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What Pick Ups Came on the EA-250's?


catass

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I had an EA250 from 1975 and it came with black plastic covered pickups. Strange thing was that they were a completely different size to a normal humbucker and the rout for them was triangular at each end, almost as if Epiphone had been going to fit a P90 and then changed their mind. I fitted a Di-Marzio at the bridge and I had to fit two pieces of shaped wood either side of the new pickup to fill the gap. In terms of sound, I think that they were quite reasonable for the time, it was the rest of the guitar that was crap.

 

Here's a picture (and you can see what I mean).

 

EA250.jpg

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As Johnnyg says, they are an unusual large size. (The pups on JoeSamick's pic look like standard humbuckers- that may not be an EA250- there were some similar models) They are low output, both mine are 3.4K. They may come black or chrome. I don't agree with Parabar's assessment of the sound as 'bad', it's a matter of preference. (But I know what you mean Parabar.) They are better at cleaner and slightly driven tones. Through my modded Valve Junior (a fantastic amp) the neck pickup has a sweet jazz/blues tone, good rockabilly/R&B in the centre position, and the bridge position doesn't get much use in my hands. Driven, you're getting into "vintage", slightly cheesy, garage tones. Great with a tremelo pedal for Electric Prunes covers and 60's psych. generally.

 

The "best" tone I got from mine, i.e. the most 'modern' and least cheesy, was with a Nobels ODR-1 overdrive pedal. It filled out the sound and gave it a quite classy edge. I sold that pedal though, and I don't know if the newer ones are as good. I've not been able to recreate that ODR-1 tone improvement effect with another overdrive.

 

If you don't expect an all-out rock machine, and experiment to find what the guitar is best at, you might get on OK with it. Having said that, I don't play mine much, my Sheraton and strat always call to me more strongly.

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  • 2 months later...

I just got one the EA 250s in the mail today - it had been sitting at my parents place in Hawaii but we could figure out how to get it here in Adelaide without costing a fortune.

In the end they unbolted the neck and mailed it in two boxes!

Mine has all the original parts - although the tremelo unit has been removed and the previous owner had installed a trapeeze bridge. I purchased some Guitar fetish Liverpool pups, a genuine Bigsby and some Kluson tuners in anticipation of it's arrival but the original parts are in such good condition I'll try it stock first.

My luthier is getting married on the weekend so I won't bother him this week. This one is in near mint condition - sittong under a collector's bed in Texas for about 25 years! I'll post some pix tonight.

Photos are here:

http://s908.photobucket.com/albums/ac284/nrand_photos/Matsumoku%20Epiphone%20EA%20250/

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Its not going to be collectable or returnable to stock with the modified bridge sadly - BUT - whoever modded this did the right thing. Setup was a breeze with the trapeze and the bridge upgrade and the sustain is very nice - on the bridge pickup only I get very warm jazzy tones - even better than my G&L ASAT Special semihollow - at 1/4 the cost. Go figure. The bridge I am pretty sure is for a Gibson Les Paul. I'll not change anything!

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Trialling the photo link

 

http://s908.photobucket.com/albums/ac284/nrand_photos/Matsumoku%20Epiphone%20EA%20250/?action=view&current=EPIEA2505.jpg

 

http://s908.photobucket.com/albums/ac284/nrand_photos/Matsumoku%20Epiphone%20EA%20250/?action=view&current=EPIEA2501.jpg

 

The photo thing is still not working for me but if you click you will get the picture. This guitar has been largely unplayed - the bridge is Les Paul and now strung and tuned it covers pretty much all the basic rock sounds - Keith Richards, Page etc any with a bit of overdrive - I use a Maxon 808 Soft Overdrive I can get really edgy twang i.e Folsum Prison etc. Basically it sounds like when it was made..

I'll keep it as is

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I like the painted neck, mine's natural. I think the standard-size humbuckers were used later on, and the fixed bridge might well be original also. This arrangement was released as the EA255. Is there a blue label in the soundhole with the number on? And by trapeze bridge do you mean frequensator as in the pic below?

 

Here's one I found on google images

 

489597524_f205acc3ac.jpg

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Thats a nice looking Epiphone - yours as I understand it was the model that came directly after the AE 250 from around 1976 - I like the gold hardware - in fact all the upgrades I bought for mine before its arrival were the same. Bigsby, Klusons, Roller Bridge and Pups - still undecided.

EPIEA2507.jpg

 

I still don't get the image thing on this forum - I use a Mac. Can someone please explain this to me here or in a PM step by step? I use photobucket. I am more used to the 'manage attachments' option typical of other music sites.

 

http://s908.photobucket.com/albums/ac284/nrand_photos/Matsumoku%20Epiphone%20EA%20250/?action=view&current=EPIEA2507.jpg

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Ah, I see by "trapeze" you meant trapeze... #-o sorry, bit brain-dead there for a minute. :)

 

Here's the post a pic tutorial

http://forums.epiphone.com/default.aspx?g=posts&t=8886

 

I believe my EA250 in my avatar was from 1974. As Johnnyg says of his with the black plastic pup covers, I thought they came later, 1975, but I have found a page on Wikipedia which says that they were the earliest EA250. From searching on 5102T (see below) it appears that both the Aria and the first Epiphone 5102T from 1970 had the black plastic pups. So unless they used them alongside the chrome ones over the early 70's it would seem that the ones with black plastic pups are the earliest.

 

And later there was the humbucker model as you have, which appears in the 1974 catalogue.

 

Here's the matsumoku catalogue from 1974

http://www.matsumoku.org/models/epiphone/catalogs/1974/catalog_th.html

 

 

Pre-dating all of these was the 5102T (which is also an Aria model no. for the same guitar, as Matsumoku made Aria) from when Matsumoku began making Epiphones in Japan in late 1970.

 

Sorry this is a bit jumbled.

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Yes, I have been a bit of a devotee of the Matsumoku sites since I first found mine on ebay. Its interesting that the catalogue shows the EA 250 with no Tremolo yet the models pages on the same model show the EA 250 with tremolo. Its not listed as an option, yet I know mine had one originally because it came in the box of parts - unsolved mystery.

http://www.matsumoku.org/models/epiphone/ea-250/pics.html

If all the parts that came with mine were installed it would look just like the one in the above photo!

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