Guitar Modification Opinions Sought

[Forrest Greene]

I’m the pleased new owner of an Epiphone Sheraton II (Vintage Sunburst) & a Fender Super Champ XD. It’s difficult to research the Sheraton without seeing many references to modifying it anywhere between one-new-pickup & nothing-original-but-the-wood. It’s a popular model for that.

I imagine I’ll at least consider modifications at some point, once I know the guitar better. New tubes for the amp & so forth, in a spirit of bringing out potential. To that end, here are a few beginner’s questions. It seems more economical to ask all at once rather than create several new topics:

== Many mention the Sheraton’s hardware’s gold finish fading out, rubbing off. They vow to install nickel or chrome pieces. To me, unless it starts looking really funky --- I mean “funky” in a bad way, you understand, & “bad” in a, well, bad way --- or my arm turns green, that rubbed-out gold is just the distressed relic look some pay lots for in other circumstances.

Likewise, I’d keep the orange jello top hat knobs, etc. Everything visually as original as possible, soup it up on the inside. This brings me to consider pickup covers. Suppose I install the popular combination of a Duncan Jazz neck & JB bridge. Would the Sheraton’s original gold covers be likely to fit over them? I’m hoping pickups are all of similar enough sizes to keep the original pieces as well as save some money to apply elsewhere on the project.

== I’ve installed Tusq nut, saddle & bridge pins on my acoustic guitar with good results. I see GraphTech sells not only nuts specifically for Epiphones, but sets of six saddles for Tune-O-Matic bridges as well. Has anyone tried them?

== It would probably be best to do it all at once, but are there any dire arguments against splitting up the work between an electronics phase & a hardware phase?

== Am I forgetting anything? Pickups, pots, pickup switch, amp jack, electrical harness; tuners, nut & saddles, bridge, tail, pickup covers, strap knobs. I hope to leave the frets alone!

== Most people would probably say the one modification they’d make, if nothing else, would be installing new pickups. What is the one modification you would not make, if you had to eliminate one?

== Where can I get a really narrow muthrapurl-block-&-abalone-triangle inlay to fit between the sixteenth & seventeenth frets? That extra dark space on the neck drives me nuts. Just kidding.

Thank you all in advance!

 

[blueman335]

Re: Guitar Modification Opinions Sought

Welcome aboard!

I've modded many mid-price imports over the years. On my Sheraton and Dots, I upgraded the PU's to Duncans, and put in two 250K pots for the bridge (to warm the tone). That's it, other than a good set up. That'll make far more difference than anything else you could possibly do. The stock PU's are mediocre at best. Everything else is fine as is. I get a lot of compliments on my tones everytime I play mine on stage. In fact I saw Rusty Zinn on tour here last year, a highly respected west coast blues player, and during the break I asked about his guitar, which was a Korean Epi Riviera 335, totally unmodded; he bought it used for $350. It sounded nice.

The odds of a JB sounding good in a 335 are maybe 50/50. Not a good fit of guitar and PU; it's very unreliable in warm-toned guitars. A pair of '59's or a C8/'59N is a much better choice. Look for used PU's on eBay and you may be able to get them for around half price, with covers.

As far as the nut, lube the slots with graphite powder and you won't have any problems. I do that on all my gyuitars.

If you want to replace all the hardware or the electronics, go ahead, but you're just dumping money into it with little, if any, improvement in sound or playability. What's the point? You won't get the return for your money. Why end up with a $1,000+ Sheraton, when you could have bought a used higher-end 335 for that much money? Don't get carried away. Epi's are 'players', not major investments. Swap PU's, give it a set up, and play it.

 

[Hellion]

Re: Guitar Modification Opinions Sought

Welcome aboard!

I've modded many mid-price imports over the years. On my Sheraton and Dots, I upgraded the PU's to Duncans, and put in two 250K pots for the bridge (to warm the tone). That's it, other than a good set up. That'll make far more difference than anything else you could possibly do. The stock PU's are mediocre at best. Everything else is fine as is. I get a lot of compliments on my tones everytime I play mine on stage. In fact I saw Rusty Zinn on tour here last year, a highly respected west coast blues player, and during the break I asked about his guitar, which was a Korean Epi Riviera 335, totally unmodded; he bought it used for $350. It sounded nice.

The odds of a JB sounding good in a 335 are maybe 50/50. Not a good fit of guitar and PU; it's very unreliable in warm-toned guitars. A pair of '59's or a C8/'59N is a much better choice. Look for used PU's on eBay and you may be able to get them for around half price, with covers.

As far as the nut, lube the slots with graphite powder and you won't have any problems. I do that on all my gyuitars.

If you want to replace all the hardware or the electronics, go ahead, but you're just dumping money into it with little, if any, improvement in sound or playability. What's the point? You won't get the return for your money. Why end up with a $1,000+ Sheraton, when you could have bought a used higher-end 335 for that much money? Don't get carried away. Epi's are 'players', not major investments. Swap PU's, give it a set up, and play it.

+1

 

[blueman335]

Re: Guitar Modification Opinions Sought

I think one of the biggest drawbacks of an Epiphone is that they come with this thick polyester finish that dampens the instrument. Some people are crazy and refinish them with tung oil or polyurethane. It's a lot of work though and the finished product isn't always pretty.

Thick finishes are common on imports, not just Epi's. Yeah, a Sheraton isn't going to be as high a quality as a Gibson 355, but for the money, especially used, you get a nice instrument. Upgrade the PU's on any Epi, and the tone-quality gap between them and the equivalent Gibson narrows quite a bit. At that point, when you're on stage no one in the crowd can tell the brand by sound alone.

The key to mid-price imports is to accept them for what they are, and not to pour a lot of money in them. If you want to spend a lot on a guitar, do it upfront in the initial purchase, not on upgrades. A $500 used guitar with $400 of upgrades, is still a $500 guitar. Keep the old PU's so you can put them back in if you decide to sell the guitar later.

 

[theboatcandream]

Re: Guitar Modification Opinions Sought

Thick finishes are common on imports, not just Epi's. Yeah, a Sheraton isn't going to be as high a quality as a Gibson 355, but for the money, especially used, you get a nice instrument. Upgrade the PU's on any Epi, and the tone-quality gap between them and the equivalent Gibson narrows quite a bit. At that point, when you're on stage no one in the crowd can tell the brand by sound alone.

The key to mid-price imports is to accept them for what they are, and not to pour a lot of money in them. If you want to spend a lot on a guitar, do it upfront in the initial purchase, not on upgrades. A $500 used guitar with $400 of upgrades, is still a $500 guitar. Keep the old PU's so you can put them back in if you decide to sell the guitar later.

The trick is to pay $300 for one of those "$500" guitars!

 

[Forrest Greene]

Re: Guitar Modification Opinions Sought

Thanks for the welcomes & observations. I'll get a setup & live with the instrument for some time before making any drastic modifications. I can see how pickup & electronics upgrades would do the most to bring out potential; presumably more inert parts play a subtler role in creating sound & so fussing with them is more in the line of gilding the lily, more obsessive.

Thanks again.