acousticgibby Posted August 9, 2011 Share Posted August 9, 2011 Hey guys new to forum and electrics in general. Hoping for a little help. It's New Guitar Day for me. Bought a gorgous Epi Les Paul Standard Plus in blue today. I'll be taking it to my set-up guy tomorrow for a general set-up and what not. While it's in for that I was thinking about doing some upgrades if it's worth it. Again I say I'm normally an acoustic guy and this is my first real electric. I have always played acoustic "cowboy chord stuff" and I'll be purchasing Gibson's "Learn and Master Blues" to try and expand my chops a little. That's why I bought this beauty. So down to the question. Is it worth upgrading the pick-ups to Gibby's? I was thinking the '57 classic from reviews I've heard but I just don't know enough about this stuff to figure it out on my own. I'm wanting a nice warm "fat" blues tone. Don't hesitate to use technical term I was an electronics repairer on Apache's in the Army so I know "how it works" just not why it works for guitars and so forth. Also while it's in is it worth upgrading to a bone nut? Thanks for any input. Here's the pic (sorry for the quality snapped it with my iphone.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RaSTuS Posted August 9, 2011 Share Posted August 9, 2011 Welcome to the forums, I hope you like the place. Congrats on your new LP, lovely looking flame work on that baby, hope you enjoy it, HNGD to you. Upgrading the pups is a big step, I think you should spend some time playing with the standard pups just to see if they're ok for your situation, there are also many things you can do with capacitors to change the tone of a pup, caps only cost a few dollars each so I'd also experiment with those a bit too before going for a full upgrade. One popular upgrade option is replacing the 3-way switch with a Switchcraft branded one, if the back of your 3-way switch looks like box shape, then this is a worthy upgade. Any decent nut, bone or Tusq, is better than the cheap molded plastic crap that comes standard. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Supersonic Posted August 9, 2011 Share Posted August 9, 2011 ^^ What he said. HNGD. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigneil Posted August 9, 2011 Share Posted August 9, 2011 HNGD lovely guitar! I agree, you should get your setup guy to change the plastic nut for a nicer one, and Epi switches have a reputation for being a bit flaky...I would hold off on new pickups until you are sure you need/want them. and if you do decide to upgrade them, the gibby 57 classics would be a great choice, but there are other great pickups out there for a lot less than the gibby ones. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
midiman56 Posted August 9, 2011 Share Posted August 9, 2011 Let me add my own welcome to the forum, AG. You got yourself a great guitar there ... beautiful flame and a nice dark shade, It always amazes me just how much the shades on these trans-blue finishes can differ. Here's a shot of mine: Now, while there are a TON of great pickups available out there, I've never personally found the Epiphone pups to be that terrible. Certainly nothing that investing a little time in fine tuning your amp won't improve greatly. Speaking of amplifiers, you mentioned that you have been primarily an acoustic player. What sort of amp are you going to ne playing the Les Paul through? In my experience, dropping that $200 to $250 on a better amp yelds a much greater improvement in sound than playing expensive pups through a small, underpowerer amp, all things being equal. Anyway, HNGD to you! I hope your experience with "electricity" is everything you want it to be! Jim Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
antwhi2001 Posted August 9, 2011 Share Posted August 9, 2011 Swapping the pups for Gibsons is the most expensive option so it's the one I would do last. For very little cost / effort you can swap the tone capacitors for something like Sprague .022 400v. The stock potentiometers are usually fine in my experience. The switch has a reputation for being unreliable so you may want to swap for Switchcraft, again not a major expense. If the nut is ok I wouldn't bother changing; any tonal benefit only applies to an open (unfretted) string; once you fret it, the nut is out of the equation. Rather than changing the nut, I'd upgrade the bridge saddles, which are always part of the equation, to Graphtec stringsavers. They do make a difference. If, after all that, I want pups with different properties, I wouldn't buy new Gibson pups because of the high cost. I would buy Gibson if I could get a secondhand pair on e-bay at a a good price. Otherwise I'd shop around. First thing is to decide what tone you're aiming for, if your current pickups don't achieve it. Then establish what spec you need to get that sound (magnet type eg Alnico 2, Alnico 5, ceramic, output level). Oh, and Jim is dead right. If you're just playing at home quietly through a cheap solid state amp you won't hear the full benefit, and an amp upgrade is a better investment. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stein Posted August 9, 2011 Share Posted August 9, 2011 Nice going with that. It should take you far. I agree with pretty much everything, except I might NOT do anything yet, not even the switch. Reason I say that is it is definitely a guitar that is GOOD enough to benifit from upgrading, but unless you know what you want to do, it doesn't make sense to spend money there now. I would'nt even change the switch yet. Save all expences for a later date. You can do things like the switch at the same time as the pups or caps and it will cost less. A nut is a good idea depending on the cost if you are going to have it set up (because the nut would be cut at the same time) but I would save any money for later. Everything that guitar is now as it sits is PLENTY to get you to play it and see what comes out of ya. And more than plenty to feed any amp you are going to want to get. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
acousticgibby Posted August 9, 2011 Author Share Posted August 9, 2011 Thanks for all the great input guys. I think I'll go ahaid and upgrade the switch and nut and hold off on anything else until I play it more. Not playing through an amp and won't be buying one soon as I'm not gigging it. Right now I'm playing it through my recording interface. What's a good choice for an amp when I do grab one? Are tube amps worth the extra cost? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
acousticgibby Posted August 9, 2011 Author Share Posted August 9, 2011 Swapping the pups for Gibsons is the most expensive option so it's the one I would do last. For very little cost / effort you can swap the tone capacitors for something like Sprague .022 400v. The stock potentiometers are usually fine in my experience. The switch has a reputation for being unreliable so you may want to swap for Switchcraft, again not a major expense. If the nut is ok I wouldn't bother changing; any tonal benefit only applies to an open (unfretted) string; once you fret it, the nut is out of the equation. Rather than changing the nut, I'd upgrade the bridge saddles, which are always part of the equation, to Graphtec stringsavers. They do make a difference. If, after all that, I want pups with different properties, I wouldn't buy new Gibson pups because of the high cost. I would buy Gibson if I could get a secondhand pair on e-bay at a a good price. Otherwise I'd shop around. First thing is to decide what tone you're aiming for, if your current pickups don't achieve it. Then establish what spec you need to get that sound (magnet type eg Alnico 2, Alnico 5, ceramic, output level). Oh, and Jim is dead right. If you're just playing at home quietly through a cheap solid state amp you won't hear the full benefit, and an amp upgrade is a better investment. Hmm that does make sense now that you mention that. What do those run? The graphtec stringsavers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Whitmore Willy Posted August 9, 2011 Share Posted August 9, 2011 Acousticgibby, Congrats on the new guitar. Looks like a beauty! Just a thought, If you do any mods...(a good set up is fine)...the warranty is void. Although I agree with most as to potential future mods I would also go with those that have said to just have it set up and play it for a while. What makes Epis so great is that they are good guitars once they are set up properly. Watch your tech as he does a basic setup if you can. Go to the Epiphone lounge and check out the DIY sticky. Learn to do basic maintenance yourself. BIG MONEY SAVER! Even the stock nut is not too bad once it is grooved properly. This coming from a guy that likes to take guitars apart and completely rebuild them!!! Even so....I always wait for a month or two just to make sure everything is O.K. "Got To Love Them Blues!!!" Just for sh*ts an grins, my blue EPI Standard modifications include: Replaced pickup rings, knobs and pickguard. Added a TP6 tailpiece and a Gotoh bridge. I changed out electronics to CTS pots, switchcraft jack and toggle switch. (modified to 50's wiring with Russian PIO caps) I did a fret leveling and change nut to a Graphtech. I also replaced the pickups with GFS vintage 59s. I am now considering changing the neck pickup to a GFS mean 90. And of course....Strap locks...(you can never be too safe) None of it was necessary. Just my choice. I do my own work so the cost was nominal. I learned how to do this stuff on this forum! Also, I prefer tube amps. Welcome to the forum, Willy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
acousticgibby Posted August 10, 2011 Author Share Posted August 10, 2011 Thanks again for all the great comments guys. I knew this forum would be filled with awesomeness like me. Decided just to dot the nut for now with the set-up. I'll go from there and ask you guys for input if I do decide to change anything in particular. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fl00dsm0k3 Posted August 10, 2011 Share Posted August 10, 2011 welcome to thr forum go with the 57s Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete B Posted August 10, 2011 Share Posted August 10, 2011 Some of the pickups here have soundclips with them http://www.axesrus.com/axehumbuckers.htm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
acousticgibby Posted August 11, 2011 Author Share Posted August 11, 2011 Some of the pickups here have soundclips with them http://www.axesrus.com/axehumbuckers.htm Thanks Pete Thats a really cool tool for someone who hasn't been around electrics. (Like me). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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