Another Facebook Marketplace bargain, though this one was in rougher shape than I realized initially. A 2001–2002(ish) ESP Ltd EC-300, in See Thru Black Cherry. Made in Korea. This one had been modified with Seymour Duncan 59 and JB-1 pickups, and was missing the pickup switch top. The EC-300 was the top-of-the-line non-Deluxe Ltd when new, and had an MSRP of $699 (about $1,300 in Spring 2026 dollars). Original specs:
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| EC-300 |
Set neck, 24.75" scale- Mahogany body
- Maple neck, rosewood fretboard
- Flag inlays
- Black hardware
- Tune-o-Matic bridge with stop tailpiece
- White binding on the neck
- 24 XJ frets
- EMG-HZ H-1 pickup set (passive)
- 2 volume, 1 tone knob, toggle on upper horn
- “STBC” color way (See Thru Black Cherry)
It came to me mostly stock. The seller represented on Facebook Marketplace that it had been “modded with real verified Seymour Duncan 59 and JB-1,” but when I had everything apart I saw the pickups are the
Seymour Duncan Hot Rodded Humbucker set with a JB (SH4)¹ at the bridge, and the Jazz (SH2N)² at the neck.
(I used a magnetic tip screwdriver to touch the
polepieces of the pickups with an amp connected, listening for the tap to come through. With that method, I determined the pickup switch in the up position selects the neck pickup, in the down position the bridge, and in the middle, both - pretty standard. However, the knobs are reversed from what I understand is ESP’s standard, in that the volume knob closest to the neck controls the neck pickup while the middle knob controls the bridge pickup (and the remaining knob controls tone).)
Scratch Removal, New Bridge and Tailpiece, new Locking Tuners (Upgrades and Fixes, Round 1)
Scratch Removal
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Before.
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Gulp. Here goes nothing!
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| After. |
Replacing the collapsed Tune-o-Matic bridge
The stock bridge had collapsed³ (string tension over decades; cheap metal), so I replaced it with a
Gotoh GE103B-T and replaced the tailpiece with a
Gotoh GE101Z, as the most readily accessible (Amazon Prime), cost-effective, quality replacements (about $80 for the set).
I reused the existing posts as I did’t really want to get into the wood, and they seemed fine. The new pieces simply slipped on in place of the old.
Edit: The old posts had some corrosion; I didn’t want to futz with the anchors that sit in the wood of the guitar itself, but when I pulled it apart to replace the pickup rings, I unscrewed the old posts and screwed in the ones that came with the Gotoh kit. Same for the tailpiece. They screwed right in.
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Staging
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New bridge and tailpiece installed
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| The old, collapsed, bridge |
New Hipshot locking tuners and new D’Addario strings
While it was all apart I took the opportunity to swap out the stock tuners for 18:1 ratio
Hipshot Grip-Locks, with the Universal Mounting Plate - no drilling. Those things make string changes so easy, the higher ratio makes tuning a breeze, and the ~24 year old stock tuners were sloppy. The difference is night and day. May have to swap these, or Gotoh, or Graph Tech, onto anything I plan on playing regularly. (The EC-500 had already been modified with Hipshots, and the H-1001 came from the factory with “LTD” branded locking tuners; if I ever get the bug to upgrade those, apparently Graph Tech Ratio tuners or Gotoh Magnum lock are drop-ins?)
Strung it with
D'Addario NYXL 10|46 strings. (OMG. I’ve been using Ernie Ball Slinkies since being inundated with advertising and cool product packaging design⁴ when I was a teenager. I like these much better!)
New strap buttons and the toothpick trick (Upgrades and Fixes, Round 2)
After I upgraded the tuners and bridge / tailpiece, cleaned the fretboard with Dunlop Formula 65 Fretboard Ultimate Lemon Oil, hit the freshly buffed body with D'Addario detailer, wax, and cleaner, and clicked on a D'Addario Planet Waves Auto Lock Guitar Strap, I almost dropped the thing when the top strap button slid right out of the guitar. Damn. Both strap button holes were stripped.
That’s when I learned the “toothpick trick.” Cut a couple of toothpicks to fit both holes (I cut them shorter than the hole they were going into, so they wouldn’t stick out), coated them with original formula Titebond, and stuck the toothpicks in the holes for the strap buttons.
Let it sit for 24 hours. Bought these D’Addario Elliptical End Pins to install, which comes with two sizes of screws. I used the thinner ones (which measured on my calipers 0.13" - the thicker ones measured 0.15"); 60% of that diameter is 0.078" so I used the 5/64" bit from my shiny new DeWalt drill bit set. I needed to add something cheap to my Amazon cart to get the free overnight delivery so I tacked on painter’s tape, which isn’t strictly required, but I used it both to mark off how deep to drill, and to protect the guitar around the hole just in case.
The install was simple and trouble-free, and the guitar hangs great now from this stylish D'Addario 50MM Planet Lock - Voodo0 strap (I’m not wild about the locking mechanism, and they’re kind of a PITA to get on - but they’re also a PITA to get off, and I doubt I’ll ever drop the guitar using ’em – though I do kinda wonder if they’re rubbing on the guitar finish?)
New Pickup Rings (Upgrades and Fixes, Round 3)
One of the plastic pickup rings had a broken off corner and a broken mid-section, and they were generally not in great shape, and the screws were rusty. Solution: Guyker Flat Metal Humbucker Pickup Mounting Ring Set and SAPHUE Guitar Screw Kit (it says its for Fender, but the humbucker pickup screws, 3#-48x26.7, match the Seymour Duncans on the guitar (26.7mm == 1.05"), the pickup ring screws should be pretty universal, and, yeah...)
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| Broken plastic pickup ring |
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| Rusty bridge post and pickup ring, pickup screws |
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Staging
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doorjamz
I just relocated
the String Swing guitar stand from a somewhat protected corner in the living room, to a much more protected corner of the bedroom (dogs... rambunctious, puppy energy, large-ish dogs), but I really want one guitar always out and available to just grab and play. This is that guitar. I grabbed a
doorjamz Over The Door Guitar Door Hanger:
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| doorjamz hanger |
I like the design of this thing, more or less (though there’s a roughly 1/2" gap at the top where it sits on the door, I’ll probably fill in with something like this
1/2" Thick Self Stick Neoprene Insulation Foam). It holds the guitar well and there’s a descending piece that holds the neck (and by extension the entire guitar) off the door, so it doesn’t bang up against it when the door is opened or closed. The whole thing sticks out about 4" from the door, plus the depth of the guitar it’s holding. My qualms:
(1) The manufacturer’s website
shows five colorways on the
main page (apparently uploaded in 2015?), but on the product page only says white (purportedly in stock) and black (notify when available) are current SKUs:
All attempts to order route through Amazon, where black wasn’t listed at all, and I apparently bought the last white one (the product page now reads: “Currently unavailable. We don't know when or if this item will be back in stock.”). That makes me think maybe they're selling through stock and this product will disappear entirely.
(2) Mine arrived cosmetically damaged, and I can’t get a replacement through Amazon. Waiting on the seller, but so far they haven’t responded.
(4) I want another one, to hang the acoustic guitar (it won’t fit in the String Swing the way I have it crammed into a shelving unit), but, alas...
So, yeah. I like the hanger, but I have reservations and frustrations.
Conclusion
Having replaced basically all of the hardware (I suppose I could/should, at some point, swap on a
Graph Tech PQL-6642-00 TUSQ XL Slotted Electric Guitar Nut, but today is not that day), with the electronics already having been replaced, and the guitar otherwise in pretty good condition, it’s now a joy to play and has become my daily axe.
¹ “The JB Model humbucker is our most popular pickup of all time. Blues, country, fusion, punk, hard rock, grunge, thrash; the JB has always sounded just right, even as new genres emerged around it. The low end is full and powerful, the highs are crisp and detailed and there’s an upper-midrange bump that adds crunch and chunk to heavy chords but translates to a singing, vocal-like quality when you play single notes or solos. Meanwhile the hot output pushes your amp just that little bit harder for more sustain and harmonics.
“Use it with a 500k volume pot for great high-end cut, or try a 250k pot to sweeten and soften the tone for smoother styles. It pairs particularly well with the Jazz or ’59 neck pickups, and some players even like to use a JB in the neck position for an extra-fat solo tone.
“Hand built in our Santa Barbara, CA factory, the JB Model uses an Alnico 5 bar magnet, nickel silver bottom plate, 4-conductor lead wire for multiple wiring options like series, parallel and split coil, and is vacuum wax potted for squeal-free performance. Available in standard humbucker and Trembucker spacing for 6-String, as well as passive mount 7-String options.” https://www.seymourduncan.com/single-product/jb-model
² “The Jazz Model is an incredibly versatile humbucker that will work for almost any style of music. An Alnico 5 bar magnet and a special coil wind give the Jazz Model neck a glassy treble response and full, tight bass, while scooped mids help each note to sing clearly even under extreme high gain – or even more extreme speed. The Jazz Model bridge features its own unique coil wind to deliver a bridge tone with extra treble emphasis, a nice tight bottom, and a hushed midrange. The result is a clear, bright humbucker that will really make big chords shimmer, and make single notes sound crisp and sharp.
“Hand built in our Santa Barbara, CA factory, the Jazz Model humbuckers feature an alnico 5 bar magnet, nickel silver bottom plate, 4-conductor lead wire for multiple wiring options, and are vacuum wax potted for squeal-free performance. Neck position model also available in a passive mount 7-string configuration.” https://www.seymourduncan.com/single-product/jazz-model
³ “The most common problem with old [Tune-o-Matic bridges]” https://reverb.com/news/tune-o-matic-bridge-troubleshooting
⁴ Example:
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| Ernie Ball ad from the 1990s |
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