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Speaking of Juniors - UPGRADES COMPLETE!!!


brianh

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Brian what aore you going to do with your Junior?? I think I fell in love with it, and if you're goig to sell it please let me know!!! Would love it to go with my Junior!

Hi Kai, I don't plan on selling it any time soon, but you can still get these babies at MF for $129: http://guitars.music...itar?sku=423557

 

They say they will ship internationally, although it will raise the price a tad I'm sure: http://www.musicians...nt?doc_id=91251

 

I've listed all the parts and where to get them, so if you have some tools and a little patience, you can build one yourself. Both Stew Mac and GFS ship internationally too.

 

PM me if you want me to walk you through it...

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Brian,

Dang it! Thanks for making a guitar "too pretty to play". Stunning execution. Is there such a thing as a concours d'elegance for guitar hobbiests? Yours would surely win its class.

BTW, while cleaning up the bench today I found a single Grover full-size tuner with USA in the casting. Don't know when it was made. I'll send it with the other parts.

Nice work on the LP Jr.

 

- heretic

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Hi Kai, I don't plan on selling it any time soon, but you can still get these babies at MF for $129: http://guitars.music...itar?sku=423557

 

They say they will ship internationally, although it will raise the price a tad I'm sure: http://www.musicians...nt?doc_id=91251

 

I've listed all the parts and where to get them, so if you have some tools and a little patience, you can build one yourself. Both Stew Mac and GFS ship internationally too.

 

PM me if you want me to walk you through it...

 

 

I might buy one, but got Gas for the TV yellow LP SPecial with the 2 p90 pickups.

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Brianh,

 

Love it!. Also love the pics. Went to your pic link at photobucket and got a virus!.(just kidding)

Looks like you got a fun project going. Keep us up on it.

Also, as you do seem to get such good pics, keep them organized as you do your mods.

Animalfarm might want to add some of this to his DIY thread.

Thanks for the update.

 

Willy

 

Animalfarm HAS SEEN and IS GOING TO!

Thread Title: "How to make a Guitar that is TOO PRETTY to Play...." [biggrin]

 

Needless to say, Fabulous Work, Brian!

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I might buy one, but got Gas for the TV yellow LP SPecial with the 2 p90 pickups.

May I say Kai, that you have extremely good taste.

 

Special002whole.jpg

 

Nice job Brian! Will you give us a rundown on the Parson Street Pups?

Yes, as soon as I have a chance. I've got several other projects I need to finish tho'...

 

Animalfarm HAS SEEN and IS GOING TO!

Thread Title: "How to make a Guitar that is TOO PRETTY to Play...." [biggrin]

 

Needless to say, Fabulous Work, Brian!

Wait till you see it's country cousin that's on the bench right now...

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Brian, just how many Epi Jr's have you or do you have? I have the old $60 black Jr, which is actually my favorite guitar, I like the playability and the sound better than my Melody Maker or the G400. I bought an '09 Epi Jr Vintage Sunburst while I was in Ohio a couple months ago, but it doesn't sound near as good as the old plywood body unit. Never know from one to the other how it's really gonna be till you get it home! The VERY first thing I did on both of them was installed Grover tuners. Those original stamped tuners aren't worth using even if you don't have anything else, you'll just get pissed-off at them and they'll make you sound really bad too! LOL! Good work on those axes you've been posting! LOVE the gold hardware! Enjoy looking at them and the "scientific" effort you've put into investigating the build quality! keep it up man!

Here's the 2009 I bought at Guitar Center in Mayfield Heights for $116 out the door< it was new, still had the protective plastic on it. They did a GREAT job on the finish! VERY good recreation of the old gibby jr sunburst!

Photo-0296.jpg

 

And my 2002 Jr i got for $60 with a stand.

MVC-421S.jpg

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Brian, just how many Epi Jr's have you or do you have?

Too many, it's a sickness. I'm in therapy.

 

I bought an '09 Epi Jr Vintage Sunburst while I was in Ohio a couple months ago, but it doesn't sound near as good as the old plywood body unit. Never know from one to the other how it's really gonna be till you get it home!

I had to do some pickup routing of a plywood body unit a few days ago. I was shocked at how many plys are in there, it might be as many as 20, I will have to count next time I have it open. All voidless too. It makes for a very stable hunk of wood to work on, you don't have to worry much about splitting on the plywood ones.

 

The VERY first thing I did on both of them was installed Grover tuners. Those original stamped tuners aren't worth using even if you don't have anything else, you'll just get pissed-off at them and they'll make you sound really bad too! LOL!

So true. I don't even play them until I have those tuners off and new strings on. I'm not a fan of the recent humbuckers either, they should be replaced with just about anything. However, the humbucker that came with the red one looked better than normal, but I didn't listen to it - just took it right off.

 

Thanks for the comps, Brian

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It looks great! I was truly impressed with the finish on the '09 made in Indonesia unit I have. FLAWLESS! Just a beautiful job on the burst and the total overall look. But those tuners wouldn't stay in tune for more than maybe 5 notes! They should ship them with Grovers or something, doesn't cost THAT much more, I'd pay the difference for not having the hassle of changing them.

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Brian, got to say, it was you who gave me serious GAS over that Guitar, never wanted it so badly. Hopefully this Christmas I shall have one. Cheapest I found was on www.gak.com £279 free shipping, everywhere is £289 + shipping costs.

 

Fingers crossed Santa might leave me one under my tree :P!

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Kai, it looks like Musician's Friend no longer has them here in the U.S. I should have bought a few more and modded them up for sale. ](*,)

 

Who knew a $129 Epi Junior would turn out so well. Once you're not afraid to take these little guys apart and rebuild them, they take on a whole new life.

 

Still keeping my eyes on Craigslist, there should be plenty of them showing up before and after Christmas.

 

Before Christmas, folks are dumping them to get $ for presents After Christmas, they're selling them to pay credit card bills...

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Kai, it looks like Musician's Friend no longer has them here in the U.S. I should have bought a few more and modded them up for sale. ](*,)

 

Who knew a $129 Epi Junior would turn out so well. Once you're not afraid to take these little guys apart and rebuild them, they take on a whole new life.

 

Still keeping my eyes on Craigslist, there should be plenty of them showing up before and after Christmas.

 

Before Christmas, folks are dumping them to get $ for presents After Christmas, they're selling them to pay credit card bills...

 

 

 

http://guitars.musiciansfriend.com/product/Epiphone-LP-Junior-Special-Electric-Guitar?sku=518678

 

 

looks like they just put them all on one page instead of lifting them as different guitars, [biggrin]

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http://guitars.music...itar?sku=518678

looks like they just put them all on one page instead of lifting them as different guitars, [biggrin]

No, those are the plywood-body versions with the extra-crappy humbucker and no custom shop decal on the back of the headstock.

 

Last year, those were doorbuster specials for $89 the day after Thanksgiving at Guitar Center. I got one for even less than that as part of a coupon purchase.

 

It looks like the cherry mahogany-body versions are really gone.

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but they are available in cherry, and the vintage burst is on the same page now too, i'm hoping they wouldn't put a cherry finish over plywood,

Your tipoff is the term "tonewood" - that's an Epi weasel word for plywood.

 

The original description specifically called out a mahogany body, and it was listed as a "Limited Edition Custom Shop" item, probably overstock from the AIMM retail network.

 

All it takes to make translucent cherry look good is a decent top laminate, or more likely, an opaque under coat.

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  • 2 weeks later...

There are still quite a few Jr's at the local GC here. I'll have to return there this week to see what all they have. I do remember that they're not the "black on black" like the one I bought for my son a few years ago. He and his friends pretty much destroyed it.

 

They claimed that "all the strings broke".

 

Whatever. All the strings were missing when I returned from Iraq, and when I tried to restring it, the neck was twisted and bent out of shape.

 

Anyone wanna buy an unplayable LP Jr.?

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well, the pics are up now and it looks like they're the same as the pics of the limited edition......(and they have the "limited edition custom shop" logo)

Looks like you're right LSAR, it appears to be the same "solid mahogany" unit I bought and modded.

 

RedJrCLoseup1.jpg

RedJrCLoseup2.jpg

RedJrCLoseup3-1.jpg

RedJrCLoseup4-1.jpg

RedJrCLoseup5.jpg

 

Now they just need to make these a Stupid Deal Of The Day for $79, and we're off to the races.

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Looks like you're right LSAR, it appears to be the same "solid mahogany" unit I bought and modded.

 

RedJrCLoseup1.jpg

RedJrCLoseup2.jpg

RedJrCLoseup3-1.jpg

RedJrCLoseup4-1.jpg

RedJrCLoseup5.jpg

 

Now they just need to make these a Stupid Deal Of The Day for $79, and we're off to the races.

Hey Brian GC has the limited edition ones too. I picked up 2 last week. 1 for me and 1 for my friend.

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Now they just need to make these a Stupid Deal Of The Day for $79, and we're off to the races.

 

 

 

well, its not $79....but they're at $99 now....

 

 

 

Edit: just checked...that means its $149.31cdn with shipping here...plus possible fees at the border... [thumbdn]

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