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Epiphone ej-160e acoustic/electric guitar


oscardelgato

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Greetings to all you Epiphone lovers, I have got a question regarding my ej-160e guitar. I was thinking about replacing the pick-up on this guitar. But I don`t know what to replace it with? If anyone has any ideas please feel free to give me your opinion. I would welcome all ideas. A friend told me to use a Fender pup out of a Strat but before I do that, I figured it would be better to ask my fellow forum users first. So I would appreciate your advice, my friends. Take care all. Peace!

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Well, depends on the sound you want when plugged in..acoustic or electric? If electric, then the P100 does its job (at least mine did, until it gave out a month ago for no apparent reason)..otherwise, a piezo would get you the acoustic sound!

(On a sidenote, I put some acoustic d'Addarios since my PU or the wiring died, and it's a whole new world)

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If you want to keep the character of the original I would just go with a magnetic soundhole pickup. You can go with one made to to clip onto the soundhole or you could use any pup you want with mounting clips soldered on. Either way you could then leave the original pickup in place. Only other recommendation - stick with nickel wound strings - magnetic pickups read them better than others.

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The pick-up is designed to ape the pointed fingerboard of a J200.

There have been a few posts on here saying they can't get much sound out of the EJ-160e,but he same was true of the

older Gibsons.

If it was me I'd go for the piezo under the saddle with a jack input in the strap button -then you could mix both signals

and get a more acoustic sound.DR make Zebra strings-alternate wraps of nickel & bronze which work really well.

Keep us posted!

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My EPI EJ-160E is on of the best sounding guitars I've played. Change pickup, why? Mine is stock with Pyrimid nickle flatwounds, I believe they're 11-49's. I have no complaints about this guitar and what it's designed for, and to soundlike.(plugged and unplugged) This is one of the best Epi's I've purchased (craftmanship included) and I have many Epiphones in my stable. I run it thru a VOX amp.

 

Fadedepi...

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I wouldn't change the pickup in my EJ 160E John Lennon for anything.The pickup is what gives the EJ 160 the whole Beatles vibe,when I plug my EJ 160 into my Vox amp it's right back to 1965 and I Feel Fine I go -the sound is that authentic.I guess that fadedepi knows what I'm talking about.The original pup on the EJ 160 E is a must for anyone remotely interested in The Beatles.Why change what's already perfect?

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If your trying to keep the Bettles sound, i guess replacing the pickups will not make as much differ as what you are plugged into. A nice Class A tube amp will do wonders with it but...its still will not come close to a "acoustic guitar" sound as you will think.

 

If your trying to get another pickup that "picks" up the natural sound, then go with something by L.R. Baggs. The Element is great, even better if you find a way to mix the sound with your built in pickup already, considering thats what a soundhole acoustic pickup is already :-$ ...Zoomywolf. Soundhole pickups...pick up the vibration of the strings not the wood. The L.R Baggs M1 picks up both but not as good as the iMIX.

 

Really depends on what your trying to do i guess.

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Thanks to everybody that wrote in. I appreciate all your remarks. You guys really got me to thinking that maybe I should keep the pup. I have been contemplating a change cause a friend suggested trying out a single coil pup (like from a Strat) but I figured that maybe that was`nt such a good idea. I was wondering what does the Gibson EJ160 come with? Does anybody know? That`s what I was wondering. But nobody picked up on my vibe. If anyone knows, please let us all know what kind of pick-up it uses. Thanks to all. Peace!

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  • 2 months later...

I had my EJ-160E in to the shop to fix the low output, bad hum, & to have it setup. Replaced the PUP & added a ground w/ground strap under the bridge to ground the strings better (both under warranty n/c). Sounds MUCH louder & better on the hum part. It plays great with the setup. Done at a Luthier not a box store or guitar shop.

 

I Still don't get, out of it, the "Mr. Moonlight" dull sound of the real J-160E from the 60's however, darn it.

 

Aster

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  • 3 years later...

I had my EJ-160E in to the shop to fix the low output, bad hum, & to have it setup. Replaced the PUP & added a ground w/ground strap under the bridge to ground the strings better (both under warranty n/c). Sounds MUCH louder & better on the hum part. It plays great with the setup. Done at a Luthier not a box store or guitar shop.

 

I Still don't get, out of it, the "Mr. Moonlight" dull sound of the real J-160E from the 60's however, darn it.

 

Aster

 

I have the exactly same problem with my EJ160E. I'm wondering if anyone could tell me how to do it or maybe could send me a picture how its look like. Please, I beg you, anyone, for this problem because I can't figure out how to make the bad hum disappear. Thank you very much, contact me at alutfim@yahoo.com

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I had started out using acoustic strings on mine, but recently changed to Ernie Ball Power Slinkys 11's and the pickup sounds great. It's a stacked humbucker, and with a little adjustment of the pole pieces and the tone know, it sounds like a good quality jazz guitar. I was not so much looking for the Beatle's sound but for a blues guitar...and this is a great player, versatile and beautiful sound.

 

Remember, the "real" Gibson guitar is a different design altogether, and costs about 3 grand...

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