L.W. Badger
New member
Hi Y'all, new member here, y'all strike me as good people, so I signed up to ask some questions, here's why............
A friend left his broken Epi LP here over a year ago. I got to looking it over, good neck (that's half the battle on low budget guitars), Thinking "hey! I built a headless bass from scratch a few years ago....I can do this!"
So I go replacing the broken nut, replaced a broken volume knob and jackplate, cleaned it, and threw on some Ernie 10's and got to learning to replay the guitar after 20 years. Found a Marshall MG250DFX for a good price........seems a love/hate thing from others, but it sounds good enough for a house. I'm not that hard-up for tubes yet if a personal solid state trips my trigger for now.
Since I was doing all this work on it for love of a misused guitar........he took the $100 I offered for the guitar........it's now "officially" mine..........time to go NUTS!
First mission: Putting a dress on a pig.
PU select got replaced, plastic ring removed, PU rings replaced with chrome (stock plastics were cracked), Pickguard removed (I play palm-on-bridge). Had to fill and re-drill the mounting holes closer to the PU cavity....So now it's looking more like a Studio model.
Second mission: Slash-up the tone.
With some Alnico II Pros in mind I headed off to the Guitar Center, all they had left were was an APII neck and Distortion bridge PU, so I took 'em and put them in.............."laws yes! M-O-O-N.....that spells rock ON!"
Mid position is my favorite as it combines the fat and crunch nicely whether on the clean or overdrive channels, so I can go from SRV to Rhodes with the push of a button.
Third mission: Pots, wiring, tuners.
Epiphone doesn't sell cheap because they put high-grade electronics in their guitars. This one has a good neck, looks to be solid mahogany body if that's the real grain under the armor-plating poly, so there's some scrimping somewhere........... Though current pots are labeled A500, they're a lot smaller than the Alpha 500 Audios I picked up from Stew-Mac, the soldering was done by either child/slave labor, or the Saturday shift, and the wiring is fraying and getting short from all the tinkering so far.
The Kluson replica tuners are not set right on the headstock, the peg holes are in line with the contour, but the D tuning machine is mounted "off" and the key's stem leans towards the A's tuning machine stem. The backing is also showing a gap in some of them. Got me some Ping sealed tuners from a local mom-n-pop music store that's been around since '78. $48, but they have the chrome keys in the Kluson style....going with my goal of getting rid of superfulous plastic They have a single screw vs. the double on the stocks, and two sharp nubs to grip the finish. Sure it'll make the headstock heavier, but I'm looking for more end-mass because of mission four.
I'm on the fence about replacing the bridge and tailpiece. My experience with All Parts, Guitar Electronics, Stew-Mac and the Epiphony lends me to believe that specs are not standard across the board for Gibson/Epiphone......then I read here that Epi's are metric? This is one set of parts that I'm willing to say, "if it ain't broke, don't fix it". I don't see much sonic advantage if the parts are MIM or Diecast and nickle or chrome coated......A solid machined piece(s) may off an advantage if you're into vibration and resonance theories.........school me on this please.
Fourth mission: Lose some weight woman!
Reading Jessie Sammler's posts about stripping the poly from an Epi LP got me thinking about the weight of my guitar and a question; Does the outer coating have any reflection on tone? Does the armored poly coat contribute to the highs and sustain like the theory about graphite body guitars like the Parker Fly? I'm really not too keen on doing all that work again, even though I know now to use power tools. However, before that happens, I need to procure a replacement to play while I'm whittling away at the LP, which is the next part of learning guitar/material.......Gear Acquisition Syndrome!
Fifth mission: Obtain your "Excalibur".
We all know by now that a beginner may not need a $2500 instrument, but better tools make for better playing, and once you've got to a certain level, you know what you're looking for in a guitar. I've gone to the stores and played the guitars....looking for that effortless playability and tonal variations in-line with my desires......for me it's the Jackson SLSMG and the EVH Wolfgang.........both w/o a tremolo.
Later on there'll be mentors and jamming, but for now it's learning again, tinkering with tone, reading the theory books, practicing, practicing, and more practicing. There's no goal of playing venues anytime soon....this is for my own enjoyment.
If you've read this far, you are a trooper, and might want to help me with the next phase........rewiring an LP.......
A friend left his broken Epi LP here over a year ago. I got to looking it over, good neck (that's half the battle on low budget guitars), Thinking "hey! I built a headless bass from scratch a few years ago....I can do this!"
So I go replacing the broken nut, replaced a broken volume knob and jackplate, cleaned it, and threw on some Ernie 10's and got to learning to replay the guitar after 20 years. Found a Marshall MG250DFX for a good price........seems a love/hate thing from others, but it sounds good enough for a house. I'm not that hard-up for tubes yet if a personal solid state trips my trigger for now.
Since I was doing all this work on it for love of a misused guitar........he took the $100 I offered for the guitar........it's now "officially" mine..........time to go NUTS!
First mission: Putting a dress on a pig.
PU select got replaced, plastic ring removed, PU rings replaced with chrome (stock plastics were cracked), Pickguard removed (I play palm-on-bridge). Had to fill and re-drill the mounting holes closer to the PU cavity....So now it's looking more like a Studio model.
Second mission: Slash-up the tone.
With some Alnico II Pros in mind I headed off to the Guitar Center, all they had left were was an APII neck and Distortion bridge PU, so I took 'em and put them in.............."laws yes! M-O-O-N.....that spells rock ON!"
Mid position is my favorite as it combines the fat and crunch nicely whether on the clean or overdrive channels, so I can go from SRV to Rhodes with the push of a button.
Third mission: Pots, wiring, tuners.
Epiphone doesn't sell cheap because they put high-grade electronics in their guitars. This one has a good neck, looks to be solid mahogany body if that's the real grain under the armor-plating poly, so there's some scrimping somewhere........... Though current pots are labeled A500, they're a lot smaller than the Alpha 500 Audios I picked up from Stew-Mac, the soldering was done by either child/slave labor, or the Saturday shift, and the wiring is fraying and getting short from all the tinkering so far.
The Kluson replica tuners are not set right on the headstock, the peg holes are in line with the contour, but the D tuning machine is mounted "off" and the key's stem leans towards the A's tuning machine stem. The backing is also showing a gap in some of them. Got me some Ping sealed tuners from a local mom-n-pop music store that's been around since '78. $48, but they have the chrome keys in the Kluson style....going with my goal of getting rid of superfulous plastic They have a single screw vs. the double on the stocks, and two sharp nubs to grip the finish. Sure it'll make the headstock heavier, but I'm looking for more end-mass because of mission four.
I'm on the fence about replacing the bridge and tailpiece. My experience with All Parts, Guitar Electronics, Stew-Mac and the Epiphony lends me to believe that specs are not standard across the board for Gibson/Epiphone......then I read here that Epi's are metric? This is one set of parts that I'm willing to say, "if it ain't broke, don't fix it". I don't see much sonic advantage if the parts are MIM or Diecast and nickle or chrome coated......A solid machined piece(s) may off an advantage if you're into vibration and resonance theories.........school me on this please.
Fourth mission: Lose some weight woman!
Reading Jessie Sammler's posts about stripping the poly from an Epi LP got me thinking about the weight of my guitar and a question; Does the outer coating have any reflection on tone? Does the armored poly coat contribute to the highs and sustain like the theory about graphite body guitars like the Parker Fly? I'm really not too keen on doing all that work again, even though I know now to use power tools. However, before that happens, I need to procure a replacement to play while I'm whittling away at the LP, which is the next part of learning guitar/material.......Gear Acquisition Syndrome!
Fifth mission: Obtain your "Excalibur".
We all know by now that a beginner may not need a $2500 instrument, but better tools make for better playing, and once you've got to a certain level, you know what you're looking for in a guitar. I've gone to the stores and played the guitars....looking for that effortless playability and tonal variations in-line with my desires......for me it's the Jackson SLSMG and the EVH Wolfgang.........both w/o a tremolo.
Later on there'll be mentors and jamming, but for now it's learning again, tinkering with tone, reading the theory books, practicing, practicing, and more practicing. There's no goal of playing venues anytime soon....this is for my own enjoyment.
If you've read this far, you are a trooper, and might want to help me with the next phase........rewiring an LP.......
