My New Dot Project

[eNo]

So heres my new project. I just bought this Epi Dot Deluxe yesterday and within hours of getting it home I had every piece of hardware and electronics stripped off. About 6 years ago I owned a Natural finish Dot that I really liked… but always wanted to upgrade to get a better sound. Well that Dot is long gone. But it always ate away at me to pimp out a Dot, to get to build my own special rig. After years of thinking about it I finally bought a new Dot. I found this Dot Deluxe for on sale for $400 at my Local guitar shop. I HATE gold hardware (I am aware that hate is a strong word, but I do!!). But the gold didn’t bother me here cuz its all GONE!! Total cost of the rig is about $950.00 That includes $400 for the guitar, $100 for the case, $60 for Gibson Tuners from my local guitar shop, $150 to Stew-Mac for new hardware and electronics, and rest for 2 new Gibson PAF 57 Humbuckers. I’ll get a few bucks back from selling the gold hardware on eBay too. Now one could argue that I should buy an Elitist Dot and I would get about the same thing… But that takes all the fun out of it and I really don’t care for the headstock on the Elitist stuff. But I’ll tell ya… pulling apart a Dot really opened my eyes to how shoddy these things are put together. There wasn’t a tightened nut or bolt on the thing. Shielding was laughable. Cavity routing was very rough. Just to name a few things. But after a few hours of work I had all those issued fixed. Overall it’s a good solid guitar with a lot of potential. I plan to fulfill that potential over the next few weeks as I build this baby back up!!!

 

 

I’ll post more pics when its all done…. Then I think I’ll build a Tele!

[judybat]

Good luck with that! I have a Dot Studio that I plan to do the exact same thing with. Do you happen to have the specific item #'s for those parts from Stew Mac? I keep meaning to look them up, but if you have them handy that would be a great help. Thanks!

[wardog]

Good luck with that! I have a Dot Studio that I plan to do the exact same thing with. Do you happen to have the specific item #'s for those parts from Stew Mac? I keep meaning to look them up' date=' but if you have them handy that would be a great help. Thanks![/quote']

 

 

 

ditto. can u provide info please eno!!!!!!

[Charles Obscure]

Nice looking body, I can't wait to see what the end result looks like! I'm with you on the gold hardware thing, only without the "hate" ;^)

I only have one guitar with gold, an Epi G400 LP Custom. The black and gold look great together, and I wouldn't change it, but the gold plate is starting to rub off of the bridge and tailpiece. I try to avoid gold hardware unless it's on a guitar I REALLY want.

Cheers, and keep us posted on progress!

[eNo]

Good luck with that! I have a Dot Studio that I plan to do the exact same thing with. Do you happen to have the specific item #'s for those parts from Stew Mac? I keep meaning to look them up' date=' but if you have them handy that would be a great help. Thanks![/quote']

 

Yeah sure… Just so happen to have the confirmation email on my Stew-Mac order handy!

 

Qty - Item# Description (price each, total price)

1 - #0168-N Gotoh 'Stop' Tailpiece Nickel, M8 x 1.25 ($17.78)

1 - #1511-N Gotoh Tune-o-matic Bridge with Studs/Bushings Nickel ($21.75)

8 - #3359 -B Humbucker Mounting Ring Screw Black ($0.23, $1.84)

4 - #4386 Pickup Height Screws Humbucker, nickel ($0.37, $1.48)

3 - #0744 Truss Rod Cover Screw Nickel, 0.072" ($0.20, $0.60)

1 - #0133 Wiring Kit for Les Paul Standard pots ($33.47) - This is a complete wiring kit with all the pots, wiring, switches and stuff needed for an LP set up (everything but the Pick-Ups). You can get really nice $10 pots out there but this is good enough for my setup. Get the Standard pots for an arch top, and the Long Shaft pots for an LP.

1 - #0170 Strap Buttons Chrome, set of 2 ($3.52, $3.52)

1 - #0105 LP Pickguard Bracket Chrome ($4.12)

1 - #0029 Conductive Shielding Paint 1/2 pint($31.78)

 

Stuff I was able to keep from the stock build:

Pickguard

Truss Rod Cover

Pick-Up Height Adjustment Springs

Black Pick-Up Mounting Rings

 

Stuff I bought from my local guitar shop:

Epiphone Dot Deluxe Guitar

Hardshell Case

Gibson Deluxe “Keystone” tuners

Ernie Ball Strings

 

Stuff I bought from Musicians Friend:

2 Gibson PAF ’57 Humbucker Pick-Ups

 

Well that’s everything I had to buy… now there are a few extra little screws and stuff I had to get because I’m going from Gold hardware to Silver hardware. But it only added about $10 to the cost… as everything else like the Bridge, Tailpiece, Pick-ups, Tuners, etc.. were going to be replaced anyway.

 

In changing the Tuners I had to plug the old screw holes and drill new ones for the Gibson Tuners. I used the toothpick and glue trick here, then just snipped off the extra. The Gibson tuners will cover these plugs so no need to make them look nice.

 

 

Here is a better close up the Pick-Up cavities. Pretty rough and bad shielding job. A little wood filler, Sand paper, and some shielding paint and there are a ton better!!!

[eNo]

Just got the Pick-ups in the mail... SCORE!!!

[L1Picker]

Have fun with your project. I completely redid mine, right down to a nitro finish. A very enjoyable project indeed.

[britabe]

sweet dude! gl with your project!

[lpdeluxe]

Go for it.

[Ron G]

Wow! Approximately $330 in parts, so far.

[eNo]

Wow! Approximately $330 in parts' date=' so far.[/quote']

 

Yep... finding all the parts and deciding what to get is half the fun!!! To tell you the truth I'm kinda bummed that part is over... I really enjoyed the hunt for the right Guitar and all the parts. On the plus side I've started putting the Gold hardware on eBay. Got $20 for the Tuners!!

 

The budget I set for myself was 1/3rd the cost of a real Gibson 335 on Musicians Friend... so thats $950. So far I'm on the road to being a little under budget... I may have to pull a few last minute splurges to hit it!!!!

[davidg3333]

Sounds like fun. Are you going to keep the gold colored volume and control knobs?

[IbbysB4Epis]

Yeah sure… Just so happen to have the confirmation email on my Stew-Mac order handy!

 

Qty - Item# Description (price each' date=' total price)

1 - #0168-N Gotoh 'Stop' Tailpiece Nickel, M8 x 1.25 ($17.78)

1 - #1511-N Gotoh Tune-o-matic Bridge with Studs/Bushings Nickel ($21.75)[/quote']

 

Good luck! I really hope these items fit. I had to modify the hole and slot spacing on these two items to fit on my Dot Studio. So far, my experience is: very few if any aftermarket parts fit Epiphone guitars. I hope your experience is better than mine.

[eNo]

 

Good luck! I really hope these items fit. I had to modify the hole and slot spacing on these two items to fit on my Dot Studio. So far' date=' my experience is: very few if any aftermarket parts fit Epiphone guitars. I hope your experience is better than mine.

[/quote']

 

I haven't had any such problems as of yet. The problem you pointed out in the bushing size is a little smaller on the Gotoh bridge and tailpeice is indeed true... but if you buy the metric threaded (8x1.25mm) ones they with directly screw into the stock bushings on the epiphone. If you use the bushings that come with the Gotoh bridge and tailpeice then you have to fill the hole and drill a new one cuz the bushing is smaller. I am useing the stock bushings that came on the guitar... I just removed them so I could take the the Gold coating off of them (emery cloth and 5 minutes) and run a new ground wire... then I just re-installed the bushings back into the guitar and mounted the new bridge and tail. Easy as pie!!!

 

The trick is make sure you get the Metric threaded ones and not the other ones or it won't work that way!!

 

[alfsboy]

i did a similar project for my Dot SE except I fitted Tonerider Rocksong pickups and Grover deluxe tuners ,The Gotoh bridge and stop tail I bought from ebay and were GE103B-T and GE101Z,They fitted perfectly as did the tuners ,It all made a hige difference and plays perfectly .Its well worth it .

[Bad Juju]

Any updates?