Ready to give up on my Epi Elitist Les Paul

[BigAlTheBird]

Re: Ready to give up on my Epi Elitist Les Paul

Dude I have an Epi too (it's not Gibby or Elitist, but it gets the job done), and this summer I changed out everything (and I do mean everything) except the wood (tuners, nut, bridge, electronics, pups, switch, jack, straplocks, etc.). You should buy (IMO) a wiring kit from Bada Bing with Hovland Musicaps, and you should definitely go with a CC bridge. I have the A2P neck, and I love it but some people don't like it. It'll warm up your tone for sure though.

Don't get rid of it! It's a great guitar. What finish is it, btw?

 

[BigAlTheBird]

Re: Ready to give up on my Epi Elitist Les Paul

If you've already been through several sets of "good" pickups in the guitar and it STILL sounds like ****...it's probably a flawed piece of wood and not some other thing.

Changing pots & hardware...all that stuff is about 10-20% of a guitars tone.

I'm sure you have, but have you ever played an Epi? They use the worst electronics I've ever seen. Epis sound terrible until you change the pots/caps/wiring and jacks around. Really bad.

 

[J Moose]

Re: Ready to give up on my Epi Elitist Les Paul

I'm sure you have, but have you ever played an Epi? They use the worst electronics I've ever seen. Epis sound terrible until you change the pots/caps/wiring and jacks around. Really bad.

Yeah dude, I've played many an Epi but in general I try & avoid 'em...stick to buying good guitars! After about 15 years or so of that I've turned into a bit of a guitar snot!

:laugh2:

But yeah...this guy doesn't have a run of the mill Epi...it's one of the Elitist deals with "better" cuts of wood, construction, & hardware that's equal to Gibson USA so it's at least "halfway" decent outta the gate. Changing the tailpiece & stuff is gonna at BEST a 10-20% difference in acoustic tone that may or may not translate to the pickups and amp.

Changing pickups is pretty dramatic...and if several sets that usually sound always sound like poo in THIS piece of wood...it's most likely that the piece of wood isn't resonating & working on the same universal level that the player is.


IME = Time to cut that post and let it marry someone else.


Go with 'yer gut man.

 

[Mr. B]

Re: Ready to give up on my Epi Elitist Les Paul

have you ever played an Epi? They use the worst electronics I've ever seen. Epis sound terrible until you change the pots/caps/wiring and jacks around.

Thanks for the first hand experience! That gives me a little hope for it at least.

It is a tobacco sunburst by the way, plain top, but I think it looks great.

 

[Mr. B]

Re: Ready to give up on my Epi Elitist Les Paul

It is a bit confusing though. The pickups that sound best in that les Paul (Dimarzio Virtual Vintage PAFs) are a pair I have had in several of those other guitars and they did NOT sound very good in them. At least not nearly as good as my other duncan sets did in those guitars. The dimarzios seemed to really open up the sound of the les paul and let it breath more?? I have always thought the Vpafs sounded a bit , I don't know, fake maybe, or they didn't let the individual sound of the guitar shine through, perhaps that was what it was.

You guys may be right Big Al, and J Moose, it may be a really crapy piece of tonewood and the dimarzios are covering that up better. Still, I hate to give up on it, I won't be able to afford a real Gibson any time soon.

 

[75lespaul]

Re: Ready to give up on my Epi Elitist Les Paul

Are you in the states? You could get a Les Paul studio under a grand, maybe even for about six bills, and they play great. Others would have to tell you how they sound, but they are supposed to be a real Les Paul but without the frills like binding, crown inlays etc... I've played quite a few in music stores but not through an amp. Great action IMO. Just my personal opinion that I'd go with a used studio before an Epiphone.

 

[Gearjoneser]

Re: Ready to give up on my Epi Elitist Les Paul

Before you buy anything, try the Seth bridge model in the neck of your LP. If it works, pair it with a CC.

Very good idea. And if the CC/Seth B in neck doesn't do it, sell your amp and buy another one. :fingersx:

 

[Mr. B]

Re: Ready to give up on my Epi Elitist Les Paul

Very good idea. And if the CC/Seth B in neck doesn't do it, sell your amp and buy another one. :fingersx:

I don't see why I would want a hotter pickup in the neck than a Seth NECK pickup. If you read back in the thread, I don't like hotter/muddy neck pickups at all. I fail to see how a Seth Bridge in the neck position would be asking for anything but a muddier tone? Is there something I don't know? I like the seth NECK in the other guitar I have it in.

There is nothing wrong with any of the 8 amps I own, its this guitar. All my amps sound great with my other guitars.

I am just wondering now whether I should invest all the $$$ in the mods that have been suggested so far.

 

[Mr. B]

Re: Ready to give up on my Epi Elitist Les Paul

Last night, I took the tune-o-matic bridge apart and inspected the individual parts. I switched some of the saddles around since it made for a better matched radius to the neck. I polished all the saddle string slots and also found that the bottoms of the saddles all had several bumps/burrs on them (were not flat) so I sanded these perfectly flat. This seemed to help the stability of the saddles a bit.

Played it a while unplugged and A/B'd it against my PRS SEs. The Les Paul sustains much better and really transmits the vibration of the string to your fretting hand and through the back of the body. It has a very sharp vibration compared to the softer one I get through my PRS. But even unplugged, the Les Paul has a slight metallic harshness to the sound, very mechanical. Whereas the PRS guitars sound much woodier and organic unplugged. The saddle retainer wire did rattle, but I have it wrapped in heat shrink now, so it can't be that. I still suspect it may be the tune-o-matic bridge that is contributing to the mechanical harshness of the tone. I am thinking that a pair of 300k pots wouldn't hurt to try as well

 

[Benjy_26]

Re: Ready to give up on my Epi Elitist Les Paul

I don't see why I would want a hotter pickup in the neck than a Seth NECK pickup. If you read back in the thread, I don't like hotter/muddy neck pickups at all. I fail to see how a Seth Bridge in the neck position would be asking for anything but a muddier tone? Is there something I don't know? I like the seth NECK in the other guitar I have it in.

There is nothing wrong with any of the 8 amps I own, its this guitar. All my amps sound great with my other guitars.

I am just wondering now whether I should invest all the $$$ in the mods that have been suggested so far.

The Seth bridge in the neck won't be muddy. It'll be thick and creamy. You mentioned that you wanted to cop some old school LP tones, the Seth bridge in the neck will be the closest thing to what came in 57-59 LP's from the factory. The CC is just going to warm and smooth things out at the bridge.

I was also going to recommend that you use 300ktone pots along with 50's style wiring. This will warm up the sound some, but won't be overly boomy.