Epiphone Dot help!

K

kevinWI

New member
I have an Epiphone Dot Studio and want to upgrade the PU's and the POTs.
I want less distortion and more smooth for early classic rock and blues.
example I think is a tonal neck and a smooth bridge (or do i have this reversed?)
Any suggestions are appreciated as to which SD's to get!!
My knowledge in this is novice.
thanks!
 
Re: Epiphone Dot help!

My first suggestion would be a set of Seymour Duncan's Seth Lover humbuckers
My second suggestion would be a set of Duncan's Jazz humbuckers

Both types of pickups will nail the sound you are looking for!

Welcome to the forum!
 
Re: Epiphone Dot help!

thanks as you can tell i havent got a clue what to get but i have this sound in my head. i did figure out that my bridge PU is the higher range tonal and the necks the softer smoother one. it sounds like the jazz may be better suited for me but i will do some reading on the seths thanks much for responding!!
 
Re: Epiphone Dot help!

No problem and good luck.

I personally use a Jazz set in my favorite guitar. I really love those pickups. They do phenomenal cleans and can easily handle any gain or overdrive thrown at them for classic rock too. Very nice pickups IMO.
 
Re: Epiphone Dot help!

I have a set of Seth's in my Epi Dot. They're excellent PAF's and co-designed by Seymour and Seth Lover himself. They're the classic blues/rock sound of the great late 1960's/early'70's.

You will not be disappointed.
 
Re: Epiphone Dot help!

i was reading about the seths appears they are soapbar style is that accurate? if so do i need different hardware to install them since my dot studio has humbuckers? (think i have this right) thanks.
 
Re: Epiphone Dot help!

Seth's in a semi are a thing of beauty.......think of your favorite rock, jazz, blues (or whatever genre's you dig) player's who use a 335 type guitar. Seth's are used the same materials, wire, construction methods as the iconic pickup Seth Lover designed for Gibson back in the 50's...the PAF. Since PAF's were hand wound and used various magnets and wire, they can sound like heaven.....or not! What Mr Duncan did was use the specs of the finest sound examples of original PAF's and replicated them. Consistent quality and consistent tone from pickup to pickup. On top of everything else, they are wound on the very same machine that produced the originals.

I've had a half dozen of so Seth's and each one is great. I can count on them to provide the tones I hear in my head. As a pickup snob, (I'm recovering a bit though!) I like hand wound pickups custom made to my specs. Seth's (and a few other big guys) do the trick for me every time without a wait and for a lot less money. GOod luck!
 
Re: Epiphone Dot help!

decision made, PU's ordered. i went with SH2 and SH4JB. downloaded the wiring off SD website, very helpful. next Q for you folks, is replacing the PUs in a dot as tricky as it looks since no access plate on the back? i found one tip on tying dental floss to the POTs and pulling the new POTS from duncan back through. I have soldering experience no worries there, just looks like tight quarters with F holes. Thanks to all this forum is a huge help for novices!
 
Re: Epiphone Dot help!

kevinWI said:
I want less distortion and more smooth for early classic rock and blues.
Click to expand...

Darn, you already ordered your pups!!! I'm not so sure you're going to get what you want from that set (JB/Jazz). I would have suggested the Whole Lotta Humbucker set.

Well, they call them "F" holes for a reason!

The dental floss trick works ok, but slipping some tight fitting surgical tubing over the shafts works much better.
 
Re: Epiphone Dot help!

order stopped, i am considering changing it now based on you advise. (you gave me more reading) i had ordered the Seymour Duncan YJM-500 Hi-Speed POTS. doing some reading now on the whole lotta's. will get back to you. thanks (i think) ha
 
Re: Epiphone Dot help!

all right, so many choices and its a big decision. i read about the vintage blues set, and found perfect reviews everywhere and mainly from people that put them in epi's but also a ess335 with great results. they are 100$ less, i have probs justifying 230$ PUs in a 300$ guitar. so the next Q is, what POTS do I use? will the YMJ-500's work the best? thanks again. and damned F holes..... (I wont push the order button this time until i hear back from you)
 
Re: Epiphone Dot help!

last question, should i replace the 3 way switch at the same time and if so with what? thanks all.
 
Re: Epiphone Dot help!

Vintage blues set? The bridge sounded trebly and the neck sounded boomy in my Dot. I replaced them with A2Pro bridge and Jazz neck.
 
Re: Epiphone Dot help!

kevinWI said:
I want less distortion and more smooth for early classic rock and blues.

all right, so many choices and its a big decision. i read about the vintage blues set, and found perfect reviews everywhere and mainly from people that put them in epi's but also a ess335 with great results. they are 100$ less, i have probs justifying 230$ PUs in a 300$ guitar. so the next Q is, what POTS do I use? will the YMJ-500's work the best? thanks again. and damned F holes..... (I wont push the order button this time until i hear back from you)
Click to expand...

Based on your statement that you want less distortion and more smoothness I would say you almost nailed what you were looking for with your first order with one exception, the bridge. You do not want a JB bridge IMO. The Jazz (SH-2) is exactly what you described you wanted!

Even though everyone is entitled to their own opinions, I do not think the Whole Lotta Humbucker set is right for you either based on what you are looking for. It is a great set of pickups and would deliver the tone you are looking for, however, they are more expensive. So, since you said you do not want to spend that much on pickups I would say just get a Jazz neck with either a Jazz bridge or an Alnico II Pro bridge to go with the Jazz neck. The difference is the Alnico II Pro bridge has an Alnico II magnet to take some of the brightness away from the Alnico V magnet used in the Jazz bridge pickup.

I know there are a lot of choices out there which makes buying pickups very difficult at first. However, when you narrow down your choices it gets a lot easier. Once you find some pickups you like it becomes even easier in the future should you ever need to do this again for this guitar or for another guitar. I personally use a Jazz set in a chambered Les Paul and an Alnico II Pro set in another chambered Les Paul. They are great, great pickups that have great cleans and handle overdrive/gain very, very well for rock/classic rock.
 
Re: Epiphone Dot help!

kevinWI said:
so the next Q is, what POTS do I use? will the YMJ-500's work the best? thanks again. and damned F holes..... (I wont push the order button this time until i hear back from you)
last question, should i replace the 3 way switch at the same time and if so with what? thanks all.
Click to expand...

I would suggest 500k pots for sure with .022uf capacitors. I have never wired a "f hole" guitar so I am not sure if there is a specific type of pot used to slip through the f holes or not. Somebody else here will be able to help you on that issue.

As far as the switch goes, I would do it if it were me. It's always nice to get high quality electronics in a guitar if you are going to be working on it anyway. I would get a Switchcraft. I just do not know if you need a straight (it doesn't matter where you order it from but here is an example): Switchcraft Toggle Switch

or angled switch (due to the f hole): Angled Toggle Switch
 
Last edited:
Re: Epiphone Dot help!

elelpe said:
Vintage blues set? The bridge sounded trebly and the neck sounded boomy in my Dot. I replaced them with A2Pro bridge and Jazz neck.
Click to expand...


Right. I'm a blues player and can safely say that Duncan makes more 'vintage blues' sounding PU's than a '59 set. Any of their A2 PAF-ish PU's sound more vintage and bluesier.
 
Re: Epiphone Dot help!

I would recommend the Seths and Antiquities if you want more vintage sounding.
 
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