gingerguitarist Posted June 18, 2011 Report Share Posted June 18, 2011 hi guys. this is my first post so if i do anything wrong or am posting in the wrong section please correct me. my first electric guitar was an epiphone les paul special 2 which i am very sentimental about. these days i find myself playing it less and less which saddens me. so i plan to modify it to maximise its abilitys. im just a plug in and play guy so i dont know where to start. everything about the guitar is still as it was when i bought it new, with the obvious exception being the strings. i am willing to spend whatever it takes to get a serious improvment from it. any advice would be seriously appreciated. thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Southpa Posted June 18, 2011 Report Share Posted June 18, 2011 modify it to maximise its abilitys In what way? I guess you could do something with the pickups, unless they are just 2-wire pickups (hot and ground). If they are 3-wire or 4-wire pickups then you could do some coil splitting, ie. knock one or both humbuckers into single coils with the aid of additional DPDT switches. If you aren't sure what is available, hence your post on this forum, then I suggest you do some reading here. Look into series/parallel wiring, out of phase, trying different capacitors etc. Or spend some money and change out the stock pickups entirely for something different. No guarantees that you will get what you want. But you have to first know what you want . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gingerguitarist Posted June 18, 2011 Author Report Share Posted June 18, 2011 modify it to maximise its abilitys In what way? I guess you could do something with the pickups, unless they are just 2-wire pickups (hot and ground). If they are 3-wire or 4-wire pickups then you could do some coil splitting, ie. knock one or both humbuckers into single coils with the aid of additional DPDT switches. If you aren't sure what is available, hence your post on this forum, then I suggest you do some reading here. Look into series/parallel wiring, out of phase, trying different capacitors etc. Or spend some money and change out the stock pickups entirely for something different. No guarantees that you will get what you want. But you have to first know what you want . sorry mate. i play a bit of everything from led zep metallica the beatles nirvana arctic monkeys. ive recently been playing a lot of different guitars. a gibson les paul custom, fender stratocaster the richie sambora model(i think), fender telecaster custom, a japanese squier strat 1984. going back to my very basic les paul special 2 i felt the difference everything about them was astronomical. way they handled overdrive/distortion particularly. i know my epiphone will never match the fender or the gibsons but i would just like to improve it as i really love it. i consulted my mate and he recommended changing the pickups. i think i am going to go for seymour duncan hot rodded humbuckers or gibson 57' classic humbuckers. have you any experiance in any of these two sets of pick ups? or do you have a different set of pick ups you recommend? he also recommended replacing tone pots volume pots capacitator toggle switch and fit locking tuners. any advice on anything i have mentioned would really be appreciated. thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Omn Posted June 18, 2011 Report Share Posted June 18, 2011 (edited) Hey there! First post; so be easy on me... I have got Historics (Gibson), Custom Shops, whathaveyou... But what I end up with is my cheap (not so much anymore) Squier Protone. So I would encourage you; changes made may be very rewarding. To change the overall feeling of your guitar; replacing the bridge (is it an ABR-type?) and studs, together with the tailpiece may be good. I replaced original ones on a Reissue 58 and a 59 with Callaham ABR-1 and a Pigtail TP. With studs. Brings out a lot more vibe to the guitars. Sustain. Feels good. Changing the nut (some kind of bone-nut maybe) can also be nice. But it is a bit of work. Especially if its not precut. Pickups and electronics; absolutely worth trying - but there are so many options, in pickups. And we all have our own tastes. I could reccommend, but that may not fit you. CTS-pots. I am all over the place as far as caps goes. Use what is close at hand. Maybe top-wrapping the tailpiece you got is good for you. You just go the other way with the strings - next time you change them. http://i120.photobucket.com/albums/o186/Turbo7MN/bridge.jpg Some like the tailpiece all the way down to the body. A general setup (intonation, string height, pickup height and such) may bring your guitar more "to life". I wish you well in your quest! It is not about the price of the instrument - it is what you put into it. Edited June 18, 2011 by Omn Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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