james_edward Posted March 21, 2008 Share Posted March 21, 2008 I thought that maybe some of you would be interested in this upgrade I made to my epi Les Paul, it turns out to be a great way to improve the sound of your guitar. I installed a Schaller bridge and fine tune tail piece and the improvement in tone and sustain is unbelievable, way more than I thought possible. I wanted to replace the stock parts and after looking around I decided these two Schaller parts would be the best for me. I really like the bridge as its not only angled so that it lines up with the strings, but it’s actually adjustable so that you can change the distance between the strings, which is what interested me the most – I wanted just a little more string space. The tailpiece is nice, I thought it might be a little large but it seems to be a perfect fit and it allows the strings to travel up to the bridge very cleanly, doubt I’ll use the fine tuners too much though. I bought parts new on eBay and as they won’t fit on the epi right out of the box, I spent a while figuring out the best way to install them and actually making a set of bushings. The bridge and tailpiece fit perfectly, they look absolutely like they are factory installed. Anyhow, what I really wanted to stress was the improvement in sustain – which I expected to some degree – and what I really didn’t expect – the improvement in tone. I’m not quite sure why the tone is so much better, but I suspect it’s to do with the contact area between the posts of the bridge/tailpiece and the instrument body. I really tried to make the bushings a perfect fit in both the body holes and the machine tread for the posts, I must have got lucky because the difference is dramatic. I was going to change my pick ups, but the tone is so good now that I might not. If I could figure out how to attach a picture to this post I’d do it, maybe someone could let me know how and I will, thanks, Jim Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1999nbmZ1281734025 Posted March 21, 2008 Share Posted March 21, 2008 Any chance you can post up some pics and part numbers for these? I'm looking to replace all hardware with gold, and I can't seem to locate many options for the metric parts. Wait a minute, did you pull the fatury bushing out of the body, and replace them with standard (American) threaded bushings? For pics, I use photobucket.com, and then when you are creating your post or reply, just click the "create link" button, the one that has a piece of chain in front of the globe, and paste the link in. It's free and easy! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
james_edward Posted March 21, 2008 Author Share Posted March 21, 2008 Thanks, I'll use photobucket and add a picture or two. What I did was pull out the factory bushing and made new bushings to fit the epi body holes and the Schaller treaded ends of the tailpiece posts and bridge thumbwheels, and it worked perfect, the thing sounds incredible. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
james_edward Posted March 21, 2008 Author Share Posted March 21, 2008 Here's a couple of pics of my 2005 LP standard with the new bridge and tailpiece installed. http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn264/james_edward_2008/007AA.jpghttp://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn264/james_edward_2008/007AA.jpg Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carverman Posted March 23, 2008 Share Posted March 23, 2008 Here's a couple of pics of my 2005 LP standard with the new bridge and tailpiece installed. Nice mods. I'm using a GFS Roller bridge on my LP Project guitar. The massive bushings on the stop piece and roller bridge should be an improvement over those stock metric t-o-m. Intonation on the G string should be an improvement with the roller bridges. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Muskank Sally Posted March 23, 2008 Share Posted March 23, 2008 You made a great choice. I have been singing the praises of the upgrades of a similar type that I did to my SG Custom almost two years ago. I replaced the bridge with a Gotoh. I had intonation issues that basically Required me to buy a bridge with longer saddle travel (the stock bridge saddles had even been reversed to try to help), so along with this I wanted a fine tuning tailpiece to keep it spot on and easier to micro-tune, which at that point was so aggrivating I HAD to find a solution. This SG had its last chance, and lo and behold those changes (along with tuners and a fret file) made my SG Custom the guitar it should've been to begin with. Now it tunes up once and plays for hours... I May have to micro-tune the high E at some point just cause of the way I hit it. I don't really have a reason as to 'why' it took these upgrades to make my guitar better, but it did. Now it plays like a dream. (old photo with gold pickups...since been changed to SH-6's) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
james_edward Posted March 23, 2008 Author Share Posted March 23, 2008 Thanks, sounds like we've found the same improvement, I just wish I had done it sooner. I posted this because I was so blown away with how the tone improved, which is something I didn’t really expect from this mod. When you play this guitar unplugged it almost sounds like an acoustic + it has better sustain. This LP was good right out of the box, but this mod really changed it for the better. I’m wondering if you had any trouble fitting that tail piece or did it drop right in? because these two Schaller parts were a pain, although it was worth every minute. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Whitmore Willy Posted March 23, 2008 Share Posted March 23, 2008 Hello James, Congrats on the upgrades. Really look nice. I went with the TP-6 on mine but I do want to upgrade my bridge. You really got me thinking about the Schallers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Muskank Sally Posted March 23, 2008 Share Posted March 23, 2008 Thanks' date=' sounds like we've found the same improvement, I just wish I had done it sooner. I posted this because I was so blown away with how the tone improved, which is something I didn’t really expect from this mod. When you play this guitar unplugged it almost sounds like an acoustic + it has better sustain. This LP was good right out of the box, but this mod really changed it for the better. I’m wondering if you had any trouble fitting that tail piece or did it drop right in? because these two Schaller parts were a pain, although it was worth every minute.[/quote']We tried the Schaller first (got ordered, then returned) but it was not a direct fit and a post mod would've had to been made. On this SG the Gibson TP-6 snapped right in without having to file it. On another LP I had last year I did the same thing but a bit of filing had to be done...not much, but the posts were milled a tad different I suppose. The SG got a longer voice due to the TP-6. It sustains longer than any guitar I own, but I will hand it to the new Loc-Tone from Epiphone...the new LP + top has it. That guitar needs no mods. It sings almost as long as the SG. So you can believe that when they tell you the new Loc-Tone does improve sustain. It doesn't rattle either. Seems like they did make an improvement. Now if they could make it wider for better saddle spacing/movement then it would be a total winner. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CodeMonk Posted March 23, 2008 Share Posted March 23, 2008 So, how did you go about making the bushings? I don't have a machine shop (or to many tools for that matter) at my disposal. You have a part number for it and where you ordered your stuff from? I saw the bridge on Stew Mac but not the tailpiece Oh yeah...and what material did you make the bushing out of? Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
james_edward Posted March 25, 2008 Author Share Posted March 25, 2008 Hello, to answer your question, the parts are by Schaller – I bought them on eBay but they were new in packages from Allparts in Houston. Schaller fine tune bridge TP 0398-010 http://www.allparts.com/store/tailpieces-stop-tailpieces,Category.asp Schaller roller tunematic GB 0590-010. http://www.allparts.com/store/guitar-bridges-tunematics,Category.asp As for the bushings – I made them with some regular hand tools and a drill press. Basically you use regular steel bar stock the right diameter to fit tight in the body holes and you drill and tap them to match the treads on the parts you buy. The main problem is that the distance between the centers of the body holes is slightly different than what hardware was intended for - good thing Epiphone puts giant bushings in LP’s and SG’s - because, if you drill the holes in the bushings slightly off centre, you can then rotate the bushings until the holes are exactly the proper distance between centers. As most upgrade parts intended for Gibson LP’s and SG’s, don’t just bolt on to Epiphone’s (for some unknown reason) I think it was worth it - at least I’m not having too much trouble convincing myself. That bridge really is a work of art and it’s adjustable 3 ways. BTW - If anyone’s interested, the Kluson tonepro tuners with the “bolt bushing” made for 10mm holes on imports, fit my epi perfectly. They bolted right on to my 2005 standard and covered all signs of the stock Grover tuners on the backside, and they are sweet – going from 18:1 down to 15:1 didn’t really bother me too much because of the tailpiece, the quality of these little machines is really amazing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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