ant7629 Posted April 21, 2008 Share Posted April 21, 2008 Hi I have finally followed the good advice of many of you and invested in a Dot. I am picking it up tomorrow (pic to come). I have played on it though, and it does need to be set up. Would you advise getting this done professionally or is it worth doing it myself??? If it is the latter, does anyone know of any guides that available? Or have any tips? Also, I am going to invest in some new pickups. Would it be best to go for the Gibson ones? If so, how much should I expect to pay? Thanks I really, really, really like this forum! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ron G Posted April 21, 2008 Share Posted April 21, 2008 Congrats on your newbie! The subject of setup and pickup replacement is discussed in many previous threads. I suggest you look back and/or search the forum for the gobs of info herein. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RotcanX Posted April 21, 2008 Share Posted April 21, 2008 Well, you can always try and do the set-up yourself, there are lots of threads on here explaining how it's done, and there are also tons of good articles on the web to this effect. Worse comes to worst, you can always bring it in to a pro, explain to him that you are not worthy and get him to fix it for you while you watch him go "tsk tsk" and "tut tut" and shake his head a lot. Nothing wrong with Gibson pickups; for example a pair of '57 Classics (no plus) will get you real close to the sound of a Gibson ES-335. However you might also consider some Seymour Duncans or Dimarzios or even some GFS units if cost is a major consideration. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bluesstringer Posted April 21, 2008 Share Posted April 21, 2008 Watch the setup videos online and read everthing you can and then CAREFULLY do it yourself unless you want to always have to pay someone to do it for you. It's not difficult to do once you get the hang of it. you can't go wrong with any of the choices Rot mentioned but I would recommend playing your DOT for a couple of weeks first. don't forget to post pics ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FrankS1281734010 Posted April 21, 2008 Share Posted April 21, 2008 action, intonation, bridge height, etc. etc. are all things that you can easily adjust yourself, if you know how to do it. the only thing i don't mess with personally is the truss rod; messing that up will destroy your guitar. as for gibson pickups, they are good but you can expect to pay $90+ for each one. i can back rotcanx up on the GFS ones, especially if you're on a budget. they make a great pup that usually doesn't cost you more than $30 or so. put a set in my LP and haven't looked back. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lerxst1281733995 Posted April 21, 2008 Share Posted April 21, 2008 I plan on putting a pair of GFS Vintage '59s in my Dot... They're supposed to be a clone of Gibson Classic '57s (so I'm told), and 57's are what's in a Gibby 335. I'm trying to make my Dot into a kind of trailer park version of the 335... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ant7629 Posted April 21, 2008 Author Share Posted April 21, 2008 I may try the GFS Vintage '59s then. One other thing, the pick guard is a little messy on this guitar and I need to replace it. Does anyone know where I could pick one up? (no pun intended) I have searched a few websites but they seem to be copies and I want the real deal with the "E" on ther and don't mind paying a little extra for one. I don't know how easy it is to find one anywhere else, but its proving quite difficult here in the UK... Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carverman Posted April 21, 2008 Share Posted April 21, 2008 I plan on putting a pair of GFS Vintage '59s in my Dot... They're supposed to be a clone of Gibson Classic '57s (so I'm told)' date=' and 57's are what's in a Gibby 335. I'm trying to make my Dot into a kind of trailer park version of the 335... [/quote'] Yes, they seem to be very close. I've got two sets, one in each of my Emps. I just got in GFS jazz tp in gold along with some kluson style green tuners and it makes these archtop really stand out. I'm just putting in some open coil vintage 59s in my project LP. Can't wait to hear it come alive. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wastra Posted April 21, 2008 Share Posted April 21, 2008 I have a GFS vintage 59 in the brodge positon of my dot with a mean 90 in the neck. I highly recommend GFS pickups. The vintage 59 is slightly twangier than the gibby 57, but miles better than the stock pickups. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shartom Posted April 21, 2008 Share Posted April 21, 2008 Before you go ordering new pickups, I would play it for a while say for a month. Get to know the instrument as you may be suprised. I have 5 Epi's and they are all different. There was an interesting article in VG magazine by Robin Ford. He stressed getting to know your guitar regardless of it's make or price. As you don't have it yet, spend some time introducing your new DOT to your amp. I have a room full of amps and each one of them sounds totally different. I have followed Robin's suggestion and have not replaced the pickups on any of my guitars. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Secret Agent Man Posted April 21, 2008 Share Posted April 21, 2008 I've owned a couple of Dots myself. Setup was always pretty easy. My secret (belive it or not) is looking at pictures of Les Pauls and 335's and looking at the bridge. Once you set up the saddles the real challenge will be the height of the bridge. This will require lots of patience, since you got to keep tuning and detuning until you finally are comfortable with the height and tone. Since it is YOUR guitar, you should be the one comfortable with the feel, not your guitar tech. It is a pain, but you will only need to repeat this process if you ever change string gauge. As far as pickups go, the Gibson 57 Classics were amazing on mine!!! In my opinion, this is the true tone of what this guitar should sound like, so thats why i went with them. I did not regret it! The only other thing i would have considered swapping them for are Burstbuckers. Good luck with your new Dot! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cabeza Posted April 22, 2008 Share Posted April 22, 2008 Agreed. Set up as much as you can on your own and play for few weeks. Things like strings, action, intonation and such are pretty simple to get used to. That way, you're getting to know the guitar and how it feels and plays. From there, you'll know what you want it to sound like. I'm not a pro at setups, but I picked up what I could online. Eventually, I do end up taking it to a pro I trust (very important!), who will hook up anything I may have overlooked, as well as doing any mods I may want. I have a Sheraton I recently bought, with the intention of replacing the pups. I decided to wait and get to know what sounds I can coax out of it and found I'm very happy with the stock pickups. My Dot, I knew after about 3 months that I wanted something different, so I tried some GFS pickups that go great with it. And.. post a pic of it so that we may all gaaaaaassssss.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ant7629 Posted April 22, 2008 Author Share Posted April 22, 2008 Well here is a pic of my new Epiphone as promised. I have removed the pickguard because it was a mess, so I will be ordering a new one. I am amazed at the sound and quality of it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jcwillow777 Posted April 22, 2008 Share Posted April 22, 2008 Congrats - very nice! I have a cherry Dot, but yours looks more wine, I like it. You might want to consider a 335 style pick guard instead of the standard Epi pickguard. I put one on mine and I personally like the looks of it much better than the Epi pick guard. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nickblues1 Posted April 22, 2008 Share Posted April 22, 2008 Ah, the "Clapton" Dot. Nice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lerxst1281733995 Posted April 22, 2008 Share Posted April 22, 2008 Yeah, that does look more wine than cherry... Maybe it's the lighting? It's a bear taking a good photo of a red guitar... The pics of my Dot still look way too "bright".. I second JC's suggestion of the 335 PG... I've also got green keystones and black chrome-top knobs.. I also replaced the bridge because the stock one buzzed and I put a bone nut on it, because the dreaded black plastic nut is awful.... Oh, you can find an Epi pickguard on eBay all day long if you really got your heart set on it.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
garyelcrrt1281733995 Posted April 23, 2008 Share Posted April 23, 2008 Congrats, HGND Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ant7629 Posted April 23, 2008 Author Share Posted April 23, 2008 It does look quite dark doesn't it? Its brighter under the light and the label inside says "CH", so I am assuming that it is cherry... I put the serial number into the website and it says it was made in the Peerless factory. Is that the Korean one? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bill67 Posted April 23, 2008 Share Posted April 23, 2008 What difference sound would you get with dot by changing just the pots Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RotcanX Posted April 23, 2008 Share Posted April 23, 2008 What difference sound would you get with dot by changing just the pots Pretty much none. Even the difference between the crappiest pots out there and the best sealed AB or Bourns units will only translate to a better feel' date=' not necessarily a better or even different sound. The Alpha pots that Epiphone uses are of good quality so, unless they break, I'd say stick with them. The one thing you can do is to try either 1 Megaohm tone pots which would give you a [i']slight[/i] increase in brightness when your tones are wide open (10); however this will also mean that you have to dial way down before you start to roll off effectively. Even better would be to do a 'Texas tone' mod, where you cut the resistance trace in the pots so that they essentially go 'infinite' at '10'. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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