Username: Fox Registered: 02-2003 Posted on Monday, May 15, 2006 - 9:04 am:    No, not before the top, nor did they use midgets or some other Mid-Earth folks to assemble the wiring.. The wiring can be pulled out (as well as in) through the bridge pickup mounting hole. Just open all the nuts in pots, jack etc and attach some wire (or fishing line) in the shafts, so they can be pulled back with ease. Jack in fack is the tricky one.. Not as easy as in solid bodies, mut not magic either.. good luck and take some extra time! Funkle Username: Funkle Registered: 12-2001 Posted on Monday, May 15, 2006 - 11:36 am:    I've found it is a little simpler for me to just pull the whole wire harness out through the f-hole. Then when I'm done with the soldering, I drop dentil floss through the tone pot holes and fish them out through the f-hole with a pair of angled tweezers, tie them onto the tone pots and pull them in. The vol pots and selector switch are close enough that you can work them into place with your fingers. I prefer this because you don't have to contend with as much of a tangled mess of string and wire. N4vgm Username: N4vgm Registered: 04-2004 Posted on Monday, May 15, 2006 - 4:18 pm:    Thanks! I'll check back to see if there are any other ideas. N4vgm Username: N4vgm Registered: 04-2004 Posted on Tuesday, June 20, 2006 - 9:04 pm:    The plot thickens! I got the wiring harness out through the f-hole (needed a stew-mac knob puller to get the knobs off / tied dental floss to the hardware). I'm going over the wiring to familiarize myself and comparing it to the official Ibanez As80 diagram, here ... http://ibanez.com/wiring/wire.asp?y=1997&w=AS80 The reason I'm doing this is the bridge PU was silent with the selector switch in the middle or rear position. This problem showed up after I noticed I was twisting the bridge volume pot too far because of a loose nut. I figured there must be a bad solder joint on that pot (on inspection the shield ground of one wire is flakey). Now I made sure the pots were orientated like the diagram but the harness is not exactly like the picture. Mainly it looks like there is extra wire (potential ground loops?) and the wires go to the wrong tabs. Also the wire colors are wrong. Here is the question. Should I rewire the harness as is, using better wire or unsolder everything and wire like the diagram? Thanks in advance, Bob N4vgm Username: N4vgm Registered: 04-2004 Posted on Tuesday, June 20, 2006 - 9:08 pm:    Oh, one more thing. There is a white wire (cloth covered) that goes to the selector switch and heads under the top towards the tailpiece posts. Bridge ground? If those are not standard on 1997 AS80's then could that be a sign the whole harness was rewired before? Thanks, Bob

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