What did you do to your Epiphone today?

[Darkness]

Picked up my worn Casino and played it for 2 hours. Went to finish a project, ate dinner, cracked a beer, came back to the Casino and played 2 more hours. Its my second electric guitar, and I've got several since then, but it is still my favorite to play.

 

[DHart]

What I did to my ES-339. But most definitely not "today".

A pair of Cavalier Firebird pickups, 490k volume pots, 490k No-Load tone pots, .015uF orange drop caps.

The tones are glorious!

200627 - 003

Just noodling around with the Firebird pickups installed in my ES-339.

on.soundcloud.com

 

[WoundUp]

I routed out the tuner holes on my Epiphone Les Paul ‘59 and installed Gibson Deluxe tuners.

Gibsons Deluxe tuners on the left, original Epiphone tuners on the right.View attachment 16302

I did just the opposite on a guitar. I took off those chunky, screw bushing tuners and replaced them with nice, basic press-in Gotoh conversion bushings and Gotoh Vintage-style tuners. I much prefer the 'minimalist' look of those vs the modern, chunky screw-in bushing tuners.

 

[WoundUp]

What I did to my ES-339. But most definitely not "today".

A pair of Cavalier Firebird pickups, 490k volume pots, 490k No-Load tone pots, .015uF orange drop caps.

The tones are glorious!

200627 - 003

Just noodling around with the Firebird pickups installed in my ES-339.

on.soundcloud.com

If i could convince myself to ream out these 8mm vol & tone pot holes to 3/8", I've got 4 480-505k CTS pots with a no-load tone for the Seth Lover neck pickup, and 0.015uf caps to install. All I have to do to finish it after reaming is connect the switch and pickup wires to each vol pot and install into the control cavity or vice versa.

In the mean time, I disconnected the current tone pot from the neck pickup to see if I liked how it sounds before I install the no-load tone pot. So far, so good. I think that no-load pot gets close to 450 or 460k before it hits the no load position so it ought to work pretty well, I hope.

This wouldn't be on an Epiphone. It's actually the guitar I bought instead of an Epi because I couldn't find a guitar close to the quality of this one at the price I got it at. I wanted an Epi but it was over twice the price of my guitar for an equivalently spec'ed Epiphone.

It didn't makes sense to buy a Les Paul Special II when I could get a fully spec'ed LP-style guitar for the same money. Mahog with Mahog set neck. 18mm thick maple cap. Carved top. Full thickness body. Bound body & neck. Bone nut. 2 vol & 2 tone. Alnico 5 pickups. Etc...Everything you'd expect to find on a proper LP. The Special II was basswood or poplar, IIRC. Flat (thinner?) body w/ no carve top. Bolt-on maple neck. No binding. 1 vol & 1 tone. Ceramic mag pickups.Your basic, entry level Les Paul. The choice was EASY at that point.


Since I don't care what the headstock says or what it looks like, I went with the better value guitar. Oh, I wanted Les Paul on the headstock. Sure. Everybody does. I just couldn't justify over double the price for it. In any case, I'll always buy the better value unless I've got extra money to play with. That guitar was #1 from that company. It's such a great guitar, I bought 4 more from them lol.

 

[chont]

I did this over the weekend.... Finally got around to replacing the Green Tulips on my 335 that had been bothering me since I got it. I had bought Klusons after reading they were drop in but they were not. I put the job off thinking I would eventually ream the holes and do the deed. Bought the reamer but then changed my mind about attempting to mod the holes. So.... back to looking for actual drop ins and found these.



They are in fact the same size post/bushings as what is on the 2017 335 Pro. I don't know if these are new but I could never find vintage white Wilkinsons in the past.

Very happy with the change and quality of the tuners. While at it I took care of some intonation issues I was having. Now I can't put it down... Sorry Stratocaster.

 

[Raiyn]

If i could convince myself to ream out these 8mm vol & tone pot holes to 3/8"

$4 at the Hazard Fart

Tape over the outside with some blue painter's tape, You can just poke the reamer through this and it'll take care of the hole.

Go slow, let the tool do the work. Also, since I believe this is for that '59 of yours, work from both sides. A couple twists outside, a couple in. Sneak up on it.

Optional: Depending on the thickness of the wood, phase of the moon, or what I had for lunch I'll sometimes take the very last passes with a step drill bit mounted in a 1/4" bit (manual or ratcheting) screwdriver.


Again. The bulk of the work has been done by the reamer. This for that last sliver of a blonde one.

Do NOT skip the reamer and go directly to the step bit in a drill.

 

[DECEMBER]

I traded it for an amp. An Epi LP Muse w/SD jazz/JB for an old Line 6 Flextone III XL. I'm glad I did. I have a Gibson LP Special Tribute Raven w/EMGs that I prefer, so the Epi was just collecting dust, but I've been fighting with 6 different amps for the past 2 years, never getting a recording I'm satisfied with. I've gone thru a Revv G20, Peavey Invective MH, Peavey ValveKing II 20 combo, Marshall DSL20CR, Marshall Valvestate 40V 8040, and a Boss Katana 50 Mk2. The clean and high gain sounds on the Flextone totally destroy all these other amps.

 

[g0ldr4k3]

ok today I finally played my work on a sg400....I don't know If I have finished...I would like to make the neck finish satin but....I don't have time now.
Images are not for everybody....viewer discretion is advised ()

This is an experiment I made....refinishing an sg with colors I love (everything started finding a gibby lp limited run with those, my first acoustic guitar had them more about 40 years ago) so I started the work with trying of sanding the finish with no help. I used chemicals but nothing...with suggestion of other people I tryed the heat gun.....



but as you can see the results were ugly!!



so with the help of a carpenter I fixed front and rear but the wood was very thin in the pot area and there was the risk of breaking it with very little effort pushing one pot so I had to be creative. after a while and in cold mind I would reinforce the area under the top glueing a thicker veneer in the pot cavity but....I went another way...





glueing a mahogany veneer in front and back of the guitar. sadly during the gluing waiting time and most during the staining it shrinked a little
and I had to be creative again





after that....I had to finalize the finish as I wanted....creating what I call "an old grandma furniture effect" which I was looking for

 

[g0ldr4k3]

after that....I had some parts in my drawers (a lot of.....) coming from other guitars or traded or buyed second hand.... I buyed this guitar second hand but she had a lot of things to be replaced....almost every hardware part so.....I took a gibson sg pcb, drilled the holes in the top to fit it and matched with a pair of gibson 61s coming from a lespaul classic



and adding gold covers, without replacing the silver poles of the pickup creating a silver/gold theme I used also for the tuners because I had to fix the grovers in chrome with some parts from a golden set I had, also with problems. so silver/gold theme and a perfect functioning set (I replaced the buttons, the washers with new ones and the screw: only the mechanic box is nichel and the rest is golden). this is the final result.



so... I know I'm crazy but I forget to mention that I carved all the curves giving her a very comfy grip. I really love her!.

for reference I had to replace the switch for 2 reasons: 1st there was not enough space for the switchcraft from the gibson's kit and 2nd I installed a golden one with a white tip. also all the spray finish is nitro and the final transparent also nitro. the feel is AWESOME!!!
gibson's nitro is different and I love it more but..... however is far from a "factory perfection" but I love her for that.

here's to the crazy ones....

 

[3bolt79]

Tuned and played my EPI LP Custom Koa for just a little while.

 

[Beekeeper]

Getting familiar with my few days old '58 Reissue Korina Explorer. Loving it! Removed the jackplate to get the plastic from under the washer. In doing so I made a couple discoveries. 1) the person that wired the guitar must have only had long shaft jacks in their station. To account for this there was a stack of 6 lock-washers (in the picture below there are only 5 washers because I had already removed one before ordering a new jack). I ordered a short shaft Switchcraft jack and replaced it in order to eliminate the washer stack (fourth picture). 2) In doing this, I saw that the mounting plate is offset slightly from the hole in the body. I was able to rotate the jack on the plate so that it doesn't seem to be making contact with the body of the guitar. I'm tempted to draw an offset plate using AutoCAD and laser cut it so that the jack is centered in the hole. On the other hand, I have it not making contact now so I should let this be. Despite these little "flaws" I'm loving this guitar.

 

[BlueSquirrel]

Getting familiar with my few days old '58 Reissue Korina Explorer. Loving it! Removed the jackplate to get the plastic from under the washer. In doing so I made a couple discoveries. 1) the person that wired the guitar must have only had long shaft jacks in their station. To account for this there was a stack of 6 lock-washers (in the picture below there are only 5 washers because I had already removed one before ordering a new jack). I ordered a short shaft Switchcraft jack and replaced it in order to eliminate the washer stack (fourth picture). 2) In doing this, I saw that the mounting plate is offset slightly from the hole in the body. I was able to rotate the jack on the plate so that it doesn't seem to be making contact with the body of the guitar. I'm tempted to draw an offset plate using AutoCAD and laser cut it so that the jack is centered in the hole. On the other hand, I have it not making contact now so I should let this be. Despite these little "flaws" I'm loving this guitar.
View attachment 23232View attachment 23233View attachment 23234View attachment 23235

Well done!
I had never seen a "washer stack" before.

 

[BlueSquirrel]

after that....I had some parts in my drawers (a lot of.....) coming from other guitars or traded or buyed second hand.... I buyed this guitar second hand but she had a lot of things to be replaced....almost every hardware part so.....I took a gibson sg pcb, drilled the holes in the top to fit it and matched with a pair of gibson 61s coming from a lespaul classic

View attachment 23181

and adding gold covers, without replacing the silver poles of the pickup creating a silver/gold theme I used also for the tuners because I had to fix the grovers in chrome with some parts from a golden set I had, also with problems. so silver/gold theme and a perfect functioning set (I replaced the buttons, the washers with new ones and the screw: only the mechanic box is nichel and the rest is golden). this is the final result.

View attachment 23182

so... I know I'm crazy but I forget to mention that I carved all the curves giving her a very comfy grip. I really love her!.

for reference I had to replace the switch for 2 reasons: 1st there was not enough space for the switchcraft from the gibson's kit and 2nd I installed a golden one with a white tip. also all the spray finish is nitro and the final transparent also nitro. the feel is AWESOME!!!
gibson's nitro is different and I love it more but..... however is far from a "factory perfection" but I love her for that.

here's to the crazy ones....

What an awesome rescue !
I would love to see the guitar's back btw.

 

[Raiyn]

Well done!
I had never seen a "washer stack" before.

Hmmm. I don't use Switchcraft jacks, but, you have seen a lock washer stack before. It's useful if you want to have the jacks flush. All jacks have to accommodate the same size plug.

The situation gets rough, and I start to panic
It's not enough, it's just a habit

Apologies to Gordon Gano.​

It's not an issue if you're using lock washers, and I've got plenty.

His look thinner than mine though.

 

[Sirdoh]

Setting up my new (to me) casino.
Check all the controls,
sort the lower tone knob,,
strings off,
clean oil neck, clean everywhere else.
Fit strap locks -( Mandatory after my precision neck dived into a concrete patio)
restring,
Neck was convex!
Raise string height to "not stupid".
Fix intonation ........ I've run out of adjustment on the G string. It really is sharp. Is it OK to just turn the saddle round?

I might play it!

 

[BlueSquirrel]

Hmmm. I don't use Switchcraft jacks, but, you have seen a washer stack before. It's useful if you want to have the jacks flush. All jacks have to accommodate the same size plug.
View attachment 23241
View attachment 23239View attachment 23240

The situation gets rough, and I start to panic
It's not enough, it's just a habit

Apologies to Gordon Gano.​

It's not an issue if you're using lock washers, and I've got plenty.
View attachment 23242
His look thinner than mine though.

Oh I see, now. Very smart!

 

[BlueSquirrel]

Setting up my new (to me) casino.
Check all the controls,
sort the lower tone knob,,
strings off,
clean oil neck, clean everywhere else.
Fit strap locks -( Mandatory after my precision neck dived into a concrete patio)
restring,
Neck was convex!
Raise string height to "not stupid".
Fix intonation ........ I've run out of adjustment on the G string. It really is sharp. Is it OK to just turn the saddle round?

I might play it!View attachment 23243

Yes, and don't worry, a lot of people turn bridge saddles round on their Les Paul to get more travel for intonation, it is a common mod (in fact some bridges come stock from factory with three saddles one way and three saddles the other way). So have it your way!
Cheers!

 

[Beekeeper]

Hmmm. I don't use Switchcraft jacks, but, you have seen a washer stack before. It's useful if you want to have the jacks flush. All jacks have to accommodate the same size plug.
View attachment 23241
View attachment 23239View attachment 23240

The situation gets rough, and I start to panic
It's not enough, it's just a habit

Apologies to Gordon Gano.​

It's not an issue if you're using lock washers, and I've got plenty.
View attachment 23242
His look thinner than mine though.

I hadn't even thought of that. That is, that they all have to fit the same length plug. So a longer shaft results in shorter tip contactor. I still prefer having fewer washers if possible. Now I have six spares.

 

[Raiyn]

Is it OK to just turn the saddle round?

Yup. Common tactic for a common issue.

Oh I see, now. Very smart!

Oh stop, it's not like calling me smart would make me happy or anything.

Just remember, they need to be lock washers to be fully effective.

I hadn't even thought of that. That is, that they all have to fit the same length plug. So a longer shaft results in shorter tip contactor. I still prefer having fewer washers if possible. Now I have six spares.

All good. My biggest pet peeve doing tech work is not finding any, hence the supply. One is better than none.

They don't make short bushing Pure Tones, so a guy does what a guy does.

 

[Darkness]

SG got new strings, went with 9-46s and I like this pack so far. SIT nickel power wound. Also oiled the fret board and noticed the neck needs a bit of relief. Noticed my humidity gauge is down to 38%, normally it is between 50-60%. Interesting since I've not run the heater, but perhaps that is the official end of Summer.

Tuco was bored.