Black Beauty 3 Upgrade

[Worship Guitarist]

Greetings.

 

I'm waiting for my Black beauty 3 to arrive and I have some questions that some of you might be able to answer.

 

1) I'm going to be switching out the pups with Seymour Duncan's. I've put an Alnico 2 pro slash in the bridge and

SH-2 Jazz in the neck of my Epi Double neck and i'm very happy with the sound. My concern is the middle pick up.

I was thinking of putting a P90 in the middle slot. or in both the neck and middle. Any suggestions?

 

2) Will a 6 way Rotary switch fit in the cavity of the pickup selector?

 

My link

 

 

3) I'm planning on installing a Bigsby B700 vibrato.Is there a big difference between the one's made in the USA

as opposed to the Bigsby licensed one's made over seas?

 

4) Should I replace the bridge with something that has rollers? If so, what would you suggest. I would need

something that would fit on the guitar without having to do any modifications.

 

Thank you in advance.

[RaSTuS]

G'day Fatty, welcome to the forums.

 

Pickups, my preference would be HBs in the bridge and middle and a P-90 in the neck.

 

I'm reasonably sure that the rotary will fit, but not absolutely certain.

 

The B700 would be best, it's to do with the metals and the way they're cast, I can't remember the details, but the original is made better.

 

I would go for a Wilkinson roller bridge, they're built like a tank and are very well priced, I'd also get a Tusq XL nut, the less resistance the strings have the better they'll hold tune.

 

Wilkinson Roller Bridge Thread

[damian]

American made Bigsbys are "sandcast."..........Imports are "die cast." American are 'imperial', imports 'metric.' Sure, sandcasting results in a stronger

 

product, but, both methods are just fine for the stresses Bigsbys take.......Of course, USA Bigsbys cost more.......The cheapest place I've found for

 

Bigsbys are at "Amplified Parts"............For the P-90s, you might want to go with P-94s, basically P-90s in an HB size....They are real P-90s, but

 

some claim they sound a bit different.....You COULD put a SD in the bridge, and a P-94 in both the middle and neck....A calibrated set can have

 

have one P-94 reverse wound, thus eliminating hum when both are used at the same time......I prefer Gibson P-94s, and they are under a $100.00

 

each at "Amplified Parts." As the great "RaSTuS" says, the Wilkinson roller bridges are great....I bought and use some as a result of his advice......

 

They are also metric, so, they'll fit Epis without a problem.....I buy mine at "Guitar Fetish" for the cheapest price........As to the 6 way switch, that's not

 

my area.......Check the Epi stock sizes vs the switch......The only drawback I can see in your mods are hurtin' fingers due to not being able to put

 

the new geetar down..........................

[Blueman335]

Due to the way the strings nodes are located, middle HB's never sound as good as when they're in the bridge or neck. Not a good location for a humbucker. Almost no one plays HHH guitars, and the few that do, rarely if ever use the middle PU.

 

What I've done on mine is put an HB-sized P-90 in the middle slot. There's a number of brands out now, and the GFS Mean 90 is pretty popular on the Duncan forum, goes for around $30. Get the bridge model.

[Worship Guitarist]

Due to teh way the strings nodes are located, middle HB's never sound as good as when they're in the bridge or neck. Not a good location for a humbucker. Almost no one plays HHH guitars,a nd teh few that do, rarely if ever use the middle PU.

 

What I've done on mine is put an HB-sized P-90 in the middle slot. There's a number of brands out now, and the GFS Mean 90 is pretty popular on the Duncan forum, goes for around $30. Get the bridge model.

 

Thank you all for your help. Well I got her home yesterday afternoon. I was surprised by several things. the middle pick up uses the same volume and tone controls as the bridge pick up. also when the pickup selector is in the middle, only the middle pickup is active.

 

So far Ive found the middle pickup to be very usable, not as bright as the bridge and not as warm as the neck.

[Epi Rocks]

Thank you all for your help. Well I got her home yesterday afternoon. I was surprised by several things. the middle pick up uses the same volume and tone controls as the bridge pick up. also when the pickup selector is in the middle, only the middle pickup is active.

 

So far Ive found the middle pickup to be very usable, not as bright as the bridge and not as warm as the neck.

 

 

 

Hi thefatman,

Hope you're pleased with your BB3. I was totally stoked when I bought mine in 2004.

Couple of things buddy; What year is yours? Where was it built, China, Korea or Japan?

The serial no. will tell you all.

Be careful with the strap studs, they come loose easily. Install straplocks asap, we don't wanna see broken headstocks or necks dude.

 

My BB3 was built in Unsung/Korea in 2004. The pups on mine ore different to the ones I had on my other Epi's. They are Gibson designed HB's, not the usual Classics HB's or those muddy

Hotch HB's. I rewired the entire thing with Gibson wires, CTS pots, PIO caps and Switchcraft

switches and jackplug.I left the original pups on. The guitar sounded clearer and had a little more oomph in reserve. I did a comparison with a Gibson LP traditional and the BB3 through a Marshall JCM 800 and could barely tell the difference soundwise. I actually prefered the feel of my BB3 over the Gibby. Probably 'cause of the way I set it up.

I also put a Les Trem on her. Got it from Stew Mac a few years back.

I have a couple of pictures on this forum. Check out 'Lets see your Epiphone'.

 

These BB3's are some of the best LP's that Epiphone has put out. Some are better than others, but in general, they are exceptionally good value and, given a good set-up and better

electrics, will hold their own in any situation. I highly recommend them.

(I'm bias of course)

My Black Beauty3 is my favourate of all my gits.

 

ps. The bridge and middle pups should be on when the switch is in the middle position.

That's how the're wired.

 

Paul :)

[Worship Guitarist]

Hi thefatman,

Hope you're pleased with your BB3. I was totally stoked when I bought mine in 2004.

Couple of things buddy; What year is yours? Where was it built, China, Korea or Japan?

The serial no. will tell you all.

Be careful with the strap studs, they come loose easily. Install straplocks asap, we don't wanna see broken headstocks or necks dude.

 

My BB3 was built in Unsung/Korea in 2004. The pups on mine ore different to the ones I had on my other Epi's. They are Gibson designed HB's, not the usual Classics HB's or those muddy

Hotch HB's. I rewired the entire thing with Gibson wires, CTS pots, PIO caps and Switchcraft

switches and jackplug.I left the original pups on. The guitar sounded clearer and had a little more oomph in reserve. I did a comparison with a Gibson LP traditional and the BB3 through a Marshall JCM 800 and could barely tell the difference soundwise. I actually prefered the feel of my BB3 over the Gibby. Probably 'cause of the way I set it up.

I also put a Les Trem on her. Got it from Stew Mac a few years back.

I have a couple of pictures on this forum. Check out 'Lets see your Epiphone'.

 

These BB3's are some of the best LP's that Epiphone has put out. Some are better than others, but in general, they are exceptionally good value and, given a good set-up and better

electrics, will hold their own in any situation. I highly recommend them.

(I'm bias of course)

My Black Beauty3 is my favourate of all my gits.

 

ps. The bridge and middle pups should be on when the switch is in the middle position.

That's how the're wired.

 

Paul :)

No sir. maybe when they moved production from Korea to China they changed the wiring.

when I have the pickup selector in the middle position only the middle pickup is working.

I did the tap test:)

I know it was made in China.

s/n 11071507304

[Worship Guitarist]

Done!

Thank you All for your valuable assistance.

[damian]

Thanks for the update, and the pic of the final result.........Very nice guitar.....

[Epi Rocks]

Done!

Thank you All for your valuable assistance.

 

 

Nice one! Hope you're happy with end results mate.

 

I've been debating whether I might change the Les Trem on my BB3 and update it to

a Stetsbar instead. No drilling or other mods required. Just bolts on in place of TOM bridge

and the Stoptail posts. They seem to give you a greater range of travel and are a more

stable unit.

Just make some fine adjustments and set the intonation and you're good to go. We'll see.

 

Also FYO, (just to brag a bit), I very recently updated my BB3 with Gibson 57 Classics and a 498T

p/up as the middle pup. Sounds totally awesome! I highly recommend those 57 C's if you're thinking

of updating your p/ups down the track. They're a little pricey but once they're in you'll

appreciate the difference they make to your Black Beauty(Beast)3.

 

Here's some gratuatous pics of my 'Beast'.

 

 

She's still my favourate axe.

 

Cheers

Paul

[jfine]

Original Gibson 3-pickup LP Customs were wired as follows: up on the pickup selector, neck pickup only with volume and tone controlled by the two knobs closest to the strings; middle position, middle and bridge pickups together out of phase; and down on the pickup selector, bridge pickup only with volume and tone closest to the edge of the guitar. This obviously doesn't allow for some good-sounding combinations, like neck and middle, neck and bridge, middle and bridge in phase, or all three together. Epiphone wires their G400 (SG) Custom with the selector giving neck, bridge, or both together, with three volume controls, one for each pickup, and a master tone. The middle pickup isn't wired to the switch at all, but it can be brought in and out with its own volume control. I like this setup, as it allows for any combination of the three pickups while retaining the vintage look, without adding any extra switches or knobs. You might consider doing something like that to your LP.

[fretter]

Very well done! That is one classy looking guitar. Those gold tophat knobs really set it off.

[Epi Rocks]

Very well done! That is one classy looking guitar. Those gold tophat knobs really set it off.

 

 

Thanks Fretter. I put those control knobs on all my Epi's.

 

They cost a bit but give the guitars a nice lift I think. I prefer them

to the cheap plastic ones.

[Blueman335]

You'll get a lot of tone options if you use 4 lead HB's and use push-pulls for coil cut. You can mix and match the all the coils.

 

If you have a vibrato bar, you should have a roller bridge, makes life easier.

[RoninOne]

I own the Black beauty and found it "wanting" That missing piece was obvious to me that a push-pull CTS should have been installed allowing ability to add middle PU out put to either bridge selected position or the neck selected position. Easy mod to accomplish requiring only a new CTS bridge control pot with a push-pull feature.  The middle PU is wired to it.. and provides a better control of tone output. No other hardware is necessary.  Rewiring required i is minimal.. using the standard wiring diagram of a Gibson LP with 3 PU's.  If one can solder, it's easy to do this mod at an average cost of $12 for a push-pull CTS control to replace the existing bridge tone control.  The addition of an in or out capability provides better tone control for blues playing.. that was my motivation.  It seems such a no-brainer, I can't understand why OEM version doesn't come with that option.