Epiphone Nighthawk for my Teenage Son?

WoodGrain67

WoodGrain67

New member
I saw a used Epiphone Nighthawk at my local GC tonight for $220. It made me think that it would be a nice upgrade for my 13yo son, who is playing open chords on a $169 Epiphone LP Special II at Church these days (Fridays at Catholic gradeschool.)

He has a "gift event" coming up. Sound like a good idea??? All kinds of win? Or hey Woodgrain, find something else instead?
 
Re: Epiphone Nighthawk for my Teenage Son?

Been a member here for a while and have learned alot reading all the posts. Never posted because didn't really have anything to add, until now.
I bought one of the Nighthawks last year when they first came out and don't regret it at all. I play mine almost daily and so far no issues at all with it. Tuners are good, the pots and 5 way switch are fine with no scratchiness in them. Couple of things you might want to consider, the Nighthawk has Fender's 25 1/2 inch scale length, I personally like it but if your son is used to the Gibby 24 3/4 length it might make a difference. Tthe second is the pickups, I think this is where Epi cut some cost. They aren't bad, but they could be better. Not sure how familiar you are with this guitar but swapping pups is not as easy as other models. Duncan offers two direct drop ins for the bridge, JB & 59, or a custom wind. To replace the middle single coil is a custom shop job, the mounting screws are between the pole pieces like on a P90, but it might be the best pickup on the guitar. The mini hum is the easiest to replace.
If it's in good shape $220 is a pretty darn good price, almost half off new and I haven't seen one online in good shape close to that price.
Sorry for the book.....hope this helps ya a bit.
 
Re: Epiphone Nighthawk for my Teenage Son?

I like those guitars, but does he have a gigable amp yet? If not, that might be more practical (though less exciting) than a second guitar.
 
Re: Epiphone Nighthawk for my Teenage Son?

that was a great first post bluesdog. welcome to the forum!

a guy i play in a band with has one and he really likes it, other than the pups. like bluesdog said, the middle pup is the best of the three. i made the mistake of putting a good minihumbucker in the neck and now the other two positions are terrible in comparison. especially the bridge. its basically un-usable.

it is a little different than most epi's cause the scale length but other than that its a nice upgrade over what he has. just know that if you change one pup, youll need to do all of them
 
Re: Epiphone Nighthawk for my Teenage Son?

those pups were mentioned above. the middle single coil is a pita to replace since it mounts p90 style
 
Re: Epiphone Nighthawk for my Teenage Son?

I just did a setup on my friend's Epiphone Nighthawk. The pickups were the weakness, very flat and bland, muddy, no character- and as others have said, it's hard to find replacements. So factor in a whole new set of pickups. The pots and everything else seemed fine, good tuners, for and finish were awesome for the price
 
Re: Epiphone Nighthawk for my Teenage Son?

im assuming that the pups arent any worse that whats in his lpsII though
 
Re: Epiphone Nighthawk for my Teenage Son?

I let the boy use my amps at home and he can take my GDEC3-30 out of the house when he needs it but the parish bought a Roland so he and his classmate/co-guitarist use that now. He has a school talent show coming up in a few months so I might even let him use my Tweaker-15.

I don't want to get into replacing pups, though. Technically, I can do it, I've gone as far as gutting and rewiring my Japanese LP with a Jimmy Page setup from scratch, but I don't have any spare pups in my goody box that would work with a Nighthawk, and buying some would defeat the atrractiveness of that Nighthawk's price.

Thanks all!!!
 
Re: Epiphone Nighthawk for my Teenage Son?

Here is my Epi that plays and sounds lots better with SD pups in the neck and the bridge.
I also changed out the electronics to US made, you can see the stock knobs would not fit so went with chrome.

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Re: Epiphone Nighthawk for my Teenage Son?

Thanks for the welcome Jeremy.

Woodgrain before you decide to take a total pass on this guitar give it a play if you can, ya might just end up liking it. I would think the pups would be a bit better than the ones in your sons current guitar. Epi pups seem to be a crap shoot, sometimes you can get some sweet ones and others just don't have it. As someone else mentioned the fit and finish of these guitars is very nice overall and the price on that one seems right. With the three different type pickups and the 'buckers being tapped lots of different tone possibilities.

Twanged yours looks sweet with those knobs.
 
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Re: Epiphone Nighthawk for my Teenage Son?

Thank Ya Bluesdog;
It took me awhile but I finally got it finished and it sounds good too.
 
Re: Epiphone Nighthawk for my Teenage Son?

I also rounded the the frets out, there were several that were sharp! and did a full setup on the guitar which it needed it . I replaced the strings with D'Addario EXL110...10-46. She is sweet.
 
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