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Upgrading pickups on epiphone? (i know nothing!)


stebed

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Hey everyone, I have an Epiphone Les Paul, looks like this:

 

http://www.electricguitarplanet.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/04/epiphone_les_paul_standard_plus.jpg

 

My guitar won't stay in tune, the intonation is off so i'm going to get it setup by a luthier. I don't really know a lot about this kind of thing, the luthier said he could change my pickups for me if i wanted while he did the setup (no extra charge).. reading a bit on here people talk about redo'ing wiring, tuning, caps? pots? etc.. I'm pretty happy with the sound of my guitar but its also my only guitar so I probably don't know what I'm missing. Upgrading the pickups seems like a good value, what about the rest of that stuff?

 

And now how to choose what pickup? I like to play modern rock music with distortion.. some bands I like: Pearl Jam, Smashing Pumpkins, Guns N Roses, Weezer.. the heaviest I would get is probably Tool, no metal type stuff. I also like nice clean sounds as I'm taking jazz guitar lessons at the moment, and I've always loved the sound a strat a la little wing but I realize i have the wrong guitar for that sound. I don't know if that helps much, I don't know what the stock pickups are in my guitar at the moment, I spend 90% of my time on the bridge pickup, don't use split ever, and use the neck pickup when playing clean. Are there standard "can't go wrong these will sound great and be a huge improvement over your stock pickups"? The luthier said a lot of people have Classic '57's installed with Classic '57's Plus on the bridge. He also mentionned Seymour Duncan Alnico II Pro's, all I know about them is that Slash uses them.. I like Slash for what it's worth.

 

So please help! :) Thanks!

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I've seen players do wonders with the stock Epi pups..... I would say at this point move forward with the stockers for now until you grow out of them.

 

Have to agree with Duane' date=' the LP standard comes with

Alnico Classic (Neck) and Alnico Classic Plus (Bridge), difference

being Neck pup wound to about 8K for mellower sound, Bridge wound

to about 13K for brighter sound. You do also have the ability to control

your tone via the tone knobs on the git and via the settings on the amp.

 

I LOVE to mod and upgrade gits, but not ALL gits will require mods.

I don't remember the title, but on youtube there is a dude that

plays an EPI LP Standard (STOCK) and compares it to a GIBSON

(STOCK), switches gits back and forth. Perhaps someone knows the

clip I'm talking about. His bottom-line message - If you can't afford

a Gibby, then get an EPI LP Standard!!!!!

 

EDIT: FOUND THE CLIP...

 

[YOUTUBE']

[/YOUTUBE]
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Well I never expected this! I thought this place was all about mods and upgrades and customizing, never expected you guys to talk me out of upgrading my pickups :) I've had my epi for about six years now but it didn't get played much the last three years as I got into drums but now I'm back in an apartment so back to guitar =P~

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I agree, no need to upgrade pickups unless you have really found what you want out of them. Your money could be better spent with an amp upgrade or some pedals. The Epi pickups are not that bad, until you become a tone freak, then you will know what you are after.

 

What kind of amp are you playing through?

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I agree' date=' no need to upgrade pickups unless you have really found what you want out of them. Your money could be better spent with an amp upgrade or some pedals. The Epi pickups are not that bad, until you become a tone freak, then you will know what you are after.

 

[b']What kind of amp are you playing through[/b]?

 

Excellent question!

If stebed is living in an apartment, then I would recommend the

SAME amp that ZAKK WYLDE uses:

 

ZakkPS.jpg

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Well I never expected this! I thought this place was all about mods and upgrades and customizing' date=' never expected you guys to talk me out of upgrading my pickups :) [/quote']

We are all about mods, but we're also about value and practicality. I personally read a lot of bad mumbo jumbo about the stock epi pickups, so I avoided them like the plague and went for the Prophecy LP with EMGs. Later on I grabbed a Goth Explorer with the stock Epi pickups and over the months since I got it, the Epi stockers have become a part of my signature sound. I don't really like using the EMGs that much anymore, because they're just so different. :-k I actually even looked for some Epi Alnico Classics to drop into my LP at one point. =D>

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We are all about mods' date=' but we're also about value and practicality.[/b'] I personally read a lot of bad mumbo jumbo about the stock epi pickups, so I avoided them like the plague and went for the Prophecy LP with EMGs. Later on I grabbed a Goth Explorer with the stock Epi pickups and over the months since I got it, the Epi stockers have become a part of my signature sound. I don't really like using the EMGs that much anymore, because they're just so different. :-k I actually even looked for some Epi Alnico Classics to drop into my LP at one point. =D>

 

Sjael also is correct. I prefer to get the HOTCH (G) (Epi LP Standard BRIDGE) and

57CH (G) (Epi LP Standard NECK) pickups for replacing the stock pups in a lot

of upgrades I do to "project guitars". They're quite easy to find on ebay for a

decent price...

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I prefer to get the HOTCH (G) (Epi LP Standard BRIDGE) and

57CH (G) (Epi LP Standard NECK) pickups for replacing the stock pups in a lot

of upgrades I do to "project guitars". They're quite easy to find on ebay for a

decent price...

Yeah, unfortunately living in New Zealand they rarely come up on our primary auction site, and getting them from ebay would murder me with shipping costs. It's a great tragedy. =D>

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Well thanks for the advice, frankly my main concern is getting the guitar to play with proper intonation and stay in tune. At the moment even the slightest bend of the G and B strings puts them out of tune.. I used to have a Marshall JCM 800 (2203) but am back in an apartment now so I'm actually playing through software (uh oh).. Native Instruments Guitar Rig and KRK RP5/10S monitors. When people talk of replacing the tuners, caps, pots, and wiring.. does it make a big difference? I think what I'll do for fun is go to a music store and play a stock epiphone lp vs the slash signature model which has Alnico II pro pickups and see if i can really notice the difference.. Thanks!

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Well thanks for the advice' date=' frankly my main concern is getting the guitar to play with proper intonation and stay in tune. At the moment even the slightest bend of the G and B strings puts them out of tune.. I used to have a Marshall JCM 800 (2203) but am back in an apartment now so I'm actually playing through software (uh oh).. Native Instruments Guitar Rig and KRK RP5/10S monitors. When people talk of replacing the tuners, caps, pots, and wiring.. does it make a big difference? I think what I'll do for fun is go to a music store and play a stock epiphone lp vs the slash signature model which has Alnico II pro pickups and see if i can really notice the difference.. Thanks![/quote']

 

Check out the Fender Vibro Champ XD for apartment dwellers. There is a good demo somewhere on youtube

 

and for pickups, of course check out GFS pickups, if you do choose to upgrade.

 

Getting it intonated and setup right will do wonders for your sound, though...is he going to set pickup height also?

 

Jeff

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You mean he fiddles with the six screws in the pickup? Yes he mentionned that. The guy in the youtube video says a guitar setup should cost $30-40, the guy I know of charges $60. He was reccomended by some friends who are professionals so hopefully he's worth it, is $30-40 typically what most people pay? Watching that youtube video above I'm a little concerned because he states that even after getting his epiphone properly setup he still has issues with them staying in tune..

 

Oh and, should I replace the tuners if I'm having tuning issues or wait and see what the setup does? If so, what are the best tuners for an Epiphone LP? Thanks!

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The best tuners will be an individual choice based

on what "look" you want. My Epis came stock with

Grover "D" tips, decent tuners. I really like the look

of the Gibson-style tulip tuners, so I upgraded both

with "Gibson Deluxe" tulips. Just my personal preference.

Others will have recommendations based on their

own personal preferences!

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after listening to samples here: http://dev.seymourduncan.com/support/audio-samples/humbuckers_and/

 

i downloaded all the bridge clean samples and listened to them all (kind of a blind taste test) and some were terrible, noisy and thin.. some were muddy, and to me the SH-4 JB sounded by far the best, so punchy and clear. dirty the differences are much less apparent, just seem like differences in gain. neck clean the only one that stood out was the SH-2 Jazz, most of the vintage pickups sounded fairly similar but the jazz was a little clearer. dirty neck, again the jazz stands out as being a little clearer and louder than the vintage ones which again all sound pretty similar. in my opinion mini, parallel axis, and live wire pickups dont sound very good. based on this though i like the SH-4 JB bridge pickup and either the SH-2 Jazz for the neck.. or one of the vintage pickups. am i crazy?

 

ps. re tuners, i meant what are the best tuners in terms of keeping your guitar in tune? aesthetics don't really matter if the guitar won't stay in tune..

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just a quick question, is there a chance that a pickup that sounds clear and punchy compared to the rest, like the JB in the samples from the seymour duncan website, might just sound harsh on my guitar? does anyone have experience with the pickups i mentionned in my previous post in an epiphone les paul? i don't know what guitar they used to record the samples.. thanks!

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JB bridge and Jazz in the neck is one of the more popular combos, as I understand it. the 59 is great at the bridge also, I hear.

 

check out www.harmony-central.com for reviews of everything.

 

most likely they used a les paul style guitar for the demos with humbuckers

 

as far as tuners....the stock grovers aren't bad. one thing you might do is, if a key feels looser than the others, tighten the screw that holds the key on.....it kind of acts like a 'drag' adjustment, and can solve a lot of issues. I've never had a problem withe the stock grovers after I did this....

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Sjael also is correct. I prefer to get the HOTCH (G) (Epi LP Standard BRIDGE) and

57CH (G) (Epi LP Standard NECK) pickups for replacing the stock pups in a lot

of upgrades I do to "project guitars". They're quite easy to find on ebay for a

decent price...

 

Animal Farm (or anybody),

Ever compare these to the stock pickups in an Agile AL-2000? I just got one of these and really played it in a live setting for the first time tonight. Stock ceramic mag pickups sound pretty good. I like that they're close to evenly matched output-wise (8.something or so). But, I got a pair of these Epis here and they sounded nice in a Epi Special II I put them in. They're here, they're free, so I'll try 'em. Just wondering if someone's already been down that road.

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One thing that I've experienced is that the same pickup will yield a different result in a different guitar. What I mean is what is considered a good pickup (be it SD or Gibson whatever) may not necessarily be the ticket for your particular guitar. Alltho chances are it does help. =D>

 

I favour vintage output alnico magnet PUs myself, but it doesn't mean I've never heard a good ceramic high-output PU in my guitar.

 

Just try and see if you like'm in your guitar.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I did switch my pickups with Gibson 490r and 498t. It sound's better not a lot better but it did. I did put my epi pickups on a old guitar that i bought 25 years ago. It did improve it a lot as well. I did improve my old guitar to a point where it soud a lot better then my friend new Squier Strat. So for the price of one set i did improve both my guitars.

100_1605.jpg

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the luthier said he could change my pickups for me if i wanted while he did the setup (no extra charge).

 

No extra charge for the pickups, or no extra charge for putting them in if you provide them? there's plenty of good pickups out there... i'd suggest not sticking gibson's in there, because alot of what you're paying for is the name "gibson"

 

if you want classic humbucker tone, go with seymour duncan. if you want something innovative, there's lace (their dually sensor pickups are best when installed with push/pull pots... ask your luthier about those...) and they've also got "hemi humbuckers" (they're like a cross between a humbucker and a p90 sound...) then they've got alumitones (one of the biggest innovations in pickup design since the humbucker...)

and there's q tuner... they've only got 1 model really, adapted for single coil, humbucker, and 7 string humbucker formats. it sounds acoustic, but it's a direct drop-in completely passive replacement for regular guitar pickups. (they don't have a p90 replacement though...)

 

I'm sure there's some other really neat, innovative pickup designs out there that i don't know about... most people just go with regular humbuckers, or if they have a guitar with single coils, they'll get hum-free single coils... which, in my honest opinion, isn't really bright... they could be trying all sorts of neat, new sounds... but instead they settle for the same tones that everyone has gotten before. so much for innovation... (though there's no problem with the tone that so-and-so the big skilled guitarist that's sold millions of albums and whatnot, I'd rather become the next one than a copycat...)

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