I’m not going to throw myself headlong into the whole Gibson v Epiphone argument as it can be a fraught affair, drinks are thrown, fists fly, someone disses someone’s mother and the word ‘tone’ thrown is around like confetti at a cousin’s wedding. Price points and the value of each brand aside, there are clear differences in both quality and manufacture but putting it plainly, if you are are to guitars what the boy racer is to a ‘hot hatch’, modifying an Epiphone or other second tier brand can be a great & rewarding project.
Whilst staying over at a friend’s house I came across this sorry looking Epiphone Les Paul lent up in the corner by a stash of Metallica cassettes and books about Management Consultancy – and if melancholy were a guitar, this would be the one. Tarnished, scratched, dusty, unplayed and with the same strings rusting over the bridge for 20yrs, it either needed to be put out to pasture like a lame old horse or given a new lease of life with a fix, a clean, an upgrade and new parts.
Being an ex-vegetarian and sentimental old fool, I chose the latter.
The Gotoh bridge & stop-tail are good quality hardware; mid-range but there’s nothing wrong with them for a working guitar. Slightly tarnished they may be but a spot of polish & buffing will bring out the gold shine. Personally, the only time I’ve thought gold hardware works is on the Gretsch White Falcon but if people all had the same tastes we wouldn’t have moved on from wearing tunics & playing the Lute – And I don’t look good in a cape.
The bridge pickup ring surround is cracking so will need replacing, especially as the holding screws have had their threads mashed from amateur hour with the screwdriver. It does look as though whoever worked on this last had a toolbox full of cutlery.
As with the bridge, some of the surround screws are shot and will need replacing. The actual pickup cover has tarnished to such a point its hard to tell it was once golden and there’s a lot of dust on here, I even found a web!
Clearly unhappy with the concept of Up & Down, the toggle switch has been twisted to horizontal. The connection crackles like the electrics in my old student house (it burned down) and the binding has yellowed like the beat spot on an old smoker’s beard. The cheaper Epiphone switches can sometimes cause noise but for around £5 you can get a quality Switchcraft toggle that will be sturdy, silent & reliable.
The neck on this is great. It has a really thin profile, glued in & bound but the frets do need levelling, re-crowning and a good polish. The fretboard needs the layer of grime removed but its a great piece of rosewood. The binding is well crafted but some of the fret ends do need finishing to take off some of those burrs.
The Gotoh Tuners are great, tight, sturdy & reliable and the serial number denotes the guitar was built in Korea, 1989. A couple of them are out of line but I’ll take them apart, clean them up and re-install them correctly. There’s no need to replace them, though I may replace the nut with a synthetic bone. The action on it is a touch high and as the current nut could do with some slot filing, a replacement seems the obvious thing to do.
As with many Epiphone’s, the neck is two piece (could even be a three piece) – The joint I can see is very clean, stable and so doesn’t concern me. I know there will be many who believe this will affect tone, there will also be many who believe the opposite. If the guitar is well crafted with quality parts, set-up, intonated – it should be great to play. I might murder a tune on it but that’s not the guitar’s fault.
The finish has been sanded away on the back of the neck to make it easier to play. In all honesty, I would’ve done the same. Personally, I prefer a simple oiled and finely sanded finish to the back of the neck and a common theme with many of the mid-to-lower-end guitars is the sheer thickness of coating applied. The major downside of this is that under the heat of the lights onstage, the back of the neck can get sticky in a player’s hands. Often a manufacturer will slap on the paint and finish like pantomime make-up in order to hide a multitude of sins, in this case the perception of a multi-piece neck.
The coating on the body is the same. Probably built from three or more pieces, the sheer thickness of the finish makes it impossible to see any joins or wood grain. Its mahogany, that’s all I know. Its also quite a heavy guitar.
I’ll be documenting the upgrade in the next couple of weeks (as I work on other guitars & pickups etc) and will give you before & after audio demos. All in all, its actually a good guitar to hold. The weight gives it body and with some care, attention & quality parts & pickups it could be a really good guitar. I’m actually thinking of keeping it – if not it will up on ebay.
If you have the time and inclination, upgrading a cheaper guitar can be a rewarding experience. Ultimately you’ll have a more personal instrument, you’ll learn a great deal and it could lead to bigger and better things. After all, it is how I started.
Sign up for the site and read how the upgrade is coming along.
You can read the second part – Upgrading an Epiphone Les Paul – Pt.2 here.
