[Alco Flower]

Hello,

I've go an Epiphone G-310 SG I was wondering if it would be foolish or not to upgrade it. I would like to get an Angus Young tone. I am playing through a Vox AC15C1 amp, but I do plan to get some Marshall amps in the future. Also if I do upgrade it how hard is it to change pickups?

Any Help is much appreciated.

[dReit1]

Good morning Alco Flower, Welcome to the group.

I think the EPI SGs are a great platform for upgrading. Pickups are not difficult to change and can make a big difference. Also tuners and nut upgrades can help if you want to go that direction.

My best advise would be to start at YouTube. Do a search for "Epiphone SG pickup upgrades". You should get a ton of ideas there. They will tell you what to change and how to change it. Maybe even give you some ideas about what each pickup will sound like when you are done. Hours of entertainment there.

I hope that gives you a place to start.

Doug

[Megafrog]

Personally I would not upgrade it. I would invest in a low end Gibson SG Faded and keep it stock. The Epiphone has pretty low resale value and the mods would not improve the value. Many stores are closing out the older model SGs and you may find one for under $600 new.

[Jeffytune]

Alco Flower, on 10 November 2017 - 09:34 AM, said:

Hello,

I've goT an Epiphone G-310 SG I was wondering if it would be foolish or not to upgrade it. I would like to get an Angus Young tone. I am playing through a Vox AC15C1 amp, but I do plan to get some Marshall amps in the future. Also if I do upgrade it how hard is it to change pickups?

Any Help is much appreciated.

Hi there.

Okay, while the G-310 with it's bolt on neck is a good guitar, you should get a G-400 with the glued in neck.
The problem is, by the time you buy the switch and jack and pick ups and pots and wiring to get it to Gibson standards, you could buy a Gibson SG.

So I would trade (Or sell) the G-310 in on a Faded Red or worn brown Gibson.
Now. as to amps, you might want to look at Blackstar, there quite similar to Marshall's, as they were founded by X-Marshall employee's. They can be found for a much better price. Give it a listen, let your ears decide.

[Alco Flower]

dReit1, on 10 November 2017 - 10:55 AM, said:

Good morning Alco Flower, Welcome to the group.

I think the EPI SGs are a great platform for upgrading. Pickups are not difficult to change and can make a big difference. Also tuners and nut upgrades can help if you want to go that direction.

My best advise would be to start at YouTube. Do a search for "Epiphone SG pickup upgrades". You should get a ton of ideas there. They will tell you what to change and how to change it. Maybe even give you some ideas about what each pickup will sound like when you are done. Hours of entertainment there.

I hope that gives you a place to start.

Doug

Alright thanks for the ideas I will definitely look into upgrades.

[Alco Flower]

Jeffytune, on 19 November 2017 - 01:54 PM, said:

Hi there.

Okay, while the G-310 with it's bolt on neck is a good guitar, you should get a G-400 with the glued in neck.
The problem is, by the time you buy the switch and jack and pick ups and pots and wiring to get it to Gibson standards, you could buy a Gibson SG.

So I would trade (Or sell) the G-310 in on a Faded Red or worn brown Gibson.
Now. as to amps, you might want to look at Blackstar, there quite similar to Marshall's, as they were founded by X-Marshall employee's. They can be found for a much better price. Give it a listen, let your ears decide.

I've been looking at some true Gibson SGs in a low price range, amazon has got a 2016 faded cherry red for $508. As for the amps Blackstar is a name I've heard of, will look into. Thanks for the help.

[Alco Flower]

Megafrog, on 10 November 2017 - 11:37 PM, said:

Personally I would not upgrade it. I would invest in a low end Gibson SG Faded and keep it stock. The Epiphone has pretty low resale value and the mods would not improve the value. Many stores are closing out the older model SGs and you may find one for under $600 new.

I see your point, amazon has a 2016 gibson sg faded cherry red for $508. Thanks

[Paully]

I don't have a dog in this fight but imho fixing up inexpensive guitars is a blast and is a big part of my guitar hobby.

[crust]

Blackstar amps are quite nice . I do not own one , presently , but have tried a few , and yes , in my opinion , they are great amplifiers , actually Again , I would obtain something that didn't need too much work , but , I guess if you are into tinkering with stuff , a G-310 would actually be quite a perfect guitar to mess with , well , that is my opinion


I didn't do anything to either of them , I like them just plain "as is"




peace

[Alco Flower]

dReit1, on 10 November 2017 - 10:55 AM, said:

Good morning Alco Flower, Welcome to the group.

I think the EPI SGs are a great platform for upgrading. Pickups are not difficult to change and can make a big difference. Also tuners and nut upgrades can help if you want to go that direction.

My best advise would be to start at YouTube. Do a search for "Epiphone SG pickup upgrades". You should get a ton of ideas there. They will tell you what to change and how to change it. Maybe even give you some ideas about what each pickup will sound like when you are done. Hours of entertainment there.

I hope that gives you a place to start.

Doug

So far this is all I've done, painted the pickguard, I may keep the pick-ups. But the nut and tuners are on the list to be changed. I may also change the pot for the rhythm tone, as it looks as if when in shipping or when being built the knob was waked and when you turn the knob it goes from about 1/32 to a 1/16 of space as it turns.

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This post has been edited by Alco Flower: 04 January 2018 - 09:57 PM

[deeman]

Mod away. I think because of the low resale value, it makes MORE sense to mod it. Have fun with it.

[dReit1]

Looks good AF. I think you are off and running.

Couple of thoughts;
It's easy to get caught up in this upgrading thing. Always trying to improve your guitar doesn't necessarily mean always improving your guitar! If you are just getting started it's more about the experiences than the result. You don't have to install $300.00 worth of pickups to get something different. There are a zillion pickups available now days and you should be able to find a set pretty cheap that are different from the ones you have. Maybe even start with some castoffs from a buddy.

Same with pots and switches, You can find bulk packs of import pots pretty cheap. Get 10 for $5 or something and solder away. You may ruin a few, but you will learn a ton. Not only will you learn to solder but you'll also start to find out what different pots sound like, how to measure tapers, ect. Then, when you think you know what you want, you can pony up for the CTS and Bourns and such.

Caps are a whole game of their own, and subject to all of the hype and hysteria that can be associated with the search for that magic tone. My advice would be to buy a bag of the cheap ones. They will do almost everything the really super mojo oil in paper, walk on water, born in the cauldron of tone capacitors will do and you won't feel so bad if you melt one down. Stew Mac will sell you an Emerson PiO for $18. They also sell Orange drops for 3.32 or a bag of 10 Ceramic caps for $3.80. All will do the same job. When you have done enough of em you'll know when you need the super caps and when you can get away with the 38 cent model.

Last thing is that it's easy to get caught up in the hype. Whether it's guitars or parts. Glued in is better than bolt on. Ha! Single coils are cleaner than Humbuckers. Ha! My straps wider than your strap. Who cares? Try no to get caught in the snob part. Do the best you can with what you got and enjoy it.

[vomer]

What they said . To mod or not to mod, that is the question. You've got a great start with the amp, I'd suggest the best 'bang for your buck' in terms of wanting to get closer to Angus Young tones would be just two things, better pickups and a good overdrive pedal. The pickups don't have to be expensive to get something better than stock on the 310, I've had GFS Vintage 59's which are really good for the price. (And I've had GFS Fat Pats which are similar but fatter, funnily enough.) Clearer, more definition, firmer bottom end, better overall character, a noticeable improvement on the stock pups.

Do you have an overdrive pedal, if not there are some good and relatively inexpensive ones out there now. Mooer and Joyo both are great value for money. I've been through many overdrives and for the last few years have had only one, a Digitech Hardwire CM2. Most overdrives are some kind of take on a Tubescreamer, and this is no exception, but it does have a handy feature which is a 'vintage/modern' switch. The 'vintage' position has the mid range boost that a Tubescreamer does, and the 'modern' setting doesn't. Handy for balancing your sound through amps which may or may not like or need a mid boost with whatever guitar you're using. They're not too cheap, but worth a look if you see one second hand.

But if you've got the money to just buy up, those Gibsons sound like bargains.

[Alco Flower]

vomer, on 06 January 2018 - 07:04 PM, said:

What they said . To mod or not to mod, that is the question. You've got a great start with the amp, I'd suggest the best 'bang for your buck' in terms of wanting to get closer to Angus Young tones would be just two things, better pickups and a good overdrive pedal. The pickups don't have to be expensive to get something better than stock on the 310, I've had GFS Vintage 59's which are really good for the price. (And I've had GFS Fat Pats which are similar but fatter, funnily enough.) Clearer, more definition, firmer bottom end, better overall character, a noticeable improvement on the stock pups.

Do you have an overdrive pedal, if not there are some good and relatively inexpensive ones out there now. Mooer and Joyo both are great value for money. I've been through many overdrives and for the last few years have had only one, a Digitech Hardwire CM2. Most overdrives are some kind of take on a Tubescreamer, and this is no exception, but it does have a handy feature which is a 'vintage/modern' switch. The 'vintage' position has the mid range boost that a Tubescreamer does, and the 'modern' setting doesn't. Handy for balancing your sound through amps which may or may not like or need a mid boost with whatever guitar you're using. They're not too cheap, but worth a look if you see one second hand.

But if you've got the money to just buy up, those Gibsons sound like bargains.

For pedals I use a MXR M234 Analog Chorus Pedal and for overdrive I've got a Electro-Harmonix CRAYON 76 Full Range Overdrive Pedal, to be exact I just bought that 76 overdrive yesterday so I don't have it to try yet. I did find a 1994 Gibson SG for a good price used, of course, and I like it a lot. It's nice to use the Epiphone as a "test" guitar, just testing and trying things on that, that way if I have to work on the Gibson I have a better idea of what I'm doing. Also I've got a Marshall Haze 15, along with the Vox ac15c1. Thanks for the info I'll look in to the pick-ups. Thanks!

Alco Flower

[pdawg]

Last year, I bought an Epiphone Les Paul Special II for a knock around guitar. I wanted something inexpensive to take on vacation, etc. and basically to not care about what happened to it. The guitar has the same pickups as your SG. I was amazed at the sound from those pickups. For a low cost guitar, it sounds fantastic. Before you spend money on replacing them, read some articles on how to do a proper adjustment on a humbucker. Then, spend some time playing with your guitar and amp tone controls. I'll bet you can find the tone you want with those pickups.

[Alco Flower]

pdawg, on 08 January 2018 - 01:52 PM, said:

Last year, I bought an Epiphone Les Paul Special II for a knock around guitar. I wanted something inexpensive to take on vacation, etc. and basically to not care about what happened to it. The guitar has the same pickups as your SG. I was amazed at the sound from those pickups. For a low cost guitar, it sounds fantastic. Before you spend money on replacing them, read some articles on how to do a proper adjustment on a humbucker. Then, spend some time playing with your guitar and amp tone controls. I'll bet you can find the tone you want with those pickups.

Good info, thanks.

Alco Flower

[JAF]

If you are talking about the 650R and 700T? I love the 700T anyway. It has really good sound. But the 650R is also good but for some reason i use the rhtytm humber for lead and the lead for rhythm. I think that gives better sound for my kind of music. Which is metal.

[Revolution Six]

crust, on 09 December 2017 - 07:14 PM, said:

Very nice Gibson TKL case.