wrt/ your SG : don't waitn chabge the strings and give it a good setup (action, intonation) to start with - until then you don't know what this guitar's worth. As a full mahogany guitar chances are it's darker and more mellow than your other (basswod or alder / maple) ones, whether it's a "bright" or "dark" SG you can only know by comparing it with other SGs.
Oh and yes, 0.015 and 0.022 caps are good values for a SG.
No major reason to change the switch and jack now except if you pay some tech to do it - they'd have to be damn bad to have a major impact on your tone. Pots I can't tell I don't know what this guitars ships with, but if they are 500K, don't look too cheap and have a regular course you may as well keep them for now (but if they are anything like the utter pieces of s..t that were on my son's Epi by all mean get rid of them <g>).
wrt/ your other guitar: if it's already a bit too bright, 550K pots won't cure it. You can try lower values (in the 300/350K range) and eventually higher values caps (don't know what you actually have) to lower the cutoff frequency - or lower values caps to move the cutoff frequency higher (this might seem a bit weird but I found this to make the tone control more usable - ie less of a "on/off" effect - on my strat).
"BKP" pots (read this as a short for "BKP special order CTS pots" are, well, mostly CTS pots - good quality, but so will be "ordinary" CTS, Alpho pots etc. The trick is that the 550K spec makes sure you at least have 500K (this is "550K +/- 10%") - where ordianry 500K (+/- 10%) tend to be more often than not between 450K and 475K (I've rarely found a 500K pot to be more than 480K, and only once to be more than 500K).
Right so. I did the question round before I actually plugged the guitar into the amp (only had like 30minute fiddle time, and I wasn't near my amp, or any amp at the time), and well. Appearently, and ironic enough. The pickup switch is busted. Yeah really, neck position works fine, bridge and middle pos don't work. They do work if I wiggle the switch around abit though, but cuts out again after a short while, so I'm almost positive it's the switch that's the issue. Haven't opened the guitar yet either though, as if it's worse than I think it is I don't want to void my warranty (gonna contact Thomann tomorrow and see what exactly they'll let me do without voiding it) Yes I know, my plans for it is gonna void it regardless, I just like getting things that work as they should originally.
While yes it might not be required to change all the electronics, atleast if I do I know exactly whats in it.
However, contrary to what I thought, the jack input looks good enough, and don't have the same signs as my other "cheap" guitar. so that might do.
As for good setup, was thinking the string change might do some good, but due to the above issue I decided to wait. As for proper setup, when it comes to tweaking a guitar I'm cr@p at it, so I usually hold that off until it's the only option left. I generally don't go within 3 feet of a truss rod without its cover on though, I know I'll break it, I just know it.
I'll see what the course of action turns out to be before I do something hasty here.
The pots have to go, ofcourse I've only managed to try out two of em, but the range is decent, but not optimal, and they're as flabby as the skin of a 120 year old. Tone knobs are does have good resistance though, but abit too much tbh, almost need a wrench to turn em. Might be that the flabby is a Push/Pull thing, I don't know, my first time even trying one.
The knobs aren't leveled either, which I found rather irritating, but that's a minor thing. Kinda like a humming top nearing the end of it's spinning cycle, or the world after a bit too much beer.
As said, I haven't opened it up yet to check the pot value, but I believe I read that they were 500k, and I went with that assumption when posting the questions.
As for the other guitar. Been some time since I've opened it, but it's going on the table tomorrow to install some strap locks, so I'll pop it open and check the cap value as I'm not 100% on the cap value right now. (think it was 47, but that might be in the ol' strat)
"middle" range pots seems like a good idea to me. Currently it is a tad bit bright, nothing unbearable, but it's near a 500k potted strat (Yes I have one of those). Current pots are also kind of an On/Off switch, so the lower value cap might be a good thing to try out. What's considered low and what's high though? Guessing a 0.01 cap won't really work.
Ah right, read that whole lower value pot than printed thing sometime, remember now, Must've slipped my mind, thx for the reminder =)
So much stuff to know, so limited space.
On another completely unrelated note. Not relating to BKPs or even Pickups, barely even related to Guitars. Just gonna throw it out there as I'm abit giddy.
Had yet another "new" guitar walk in the door today, was a complete surprise too. What it is befuddles me. It's old, beaten and has 13 year old strings on it of which the high e is missing. (Duh)
It's an Člite a 335 copy, other than that I'm at a complete blank, don't know the exact year, but it's most likely somewhere around late 60's though 70's.
Left in a basement for the last 13 years, without a case, just sitting there in a damp basement on a concrete floor all those years. Major cracks all around, whammy is missing(it's rusted shut regardless), each and every screw are completely rusted, 8th fret is gone. Whatever finish used to be on it is gone, if there ever was any, Truss rod cover is gone(which is rather an unique piece to this "brand"). A good chunk of the wood is missing between the bindings from the jack input about halfway down the guitar side, and looks like someones smacked the side of body with a hammer right next to the neck.
Haven't dared to plug it into the amp yet until I've checked wirings and done some readings, but the pickups look funky. Sorta like a mini bucker, but they're long, very very long, Around the same size as those long P90's. But it's still a 'bucker.
All of these are minor things, here comes the dousy, The neck is twisted.
Guess what I'll be doing for the next few months.
Am I completely bonkers to take on this project?
As a note:
It's gonna be my "practice to fix guitar", I'm planing to apply to a Luthier school next year and could use the "practice" when it comes to fixing up old, beaten guitars. One can only read oneself to so much, eventually one must take action.
A complete "practice build" comes later though, it's in the plans, if I get the time.
Just throwing it out there, as I said earlier. I'm giddy, a new guitar is a new guitar, regardless of the condition.
Which is also why I always treasure everything educational you guys throw at me.
