Recently, I purchased a second hand Epi Les Paul for about 125 USD. The guitar arrived and it was in OK condition, but it was obviously a cheaply made guitar with sub-par parts.
I was of course aware it would be a cheaply made guitar with cheap and mediocre parts. This was partly the reason I bought the guitar. See I play live and I travel a lot for gigs. Guitars tend to get damaged during gigs. They fall, get bumped around etc. Stuff which would make you cry should they happen to your $5000 vintage original one of a kind guitar.
So I decided to upgrade the parts. Below are the pictures and the links to the parts I got (mostly from Stewmac - no affiliation).
This was exactly how it was when I first got the guitar. Diecast hardware, stock humbuckers, nothing extra.
The body and neck are nothing fancy, but the neck is thick and is in good condition. The frets had little use. Always check the neck before spending any money on upgrading a guitar. IF the neck is messed up, don't bother with it. Either replace the neck, or work on a different guitar.
What I needed to replace were:
Tuning machines. The stock ones would go out of tune easily, can't really do pitch bends.
Bridge. The bridge saddles moved in a weird way and seemed like they'd lose their position easily, which will cause intonation issues.
Electronics. The stock electronics on these cheapos are usually pretty bad.
Pickups. Don't know if there was a problem or if they were operation normally - but there was a ringing noise in both pickups. Didn't care for the sound anyway.
So I bought the parts online, and took it to my good friend and luthier Ugur Kececioglu.
The guitar before the work starts.
Crappy electronics. Tiny electronics cavity.
As you see the electronics cavity is smaller than a usual Les Paul - as you might have noticed, the guitar is essentially a 2 HB 1 volume 1 tone electric guitar. Not the usual seperate volume & tone knobs for each humbucker. I actually prefer this design as the switch is close to the volume pot. The original Les Paul design has the switch above the neck humbucker which is awkward to switch sometimes - especially if you're also singing.
Humbuckers removed. Notice the conductive paint in the cavity.
Headstock. (no shit Sherlock!)
The nut removed.
I had to get rid of the crappy plastic nut which came on the guitar. The one I got off Stewmac was this one. I actually had to get the one for Epiphones which is a bit higher than the Gibson one. So if you're ordering use item # 1873, not 1869 . We had to stick two sheets of plastic right under the nut so it was the proper height. The TUSQ nut has a lot more treble sound to it. When you drop the stock nut and the Tusq nut on a hard surface on the floor, you can hear the difference. My friend the luthier said that the sound of the nut will affect the tone of the guitar in the same way. So if it produces a low-mid kind of sound, it will influence the strings in that way. If it has a lot of top end, then that will also be reflected. I didn't know this and I'm still not sure this is true. But the main reason I got it was that TUSQ nuts are apparently more slippery and do not put extra tension on strings during bends. If it also influences the sound in a positive way, that's a bonus.
Knob holes.
HB cavities covered with copper tape.
Copper tape is a great way to minimize electrical noise. As a I gig a lot, and I usually have to stand next to stage lights, the amount of electrical noise we have to deal with sometimes is a pain. I have copper tape on all of my guitars. Strats usually get a full treatment, meaning the pickguard is covered with copper tape all over. Much better than conductive paint. This is what I got from Stewmac.
Copper tape, sitting next to the tuning machines.
Seymour Duncan Hot Rodded set, bridge humbucker.
I was leaning between an Alnico set or the tried and tested Hot Rodded set. I went with hot rodded. Details can be seen here (SD site) and here (Amazon).
Testing the HB fits ok.
Both HBs in place
Routing the cables.
Notice the copper tape in the electronics cavity.
The back plate is also covered all the way.
Enlarging the holes for the new pots.
I bought a premium wiring kit from Stewmac. Comes with 2 CTS pots, nice cables, switchcraft 3 way switch and a input jack. Details here.
Switchcraft toggle switch.
Pots & knobs in place.
Enlarging the tuning machine holes.
Tuning machines installed.
I got Gotoh 510 tuning machines. Really good quality, feels sturdy and looks shiny. Details here.
Back to the electronics cavity.
Notice that we added two bits of copper tape so that the back lid will also be touching the internal cavity.
Soldering the electronics. Dirty work.
Everyting in place. Check to see if there is sound.
Almost finished.
The fret wire getting spa treatment.
Hi-speed polishing.
The neck and frets look all nice and shiny after the polish.
Truss rod re-adjusted. Checking intonation.
The bridge was a Gotoh tune-o-matic. It was a direct fit. No need for any trickery. Details here.
The bridge installed. Stop tail is the stock one.
Everyting installed. I was planning to put stickers all over the front face, but the idiot I am, I ordered stickers that were transparent. So none of the stickers except one were visible on black background. Have to re-order and wait for them to arrive. Below is the guitar hanging on the wall at home.
Ready to go.
There are two more parts I ordered. The neck mounting plate and the truss rod cover. The neck plate was installed but the truss rod cover I got didnt fit, so we installed the original. The "Special II" writing was erased with paint thinner.
Below is the Stewmac order:
Note that 0614 truss rod cover didnt fit, and 1869 TUSQ XL was not high enough so we had to add plastic below it. Get the correct one.
Add the $125 for the pickups, the total is around $325 for the parts. Add the cost of the workmanship (wherever you live).
For about $500-600 in total, you get a pretty good back up - or even main guitar. Not a bad deal.
This was exactly how it was when I first got the guitar. Diecast hardware, stock humbuckers, nothing extra.
