Pickup for Epiphone Special II

Tyler

Tyler

New member
I've got my eye on an Epiphone Special II and need some help with replacement pickups. First of all, does anyone know how good the stock pickups are on these things? For a replacement, I want a Fender Jazzmaster-type tone. Warm and mellow, but still capable of a little bite. (I am going to be playing clean, BTW). I was thinking maybe some P-90's, but I am open to any suggestions. Do you think soapbars would work fine in this situation? Can soapbars be mounted in this guitar?

Let me know what ever you setup you think will come close to the tone I want.
 
Re: Pickup for Epiphone Special II

My friend has the Special (before the II) and I hated that thing, I just suggest you try to get a better guitar.
 
Re: Pickup for Epiphone Special II

A friend of mine insisted on getting a Epi Special II and, as much as I was against the move, I went to a store to help him pick a decent model. I think it was six Epies I tested. All of them we're crap. Bad fretwork, bad tuners, and the body had the resonance of a wet dog. Finallly I settled him on a Yamaha Pacifica 112, which has nothing LP to it, but it was ten folds a better guitar.

Honestly, I'd recommend saving up a bit more cash and try to get a better Les Paul knockoff. I don't know what you guys can get in the States, but here we get some decent LPish guitars from Yamaha and Samick at very affordable prices. It seems Agile and Tokai are very popular over there...

Oh, and to answer directly your questions: The stock pickups are very bad, and I don't know if soapbars will fit on the cavities.
 
Re: Pickup for Epiphone Special II

That's surprising!!! This guitar was geting A LOT of great reviews.
 
Re: Pickup for Epiphone Special II

Where are you checking the reviews? If it's something like Harmony Central... take those comments with caution. I'll tell you, and I bet most guys here agree with me, is that there's much better guitars for the price.

The Epi Special II is quite a confortable guitar, if you ask me. That's what turns many newbies on (not calling you a newbie! Just stating a fact :) ). No funny pivoting bridge, just plug and play. But on the resonance-tone department, it's very dull. No pickup will do miracles. Besides, the electronics and hardware are the cheapest available, and the fretwork is horrid.

That my $0.02. I'd like to recommend you a specific guitar to try, but the market varies a lot from country to country. You can rarely go wrong on a used Epiphone Les Paul though - if you can test it first, obviously - :) .

Good luck!
 
Re: Pickup for Epiphone Special II

Save your hard earned cashola and get a better axe.

Get a Squire Jagmaster. It's like 300USD, has a short scale neck, a strat trem, and dual Duncan Designed 'buckers. I played one at Guitar Satan a couple of weeks ago. Despite a couple of sharp fret ends (easily fixable), it played well, and sounded raw and gritty in a great, garage band way through a Bassman LTD. The cleans were good, but it sounded its best pushing a tube amp into OD.
 
Re: Pickup for Epiphone Special II

this was my first electric (!) guitar ever.
i hated it. i think it's not worth replacement pus.
 
Re: Pickup for Epiphone Special II

I was in a band witha guy a few years ago that had an Epi Special 2. It sounded dreadful, never stayed in tune, played like a cricket bat with strings. It probably didn't help that he put it through a Peavey Bandit, but it still sounded bad through my Orange and Marshall amps.

I'd steer clear and get something else myself :)
 
Re: Pickup for Epiphone Special II

Brow said:
I was in a band witha guy a few years ago that had an Epi Special 2. It sounded dreadful, never stayed in tune, played like a cricket bat with strings. It probably didn't help that he put it through a Peavey Bandit, but it still sounded bad through my Orange and Marshall amps.

I'd steer clear and get something else myself :)
Click to expand...

issues ...

- the neck is so soft, that you really can't really touch it without
bending it by accident .. , which kills the tune. .... think of using the neck
like a vibrato :blackeye:

- the body is plywood with mahagony veneer, which ensures the sustain
of strings mounted on a shoe box
 
Re: Pickup for Epiphone Special II

ChileanGuy said:
Where are you checking the reviews? If it's something like Harmony Central... take those comments with caution. I'll tell you, and I bet most guys here agree with me, is that there's much better guitars for the price.

The Epi Special II is quite a confortable guitar, if you ask me. That's what turns many newbies on (not calling you a newbie! Just stating a fact :) ). No funny pivoting bridge, just plug and play. But on the resonance-tone department, it's very dull. No pickup will do miracles. Besides, the electronics and hardware are the cheapest available, and the fretwork is horrid.

That my $0.02. I'd like to recommend you a specific guitar to try, but the market varies a lot from country to country. You can rarely go wrong on a used Epiphone Les Paul though - if you can test it first, obviously - :) .

Good luck!
Click to expand...


My kid has an Epi Les Paul Special II. True, it's got cheap hardware (the tuners suck) and the electronics are not good but, hey, for a $150 or so it's not all that bad. Way better than a Squire. Very comfortable to play and the fretwork is really not all that bad, at least on the one he has. The neck pickup is fair but the bridge pickup is terrible. I put an Evolution in the bridge and it sounds really good now. Not dull at all. Of course, you get what you pay for and this is a cheapo but it's not the worst guitar out there.
 
Re: Pickup for Epiphone Special II

panamang said:
My kid has an Epi Les Paul Special II. True, it's got cheap hardware (the tuners suck) and the electronics are not good but, hey, for a $150 or so it's not all that bad. Way better than a Squire. Very comfortable to play and the fretwork is really not all that bad, at least on the one he has. The neck pickup is fair but the bridge pickup is terrible. I put an Evolution in the bridge and it sounds really good now. Not dull at all. Of course, you get what you pay for and this is a cheapo but it's not the worst guitar out there.
Click to expand...

For a first electric guitar it isn't bad at all, I agree with you. Even if I think that for it's price tag there are much better options. (That's why I made my friend buy the Yamaha, which he loves now)

However, Tyler is asking how good the value on the Epi Special II is for upgrading it. And in my opinion, it's not so good. A Dimarzio Evolution will sound good on it, I have no doubt about it, but a lower output P90 or anything like that won't be as warm or sustainful as some folks would like, and that's what he's after. Hence why I'm not recommending it for him...

And probably you chose a better unit than what I could find. I trust you on saying that your son's Epi isn't tonally dull, but I tested seven (they weren't six...) Epi Special IIs and they felt lifeless acoustically, plus the frets were really badly crowned. Maybe I didn't get lucky. :)
 
Last edited:
Re: Pickup for Epiphone Special II

ChileanGuy said:
... Epi Special IIs and they felt lifeless acoustically, plus the frets were really badly crowned. Maybe I didn't get lucky. :)
Click to expand...

Maybe you're getting "segundos" down in Chile. Quien sabes? :13: But I agree with you, P-90's or anything like that would not be suitable in that guitar.
 
Re: Pickup for Epiphone Special II

panamang said:
Maybe you're getting "segundos" down in Chile. Quien sabes? :13: But I agree with you, P-90's or anything like that would not be suitable in that guitar.
Click to expand...

:laugh2:

Probably true, man.

Thankfully, we get better stuff than in most Latin/South American countries... and at better prices too. In Brazil there's a broader palette of brands, but the price tags are insane.

At least I'm pretty sure my Ibanez isn't a segunda mano. :fingersx: :laugh2: :chairfall
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top