Anyone customize their Epiphones…….

[KelvinS1965]

Mine mostly looks standard though after owning it 30 years it's had plenty of wear and tear, so I gradually replaced parts and upgraded over the years. I also had it re-fretted (twice...the first guy made a total mess of it!):








In no specific order:
I fitted and cut a bone nut since I had the tools.
Locking tuners after I bought my SG and liked them.
Bareknuckle 'Mule' pickups (which now cost more than the guitar did new, not at the time I did), originals went very noisy and microphonic.
Rewired it with CTS pots, orange drop caps and metal braided wire. Originals went very noisy and crackly.
Replaced the knobs to suit the CTS pots.
New bridge and aluminium tailpiece (original bridge sagged).
Second fret with medium jumbo fret wire and some replacement binding after the original refret went so badly wrong it was damaged.

It sounds and plays fantastic after all that, but now I hardly play it because my Gibson SG Standard is lighter and sounds just as good (if not better).

 

[happy_tom]

I bought this SG special off a friend who broke off the lower part of the body.

It already had grovers installed, so 30 bucks was a good deal
I had some P90s and pickguard material laying around.

I glued it back together, routed it for P90s, made a custom pickguard (traced a g310 PG and made some modifications),
drilled for 4+1 control layout, put in new pots with 50s wiring and witchhats, and Voila: a poor man's Classic / Townshend '69 SG special

 

[DrBGood]

I bought this SG special off a friend who broke off the lower part of the body.

It already had grovers installed, so 30 bucks was a good deal
I had some P90s and pickguard material laying around.

I glued it back together, routed it for P90s, made a custom pickguard (traced a g310 PG and made some modifications),
drilled for 4+1 control layout, put in new pots with 50s wiring and witchhats, and Voila: a poor man's Classic / Townshend '69 SG special
View attachment 56329

WOW ! $30 ! ! ! What a nice save you did ! You're tempting me to do the same. Off to the cheapest Special I can find.

What P90 did you get ?

 

[happy_tom]

What P90 did you get ?

They were taken from a brand new Harley Benton MR Mosrite copy, as I put something else into that one.

They are made by Artec i believe, vintage style alnico V P90s. Similar in characteristics to Epiphone P90s in my 61 special, but just a tad warmer, a touch more mids, and maybe a tiny bit more output. Actually I might switch them over, as I like Artec a bit more :)

Also have a pair of ceramic Wilkinson P90s, they are quite good for the price, but very hot outbut and basically sound like humbuckers.

 

[TChalms]

in 2019, I bought a 2008 Made in China Epiphone SG G-310 (bolt-on) with a TKL case with a broken latch for $150 - because I wanted to learn a bit about modding and I wanted to learn about using the 4 knobs and I wanted to get my first SG. But everything on the SG was inferior, including the finish on the headstock and it looked like no one had ever played it at all - obviously it needed help.

The plastic nut was too tall, so rather than filing the all of the slots (which I wasn't sure how to do correctly) I sanded a bit off the bottom of the nut. Oops, too much. Oh well, learning as we go. I ordered a pre-cut TUSQ nut from Stew Mac; perfect fit and it helped the tuning troubles a bit.

I didn't like the sound of the pickups even with trying to raise them or lower them - they were too muddy for the tone I wanted. Just before the COVID shutdowns, I ordered Seymour Duncan Jazz Neck and 59/Custom bridge.

At the same time, I ordered the Mad Hatter Guitar Products Terminator 4/2 kit with push/pull tone pots for coil splitting. The tone pots are double stacked 500K pot for the Humbuckers and 250K pot for single coils.

During the first week of the shutdowns, when swapping pups, pots and switch, I shielded the cavities with copper tape, and had to route out a bit of the cavity under the bridge tone pot as the double stack pot was a bit too tall.

And man oh man do I love the tones!!

But tuning up and staying in tune was still a problem so I swapped in Grover locking tuners. And tuning problems were gone - except for intonating the low E - the saddle could not move any closer to the tailpiece. I ordered a Gotoh bridge which allows more travel for the saddle. Perfect fit and intonation is good.

Lots of fun with fairly easy mods. But I have played it a lot and the frets are wearing down... hmmm...

 

[Spikerike]

….or do you leave them stock?

Let’s hear about a customization you’ve done. Big or small.

On my 61 SG/Les Paul I haven’t done much.
Changed the Les Paul truss rod cover to a SG (if I wanted a Les Paul I would’ve got one)
‘Switch tip from white to black
Skull sticker on pick guard
Recently swapped the BurstBucker 3 to a Gibson T-Type (freaking great pickup by the way)
View attachment 54354

So let’s see or hear about what you’ve done to make it yours. Or if you left it stock tell us about it too

One quick response. I buy from that special period 2002-2008. One of the first I bought was a mint Tobacco Sunburst Plus LP. The owner replaced the pups with Pearly Gates and stainless steel frets. Bumble bee caps, et. al. I have all the Les Paul models up to all three LP Customs. All four SG's Wine Red, Worn Wine Red, Black/Ebony of curse and natural finish. One seller replaced the pups in one of my Gloss SG's with the same pups. They do sound better than the original pups, SG models and Les Pauls!

 

[DrBGood]

One quick response. I buy from that special period 2002-2008. One of the first I bought was a mint Tobacco Sunburst Plus LP. The owner replaced the pups with Pearly Gates and stainless steel frets. Bumble bee caps, et. al. I have all the Les Paul models up to all three LP Customs. All four SG's Wine Red, Worn Wine Red, Black/Ebony of curse and natural finish. One seller replaced the pups in one of my Gloss SG's with the same pups. They do sound better than the original pups, SG models and Les Pauls!

View attachment 56451

Beauties ! But please, please, take that sticker off the Worn Red pickguard.

 

[Scole]

Customizing is what has brought me to this board. I’m currently in the middle of modding a 2006 Epiphone SG Special-

* The stock humbuckers are being replaced with Red Rock Guitars Alnico 2 P90s
* stock Tune O Matic is replaced by a Tone Ninja Roller Bridge
* Adding a WD Music short Vibrola
* stock tuners replaced with Gotoh vintage locking tuners
* adding a holoflash finish
* electronics upgraded (CTS pots, Puretone jack..)

 

[DrBGood]

Customizing is what has brought me to this board. I’m currently in the middle of modding a 2006 Epiphone SG Special-

* The stock humbuckers are being replaced with Red Rock Guitars Alnico 2 P90s
* stock Tune O Matic is replaced by a Tone Ninja Roller Bridge
* Adding a WD Music short Vibrola
* stock tuners replaced with Gotoh vintage locking tuners
* adding a holoflash finish
* electronics upgraded (CTS pots, Puretone jack..)

So, you're making a new full pickguard to receive P90s ?

 

[Scole]

So, you're making a new full pickguard to receive P90s ?

Yes…and no. I have enlarged the humbucker route to fit the P90s but that obviously leaves unsightly gaps on either side of the pickups. To hide that, I have made a pickguard from scratch but it will be clear. Around the pickup opening, I'm going to do an airbrush fade of black paint on the underside of the pickguard similar to what Fender does with pink paisley guitars (Jazzmasters, tele, etc).

And the end result will look something like what I did here with a tele I built:

 

[DrBGood]

Yes…and no. I have enlarged the humbucker route to fit the P90s but that obviously leaves unsightly gaps on either side of the pickups. To hide that, I have made a pickguard from scratch but it will be clear. Around the pickup opening, I'm going to do an airbrush fade of black paint on the underside of the pickguard similar to what Fender does with pink paisley guitars (Jazzmasters, tele, etc).

And the end result will look something like what I did here with a tele I built:

Way cool ! Polycarbonate (Lexan) for the pickguard ?

 

[Scole]

Way cool ! Polycarbonate (Lexan) for the pickguard ?

I’m not sure, really. It’s just sold as acrylic.

The fretboard has a slight overhang onto the body so I had to choose between a thin or slightly thicker piece. I went with a thickness of 1/16” but it’s more prone to cracking (which did happen when I worked on the cutouts for the bridge posts).

 

[Les’s Nemisis]

Yes…and no. I have enlarged the humbucker route to fit the P90s but that obviously leaves unsightly gaps on either side of the pickups. To hide that, I have made a pickguard from scratch but it will be clear. Around the pickup opening, I'm going to do an airbrush fade of black paint on the underside of the pickguard similar to what Fender does with pink paisley guitars (Jazzmasters, tele, etc).

And the end result will look something like what I did here with a tele I built:

Unique project. Very nice.

 

[DrBGood]

I’m not sure, really. It’s just sold as acrylic.

The fretboard has a slight overhang onto the body so I had to choose between a thin or slightly thicker piece. I went with a thickness of 1/16” but it’s more prone to cracking (which did happen when I worked on the cutouts for the bridge posts).

OK, so that is plexiglass. It will become very brittle with time, not the best material. Go to a glass shop (windows, mirrors, etc), they will sell you a piece of polycarbonate. They make bullet proof windows with polycarbonate. You can bend it as much as you can, it will not break.

 

[Jaakko]

….or do you leave them stock?

Let’s hear about a customization you’ve done. Big or small.

On my 61 SG/Les Paul I haven’t done much.
Changed the Les Paul truss rod cover to a SG (if I wanted a Les Paul I would’ve got one)
‘Switch tip from white to black
Skull sticker on pick guard
Recently swapped the BurstBucker 3 to a Gibson T-Type (freaking great pickup by the way)
View attachment 54354

So let’s see or hear about what you’ve done to make it yours. Or if you left it stock tell us about it too

On my Epiphone SG Standard 60s Maestro Vibrola I changed the volume and tone knobs, took off the pickup covers and painted the pickguard with furniture paint also took off the vibrola handle. Planning on taking the whole vibrola system off and putting on a stoptail because of the tuning issues.

 

[Les’s Nemisis]

On my Epiphone SG Standard 60s Maestro Vibrola I changed the volume and tone knobs, took off the pickup covers and painted the pickguard with furniture paint also took off the vibrola handle. Planning on taking the whole vibrola system off and putting on a stoptail because of the tuning issues.

I’m not familiar with the internalworking of that Vobrola, but is there someway to just lock down the tailpiece?

 

[Cajunboy2k]

I'm about to pull the trigger on an Epiphone SG Traditional Pro in gold, and am thinking of the following mods to make it more "me". The pickups would be DiMarzio 59's, and the inlays would be trapazoid.
Ive been playing with the Kisekae guitar builder and came up with these.

 

[Les’s Nemisis]

I'm about to pull the trigger on an Epiphone SG Traditional Pro in gold, and am thinking of the following mods to make it more "me". The pickups would be DiMarzio 59's, and the inlays would be trapazoid.
Ive been playing with the Kisekae guitar builder and came up with these.

View attachment 56594
View attachment 56595
View attachment 56596

Why not just buy one of the models with those inlays and save a lot of work

 

[Cajunboy2k]

Why not just buy one of the models with those inlays and save a lot of work

i meant that i forgot to change the block inlay for the trapezoid inlays in the program.

 

[Les’s Nemisis]

i meant that i forgot to change the block inlay for the trapezoid inlays in the program.

Oh... that's completely different from what I was thinking. LOL.