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Worth it to upgrade 90s les paul custom?


chris66

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Hey peeps. Question for anyone with some experience. I have a mid 90's les paul custom that I got when I was 13 years old. Been through a couple bands and dozens of shows. Years ago I replaced it with a new axe and this old Epi sits in the closet in its case. My main axe is an 04 gibson ES137, but I'm in need of a decent back up guitar before i start modifying my ES. I know the old Epiphone has a slightly warped neck (pain in the a$$ to tune a low E), and it needs to be set up. My big question is whether or not you guys feel it would be worth it to dump a couple of 57 classics or something into it and upgrade the machines and get it set up and ready to go to use as a backup. OR, should I just leave it well enough alone. This guitar, albeit not the nicest, does have major sentimental value, so either way I'm gonna hold onto it.

 

Let me know what you guys think.

 

 

Chris

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Before I did anything with it, I would take it into a luthier and have him/her look at it to see if the neck can be adjusted to your liking. If it can, I agree with Stan. Check out GFS. I have their Vintage 59s (57 Classic sound a likes) in 3 of my Epis. I am totally happy with them. You can get a set of Vintage 59s for less than one Classic 57.

 

Their tuners are okay, but I personally wouldn't buy any more. I have replaced most of the tuners in my Epis with Grover Vintage Green Keystones. Not because the tuners needed to be replaced, but for aesthetics. I got a set of the GFS look a likes. Though they work fine, the Grovers are much sturdier.

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i just put some gfs style pickups in my g400. they might be artec's? i had power rails in there. they were way powefull. these are way gretsch. acoustic is cool distorted is really bitey. i'm begining to like their p90's more. i think you will get a good sound from any gfs'sif standards are this high. although some may not be to your taste. i am going to order some wilkinson ez lok tuners a steel block and a set of little killers for xmas. i'm sold.

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I would keep it as a back up guitar and let your set up guy have a look at it.

If it's a minor repair play it for a few months and then decide if it needs a pickup upgrade.

 

Peter

 

As far as my band's sound is concerned, I'm way past trusting the sound of the epiphone. If it will be used as a backup i can rely on, it at leat needs to sound decent, and I never truly was in love with the tone. Although the neck may have not helped that either :)

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As far as my band's sound is concerned' date=' I'm way past trusting the sound of the epiphone. If it will be used as a backup i can rely on, it at leat needs to sound decent, and I never truly was in love with the tone. Although the neck may have not helped that either :) [/quote']

 

Well, in that case i would recommend Seymour Duncan '59s or Seth Lovers.

 

Peter

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Hey peeps. Question for anyone with some experience. I have a mid 90's les paul custom that I got when I was 13 years old. Been through a couple bands and dozens of shows. Years ago I replaced it with a new axe and this old Epi sits in the closet in its case. My main axe is an 04 gibson ES137' date=' but I'm in need of a decent back up guitar before i start modifying my ES. I know the old Epiphone has a slightly warped neck (pain in the a$$ to tune a low E), and it needs to be set up. My big question is whether or not you guys feel it would be worth it to dump a couple of 57 classics or something into it and upgrade the machines and get it set up and ready to go to use as a backup. OR, should I just leave it well enough alone. This guitar, albeit not the nicest, does have major sentimental value, so either way I'm gonna hold onto it.

 

Let me know what you guys think.

 

 

Chris[/quote']

 

as far as the guitar itself.. An epi lp with a warped neck would make good firewood during the cold winter... But, to be real... After upgrading you could always remove the pickups etc... if you change your mind....

 

Unless you are paying for someone to install the pickups... Then I would say it's not worth it...

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