How to Mod an Epiphone Les Paul
Epiphone is an American guitar manufacturer owned by the Gibson company that specializes in budget versions of more expensive Gibson models. They also make some original guitars. The stock parts on an Epiphone Les Paul are typically of lower quality than the ones that come with a Gibson-made Les Paul. For that reason, you may wish to mod your guitar to improve the sound and playability. There is a variety of mods that you can make to improve the guitar's tone, action and appearance.
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Things You'll Need
- String winder
- Replacement strings
- Gibson 496R Humbucker pickup
- Customized replacement pick guard
- Soldering iron
- Masking tape
- Countour sander
- 80-grit sandpaper
- Detergent
- Cloth
Instructions
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1
Remove the strings. Use a string winder to do it quickly. Whatever mods you are performing, chances are you'll be able to do it better without the strings.
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2
Upgrade your pickups. Pickup upgrades are a great way to fatten up or refine your tone. The Epiphone Les Paul comes with Alnico Classic Humbuckers as standard. These are good pickups, but for more sustain and richer tone, consider upgrading your stock neck pickup to the Gibson 496R hot ceramic pickup. You can purchase these online from Gibson's website.
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3
Unscrew your neck pickup and gently pull it out of the cavity. Then melt the wires connecting it to the guitar with your soldering iron. Once detached, set your pickup to one side. Remove the back panel that covers your volume potentiometers, and melt the black and red wire that connects the neck pickup to the volume potentiometer. Put the new pickup in the cavity, thread the pickup wires through the hole in the cavity and solder them to the terminal on the volume potentiometer, in the same place that your other pickups were connected. The ground wire connects to the underside of the potentiometer. Wire the green and white wires together. Screw in the new 496R and put on one of the strings. Test the guitar to make sure the connection is sound then replace the rest of the strings and enclose the back panel.
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Replace your pick guard. An easy way to make your guitar unique is to fit it with a custom pick guard. Simply unscrew your old one and screw in a new one. You can get custom designs from Terrapin Guitars and Pickguard Paradise.
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5
Scallop your fretboard. To make string bending easier, partially hollow out the surface of the fret board. Cover the frets with masking tape to protect them, then use a contour sander with 80-grit sandpaper to file away the middle portion of each fret. The lack of resistance from the fretboard against the string makes string bending substantially easier. Use a buffer to smooth out the hollows and then clean the fretboard with detergent and cloth.
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Tips & Warnings
Follow the wiring diagram that comes with your new pickups in case the configuration differs from the stock pickups.
Go easy with the contour sander. Taking off too much is irreversible.
References
Resources
- Photo Credit electric guitar image by .shock from Fotolia.com
