StRanger7032 Posted July 31, 2014 Share Posted July 31, 2014 As promised in the new member introductions section, here's a writeup on the recent upgrades to my 1993 Epiphone G-400. I bought it brand new in early 1995. It may look like a G-310 at first glance, but its actually the early style Samick-made G-400 with the dot inlays. Note the set neck and "half batwing" pickguard. Its always been a phenomenal player, but the mini-pots were complete trash and the bridge pickup was terrible. I had a SD 59' Custom Hybrid that I'd taken out of another guitar for the bridge position, and I picked up a SD Jazz for the neck. I had a 50's style electronics kit made by Brown's Custom Shop to complete the upgrade. The 59' Custom Hybrid is actually a trembucker, with the magnets spaced wider than a standard humbucker. I was concerned at first, but discovered that the Korean bridge is actually spaced better for a trembucker. The stock Epi pickup was too narrow for the bridge, which may have contributed to the poor sound. Stock setup: Check out how beefy the new pots and caps are compared to the stock ones! New parts installed: The finished product: The sound difference is night and day. I can't put it down now! There were a few hiccups along the way, mainly related to metric vs. SAE hardware. The pickup height adjuster screws were too big for the threads on the Seymour Duncans. Luckily I had a tap and die set with the right size tap and I was able to enlarge the threads. I had to drill out the holes for the pot screws and 3 way switch a tiny bit too. It was a pretty easy project overall. Seymour Duncan has excellent wiring diagrams on their website, which were a huge help. I'd be happy to offer any assistance if anyone else out there is contemplating a similar project. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brad1 Posted July 31, 2014 Share Posted July 31, 2014 Great Job! Looks killer and I bet plays that way too. Along with the dots, I think the speed knobs also contribute to it looking like a G310. Are those the stock tuners? Welcome to the forum stranger! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StRanger7032 Posted July 31, 2014 Author Share Posted July 31, 2014 Great Job! Looks killer and I bet plays that way too. Along with the dots, I think the speed knobs also contribute to it looking like a G310. Are those the stock tuners? Welcome to the forum stranger! The tuners are stock. It came with identical speed knobs, but I had to buy new ones to fit the splines on the new Bournes pots. I've searched eBay many times looking for another one of these simpler early G-400s, but apparently there aren't many out there for sale. The woodwork and finish are amazing on this guitar, and the neck is the best I've ever played. The only letdown was the terrible electronics, which are now fixed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bender 4 Life Posted July 31, 2014 Share Posted July 31, 2014 that's a fine upgrade !! what caps are those? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matiac Posted July 31, 2014 Share Posted July 31, 2014 Yeah the stock electronics ain't nothing to write home about. I just did the same thing to my Elitist Les Paul, and while the pots ARE 500K items, they are very delicate. I remember a certain Les Paul I had that had the same problem with the pickups as well. On mine the Bridge pickup was just all wrong, but the neck was spot-on. Everything in that got replaced, as did this current Les Paul. And don't get me wrong, the guitar sounded fine, but I attempted to change the amber knobs for some other items I had using the tried and trusted "rag method", and the neck V/T pots both "lost their heads", so having the pieces/parts to do it, I built another complete harness, ala '50's style as you did, and swapped the pickups for a set of PAF copies (see "Elitist Refurb" thread) to completely transform the guitar in tone, as well as looks. And the even better part is I probably saved at least a C-Note (on labor alone) doing the upgrade myself. Pots/Caps/Wiring were courtesy of Stew/Mac, and the pickups are from a gentleman in New York who does very nice work for not-a-lot comparitvely... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StRanger7032 Posted July 31, 2014 Author Share Posted July 31, 2014 that's a fine upgrade !! what caps are those? Thanks! I had to check on the caps. BCS describes them as "NOS Russian K40N .022uf/400v paper in oil capacitors". Supposedly they warm up the tone a bit compared to the ones they use in the standard kit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matiac Posted July 31, 2014 Share Posted July 31, 2014 They do. The old "Bumblebee" caps were/are paper/oil, and VERY sought after, and VERY expensive. How much were those? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StRanger7032 Posted July 31, 2014 Author Share Posted July 31, 2014 The whole kit assembled from BCS was $77. That included the pots, caps, switch, jack, and wires. They do a much better soldering job than I would have done, so it was worth the extra money to have them assemble it. All I had to solder was the pickup wires and ground. EDIT: The caps alone are $12 a pair on eBay. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deeman Posted August 2, 2014 Share Posted August 2, 2014 The guitar looks great! Nice job. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StRanger7032 Posted August 6, 2014 Author Share Posted August 6, 2014 The guitar looks great! Nice job. Thanks! It looks like the upgrade will continue. The plastic bushing cracked in one of my tuners and I can't find a single replacement. It seemed to be OK without the bushing until I attempted a 1 1/2 step bend and the tuner unwound by itself. I bought a nice new set of Grovers. I think I've now officially exceeded the value of the guitar with the upgrades! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ed Zeplin Posted August 7, 2014 Share Posted August 7, 2014 If you want to complete the transformation you could put inlay stickers over the dots. I did it to my SG special and my EB-O bass. I got them from here: http://www.inlaystickers.com/servlet/storefront?no_redirect=true Some pics before and after: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StRanger7032 Posted August 8, 2014 Author Share Posted August 8, 2014 If you want to complete the transformation you could put inlay stickers over the dots. I did it to my SG special and my EB-O bass. I got them from here: http://www.inlaystickers.com/servlet/storefront?no_redirect=true Cool find! I had no idea those were even available. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ed Zeplin Posted August 10, 2014 Share Posted August 10, 2014 Cool find! I had no idea those were even available. They are reasonably priced and were shipped within a week I also added the crown inlay to the SG headstock. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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