wardog Posted December 22, 2010 Share Posted December 22, 2010 so, i was going to post in the christmas gift to self thread and thought to start this one. I plan to mod a epi special II plus top in trans black---really nice looking guitar!!! got her today. the local gc matched their website price at 199 and i got the extra 30 buck off with coupon . of course black monday's 149 was a steal, and i missed that opportunity. but, still happy with purchase. The idea is to duplicate the nighthawk pup setup. only issue of course is the control switch. I decided to try a rotary switch i had in the parts bag. 5 position 4 pole. I am using a diagram of guitarelectronics.com for a 3 mini humbucker - with some wiring adjustments to copy the nighthawk.. -- this will be the fun part!!!!. pups will be gfs 59 in the neck and bridge 8.2k/8.8k gfs brighton single coil in the middle 7.5k just orderes the pups. I have cut the route for the single coil and put in the grounding paint. getting real comfortable with routing. not to bad of a job. i also have updated the crappy tuners with some gover locking tuners i had in the parts bag as well. here are some pics--sorry for the smuggies, still need to do a good cleaning since i did the route job. now if someone can tell me where to buy the switch ring for a rotary switch,. i would be very happy. Looking for the one with the 12345 on it. I will post pics when i get her done. hopefully that will be next week. Now, this by now means suggest, i will not be getting a nighthawk. just thought it would be great to see if i can do it.-- of course it does not hurt to have a new guitar to mod on[thumbup] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
animalfarm Posted December 22, 2010 Share Posted December 22, 2010 Hey, hey, hey! THIS will be interesting - Post them step by step pics! You WILL have to call it...... "The WARHAWK". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RaSTuS Posted December 22, 2010 Share Posted December 22, 2010 HNGD wardog, sounds like you've got all the modding figured out, hope it works out well for you. As far as the switch bezel, try eBay or stewmac.com or maybe even allparts, they're not too common but I'm sure they can be sourced somewhere. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigneil Posted December 22, 2010 Share Posted December 22, 2010 COOL guitar, good luck with the Mods. I will be following this thread to see how it goes with your WARHAWK [thumbup] HNGD Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neilpanda Posted December 22, 2010 Share Posted December 22, 2010 Oh man that looks nice! Id really like to see the finished product. so hurry up already! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wardog Posted December 22, 2010 Author Share Posted December 22, 2010 Hey, hey, hey! THIS will be interesting - Post them step by step pics! You WILL have to call it...... "The WARHAWK". Warhawk it is!!!!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
animalfarm Posted December 22, 2010 Share Posted December 22, 2010 You WILL have to call it...... "The WARHAWK". Warhawk it is!!!!!!!:rolleyes: WOW! Seriously? I just thought it sounded better than: DogHawk, NightDog, HawkDog.... HawkDog? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brianh Posted December 22, 2010 Share Posted December 22, 2010 now if someone can tell me where to buy the switch ring for a rotary switch,. i would be very happy. Looking for the one with the 12345 on it. Torres carries the switch, maybe they can sell you a ring? http://www.torreseng...aritonekit.html Here it is for $8: http://www.bigdguitars.com/order.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wardog Posted December 22, 2010 Author Share Posted December 22, 2010 Torres carries the switch, maybe they can sell you a ring? http://www.torreseng...aritonekit.html Here it is for $8: http://www.bigdguitars.com/order.html thanks brian, i ordered the ring from big d. i will see how it looks when it comes in and decided if i want to add it or leave off. the finishis so nice i may just have chicken head knob on the switch without the ring. just like you lp jr. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wardog Posted December 22, 2010 Author Share Posted December 22, 2010 WOW! Seriously? I just thought it sounded better than: DogHawk, NightDog, HawkDog.... HawkDog? it has a nice ring to it animal. of cousre it is not like the reverend guitar brand warhawk with 3 p90 and a 5way switch. but very nice name in deed. Let's hope i can bring her to life with the wiring job. just waiting on parts to come in :) . i will see if i can do a good drawing of wiring diagram and post. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cjlandry Posted December 23, 2010 Share Posted December 23, 2010 Where, and how, did you drill for the middle pickup wire? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wardog Posted December 24, 2010 Author Share Posted December 24, 2010 Where, and how, did you drill for the middle pickup wire? that was easy, it was there. since this is a special II, and has 2 pickups. the wire route was there provided by the factory. as i routed for the single coil, the route for the neck pup wire to the control cavity is exposed for the middle pup. one of the nice deals about routing a 2 pup guitar to a 3pup. no need to drill for wire route. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lpfan Posted December 24, 2010 Share Posted December 24, 2010 Can't wait to see the guitar when it's finished. It looks great so far! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wardog Posted December 24, 2010 Author Share Posted December 24, 2010 Can't wait to see the guitar when it's finished. It looks great so far! per delievery updates, i should have all the parts by tuesday next week. as promised, here is the wire diagram i doctored up. I hope I got it write. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wardog Posted December 25, 2010 Author Share Posted December 25, 2010 wow what service, santa and gfs are working hard. i got the pups in the mail today after ordering them late tuesday night. yeah, this mod will be done by sunday, maybe even sat night. i would work on it now, but santa has to make his visit. so here are some more pics. excuse the flash, had to do this in the music room with the bad lighting. the knobs are not the ones i intend to put in, but the chrome knobs do go well with the pups. i will have to see what the black ones and the chicken head knob look like. MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LSAR Posted December 25, 2010 Share Posted December 25, 2010 awesome! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brianh Posted December 27, 2010 Share Posted December 27, 2010 Very cool Wardog, looks killer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wardog Posted December 27, 2010 Author Share Posted December 27, 2010 The wire work went well and it sounds very nice. It was my first try with gfs 59 humbuckers and the brighton pup. The 59's are killer. Very nice pups and I would recommend to anyone looking to use. The Neck is very ballzy and combo'ed with the brighton takes on a very nice rockabilly sound. The brighton along is very strat like. The only setting that i expected to be the weakest is the bridge and single coil. Although the bridge is great, it is not hot enough to mingle with the middle.- for my likeing. Until i tweaked the amp settings. then wow.. that sounds great. Not knowing what the ohms ratings are for the soon to be released epi nighthawk; i can't say i nailed the sounds exactly. but, it did turn out very well. I will take more pics in better lighting soon and post. I need to post new family pics too. happy holidays everyone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RaSTuS Posted December 27, 2010 Share Posted December 27, 2010 Great to hear the wiring went ok and your happy with the results. My favourite pickup config is HSH with the buckers coil split, gives you so many tonal options. Are you planning on coil splitting the HBs? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wardog Posted December 27, 2010 Author Share Posted December 27, 2010 Great to hear the wiring went ok and your happy with the results. My favourite pickup config is HSH with the buckers coil split, gives you so many tonal options. Are you planning on coil splitting the HBs? yes, that are tapped. i duplicated the nighthawk setup exactly. i am thinking of going back in to add a toggle to engage the bridge pup with the neck and neck/middle selections. I think epi should have done that to. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gordy01 Posted December 28, 2010 Share Posted December 28, 2010 An ambitious wiring project wardog. With all the combinations available to you, it should sound killer. Can you draw up a diagram and post it for all to see? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wardog Posted December 29, 2010 Author Share Posted December 29, 2010 An ambitious wiring project wardog. With all the combinations available to you, it should sound killer. Can you draw up a diagram and post it for all to see? you got it buddy. i checked the control cavity for space for a toggle. and there is some. the toggle will be added to the vol lug that connects to switch and one of the leads that the bridge pup connects with on (1 or 2). it should work. I have the weekend coming up to give it a try. of course i will connect everything before drilling hole for toggle to make sure it works . as for the sounds. wow. the gfs 59's are really great sounding. what a growl you can get out of them. and the brighton gfs single coil was a very nice surprise. If the nighthawk pups give the same outputs, it's really going to be alot of guitar for the money. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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