# Yamaha EG112 upgrade possible?



## conamor (May 21, 2015)

Hi,
So I have this old kit guitar that came with a 10W amp I believe. 
It is a Yamaha EG112, Yamaha: EG112 | Reviews @ Ultimate-Guitar.com

I was wondering if there was any way in upgrading the pickups on it instead of buying another guitar. I have no real reason to buy a new guitar. I was thinking about doing that because the switch isn't working sometime. It cuts the sounds completely and I have to play with it to make it work... 

Any tips on this? Thanks!


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## greco (Jul 15, 2007)

You can upgrade/change the pickups and the switch reasonably easily. 

I would also replace the output jack with a Switchcraft jack as, along with the switch, that could be also be contributing to/causing the problem of the intermittent sound.

Since you are going to all of that work, you might want to consider putting in new potentiometers also...especially if they are scratchy or the small diameter ones.

Keep us updated with what you decide to do.

Will you be doing the work yourself?


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## conamor (May 21, 2015)

I was thinking about doing it myself but I have no idea what to buy. I will make my way through it of course and there is always youtube as a last resort. How much could I be expecting to pay for these replacements? Are there any suggestions? I suppose that if it cost over 400-500 I should rather spend on another guitar. What do you think?


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## cboutilier (Jan 12, 2016)

Pots, switch, and Jack should run you around $50 or so. Pickups will run you between $50 and $500 depending on how foolish you feel at the time.

I'd suggest buying used pickups. You'll be able to sell them again later for minimal loss if you desire. 

You're guitar is essentially an HSS configured Fender Stratocaster as far as pickups are concerned. I have a Yamaha RGX121s that I'm putting new pickups in shortly.


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## greco (Jul 15, 2007)

I am assuming you are in California as your avatar location is "CA" ...Correct?

If so, your dollar is worth 30% more than ours and I have to keep that in mind.

Why not start by doing the switch only as it appears to be the cause of the problem. I'm going to guess a good switch would be about $20.00 USD max.

Do you have a soldering iron and the tools related to soldering?
How are your soldering skills?

The pickups will be the most expensive by far and there are many to choose from. Just a warning, sometimes switching pickups can often be underwhelming/disappointing.

What amp are you using? Amps are more than 50% of of your tone/sound equation...IMO. That might be something you want to put more money into if you presently have a very basic/small amp.

@cboutilier and I were typing at the same time. we have some overlap in our comments. As he states, buying used pickups is excellent advice.


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## Lincoln (Jun 2, 2008)

I had one. Costco was selling the kits about 20 years ago. The pick guards don't interchange with standard strat ones, so you're stuck with a white one. Other than that, it was a great little guitar. Mine was black, but I repainted it purple. I think I've still got the body around here someplace. I used the neck on a parts-caster. No reason you can't upgrade the pickups and pots/switches and go for it.


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## conamor (May 21, 2015)

Thanks for all the comments, actually CA for Canada  (I shouldn't have used that) I am close to Ottawa. To be honest, the only amp I have is the 10W Yamaha kit amp. (yes maybe 20 years ago I got that as a gift)

I might simply connect it to my Scarlett 2i2 interface or the Irig pro duo and play in Garage Band. I suppose for now, pickup doesn't matter to be changed but I should change the input 1/4 and the switch? Any links on amazon.ca for these item that would be compatible?
Thanks!


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## greco (Jul 15, 2007)

conamor said:


> Thanks for all the comments, actually CA for Canada


I was going to assume that...but if I had, you would certainly have been from California



conamor said:


> I should change the input 1/4 and the switch?


Yes...do the jack and the switch.

Contact or visit Jon (a forum member here). He is a wonderful fellow and owns a company (Next GenGuitars) in Ottawa that has all that you will need. Canada's #1 Parts Source For DIY Musicians - Next Gen Musical Ltd.


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## conamor (May 21, 2015)

greco said:


> I was going to assume that...but if I had, you would certainly have been from California
> 
> 
> 
> Contact or visit Jon (a forum member here). He is a wonderful fellow and owns a company (Next GenGuitars) in Ottawa that has all that you will need. Canada's #1 Parts Source For DIY Musicians - Next Gen Musical Ltd.


 Nice stuff, thanks so much!


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## greco (Jul 15, 2007)

You are very welcome.

Do you have a soldering iron and the tools related to soldering?
How are your soldering skills?


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## conamor (May 21, 2015)

I can borrow a soldering iron. I think I did that once but I am usually pretty good at learning and trying stuff. I should make my way through it


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## greco (Jul 15, 2007)

conamor said:


> I can borrow a soldering iron. I think I did that once but I am usually pretty good at learning and trying stuff. I should make my way through it


Let us know how it goes.


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## conamor (May 21, 2015)

greco said:


> Let us know how it goes.


Will do!


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## Milkman (Feb 2, 2006)

cboutilier said:


> Pots, switch, and Jack should run you around $50 or so. Pickups will run you between $50 and $500 depending on how foolish you feel at the time.
> 
> I'd suggest buying used pickups. You'll be able to sell them again later for minimal loss if you desire.
> 
> You're guitar is essentially an HSS configured Fender Stratocaster as far as pickups are concerned. I have a Yamaha RGX121s that I'm putting new pickups in shortly.



You're right on all counts, but interestingly enough, I've seen pickups for sale on this site for much more than $500. The sky's the limit when you're chasing unobtanium tone.


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## Milkman (Feb 2, 2006)

All of what Greco is suggesting can be done without too much trouble once you learn to use a soldering iron. I'd suggest working with someone to get the hang of it.

It's not complicated stuff, but cold solder joints, overheating components and other little fails are common when learning to do this.

It's a bit like plumbing. It's not rocket science, but there are some basic techniques with which you will need to become competent.


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## conamor (May 21, 2015)

Hey! Still working on this. I haven’t had a chance to upgrade the plug and the switch. Might do this during the holidays.

I had another question. What would you guys do if I want to play with effects on the guitar? Buy an irig and play through iPad or get an amp with effects, I believe fender came out with something. I would also like to use my acoustic guitar with it. So either an irig or a amp for acoustic and electric.

Note that this is just for fun in the basement for myself.

Thanks!


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## greco (Jul 15, 2007)

conamor said:


> What would you guys do if I want to play with effects on the guitar?


WARNING: This is a HUGE topic. 

I only use a bit of reverb that is part of my amp so I'm not the best one to answer your questions.

Are there any specific tones (from effects) that you want to try to achieve/experiment with?


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## conamor (May 21, 2015)

To be honest, not really. Mostly tones from Metallica or long hair rock bands . Also like reverb and delay.


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## greco (Jul 15, 2007)

conamor said:


> ...or _long hair rock bands_


Could you please narrow it down with some additional specific band names?


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## conamor (May 21, 2015)

Of course!
Let's say, Def Leppard, white snake, skid row, Motley Crue, scorpions would be some rock metal groups that I like the tone. I know Line 6 spiders could do some FX but like I said, this is for fun, basement, 30W is even overkill... but I will definitely listen to whoever has an idea because I don't 

That iris pro duo, plugged into the iPad and using garage band could also do the work (play acoustic and the kids singing) or an amp and have fun with the presets.

edits: Fender has the mustang LT25/GT40 that has presets, pretty sure I could get close to the tones I like or go with something else... Not sure if I can plug an acoustic into a fender mustang


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## greco (Jul 15, 2007)

Let's see if we can get some help from others...I am totally hopeless with this kind of thing.

Paging @troyhead , @davetcan , @mhammer , @Budda 

That is at least a start. 

Good Luck!


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## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

Given the nature of the guitar, and that it seems to have been part of a package, I gather it sat unused for a while. Though not always, very often such pickup switches benefit from simply being used. Move the switch back and forth a bunch of times. If you have some electrical contact cleaner (NOT WD-40), give it a shpritz in the slot and work the knob back and forth. Volume and Tone knobs can sometimes also benefit from simply being used after prolonged periods of disuse.

As for pickup-changes, I would say to first assure that they are height-adjusted to your tastes, before ripping things apart. They may not be the greatest pickups in the world, but they will be decent enough, given your degree of musicianship and tastes. Realistically, as much as pickups matter, much of the nuance of different pickups tends to disappear once the distortion gets cranked up.


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## davetcan (Feb 27, 2006)

Boss Katana. I'd go for the 100 but the 50 would likely be enough.


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## conamor (May 21, 2015)

davetcan said:


> Boss Katana. I'd go for the 100 but the 50 would likely be enough.


Thanks for the suggestion! I'll watch some more videos tomorrow!


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## conamor (May 21, 2015)

mhammer said:


> Given the nature of the guitar, and that it seems to have been part of a package, I gather it sat unused for a while. Though not always, very often such pickup switches benefit from simply being used. Move the switch back and forth a bunch of times. If you have some electrical contact cleaner (NOT WD-40), give it a shpritz in the slot and work the knob back and forth. Volume and Tone knobs can sometimes also benefit from simply being used after prolonged periods of disuse.
> 
> As for pickup-changes, I would say to first assure that they are height-adjusted to your tastes, before ripping things apart. They may not be the greatest pickups in the world, but they will be decent enough, given your degree of musicianship and tastes. Realistically, as much as pickups matter, much of the nuance of different pickups tends to disappear once the distortion gets cranked up.


Great stuff! I will definitely look at cleaning it. It was unused for a while, more than 10 years... and yes, it's a kit guitar. I'm more an acoustic guitar player, chords and some fingerpicking. I simply wanted to try my electric guitar again and try some riff and some solos which I never really tried!

I have never moved the height of the pickups. It's factory default.

Thanks for your help!


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## bmann (Sep 6, 2021)

conamor said:


> Hey! Still working on this. I haven’t had a chance to upgrade the plug and the switch. Might do this during the holidays.
> 
> I had another question. What would you guys do if I want to play with effects on the guitar? Buy an irig and play through iPad or get an amp with effects, I believe fender came out with something. I would also like to use my acoustic guitar with it. So either an irig or a amp for acoustic and electric.
> 
> ...


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## bmann (Sep 6, 2021)

Has anyone suggested any tuners for the EG112?


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## Latole (Aug 11, 2020)

Sometime strings tuning issue is the nut, not the tuners or it is how you put strings over string post


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## SWLABR (Nov 7, 2017)

Considering this is a 2yr old thread with no updates…. I’d say he threw in the towel! Ha, ha….


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## joeguitar (Oct 19, 2021)

Hi I'm new here. Just wondered if this guy ever managed to make anything of his guitar as I'm gonna fix up an old EG112 that I found at my parents place. Also unused for about 10 years and switch doesn't work too well. Just planning to just start with replacing the switch (if I can't get existing one to work properly) and scratch plate, then restringing and see how it goes. Any other tips for improving an ancient starter guitar?


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## Cristi Neagu (11 mo ago)

Registered here just to respond to this thread.

I have had my EG 112 for ages now. So long I can't remember, but it's probably around 15 years. About 8 years ago I decided to give it an upgrade, since the pots were getting kinda scratchy and the pickup selector switch had intermittent issues. So I figured that since I am doing that, might as well change the pickups too. I basically chucked out the entire pickguard, switched to an all black one, covered the cavity in copper tape, bought all new electronics, including CTS pots, a set of Fender CS '69s, and a Seymour Duncan SH-5. The Fender pickups sounded great, but I never really liked the SH-5. Not that it's a bad pickup, but it really did not suit the '69s. But I did go to town a bit with the electronics, installing two extra switches: one for series/parallel/single tap on the humbucker, and another one to switch in the humbucker in any combo, so I could get the neck and bridge and all pickups at once options.

Fast forward to about 4 years ago. I was planning on building a custom guitar from Warmoth. In anticipation for that I bout a new set of CS '69s (yes, I do really like them) and a Seymour Duncan SSL-1C this time, for typical Stratocaster setup. For one reason or another, I never got to buy the parts from Warmoth and those pickups have been sitting in a drawer in my desk ever since.

Until, finally, this January. It had been about 2 years since I picked up my guitar. It was just after her 18th birthday, so I decided it's time to get back into it. And what better way to do it than to give her a face lift? So here I went again, completely ripping out the pickguard again for a typical Fender layout. Added a treble bleed circuit. Kept the switch to add in the bridge pickup in any combo. The SSL-1C works way better with the CS '69s.

Currently I made a booking to get the frets levelled, crowned, and polished. I will also probably change the nut to a Graphtec whilst at the luthier, since it will probably have to come out for the fret level. And I have to say, I don't know how a brand new EG 112 feels, but mine is great. I love the thin, narrow neck. Tuning stability is actually very good (I play it daily and it goes out of tune by a few cents every 4 days or so - not to mention that after I got it out of its case after 2 years of not playing it it was perfectly in tune). The machine heads are getting kinda worn down, unfortunately, and I can't find any good replacements. I would like to change the bridge just to try something different, but I'm really not sure that it's worth it.

So, mods that are worth doing on an EG 112, in my opinion:

Cover the cavity and the back of the pickguard in copper tape to lower noise. Make sure the glue is conductive and that the foil is grounded on the guitar somewhere.
Change the pots and the switch, as they get worn and scratchy.

And if you're feeling brave:

Change the pickups if you don't like the stock ones. You can even do what I did and go from HSS to SSS.
Get a fret level. It will help with playability a lot. And while you're at it, ask your luthier to recut the nut. I don't know about you, but the action on mine is way too high.

Overall, I encourage anyone to give an EG 112 a try. They feel good in the hands and you can customize them to your heart's content. You don't need to worry about preserving a guitar for posteriority. This isn't a Gibson Les Paul that will be worth a fortune in 2073. It's the perfect guitar to both learn how to change pickups and components, and also to discover just what kind of sound you're going after.

I really hope OP went through with the mods. I also hope that @joeguitar will make a guitar he really enjoys. Cause I know I sure did.


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## conamor (May 21, 2015)

Cristi Neagu said:


> Registered here just to respond to this thread.
> 
> I have had my EG 112 for ages now. So long I can't remember, but it's probably around 15 years. About 8 years ago I decided to give it an upgrade, since the pots were getting kinda scratchy and the pickup selector switch had intermittent issues. So I figured that since I am doing that, might as well change the pickups too. I basically chucked out the entire pickguard, switched to an all black one, covered the cavity in copper tape, bought all new electronics, including CTS pots, a set of Fender CS '69s, and a Seymour Duncan SH-5. The Fender pickups sounded great, but I never really liked the SH-5. Not that it's a bad pickup, but it really did not suit the '69s. But I did go to town a bit with the electronics, installing two extra switches: one for series/parallel/single tap on the humbucker, and another one to switch in the humbucker in any combo, so I could get the neck and bridge and all pickups at once options.
> 
> ...


Well thanks so much for the reply. We are what, 2 years from when I posted?
I finally changed the switch and the jack this weekend, yes after 2 years... The switch is working perfectly now, the sound just doesn't turn off by itself like before.
I haven't changed the potentiometer but I should have done that at the same time.

Would you recommend any for the eg112? I also forgot to buy the switch tip, the original one doesn't fit.

edits: while at it, when changing the potentiometer, should I also replace the capacitor and wires? Links to nextgen would be perfect.

Thanks!


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## Cristi Neagu (11 mo ago)

conamor said:


> Well thanks so much for the reply. We are what, 2 years from when I posted?
> I finally changed the switch and the jack this weekend, yes after 2 years... The switch is working perfectly now, the sound just doesn't turn off by itself like before.
> I haven't changed the potentiometer but I should have done that at the same time.
> 
> ...


Depends on what you're trying to achieve. If you want to keep the guitar as original as possible, you will need to take some measurements of the pots and find the exact size that fits the pickguard holes. Standard CTS pots are a bit bigger, I think. If you go down this route you might run into issues with sourcing parts. If you go on ebay to find knobs, for example, most of them will fit standard guitar pots like CTS. I don't know if they work with the original pots in the guitar. It's been 8 years since I took out the original electronics in my guitar and replaced it with standard parts as you might find in a Fender.

If you aren't too bothered about keeping it original, just replace all the electronics. You can even switch to a different colour pickguard. You can find some very nice pearl pickguards which would really make your guitar stand out. As I was saying above, normal guitar pots might not fit the pickguard holes, but you can use a step drill to enlarge the hole by 1 or 2mm. You can replace the wires themselves, although I don't think you need to bother with "vintage" cloth covered wires. You can use plain multi strand PVC wire, it will work just fine. Keep the pickups if you like how they sound or if you don't want to spend too much on this.

I think the pots themselves were 500k audio taper pots. You can keep the same tone cap, it doesn't make much difference to go for fancy "orange drops". I mean, you can if you want - don't let some random person on the internet stand in the way of your happiness  If the replacement pots you find are the same as the originals you can of course reuse the knobs.

Either way, whatever you do, get yourself some copper tape with conductive adhesive and cover up the pickup cavity as well as the back of the pickguard, then find a way of grounding it properly. There's plenty of videos on YouTube of how to achieve this. It will cut out a lot of the noise.

At the end of the day, it's a cheap guitar. You can go crazy with the mods, if that's what you want. I doubt that come 2070 they will be worth $70,000. And even if they are, you're not making any permanent changes to the guitar. I took the original pickguard off my guitar and I still have it. If I want to return the guitar to original, I can just fit it back in. Parts for it are pretty cheap ($10-15$ for a pickguard, I think). Well, except pickups. Pickups are always expensive. At the end of the day all that matters is what you want to get out of it.


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## conamor (May 21, 2015)

Cristi Neagu said:


> Depends on what you're trying to achieve. If you want to keep the guitar as original as possible, you will need to take some measurements of the pots and find the exact size that fits the pickguard holes. Standard CTS pots are a bit bigger, I think. If you go down this route you might run into issues with sourcing parts. If you go on ebay to find knobs, for example, most of them will fit standard guitar pots like CTS. I don't know if they work with the original pots in the guitar. It's been 8 years since I took out the original electronics in my guitar and replaced it with standard parts as you might find in a Fender.
> 
> If you aren't too bothered about keeping it original, just replace all the electronics. You can even switch to a different colour pickguard. You can find some very nice pearl pickguards which would really make your guitar stand out. As I was saying above, normal guitar pots might not fit the pickguard holes, but you can use a step drill to enlarge the hole by 1 or 2mm. You can replace the wires themselves, although I don't think you need to bother with "vintage" cloth covered wires. You can use plain multi strand PVC wire, it will work just fine. Keep the pickups if you like how they sound or if you don't want to spend too much on this.
> 
> ...


They are A500K and B500K. I looked at nextgen but they have many many a500k and b500k so right there I'm lost and would also replace that orange capacitor but I do not know what I need. At the moment, its a 473J 2A0SG.


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## Cristi Neagu (11 mo ago)

conamor said:


> They are A500K and B500K. I looked at nextgen but they have many many a500k and b500k so right there I'm lost and would also replace that orange capacitor but I do not know what I need. At the moment, its a 473J 2A0SG.


You need to measure the physical dimensions of the pots (in particular the thread size and the length and diameter of the shaft), as well as making note of the shape of the shaft (if it's a split shaft, or a solid shaft, or a D shaped shaft) in order to determine what pots you need. As for the cap, you can probably keep it. If you want to change it a .022uF or a .033uF would both be appropriate. I think Fender use the former in their HSS guitars.


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## Latole (Aug 11, 2020)

If you are not a soldering pro and the potentiometers, switches and jacks work well, do not replace them. It will be time to replace them later and only if necessary. 

Only replace the pickups .

The pickups are always the main weak point of these guitars


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