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experimentations on my epiphone


brogh

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Posted

Hello Guys

 

I need a suggestion from You :D

 

I recently bought an epiphone les paul custom, made in china in the 2008, i like almost anything from this guitar, it's weight, it's sound when she's not plugged in an amp, the frets are ok, let's say that i'm almost at home :D

 

Love it except for one thing....... the pickups.

 

I bought this guitar used and the pickups are the Epiphone original ones wich i don't like that much i feel them poor in sound.

 

So what i plan to do is buy 2 new pickups :

 

burstbucker 1 burstbucker 2

 

And at this point i want also to change th pots with push pull ones so i can realize the sozo wiring.

 

As this update will cost me almost the money i've payd for the guitar i was wondering what you would do ...

 

Change all that stuff ?

 

or put the money apart and buy a new Different one ?

 

I've payd the guitar about $ 450

 

Here are some pics just in case you wanna give a look :D ( so you can tell me what you thik of it )

 

epi1.jpg

 

 

epi2.jpg

Posted

unless u want another 450 guitar, i say make it your own and get your tone. upgrade !!!!!!!!. i have learned over the 2 yrs since i started playing that, you need to make it your sound. i have a few low end guitars and after playing on them and modding some. it is more important (for me now) to get the sound i like. And, it is cheaper to mod than spend more and buy new to come to the same end on the new more expensive guitar. imho. i hope this helps!!!!

Posted

+1 Wardog! Not to mention that a cherryburst custom is a relativly rare bird and a thing of (IMHO) beauty! Make it your own signature guitar, brough!

 

Jim

Posted

Hello guys And thanks for the answers

 

Actually i think i will go with the pickups but instead of gibsone one wich seems to be non splittable

 

I found two seymour duncan that should fit

 

SH-4 JB Model --> link

 

SH-2N Jazz Model --> link

 

I think i will go saturday in a shop near here wich should have em ( the online shop says so )

 

So i will let you know, if i get it right i will post some audio samples :D

 

I will also post some more decent pictures when i have cleaned it :D

 

Cheers guys and thank for the advices

 

Brogh

Posted

Hello Brogh,

 

I have a guitar with the SD JB and Jazz pickups and it has some sweet tones. It is a neck through guitar and is a dream to play. It is not a LP, it is a Schecter C1 Classic, so it has a strat style body. You can get the "woman" tones from the Jazz in the neck, and a wide range of tones from the Jeff Beck. And you are correct, they can be split, and they do a great imitation of a strat tone when split.

 

Let us know and send more pics!

 

Doth

Posted

burstbuckers? suit yourself...

 

i like what lace has to offer... alumatones... of course, they don't really sound humbucker-y... just.... like guitar... and they're great with distortion :P

Posted

Good luck on your pickup swap. I personlly don't care for Epi pickups either and have swapped them out of all of my Epis for various brands.

 

Nice looking CSB Custom. It is definitely worth upgrading!

Posted

here's what i did to my epi. les paul. on e-bay, i found a company called bcsguitars.com. i got the pre-assembled les paul tone pot kit, with oil in paper caps. just drop it in! i then put a '57 gibson classic +in the bridge, and a classic in the neck. i've owned 2 gibson l.p's and my epi. is just as good as either of them. if the gibson p/u's are too expensive, i've heared nothing but good things about gfs '59 boutique pup's. i bought one on e-bay for $29, and plan to put it in my epi "v". i don't know whether it was the pickups, or the new pots with the oil caps, or both, i just know my epi l.p. totally rocks! good luck, and nice axe

Posted

Thank for the replies :D

 

About the burstbuckers i've changed my mind with the seymour duncan ones which also allows me switching.

 

About the knobs yes one is misaligned the knob is defectous, but at this moment i don't care as i'm gonna change em too with the pots and all the electronics :)

 

About the knobs what do you think of knobs for push-pull configurations ?

 

I'm pretty going for the 030 one, do you think that they pull off easely when swithching ? i dont wanna end playing with a knob in my hands :P

 

PRHK-010.JPG

 

Should i go with something like that .. not for the form i mean for the screw to fixing it to the pots ?

 

concentric_knobs3.gif

 

 

Thanks to all for the many advices

 

Cheers

Brogh

 

Ps

I'm searching for a digital camera to make some better pics as i don't have one will upload em soon.

Posted

I forgot,

 

Does anyone know if the finish is nitro or comp on epiphone guitars ? and if i want to clean it up and make it shiny ?

 

What should i use ?, actually it ws just cleaned with a soft dry cloth.

 

Cheers

Posted
I thought the same thing Swoop. I wasn't sure if it was just me or if it was the angle of the pic.

Me too. Also, again, maybe the picture angle but the body contour seems a little... off. Upper bout and cutaway look weird.

Posted

epi pups are alnico 5's. i would try something new here like alnico 2's. alot of those you point at are also alnico 5's. i know people say epi and gib are night and day but i've tried other alnico 5's and i'm going back to alnico 2's. most gibbo pickups are alnico 2's although seth specified alnico 5's. some after market gibbo pups are also coil splittable.

Posted

Hey there, O:)

 

Yes as i've said the thing about the knobs, it's a weird thing, the solderings pots and cabling are not really nice as i expected, NOTHING TO DO WITH THIS PICTURE

 

g400custom_14.jpg

 

 

 

if its so that they should look inside mine is really not so i'm alomst sure that someone has put hands in it and has done a terrific work, i will upload some pics when i disassemble her tomorrow.

 

Also the pots of the volume aren't working that great they have a low tolerance and from 0 to 8 volume gets up really slow from 8 to 10 its almost incontrollable, altought it's good for having crunched distroted with a short turn, the tone does work almost good, but i'm sure that changing them will give a clean up to the general tone of the guitar.

 

The Knobs are misaligned ( will upload pics ). Except one theother three don't fit completely in, and also the knobs come off too easely.

 

Can't wait tomorrow !

 

thanks to all for the answers and the suggestions :)

 

Cheers

Brogh

Posted

I think Swoop is right too....those pots are way off...I've owned an Epiphony before....and that cavity looks off as well.....I'd start with getting an authentic Epi...and upgrade that.....................

Posted
I think Swoop is right too....those pots are way off...I've owned an Epiphony before....and that cavity looks off as well.....I'd start with getting an authentic Epi...and upgrade that.....................

 

Are you telling me that maybe this is not an authentic epiphone ?

 

Cheers

Posted

I don't think i need to be telling you...the pics do it themselves man...show some more pics...head stock...tuners...and when you take the pickups out...they should be labelled with epiphone or something of that nature...as well if you take the saddle off or use a lil mirror there should see "Epiphone" underneath....just a few more things for you to upgrade to sub-epiphone quality...let alone gibson which you were prolly aiming for. If I were you...I'd sharpen the head stock to a point and hunt down the loser who sold it to you....

Posted

Hello guys,

 

Maybe i wasn't that clear :D i've poste the pic, ONLY TO SHOW THE THE TYPE OF CLEAN CABLING :D i also know that this is NOT a les paul cavity :D

 

My cabling are not THAT CLEAN :D that's what i was showing in that pic which IS NOT from my epiphone :D

 

 

Ok

 

Got the pickups

 

Got the pots

 

I start my work in a couple of hours hope i can post some pics later, will also give her a general clean up and polish it :D

 

I will post the pics later :D

Posted

Again...sorry to say...but if your wiring in ur 2008 Custom isn't as nice as that SG...that's another sure sign that your LP Custom is a fake. There should be a white quick connect in ur wiring, amongst the other dead give aways that I mentioned before...before you start modding that guitar...get rid of it...i can tell from the position of ur control knobs that its not legit...

Posted

Ok the guitar dater project tells me :

 

Your guitar was made at the

Qingdao Plant (Epiphone), China

April 2008

Production Number: 16729

 

 

I Don't have a nice camera, so i have to use my cellphone the quality of the pics is not that good sorry for that.

 

Here are some pics of head, head back

 

and the pots

 

 

 

pots2.jpg

 

headb2.jpg

 

headbl.jpg

 

headfl.jpg

 

 

I don't think it's a fake one, i gave a look to a epiphone custom this morning in a shop and i didn't notice that difference from mine, the quality looks to be the same.

 

 

Thanks again for the hints :D

 

Cheers

Brogh

Posted

ok man...i was just tryin to give ya a heads up cuz that cavity looks awfully messy...i had standard plus top and it was waaaaay nicer work on the wiring...but if ur happy with the guitar that's what matters

Posted

Hy epipeedro thanks for the hints :D

 

as i've said i'm pretty sure that someone has put hands in this guitar that's why i was asking about it, i found two pictures about the knobs alignment

 

Knobs.jpg

 

if you were talking about this alignment, yes it's the left alignment and not the right one which should be an original.

 

So is it fake or not ? :D who can say ?

 

In any case i feel comfortable with this guitar, so i think i will go on with the pickup swap, i can even pull em out and put them to a new one eventually.

 

Cheers

 

Thanks again :D

 

Brogh

 

ps forgot i also had from the previus owner the stickers that come over the pickups, the transparent one

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