Epiphone Mudbucker in Gibson Bass

[Beate]

Hi, i would like to put a (modified) Epiphone sidewinder pickup originating from an Epi EB-3 into a Gibson bass, in this case the Les Paul Junior DC. The bass is modified - Hipshot bridge, better bridge pickup, different knobs, different electronics and even something different in the neck position - but until now i kept the original parts and did not touch the wood in order to be able co convert it back.

 

But now a want to give it a better neck pickup. I have heavily modded a spare mudbucker form an EPI EB-3 (added some neodymium magnets and replaced the pole screws by an iron bar in 3 of those pickups, sounds great and a lot better than the stock TBPlus).

 

Unfortunately the pickup is larger than the stock pickup: its magnets are outside the base plate (which by itself has the same size as the base plate of the TBPlus). In order to install that pickup i would widen the cavity toward the neck as well toward the bridge.

The pickup covers of the Gibsons and the Epis are the same size, so that would not be an obstacle.

 

Or leave the neck side intact an place the PU about 7-8 mm closer to the bridge. This would require filling and re-drilling the holes of the cover. It would even give me the possibility to extend the fingerboard a bit and install a 21st fret which i sometimes would like to have.

 

Technically not too difficult - i have already built a few instruments, and i am confident it would come out nicely.

 

But:

 

These changes cannot be reverted any more. And they would alter the body visibly and irreversibly.

 

So what Do You think? Would the Les Paul Junior DC bass as a player be so collectible that this would make it worthless over the long time.?

[Beate]

I finally decided to do the mod. The EB-11 (Les Paul Junior DC) will probably not become a very collectible instrument, especially as a player. Despite of that is is so good - it is actually better than the SG basses - that it deserves better pickups.

 

Even to move the pickup a tad away from the neck which allows me to leave the wood adjacent to the neck joint intact.

 

Here the bass with a real mudbucker - the LowZ version from Epiphone with some improvements; it has a lot more treble than the old mudbucker but it still has its vibe, and it can easily be darkened. A picture can be seen here: https://www.gitarrebassbau.de/download/file.php?id=66085&mode=view