Aoresteen

Back in 2012 I did an Epiphone 1993 Rock Bass project. The Rock bass is a Fender Jazz bass copy. New tuners, new pickguard, new Seymour Duncan Bass Lines J Set . The action was a high so I took it to my tech for a set up and he told me he could not get the truss rod to move any further and the relief was at over 0.025". I put it back into my rack and it sat there until today, about 9 1/2 years. I decided I needed a 4 string bass with round wound strings tuned to Eb so I pull the Rock bass and put it on my bench to see if I could salvage the bass. The 5mm truss rod nut was tight. I de-tuned the strings. and with some umph and prayers, bam! It tightened ! I kept going and it would tighten with a pop but it was still OK. Re-tuned, check relief. Finally after 5 iterations I had the relief set at 0.012" per Fender's spec (capo at the first fret, press down on the last fret, and measure at the 8th fret). Set string height, checked intonation, and pickup height. All good!!! I then plugged it in and played & it sounded like crap. Scratchy pots and the tone/vol pots had no range - the tone pot would go almost all the way down before the tone darkened. The volume pots did the same. I opened up the electronics plate and discovered that the pots were all 500K linear factory pots. The Fender Jazz bass specs calls for 250k audio taper pots and a 0.047 capacitor. Fortunately I had a number of 250k audio split shaft pots on hand to use. I replaced the tone pot first with an A250K Alpha pot and tested the factory cap. It showed .047 on my cap meter so I used it again. I then tested the tone pot. Smooth with a much longer tone swing. I then replace the two vol pots with 250k audio taper pots and now the bass plays like it should. Why Epiphone would put 500K linear pots in a single coil pickup design that called for 250K audio taper I do not understand. So if your Epi bass doesn't seem to sound right, check the pots! I got this 1993 Rock Bass back up and playable. I might just replace the bridge now that the neck is where it should be. A great revival as it saved me doing another bass project.

Sorry I missed this. It's a bit fuzzy now but I paid $145 for the EB-0, the DiMarzio was $90, the bridge was $100, the Artec pickup was $35, strap locks were $25, Strings were $32, and labor was $100. So that is $527 - Say $550. Well worth it for me but may be too much for you.

IMHO the best way to wire 3 pickups is with a Fender 5-way knife (blade) switch and a push/pull (or mini-toggle) switch to turn on the neck pickup. The 5-way allows bridge, bridge/middle, middle, middle/neck, and neck but not bridge/neck or all three. With the p/p you can force the neck pickup on. This allows you to set the 5-way to position 1 putting the bridge pickup on and the pull up the p/p switch to turn on the neck. Put the 5-way to position 2 that turns on the bridge & middle and pull up the p/p and now all 3 pickups are on. This is known as 7-way switching or the David Gilmour mod. The issue with 3 pickups in a Gibson is the dang toggle switch with the big hole it has. It is very hard to convert the 3-way toggle to a 5-way knife switch. You have to plug the hole & rout a slot & drill two holes for the 5-way. Who is going to do that to a '57 black beauty? I have over 30 HSH Fender style guitars and I've modded them all to 7-way by switching out a tone pot to a push/pull, usually when doing a pickup swap. On some I've also used a p/p on the vol to put the neck pickup out of phase as well.

I've always wanted a Gibson EB-3 short scale bass like Jack Bruce played with Cream but they have always have been out of my price range. Last year I found an Epiphone EB-O short scale bass on eBay and discovered that Epiphone did make an EB-3 bass. The problem is that the Epiphone EB-3 is really an EB-3(L) long scale bass. So I bought the cherry Epi EB-O short scale and decided to mod it. I replaced the Epi pickup with the DiMarzio mudbucker Model One. Schaller Strap locks were installed. The stock Epi bridge didn't appeal to me so I installed a Hipshopt SuperTone Gibson® Bass Replacement Bridge 3-point bridge: https://hipshotproducts.com/collections/bass-bridges/products/supertone-gibson-bass-replacement-bridge?variant=33244555656 The bridge just drops right in. Very easy! I ordered LaBella short scale flat wound strings from juststrings.com and they were on back order for 4 months :( Eek I found a black Alnico 5 mini-humbucker and mounting ring and had Brown's Guitar Mill in Newnan GA rout the guitar and install the mini humbucker in the the bridge. The nut was changed to a bone nut. The controls were left with a master volume, master tone and a 3-way toggle switch. I prefer single vol/tone so I was happy. The output jack was moved to the side. So now I have an EB-3 short scale bass that sounds great! Well worth the time spent to make it. Epiphone should made a real EB-3 short scale bass.

Picked up the 6832 yesterday afternoon. All is well!!!!!!! The guitar is fixed and plays wonderfully. The action is a bit lower than before - right where I like it. Intonation is dead on. Another fantastic repair by Tom Dodson. This 6832 has at least another 10 years in her.

Great news! Tom texted me and my 6832 is all fixed!!! I will try to get it tomorrow or Friday.

Well, disaster!!!!!!!!!!!! Around Oct 12th, a few days before leaving on an overseas trip, I noticed that the action on my 6832 was way high and the strings were detuned. Something had popped. Ugh! I further loosened the 6832's strings and put it in the case until I returned. Yesterday I drove to Jackson GA and dropped the guitar off at Tom Dodson's shop. Tom sent me a few photos today and it is not good. The neck block has a huge crack in it. Since it's a 1971ish guitar, it is 49 years old and this is a known problem area. Not sure exactly what caused the wood to crack and give way - maybe just age and not the best QA at the Epi factory back then. All is not lost!! Tom says he can fix it. He has already started: And: I am sure if anyone can fix my 6832, Tom can (again)!! I'll keep everyone posted.

Welcome to the Epiphone World! That is a very nice guitar. Can you measure the diameter of the part you need with a digital caliper? I'll look in my parts bin but I need a size to look for. Also the Del Rey does NOT have "coil taps". It has "coil splits". A coil tap has multiple leads off a single coil to shorten the length of the coil hence that changes it's DC resistance and tone. You see coil taps most often in power transformers that have multiple different voltages coming out a coil. A "coil split" grounds out one full coil of a humbucker leaving a single coil to make the tone. The length of the single coil is the same as it was; it's just missing the other coil that cancels out the hum. Gibson (and others) makes this description error all the time but lately I've noticed that they have been using "coil split" instead of "coil tap".

Yes this thread has gone full circle. This 6832 guitar now sits in my bedroom on a stand so I can play it more often. It sounds good and is easy to play - set up with 0.012s. Truly a labor of love. Would I do it again? No, now that I have a 6832 and a restored FT-135 - no need for a third 'OOO'. Should both of those get stolen I would start the hunt over.

Holy Epiphone Batman! That's MY 6832! I bought it off eBay in 2016 and restored it! Check out the top cracks and the horizontal scratch. http://forum.gibson.com/index.php?/topic/132569-at-last-epi-6832-blue-label/ I stumbled on this 2012 thread today looking for more info on the 6832. When Tom Dodson looked at it he couldn't understand the aluminum channel rod braces under the bridge. When he removed them it became apparent why they where installed: the bridge plate had cracked. And no, they are NOT factory!! It was $135 just to make and install a new one. I had Tom do it. He made a maple one like a D-28 Martin has and glued it in. Worked beautifully. Once the bridge plate was fixed, Tom reglued the neck block, added some cleats to fix the top cracks, filed & re-slotted the bridge, and installed a bone saddle & Fishman Infinity pickup. Note: The black mass on the neck block is the Fishman 9v battery nylon case. Easier to change batteries when put there. All done! The repair cost was far more than the 6832 is worth. Add in the cost of the Fishman Infinity pickup & a 000 hard case and it's even more expensive. Since this was a guitar I had & sold when I was in the Army way back in 1972, I wanted a gigable one. That I have now :) . Ft. Devens MA ASA Talent Show February 1972 I was into top hats long before Slash ever even picked up a guitar :) !

I'm please to report that my 6732 is done! I picked it up this afternoon from Dodson Guitars Jackson GA and Tom knocked it our of the park. Full story coming soon when I get some pictures.

There should be a truss rod adjustment at the headstock. Remove the plastic cover that's behind the nut under the strings. You will need a metric Allen wrench to reach the truss rod nut. I have four FT guitars: FT-135, FT-165, 6832, and a 6732. All required extensive repairs. My 6732 is at the shop right now being rebuilt. All needed top braces re-glued & bridge re-gluing. Mine have screw-on necks and every neck block needed re-gluing as well. These guitars are a labor of love and usually cost more to repair than they are worth. To all of mine I had the adjustable bridge removed, the saddle slot filled and re-slotted and a $160 Fishman Matrix Infinity pickup installed. They now sound great. Here's the story on my FT-165 12 string: http://forum.gibson.com/index.php?/topic/83255-epiphone-ft-165-12-string/ I'd take your FT-132 to a good luthier have him inspect it and then decide if you want to invest in the repairs. These guitars are 45 years old and the wood has mellowed. Mine sound so nice and I'm glad I invested the money into them. Also, spend $125 and get a decent hard shell case for it. Your FT-132 is 000 sized. Good luck!

I also looked at my black Epiphone SG Special from 1999. Serial number is RA99090431. What factory is RA ? Thanks!

Just bought an Epiphone SG Special red from a pawn shop. Serial number is: 0808102171 translates to: 2008 August Factory code is 10. Anyone know which factory this is? It also has a MIC sticker so it's China somewhere. Thanks!

Bridge pins can help tone. I like Tusq bridge pins. http://www.graphtech.com/products/brands/tusq/tusq-bridge-end-pins I always have the saddle changed to bone. My 70's Epiphones have a zero fret so I do not replace the nut with bone (except if the nut is damaged & needs replacement).