Bare Knuckle Pickups Forum
Forum Ringside => Guitars, Amps and Effects => Topic started by: Deadstar on March 20, 2010, 09:58:00 PM
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Hey, finally got round to doing up my old Epiphone Les Paul Black Beauty. It had fallen out of favour with me as I preferred the sound of my Telecaster Baja.
So I decided to do the whole thing up, fix all the little things that niggled me about (particularly the muddy tone) and change the look too.
First thing was to take out all the old hardware:
(http://bareknucklepickups.co.uk/Users/martyn/Desktop/gtr/gtr no hardware.jpg)
Next was to strip the top, I took the whole thing down to natural wood (takes a while) starting with 120 grit, through 240, 320, 600 then some fine steel wool.
(http://bareknucklepickups.co.uk/Users/martyn/Desktop/gtr/top stripped.jpg)
Also to improve the play and feel, particularly to take away the tacky neck I repeated the process just not leaning weight into it so that only the gloss would come off, leaving the back sides and neck matt finished which improve the playability dramatically;
(http://bareknucklepickups.co.uk/Users/martyn/Desktop/gtr/back matt.jpg)
Time for new hardware - upgraded everything:
Tonepros locking tailpiece
Graphtech Resomax Bridge with stringsaver saddles (actually matching nut too not yet installed)
Grover locking Rotomatics Tuners (probably could have got better but this was a straight swap out and improved the gear ratio, the locking feature is a godsend)
BKP CTS 550k Custom audio taper Potentiometers
Switchcraft Switches and Jack Socket.
Pickups were all changed to BKP Humbucker sized P90s, neck and middle are slightly underwound - dunno why I'm sure Tim had his reasons.
Bridge: Pig 90 (Alnico V - 22k)
Middle: Mississippi Queen (Alnico v - 7k)
Neck: Mississippi Queen (Alnico IV - 6.4k)
After finally figuring out how to do it I actually modified the switching system to the All Access switching found in Yamaha TVL models and ES-5 Switchmasters, which allows me to get 7 sounds (B, B+N, N, M, N+M, B+M, B+N+M) Bridge and middle is a particular favourite great tight, fat chunky distorted rhythm tone - even with a clean amp.
So here is the finished article (Clips to follow once I get my amp back from a mate!)
(http://bareknucklepickups.co.uk/Users/martyn/Desktop/gtr/gtr fin.jpg)
Note yes there currently no control knob covers still waiting.
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That's a superb piece of hot-roddery there. Looks great and I bet it plays and sounds the absolute business now too.
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I really like what you have done with that guitar.
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that looks great :D
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Love it!
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That looks great - smaller pictures would be good :D
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Looks amazing, I've been planning on doing this to my Epi LP standard for years. Have you lacquered the front or is it just the bare wood?
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Very nice grain pattern under that black.
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Nice! I'm in the middle of doing up my Epi LP Custom Plus. Interesting that you had a maple top under yours, it turned out my plus top was just a veneer.
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Wow... looks cute :D
Funnily enough, while I was doing the ironing this morning, I had the DVD "Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars" on, and watching Mick Ronson's custom with the finish off the front was starting to interest me... my black Tokai Love Rock got very worried everytime I looked at her :lol:
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Looks like a nice job, indeed. How does it sound and play now ? (yeah, better, I know, but how much better ?)
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Andy I swear you've got the same taste as me....the Mick Ronson (my home town hero) stripped les paul is so cool it's untrue. I keep looking at my epiphone custom wonderingif I've got the balls to do it
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Cheers guys, thought you'd like it.
Looks like a nice job, indeed. How does it sound and play now ? (yeah, better, I know, but how much better ?)
Ummm..... lots :P It's a lot smoother feels more like a satin finish much more comfortable and allows easier fast playing involving big jumps etc.. The tone is sweet thing though, still got a deep richness to it but much cleaner, tighter low end and the mid range clarity brings about more character. Versatility is huge now can go from sweet flawless round cleans to full on metal balls to the wall crunch without seeming forced - kind of a wolf in sheeps clothing.
Looks amazing, I've been planning on doing this to my Epi LP standard for years. Have you lacquered the front or is it just the bare wood?
Bare wood, although I did put on a few coats of danish oil just to seal the pores.
That looks great - smaller pictures would be good :D
ha yeah sorry I thought the site rescaled for some reason.
Andy I swear you've got the same taste as me....the Mick Ronson (my home town hero) stripped les paul is so cool it's untrue. I keep looking at my epiphone custom wonderingif I've got the balls to do it
I'd go for it, not at all hard to do just takes time.
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The maple top has real character, I bet you're really pleased with it.
I think it looks very cool.
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I think a lot of us guitarists daydream about customising our guitars, but few get up off their arses and do it. Well done mate, looks delish.
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Andy I swear you've got the same taste as me....the Mick Ronson (my home town hero) stripped les paul is so cool it's untrue. I keep looking at my epiphone custom wonderingif I've got the balls to do it
I'd go for it, not at all hard to do just takes time.
I vouch for the time bit. Horsehead - I've just stripped the back of the neck on my CIJ strat this weekend, took ALL of two 6 nation rugby matches :lol: (and a quite sore shoulder!)
On stripping the front of my Tokai, I'm really not sure... I do like the black look, and of course I'm a little worried about what the wood underneath might look like...
The other possibility I have wondered about several times in the last few months is stripping the front and refinishing in a burgundy or dark cherry kind of colour, keeping the cream binding and all the black back and sides... There is some method to this, all of my thicker sounding guitars are this colour (SG with Riff Raffs, Explorer with MQs, Brian May Red Special) - the Love Rock kind of doesn't fit in the line up :lol: