RS Guitarworks electronic kit

[hippietim]

tim why don't you call them up and ask them yourself. (not trying to be shitty here but wouldn't you rather hear it from the horse's mouth)

I though Straycat worked there?

[Chad]

The best test for caps is to wire a switch into your guitar that lets you bounce between two caps with just the flip of a switch. Somebody did that over on the SD forum a couple months back. If I remember correctly, it was stated that there was a noticeable difference going from a cheap ceramic disc cap to one of the better caps like OD, Hovland, etc. But the difference between something like an OD and a Hovland is almost non-existant. OD caps can be bought for a dollar or two per cap whereas the Hovlands are more pricey (and rather large, which could create problems in a tight control cavity). One thing when comparing caps is that they HAVE to be metered before testing/comparing. Two caps may read the same value, but may actually *be* a higher or lower value.

[hippietim]

This weekend I did some rewiring on my 2000 R9. I had been hesitant to touch it because it already kicks much ass. But I've had this brand new set of Tom Holmes pickups sitting around for a long time so I dropped those in. I also had some Jensen .022 caps so I did those at the same time. They actually measured out at .023 and .024. Since I changed the pickups and caps at the same time it's hard to say specifically what improvement, if any, the caps make. They are huge and metal so they look cool - that's always important

I do have some .022 and .015 Hovland caps as well that I've never tried out - I was thinking of putting them in my R4 to see if I could tell the difference.

I've used the OD caps in Teles - I liked those over the ceramincs because they were just easier to work with when you are soldering. Plus, they're orange and that's just cool .

[Bengal65]

FYI, I received an email from RS, saying the Hovlands will be discontinued and a new cap is being designed. For now, when the Hovlands run out, the kits will be shipped with Jensen's. Should be interesting. The also said, the R & D on the replacement Cap should be completed in 2 months.

[sully]

straycat, i hope you get a nice endorsement check from RS; it seems like they're mentioned somehow in most of your posts. not trying to be mean or anything, and i vaguely recall that you mentioned that you were friends with them or worked there or something, but it's almost at the point where you may want to ask them for some referral dough.

i don't doubt that they put out a nice product (unless you're in the market for a jake, har har)

sully

[Twisteramps]

My 2 cents:

I bought a Les Paul from a buddy who had the RS kit installed. My opinion?

I wasn't amazed. It wasn't something that you'll be playing and 'feel the magic' - now if you're replacing some really shitty components, sure! it's much better. But if your guitar is decent to begin with, I wouldn't sweat it. Especially if you don't mess with your guitar's volume or tone knob much, the capacitor won't do squat, and the 'super pot' won't either.

My advice? Go to Radio Shack. Get a bunch of capacitors. Try some different values for your tone control. See what you like. Put a small capacitor across the lugs on your volume control so it won't get muddy as you turn down. You'll spend a couple of bucks at radio shack and notice more change than running an expensive kit. Just my opinion.

Pete

[mhalsey]

I got a kit to put in my Epi LPC, so, yeah, it had shitty electronics to begin with. It was a pre-wired kit. I loved the ease of installation AND the difference in tone. Of course, I also dropped in a SD Custom & Jazz so that helped as well. I haven't played it in over a year cuz my son pretty much took it over while I was in the sandbox. I'm giving him one more week and if he still wants it, I'm taking his Epi ZW LPC with real EMGs and selling it.

[Tashtego]

The difference, if real, could arise because these electical components are not pure elements in the sense that a resistor isn't really a pure resistor with no inductance or capacitance. Same for the other elements. A 'high quality' component will exhibit as little secondary behavior as possible. For example, a 'good' resistor behaves more linearly within a specified finite voltage and frequency range than a 'bad' one while adding less unwanted inductance and /or capacitance to the circuit than the bad one. Materials and manufacturing tolerences have a big effect on how closely the component behaves to the ideal lumped element model.
I don't know this is true but it is conceiveable that RS make pots that add less unwanted frequency filtering for the frequency range and voltage levels we care about as electric guitar players. It is also concievable that they are churned out on the exact same assembly line in Malaysia that Gibson or Jackson uses.

[straycat]

The pots are mfg by CTS to RS specs The caps are mfg to RS specs both are propritary designs of RS.Go to their website and look at the list of customers they have using these kits..... these people know tone.

[straycat]

No I don't get a check from them I believe in the kits I've installed so many kits and never had a complaint.Always HOLY SHIT I cant beleive how great my guitar sounds.
Tim I worked there when I was on medical leave from my reg job.
I would not recommend this product if I didn't have first hand knowledge.I have had some high end guitars that sounded like ass come in my door for repair and set ups and I mention the kits and let people play on one of mine with the upgrade kit and let them form their own opinion and I have not had 1 nay sayer.

[Twisteramps]

No I don't get a check from them I believe in the kits I've installed so many kits and never had a complaint.Always HOLY SHIT I cant beleive how great my guitar sounds.
Tim I worked there when I was on medical leave from my reg job.
I would not recommend this product if I didn't have first hand knowledge.I have had some high end guitars that sounded like ass come in my door for repair and set ups and I mention the kits and let people play on one of mine with the upgrade kit and let them form their own opinion and I have not had 1 nay sayer.

You should thank God I never bought one then. BTW, when I bought the les paul from my friend, he had another one that had the same pickups. I didn't have any 'HOLY SHIT' revelations, personally. Then again, the Gibson pots and such weren't bad to begin with.

I know there's no way to prove it, but I would bet that the same people that rave about the kits wouldn't say a word if they didn't know the kits were installed. It's psychological - I just paid around $100 (or whatever) to have this installed, it should sound good! An old school guy who spends all his time rolling the volume up and down and messing with the tone controls might get some value, otherwise the typical guy who leaves his volume and tone cranked isn't going to see much difference.

Just my opinion.

Pete

[hippietim]

I agree Pete. I'm all for good h/w in my guitar.

But claims like "greater signal strength" through a pot make me very leery. It's got a teenie wire feeding it and a teenie wire leaving it - I can't imagine what a large contact area is going to improve in terms of tone. I could see how a large contact area could potentially extend the life of the pot. I can see how the taper can make the pot more usable. But I have yet to hear an explanation as to how one pot is going to sound better than another.

I'm perfectly willing to try a so-called super pot. They're only 8 bucks. I do use the volume control pretty often so it could be worth a shot - a smoother taper alone could be worth it. Maybe I'll order a couple and try it out. I am perfectly willing to eat my words if these pots suddenly make my '59 Historic sound brilliant. Oh wait, it already sounds fucking brilliant so the pot has to make it sound mega fucking brilliant.

It's funny, I bought those Jensen caps a couple years ago before they started costing 15-20 bucks and I never tried them. The ceramic disc capacitors looked so pitiful in the Les Paul cavity so I busted out the shiny gold Jensen caps. Wow! What a difference. Now if you take off my control cavity cover you will be seriously impressed at the size of my caps.

[Twisteramps]

The more I think about it, I wonder if their 'custom taper' is really just an audio taper pot?

[slo100]

I just installed a set of RS pots in my Les Paul Custom and the taper is far and away more linear than the stockers. I went from 300K to 500K so there was obviously a huge difference in tone and response so I can't comment from that perspective not going from 500K to 500K.

From a taper and tone perspective when moving incrementally through volume and tone settings it is far superior to the stock units. No mud when turned down and the tone controls are much more useful. This is all with the stock ceramic caps. I am on the hunt for upgraded caps as we speak.

I have always used DiMarzio branded pots in C/J guitars but I scored the RS units for $20 and I figured I'd try them for myself given all the commentary about them on the Les Paul Forum.

Worth $20? Absolutely. Could I live without them? Probably but it was a noticable upgrade to my ears.

Bret

[Bengal65]

+1 They are very smooth and linear. I can't say I hear the difference in the Hovland caps vs. the stock Gibson caps though. I went from 500K stock to the RS 500K pots in a prewired assembly.