Why have I done it?!?

[Zack]

Hi,
I have this early 70s Ibanez semihollow Byrdland copy.
Thought of re-wiring it and got a nice set of cts pots and a couple of oil filled caps (0.22uF 300V) etc. But after taking the old stuff out of the body I start to think I should just put it all back as is. What do you think?


The two tone pots have a cap that reads: YAMATO 50V. 04. The neck volume pot has a smaller sized cap that reads 01 101v not 100% sure i read that one correctly though.

It all looks original. There's this unshielded wire running from the bridge tone pot to the back of the bridge pickup. It all looks a bit strange to me but maybe that's how it's meant to be, I dunno?

[garybaldy]

Hi,
I have this early 70s Ibanez semihollow Byrdland copy.
Thought of re-wiring it and got a nice set of cts pots and a couple of oil filled caps (0.22uF 300V) etc. But after taking the old stuff out of the body I start to think I should just put it all back as is. What do you think?


The two tone pots have a cap that reads: YAMATO 50V. 04. The neck volume pot has a smaller sized cap that reads 01 101v not 100% sure i read that one correctly though.

It all looks original. There's this unshielded wire running from the bridge tone pot to the back of the bridge pickup. It all looks a bit strange to me but maybe that's how it's meant to be, I dunno?

I never knew a Byrdland was a semi hollow. Personally I'd leave as is if there are no problems with it.

[starjasmine]

I never knew a Byrdland was a semi hollow.

Read carefully: This is an IBANEZ COPY not a Gibson Byrdland. A Gibson Byrd has a trapeze tailpiece and a floating bridge held against the top by the pressure of the strings. No block, no penetration of the top by the bridge.
That unshielded wire is probably a ground wire. It's kind of hard to see in the photo, but it looks like it is soldered to the body of the tone control and the body of the pickup.

I agree with Gary: don't fix what's not broken.

[garybaldy]

Read carefully: This is an IBANEZ COPY not a Gibson Byrdland. A Gibson Byrd has a trapeze tailpiece and a floating bridge held against the top by the pressure of the strings. No block, no penetration of the top by the bridge.
That unshielded wire is probably a ground wire. It's kind of hard to see in the photo, but it looks like it is soldered to the body of the tone control and the body of the pickup.

I agree with Gary: don't fix what's not broken.

If it's copy of a Byrdland one would have at least expected it to be hollow. Had I seen a picture I would have noticed the fixed bridge (if that's what it has) and then it would have been obvious to me.

[Zack]

If it's copy of a Byrdland one would have at least expected it to be hollow. Had I seen a picture I would have noticed the fixed bridge (if that's what it has) and then it would have been obvious to me.

There she is.
Pulled it back all together kept all original.
Thank you!

[dconeill]

There she is.
Pulled it back all together kept all original.
Thank you!

If it's a model 2464, the Ibanez wiki says it's fully hollow. The Ibanez wiki page is here.

[Zack]

If it's a model 2464, the Ibanez wiki says it's fully hollow. The Ibanez wiki page is here.

Sure is! And a real pain to get all the electonic back in too.
My bad for causing confusion, should have referred to it as a thinline hollowbody.
Cheers!

[equenda]

Hi!
In 2022, I purchased an Epiphone Byrdland Elite series, built in Japan in 2003. The Elite name was changed to Elitist shortly thereafter for legal reasons, I believe, due to Ovation or Fender, which had other guitars with the Elite name in their catalog.
My guitar is very similar to the Gibson Byrdland, the only difference being the headstock and, of course, the price.

I immediately noticed some small problems with the pick-ups and potentiometers. This is a known issue among all experts on Japanese-made guitars, which unfortunately used low-quality electrical parts.

In 2023, I decided to take my Epiphone Byrdland to my trusted luthier, who is a highly skilled expert and a craftsman with immense experience and patience. To make a long story short, on his advice, the four potentiometers, all the capacitors, all the wires, and the selector switch were replaced. I decided to keep the original pick-ups, which I think have a good sound.

The guitar's sound has improved, and most importantly, there's no hum or noise while recording.

To do a job like this, I think you need experience, and it's best not to improvise.

Ettore

[Zack]

Hi!
In 2022, I purchased an Epiphone Byrdland Elite series, built in Japan in 2003. The Elite name was changed to Elitist shortly thereafter for legal reasons, I believe, due to Ovation or Fender, which had other guitars with the Elite name in their catalog.
My guitar is very similar to the Gibson Byrdland, the only difference being the headstock and, of course, the price.

I immediately noticed some small problems with the pick-ups and potentiometers. This is a known issue among all experts on Japanese-made guitars, which unfortunately used low-quality electrical parts.

In 2023, I decided to take my Epiphone Byrdland to my trusted luthier, who is a highly skilled expert and a craftsman with immense experience and patience. To make a long story short, on his advice, the four potentiometers, all the capacitors, all the wires, and the selector switch were replaced. I decided to keep the original pick-ups, which I think have a good sound.

The guitar's sound has improved, and most importantly, there's no hum or noise while recording.

To do a job like this, I think you need experience, and it's best not to improvise.

Ettore

I played one of those MiJ Epi Byrdland Elite last month while in Japan. A good friend of mine own one of those and yes! it is a beautiful thing!

My old Ibbie is a model nr 2464 AV (Antique Violin) and has some interesting features I find...1) She's got an early version of the Fire Cup (sometimes called "Torch" or "Urn") shown on the headstock. This specimen shows the base unconnected to the cup itself; used only until 1974. The later version had a base connected to the cup. Ibanez changed the Fire Cup in 1976 into the "Bug" as an inlay. So... she's 1974 or earlier.
2) She's got the Maxon Super70s pickups with the small, rounded screws, used 1974 and later. Earlier version of this pickup had bigger, flat screws. They sound awesome and I won't change them ever.
3) I think the 2464 first appeared in the 1975 catalogs. To have this catalog ready in time... the first 'new' models were produced in 1974 to get a decent stock ready in time. I reckon mine was likely built late 1973 or 1974.

But the pickup code has the Maxon’s 5-digit format (used from 1972 to late 1977) which follows this structure:
- First digit (2): Production line
- Second digit (5): Year — 1975
- Third digit (X): Month — November
- Maxon used letters and symbols for months:
- 1–9 = Jan–Sep
- 0 = October
- X = November
- . = December
- Last two digits (01): Day of the month — 1st


So 25X 01 decodes to November 1st, 1975, made on production line 2.

I am just very lucky the electronics still function perfectly well as I found out the pots' shafts are longer than the std cts ones but shorter than the long shaft cts ones. The shaft's diameter is of a smaller diameter to the cts ones too. What led me to pull it all out was that the volumes seemed to go from low to top too fast to my likening and I wondered if someone had been in there and had messed the wiring. But after blowing the clusters of dusts away, and seeing all those beautifully kept old components I decided to keep it as is.