DIY Monday - mods to my Epi LP

Chewie5150

Chewie5150

Fractal Fanatic
I finally got the Nailbomb bridge pickup from Bare Knuckle Pickups in mail yesterday. My grover locking rotomatics arrived as well at my guitar shop. I always enjoy this part of guitar, the tinkering and modifications. This guitar was a stock 2014 Epi les paul pro i got off a local ad for a good deal. Since then everything has been swapped out. Custom LP pro wiring harness i put in last xmas. the only piece of original hardware right now is the bridge.
 

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Why in the world would anyone want to do upgrades on an epiphone a Chinese made guitar ? If i had one I would give it to a kid that wanted to learn and I would use my good guitars to play. Yes I have gave away guitars to kids that wanted to learn that did not have money to buy one of their own. Gave away an Ibanez Destroyer with case in brand new condition from japan to a kid that could not afford one.
 
rickster71 said:
Why in the world would anyone want to do upgrades on an epiphone a Chinese made guitar ? If i had one I would give it to a kid that wanted to learn and I would use my good guitars to play. Yes I have gave away guitars to kids that wanted to learn that did not have money to buy one of their own. Gave away an Ibanez Destroyer with case in brand new condition from japan to a kid that could not afford one.
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Not everything from China is crap. I daresay a Chinese Epi has a bigger chance of being a solid guitar then a US Gibson. The problem with China is not that they can only deliver crap, it's that most businesses don't want to put in the effort. Epi seems to want to put in the effort, something that even Gibson hadn't done in years.

Modding cheap guitars is both fun and an excellent way for people on tight budgets to get a good guitar. Because not everyone can afford to have both high end guitars and cheap guitars to give away. No matter how laudable that is. I can't afford high end guitars myself, which is why I got into modding cheapies and building my own. And I like it that way now because modding and building guitars is incredible fun. A guitar that is good from the get go is boring to me.
 
I... not long ago purchased an Epiphone 2016 Limited Ed. Korina V and Explorer. Beforehand I already knew the pickups and hardware were not going to impress me. I looked strictly for the Build Quality of the guitars. And was pretty blown away by the actual Build Quality of both the Korina V and Explorer. The Chinese production quality for the Epiphone Limited Ed. Korina stuff is quite nice. Once the new Faber bridges are on, Vintage 50s wiring harnesses...bone nuts, and Custom Shop unpotted Pearly Gates are installed, these will be fantastic players. ;p
 
rickster71 said:
Why in the world would anyone want to do upgrades on an epiphone a Chinese made guitar ?
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I don't think I have any Chinese guitars, but I have a bunch of Korean and Mexican guitars, most of which have had pickup upgrades done to them. I'd challenge anyone to a blind A/B listening test and tell me where the guitar was manufactured. If didn't buy budget guitars, I wouldn't be able to afford my Fractal rig and the PA I run it through.
 
It's always been more fun for me to get something great out of a cheap guitar via upgrades, than it is to buy and play high-end stuff. I have a Music Man that sounds and plays amazingly, but it's not as fun to me as my old Mexican strat with aftermarket pickups.
 
Dude whoa, I just finished upgrading my Epi LP as well - I also put Bare Knuckle Nailbombs in, replaced tuners with grover locking rotomatics, as well as replaced some other cosmetic stuff like tone knobs, poker chip and mounting rings.

Did you go with the ceramic or alnico for your bridge Nailbomb? How are you liking it in the guitar so far?
 
To the subject of Epiphone: about 8 years ago I decided I wanted a Gibson SG (61 style) so I went to the local RockShop and tested a few they had there, when I saw this Epiphone Elitist SG (61 style) hanging on the wall there and decided to give it a whirl. It was an immediate no brainer that the build-quality, resonance and playability was hands down superior to the original Gibson. Long story short, the Gibson @ 1600€ stayed and the Epi @ 980€ became a keeper. Two mods were made, nut replaced with a bone nut and the bridge pickup got swapped for a SD 78 Model.

Picked up a used Epi Les Paul limited edition custom shop in mint condition for 250€. Since the foundation (neck, wood, resonance, playability) of this guitar was exceptionally good, I went all out and replaced pickups, nut, bridge and all the black plastic for cream.

Bottom line: When properly set up and they have a good foundation, neither of these guitars needs to hide behind their original counterparts and as far as my SG Elitist goes, it’s better than the original Gibson, at least the one I have. The Elitist SG was probably discontinued due to the direct competition with Gibson.
 
Solarfire said:
To the subject of Epiphone: about 8 years ago I decided I wanted a Gibson SG (61 style) so I went to the local RockShop and tested a few they had there, when I saw this Epiphone Elitist SG (61 style) hanging on the wall there and decided to give it a whirl. It was an immediate no brainer that the build-quality, resonance and playability was hands down superior to the original Gibson. Long story short, the Gibson @ 1600€ stayed and the Epi @ 980€ became a keeper. Two mods were made, nut replaced with a bone nut and the bridge pickup got swapped for a SD 78 Model.

Picked up a used Epi Les Paul limited edition custom shop in mint condition for 250€. Since the foundation (neck, wood, resonance, playability) of this guitar was exceptionally good, I went all out and replaced pickups, nut, bridge and all the black plastic for cream.

Bottom line: When properly set up and they have a good foundation, neither of these guitars needs to hide behind their original counterparts and as far as my SG Elitist goes, it’s better than the original Gibson, at least the one I have. The Elitist SG was probably discontinued due to the direct competition with Gibson.
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Gibson have been producing over priced dog shit for a long time. Sad really.
I recently tested a Gibson Memphis ES Les Paul that was just ridiculously bad. Poor fretwork, horribly cut nut, the list goes on. In the price ranges they are asking, they are behind ALL of the competition.
 
I got a Gibson SG Special a couple years ago. I saw it early in the year, and thought it was nice, but overpriced, and it was still there in December, at a blowout price, so I bought it, because, although the mini humbuckers were kinda 'meh' and lacking clarity, the guitar felt really good and played really well. I lived with the pickups until the output jack crackling started to get bad, then shotgunned the entire wiring except for the selector switch. That was all that was reusable, thanks to some PC board thingie they used for the pots and jack. It now has proper soldered wiring, with DiMarzio P90-sized pickups - a Virtual P90 and a Super Distortion. BTW, the new pickups lowered the guitar's output and made its tone clearer, even with the dual-sound series/parallel switches I added on the tone pots set for the hotter series wiring.... A great axe, once the bad Gibson parts were replaced. I guess that is why they discontinued it....
 
RifferMcDuck said:
Dude whoa, I just finished upgrading my Epi LP as well - I also put Bare Knuckle Nailbombs in, replaced tuners with grover locking rotomatics, as well as replaced some other cosmetic stuff like tone knobs, poker chip and mounting rings.

Did you go with the ceramic or alnico for your bridge Nailbomb? How are you liking it in the guitar so far?
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Crazy man! cool. I went Ceramic in the bridge. I have a SD Jazz still in the neck which pairs pretty decently with it so far. Yeah this guitar is a beast now. I use this guitar for heavier stuff, detuned/alt tunings. The nailbomb will stay in its new home for good. No more tweaking the bridge. Time will tell if i swap out the SD Jazz neck.
 
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