I mod all my guitars, with the exeption of my Elitist. It is the only guitar I have been totally happy with stock.

There are so many choices for 500K CTS pots. First, I was under the impression that with the Elitist I would need the short shaft. Right or wrong? Does the 500K, Linear Taper, CTS, Split Shaft Pot sound correct? Split or solid? But there are also Audio Taper pots, and push/pull pots. Very confusing!

The switch, "toggle, 3-way toggle, switchcraft". Get the striaight or the right angle?

The jack - "Jack, 1/4, phone, switchcraft"

Wire - "Vintage cloth, covered, 22ga., " Get the one with conducter, braided? Or just plain?

????
You do know that a major difference between an regular Epi and an Epi Elite/Elitist is the quality of the pups, wiring, switches, jacks & pots, right? Since you said that budget is important to you, are you sure you want to throw your money at replacing these already high-quality items?

A cap change -- may give you minimal tone variation. But if the $15 PIOs don't buy your nirvana, then neither will replacement pots, wires, switches. Your Elitist PUPs are already USA made Gibsons (50SR & 60ST w/braided wire).

IMO your money is better spent on a good 7 band EQ (Danelectro works great for under $50)..., and then if you're still searching maybe it's time to re-think your entire non-guitar rig (cords to speakers and everything in between). Hope you find the tone you are seeking.

Hit every BLUE NOTE baaaby..., I'm going to play on

My goal is just to make this the best guitar that I can make it for little cost. (less than $100). My question is, because I truly don't have all that much experience, will replacing these parts on the guitar make for a better guitar? If I were to compare new parts to old parts, soundwise, would I notice a difference or is this just people talking? Pickups will of course make a difference. Caps seem to make a difference as well. Is this correct?

Good Lord... next they are gonna tell you Gibsons are so good noone needs to replace the hardware, pickups and electronics ever.

Changing to a decent set of caps will give a subtle difference. It's minute, but it's there. I have absolutely no interest in spending 3-to-30 bucks if I could do with 5 cent ceramic discs.

Hey, there's nothing wrong with making changes because you like to work on guitars. I was just responding to your initial questions that sounded like you were wanting to make changes based on what you'd heard/read from others.

Enjoy that Goldtop; it's a fabulous guitar.

Cheers

I call it hands on experience. ;-)

Thank you everyone for your help. You have provided a great education.

Of course you do. Have you seen this thread? (Not that I expect it to change anyone's mind).

Have a good day.

That was an interesting link, thanks.

At the bottom of the page was another link to a discussion of various "tone myths", which was also pretty cool:

http://www.guitarattack.com/mythbusters.htm

I agree with this author that practice is way more important than upgraded parts.

I guess there will always be people who can tell the difference between Brazilian and Indian Rosewood or between boutique caps and stock caps, but I'm glad I can't. It's much cheaper that way...