2013 Epiphone Prophecy Custom Plus GX - Upgrade

[ScottMarlowe]

The originals had ebony, then they switched to rosewood soon after.

Mine;

Stunning!

 

[eS.G.]

HOLY FOOKING CRAP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I am floored.......the gorgeousness has driven a spike through my skull and sucked out the 2 brain sells I haven't fried........wow

 

[Mark]

Hi all,


A couple of months ago I picked up a 2013 Epiphone Prophecy Custom Plus GX in Heritage Cherry Sunburst. While this played ok, I wasn’t overly happy with the instrument as a whole (especially the wiring) as one of the coil splitting pots was a bit flaky.


So I decided to pickup a wiring upgrade for the guitar, then the GAS took over and the results below are what followed…..


Stage 1:

the original guitar before any work started.


Stage 2:


the upgrade list of items purchased for the guitar.


IronGear Tesla Shark Pickups Gold – I’m a big fan of the Slash tone. I have a set of SD Slash Signature in my SGj, but these Irongear pickups have received quite good reviews, so I though I’d give them a try, if I don’t like them later they can always be swapped out for something else..

Rs Guitarworks Pre-Wired Vintage Electronics Upgrade Kit with Repro Luxe Bumble Bees- Long shaft – I have used RS Guitarworks in the past for wiring kits for my Strats, so I thought I’d try their Les Paul offerings.

Gibson Grover PMMH-025 Gold keystone tuners – didn’t like the kidney bean tuners, so picked up some keystone ones.

Gotoh® TI103-B-T - Gold tune-o-matic bridge – got some excellent reviews, so I thought I’d give it a try

Faber Vintage Tailpiece and Tone Lok kit – was looking for something that would secure the tailpiece and hopefully add to the guitars sustain.

Tusq XL Graphite Nut – was torn between this and a Stewmac Zero fret nut (which I also have), so this might change later.

Gold Humbucker Rings – this will probably have the angry mob out in force. I know people like to leave the original rings on the guitar, but with gold pickups I figured matching rings would look better. If they bont look right I can always swap back later

Switchcraft long shaft toggle switch – the Epiphone switch was a bit noisy in switching between positions, so I thought it needed changing

Switchcraft Jack Socket – picked it up at the same time as the switch

Braded wire for switch – makes everything look nice on the wiring front

Gibson Gold Jack plate – to replace the black original cover

Slash Truss rod cover – what can I say about this really…


Stage 3


Down to business… strip all of the hardware from the guitar.

Installation of Copper shielding tape in the Humbucker and control cavities

I also checked with a multimeter that the bridge ground wire was still working OK


Stage 4

Wiring…


Soldered the braded wire to the toggle switch.. had to then do it again, as I read on the site, that the switchcraft toggle has a different wiring pattern to the Epiphone one.. A BIG thanks on that one guys, you saved me a lot of hassle later in troubleshooting.

I’m using heat shrink tubing to neaten the ends of the braded cable, where I’ve stripped back the shield

Switch installed into cavity

installation of the RS Guitarworks pre wired loom

Prophecy Knobs on the CTS pots.. as standard the knobs don’t fit, due to the Metric/Imperial spline differences, so I had to removed some of the internal material in the knob with a dowelled rod and some sandpaper. Took about 5 minutes.

More in focus body shot of the knobs

Rear body shot


Tune in next week for the finale…

That looks frigging sweet! Care to do mine?