NSHGD

[AndyR]

Just seen the newer pics - yumyum...

Where do you get these??! I did a little hunting the other night and reached the conclusion they're not made no more... so second hand... is that right?

Not that I want one... no... not all... must resist... etc... :lol:

[jpfamps]

The best thing about the ES333 is that it has a rear control panel that lets you get to the electronics easily

Truly the words of someone who repairs quitars!

[Dmoney]

got some new bits on the way for this...
CTS 500K pot to replace the broken pot.
Orange drop caps to replace the teenie tiny ceramic ones.

also... got some new pickups on the way! gonna test it out before I say what I got... ps It isn't an Aftermath set.

a few people have had a go on this guitar now and most are surprised. they think its going to sound like a weedy jazz box but its actually hot enough to surprise people with its output.

now I need to start a band to use it in!!!

[Dmoney]

UPDATE

Got some bits. stuck em on... kept all the old bits.
I like this look.
the pickups are aged raw nickel covered rebel yells!
the bridge pickup sounds incredible. clearer than the 498T but equally as aggressive, but it cleans up much better.
the rebel yell neck is mighty thick in this thing. I weighed up the suggestions, but i really liked the 498T. My original adventure into BKPs started with a 498T, then to Emeralds, then to Rebel Yells. so I went back to Rebel Yells for for higher output A5's.

[Philly Q]

Looking good!

(Off topic, but how did you find the Emeralds compared with the Gibson pickups and Rebel Yells?  I'm familiar with the 498T/490R and RY, but still haven't tried Emeralds)

[FernandoDuarte]

Really cool!

[Dmoney]

Looking good!

(Off topic, but how did you find the Emeralds compared with the Gibson pickups and Rebel Yells?  I'm familiar with the 498T/490R and RY, but still haven't tried Emeralds)

well, I was just trying to remember what guitar i was searching for pickups for. I remember I went to Wunjo Music as they use BKP;s in the guitars they make, so I could try them out. However they only used black dogs and emeralds. I didn't like the black dogs so i went with the emeralds.

I had used 498/490 in an SG special i used to own, and applied that to a gordon smith. The Emeralds went into my Les Paul Custom, replacing 'the original' HB humbuckers. So for a time I had a few guitars with 498T/490R and the LPC with the calibrated Emeralds set. The emeralds are warm and sound great in a les paul. a nice balance of frequencies and detail. When I started using these, I stopped using a noise suppressor completely.

My issue originally was that I didn't find them giving quite the edge that the 498T was. It was a few years ago and I was really only concerned with sounding heavy and clean was an afterthought. I emailed Tim and asked about what to go for while saying I really liked the Emeralds. His suggestion was the RY's. He said the RY's are very much like the emeralds with a stronger output. Once I got the RY's in I loved them.

incidentally, I now have nailbombs in my Les Paul. Those came via a EC-1000 that had 490R/Miracle Man bridge which then got swapped to nailbombs. Then the nailbombs and RY's got exchanged. I REALLY liked the RY's in the EC-1000 and I REALLY liked the nailbombs in the LPC.

that was long. hope it made sense. you could condense it to one sentence really.

[Philly Q]

Very useful, thanks!  I had a RY bridge for a while and found it a bit too "modern" sounding.  Been considering the Emeralds for a while as something fairly bright but still relatively vintage sounding.

[Telerocker]

Maybe somewhat off topic, but that's what I love about the Crawler. More output, but a lot of vintagecharacter. Cleans up great too.

[hunter]

The 333 looks great, I would not do any more. No polishing, it's perfect like that!

[Dmoney]

agreed.
I'm not going to polish it.

I rewired it because one of the split shafts had broken. It was a weird spiders nest inside. I wired it like this...


and converted it to 50's tone wiring.

It's better that way. no cables crossing the f hole. which in my mind is a 33X no no!

[gwEm]

cool idea to fit rebel yells. do you have enough low end?

[Dmoney]

yeah I do. I was just jamming again a bit louder before work. The bridge pup definitely cuts. I did back off the treble coming out my amp a bit though, but not massively. The neck is super thick. If i roll the tone right down it sounds crazy. With a fuzz between that and the amp it would just sound like like some fat distorted tone generator.

I REALLY like the bridge... I the neck will need getting used to a little.

I'm closer to getting a better setup for recording from my amp. I just need to fix an XLR to Jack cable. Then I might be able to get some tones out of it for the players section... although then I'd have to think of something to play!

[gwEm]

yeah I do. I was just jamming again a bit louder before work. The bridge pup definitely cuts. I did back off the treble coming out my amp a bit though, but not massively. The neck is super thick. If i roll the tone right down it sounds crazy. With a fuzz between that and the amp it would just sound like like some fat distorted tone generator.

I REALLY like the bridge... I the neck will need getting used to a little.

I'm closer to getting a better setup for recording from my amp. I just need to fix an XLR to Jack cable. Then I might be able to get some tones out of it for the players section... although then I'd have to think of something to play!

cool, i was kind of curious, because I found my rebel yell was lacking bass in my V90, but I later put it in an Agile Les Paul where it sounds ridiculously large. so was wondering how it worked in your semi

[Dmoney]

the bridge works well. I tend to play with a bit too much low end as it is. so its cool.

I loved the RY in my les paul, but when I put them in my EC-1000 (a smaller bodied mahogany les paul shaped thing) they just seemed to fit so much better.

I tried a MM in my les paul once and that felt like it had too much low end for me. I didn't expect to like nailbombs in my LP as much as I ended up doing.

I was a bit worried too. I almost went with the riff raffs, but I fancied something a little different and I thought the 498T was a bit high output and modern for a semi hollow. I think the RY has about the same level of output with more clarity. So i guess it wasn't a huge difference from what was there in terms of output or how modern the pickup was. the 498T is probably quite far away from a vintage PAF.

Right now I feel like i need to jam on the neck pup some more to get settled. I'm going to do some A/B'ing with my les paul.

my 333 now has 50s tone wiring! and my les paul has modern! haha. yes i changed the 333 after reading your thread!