Epiphone Dot upgrades

[modula]

Hi there

Literally just picked up my new Dot, which I want to upgrade a fair bit. Going to fit a Bigsby sometime soon, and want to upgrade the electrics and pickups. My question is this - I want a rich, warm, high gain sound - what pickups in your experience would you recommend for this please?

[modula]

Anyone have any experience of using Seymour Duncan SPH90-1 (Phat Cat)s in either neck or bridge position please?

[Caramello Koala]

If you want to fit a bigsby onto the dot, a B7 bigsby is a good choice. As for pickups, i fitted my dot with a Gibson 57 classic/57 classic plus and it improved the tone immensely, but I realise that might be an expensive choice (but worth it!) you can pick up 57 classic pickups on ebay quite cheap. Also I'd definitely change the tone/volume knobs if I were you, the amber ones that come with the dot (and most epiphone guitars) look quite tacky. I swapped my knobs with these ones: http://cgi.ebay.com.au/GIBSON-Vintage-Black-Chrome-KNOBS-Suit-Les-Paul-Guitar_W0QQitemZ370307368077QQcmdZViewItemQQptZAU_Instrument_Accessories?hash=item56380a048d

[modula]

I was going to do 67s but have been put off by my tech - he reckoned for less money I'd get as good. THinking about a P90 clone as I want a really high gain sound....going to do some research today.

With the Bigsby B7, ddo you have to do any drilling to fit it please, or does it screw in to existing holes?

[willmak]

modula how do you like your dot so far? I have one arriving next week.

[jcwillow777]

I put a B70 on my Dot and I love it. I did have to drill two holes on the top and three on the bottom. The end pin on my dot wasn't centered so I needed to drill a new hole for that. The B70 is less expensive than the B7.

 

You will have the bushing holes visible after mounting a B70. I pulled mine a put a plate over the holes. Other guys have done nothing, and others have put a round pearloid dot on them. Some have filled the holes with a dowel and painted or stained them. I would leave the last option to a luthier.

 

I would suggest a roller bridge with a Bigsby. I have Wilkinson roller bridges on three of my Bigsby equipped guitars.

 

As far as pickups, I'm not a high gain pickup guy, I put a set of GFS Vintage 59s in mine and I'm happy with them. Big improvement over the stock pickups.

 

[modula]

Cheers for that. Yeah, definitely going to change the pots - hate the stock ones.

 

Really pleasantly surprised by the Dot straight out of the box as it were. Definitely need better pickups as the neck is a tad muddy sounding and the neck is a bit harsh sounding, but it's made and set up really very well for such a cheap guitar. Plays beautifully actually - was expecting to have to do more to it than I'm going to

[barrysrq]

I am loving the Gibson 490 neck and 498 bridge pickups in my Dot. Stronger and a bit brighter than the Gibson 57 classics.

 

I found mine used on eBay, saved a chunk of money. Various Les Pauls and SGs come with these, easy guitars to swap pickups, so of course people do. Always a quest for a different tone!

[John1281734170]

I'm satisfied with the electronics in my new Dot. The pots are actually better than a MIK LP I had a few years ago. I'm gonna change the knobs. I'm thinking about putting a GFS Mean 90 in the neck, and maybe a GFS Vintage 59 in the bridge.