intellivised Posted February 2, 2009 Share Posted February 2, 2009 I joined this forum about a week ago to ask some technical questions as I'm new to the blood and guts side to my guitars... but I realized that I haven't had the manners to say hello... ...so hello! I'm a brand new Epiphone Wilshire re-issue owner. This is my second Epiphone. I used to have a translucent purple Les Paul that took a suicide dive off of it's tuning pegs and hit a coffee table on the way down... I couldn't be more stoked with having a new instrument. I got it to be my live show guitar and my new band's first gig is coming up in a few weeks, so it's quickly becoming a race against the clock to get the first wave of upgrades in. My initial impressions are that this guitar is a very strange bird indeed (but the same could be said about me) and I'm having a bit of a hard time figuring out what's what but thats proving to be part of the fun. My big issue right now is figuring out what capacitors to buy to go with the tone pots and where to get a replacement/back-up pickguard. I have some mad scientist plans for this guitar. The guitar itself is really fun to play. I'm reserving tone comments until I get my amplifiers new pre-amp tubes. If you folks are interested I'd be more than willing to post sound/video/pics (I'm a media professional by day) as I go as I make my Wilshire a Frankenshire... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theDeuce Posted February 2, 2009 Share Posted February 2, 2009 Pix and video would be great. Thanks and welcome. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bender 4 Life Posted February 2, 2009 Share Posted February 2, 2009 Welcome to the forum.............yes, pics are always a bonus to us. there should be lots of threads devoted to upgrades in the search engine........mostly for Les Pauls, but the Wilshire has 2 humbuckers, right? as for a pickguard, and some sage advice, try PMing Twang.......he makes guards, and works on Epis. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
intellivised Posted February 2, 2009 Author Share Posted February 2, 2009 Mr. Twang has been very helpful so far. The fact that this Wilshire seems to be a Musicians Friend/Guitar Center only joint and the pickguard is very non-standard made me nervous about doing an upgrade... If the guard cracks during routing well that's no good! So! After some talking to Sir Twang and a few phone calls (and e-mails) I found a local guitar store (local by Wyoming standards, I only have to go over two sets of mountains to get to it, ha) in Ft. Collins, CO with an on staff luthier. We had a really nice chat and he told me 'making a pickguard would be no big deal'. So next paycheck I'm going to take a personal day and do all my big city stuff including a new pickguard. And since the Frankenshire (it still needs a real name) is going to get some new armor... I'm tempted not to get the same thing. How would guys think a tortoise shell or pearloid pickguard would look like? I'm getting the pups replaced, so they'll both be white exposed coils. I was all about pearloid this morning and then thought... man... I bet a shell guard on that would look sharp. I'll take a picture tomorrow so you can all see. Also - if any of you folks out on the forum ever have any video questions let me know, that's the day job - being an expert at everything video. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
intellivised Posted February 2, 2009 Author Share Posted February 2, 2009 Welcome to the forum.............yes' date=' pics are always a bonus to us. there should be lots of threads devoted to upgrades in the search engine........mostly for Les Pauls, but the Wilshire has 2 humbuckers, right? as for a pickguard, and some sage advice, try PMing Twang.......he makes guards, and works on Epis.[/quote'] ...and to answer your question, yes this indeed has two humbuckers. Soon to be a Bill Lawrence & SD Jazz. One paycheck at a time though! Amps and pedals are getting fixed first... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TWANG Posted February 3, 2009 Share Posted February 3, 2009 He seems to have a guard made out of something besides regular material. That is, I've never run into one that's brittle before. I don't have template for that model, either. Welcome to the group intellivised! I'd go for white pearl, but tortoise would also look very nice. TWANG Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fenrirlupus Posted February 3, 2009 Share Posted February 3, 2009 congratulations on the purchase, if you are happy with it. and i never really said hello either... so i'll use this thread. HELLO! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest icantbuyafender Posted February 4, 2009 Share Posted February 4, 2009 meh... i like the tortoise idea. my good friend who owns a wilshire got a 1'x1' grey/light-grey houndstooth pattern decal made at a decal shop. he applied it to his 'shire's pickguard and razored the excess. honestly, Im very jealous and am looking to bag a shire to call my own. and yeah, im kinda new too. ive used this place as reference lotsa times prior, but being an epi-head, i was propelled to join by my love for these guitars so heres my hello too, then. Hi Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
intellivised Posted February 4, 2009 Author Share Posted February 4, 2009 meh... i like the tortoise idea. my good friend who owns a wilshire got a 1'x1' grey/light-grey houndstooth pattern decal made at a decal shop. he applied it to his 'shire's pickguard and razored the excess. This is probably the best idea ever and I might actually look into this. I'm leaning pearloid now. I'll learn tortosie shell tomorrow. It'll all depend on my call into the guy making it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EL-KABONG! Posted February 5, 2009 Share Posted February 5, 2009 I got a very early example of the wilshire reissue. There was a guy on ebay making black guards for these. He said that due to the product variability (china) he would no longer offer them unless you could send him a tracing. I thought about it and punted. I have a ton of hare-brained schemes for upgrades (Bigsby, pu's, finish, etc) but haven't done much yet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
intellivised Posted February 5, 2009 Author Share Posted February 5, 2009 I have, pretty much, settled on my upgrade pattern: New pickguard is first. Then I'm going to send it out and get all new electronics, top down. Pots, caps, jack, switch, wires, shielding. I'm going to try/pay for a tracing of the guard. If anyone is interested... well... I'll have it. I have to suffer through a round of gigs (there just isn't time & paychecks enough to cover it) going stock. THEN I'm going to drop in a Seymour Duncan Jazz or '59 in the neck and a Bill Lawrence (not USA, but the real homemade kind) in the bridge with the finished pickguard. Depending on what the guitar techs have to say, I'm going to eventually replace the chintzy plastic nut with a graphite nut, or maybe an Earvana. Saddles, too. No bigsby for this guy - I have two trem guitars already that are neutered. Just don't use it. My deadline is April (or so). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest icantbuyafender Posted February 7, 2009 Share Posted February 7, 2009 I have' date=' pretty much, settled on my upgrade pattern: New pickguard is first. Then I'm going to send it out and get all new electronics, top down. Pots, caps, jack, switch, wires, shielding. I'm going to try/pay for a tracing of the guard. If anyone is interested... well... I'll have it. I have to suffer through a round of gigs (there just isn't time & paychecks enough to cover it) going stock. THEN I'm going to drop in a Seymour Duncan Jazz or '59 in the neck and a Bill Lawrence (not USA, but the real homemade kind) in the bridge with the finished pickguard. [/quote'] sounds like the outcome will be something to show off. i want a shire now. only, mine would entail a new pickguard cut for two single coils instead of the humbuckers. itll be my next project whenever i can actually get ahold of one from musiciansfriend. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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