Practice What We Preach; Acheived Mods

Lately, I've gotten more into Les Pauls as you may have been able to tell with the past few articles. Of course, it's never in our nature to let a guitar sit too long without a few mods. As such, I felt it only fair to share the ongoings and give som opinions.

I've written about my Epiphone Les Paul Plus Top Pro, and this has been my number 1 go to guitar. So far, I've swapped the stock Grover Rotomatics with the Grover locking equivalent. This was a direct fit, and makes string change much more easier. I also put Dunlop Dual Design Straplocks on it. I kept the Probucker 2 and 3 on, but have been toying with the idea of throwing in a set of Seymour Duncan APH-2s Slash Signature pickups. I really like the Probuckers, so I'm actually leaning more towards getting a gold-top to put APH-2s into. The Epiphone Les Pauls have a great 60's slim taper neck, and are very comfortable; definitely more so than the 2015 Gibson lineup. I also have a set of Graphtech saddles that are going to be put on at the next string change. Bridge and tailpiece are gonna stay because they are locking. The electronics have a clip system for the Probuckers, so they'll be staying as long as the pickups will.

The other Les Paul I have is a Madore; which from our research turns out to be a Les Paul Custom clone made in Korea where some really good Epiphones were made. This is more Gibson-like in that it seems to have a maple cap, and the fretboard is actual Ebony (one could argue this is better in that Gibson has been putting Richlite® on their customs, and possibly doing weight relief).

This guitar is a work in progress, and that's what I bought it for. The pickups (stock Korean Epi type; very muddy and not much life) have been replaced with a Seymour Duncan Hot-Rodded set; which is an SH-2n Jazz in the neck, and an SH-4 JB in the bridge. All around great pickups, and I'll put them through their paces tonight at practice. Also, the wiring was replaced with a 50's style harness by Sigler Music. This Harness has CTS 500k pots, and Sprague Orange Drop .022 µF tone Capacitors. I also installed a new set of Grover locking tuners and Dulop dual design Straplocks (both in gold of course), and swapped the stock Speed Knobs for something slightly more better.

The next phase will be adding a roller bridge; a knock-off of the Wilkinson Roller locking bridge that I found.

The original bridge was cut badly, and I wanted to try something that locks like a Tone Pros, and this seemed perfect. I also have a Tone Pros locking tailpiece on the way as well. I'm on the fence about the nut, but I'm looking to Graphtech's Tusq for this in the future.

The other guitar I've been using is the aforementioned Tele (Fender Standard with Duncan SH-2n Jazz in the neck and Hot Rails for Tele in the bridge). I'v since added Graphtech saddles to this guitar, Fender's locking tuners (these replace most modern American and Mexican Fender Strats and Teles), and switched the locking tuners from Schalloer to Dunlop. This guitar has become a beast, and It's getting hard to decide which guitar to play between the 3.

So those are the mods I've done, and what mods are to come. I'll give more incite on the function soon here, but it's been a blast taking some great guitars and making them stellar. The more I tinker with these "lesser" guitars, the less I would want to (over)pay for a Gibson or American Fender. For 1/3 to 1/2 the price, you can get pretty much the guitar you want, instead of the guitars the big guys say you should be playing. I look at Gibson R8's and R9's and shake my head. ~$5,000 for a guitar with tuners I hate, pickups that never impressed me, and a lot of hype. The Epiphone Les Paul neck and i are becoming real good friends.