Epi Explorer gets a complete makeover

[Dave Sloven]

I posted some stuff about the Warpigs in this guitar in the pickups forum (click me) but as the current mods have little specifically to do with the pickups I've started a new thread here.

The guitar had been in pieces for a good while now while I have been working out what to do with it in the wake of a couple of problems with the Epiphone wiring harness, which had a faulty pickup selector switch and jack.  I figured it was time to do a complete refit with CTS pots and maybe some switches, as well as shielding the cavities properly.  The previous owner had covered the back of the control cavity cover with foil, which I tested with a multimeter.  While the cover checked out with the continuity check on the multimeter the paint in the cavity did not, so I have completely painted all cavities with some shielding paint purchased from a local luthier, except for the wood around the jack socket, as that was quite tight and it seemed likely to short out.

Another change I have decided to make is to replace the pickguard and hardware, partly because the gold hardware was heavily tarnished, and partly because some of the hardware I had to replace was not available in gold (e.g., the selector switch), and the pickguard is being replaced because the previous owner had cut down the original to fit larger pickup rings.  As I plan to have SD Triple Shot pickup rings fitted in stage 2 of this rebuild I wanted another pickguard to cover the gap that would result.  I have in the meantime refitted those pickup rings and the pickguard, together with painting the underneath of the pickhguard with shielding paint.

Work is basically proceeding in two stages: first, a stage completed by myself; second, a stage done by a professional luthier.  One part of stage 1 that has not been done yet - because I am waiting for the parts to arrive - is fitting chrome locking Grover tuners, which I will do if no drilling is required, otherwise I will get that done with the rest.  Here are the mods for the two stages:

Stage 1:

*Painting cavities and underside of pickguard with shielding paint
* Removal of the complete Epiphone wiring harness and fitment of replacement harness custom made by Tim Mason, with fully shielded wire, two Mojotone CTS 500K volume pots (tested at over 500K, more like 515K), one Mojotone push-push 500K master volume pot wired so that when the pot knob is up the two volume pots are bypassed while the tone and selector switch remain in the ciruit (I might modify the push-push to be a 'no load' pot later if it still isn't bright enough), plus Switchcraft selector switch and jack
* Replacement of gold Grover mini tuners with chrome locking versions

Stage 2:
* Installation of Seymour Duncan Triple Shot pickup mounting rings
* Installation of chrome TonePros locking bridge and tailpiece with matching studs in body
* Set-up of bridge and nut for heavy gauge strings
* Move neck strap button from Epiphone position to the Gibson one (neck joint), using chrome buttons
* Installation of shielded metal pickguard with mirror diamond plate finish

I've taken a lot of photos as it progressed, the following are just some of the more interesting ones.

Warpigs installed but before the other mods began:


I made a template from a cereal box to send to the person who made the harness for me (original pots with Orange Drop cap in picture):


Test fitting the new harness with the push-push tone pot:


The first coat of shielding paint:


I used this Foredom SR Flex Shaft with a small sanding drum to enlarge the holes in the top for the pots:


The enlarged holes:


Test-fitting the new CTS pots:


On first try the wires were too long and had to be trimmed down:


The channel from the pickguard cavity to the control cavity was a tight fit for all those big shielded wires.  Remember the pickup wires need to go through there too!


Eventually I squeezed them through:


Everything soldered together:


Another tight fit!!!


Push-push master tone in down position:


Push-push master tone in up position:


Here you can see the Switchcraft selector switch that replaced the Epi one.  All of the gold hardware is being replaced eventually


I hope people find these photos interesting/helpful!

[dvorak]

Nice job, looking nice and tidy.

So have you heard a big difference in sound so far?

[littleredguitars2]

man i need another explorer.

[Dave Sloven]

Nice job, looking nice and tidy.

So have you heard a big difference in sound so far?

I haven't put strings on it since finishing this part of the work today.  I have some new tuners on the way so if I can install those without taking it to the tech I will do that first, or otherwise I will just string it up with the old tuners (which are still perfectly fine, just that they are the wrong colour).  The new ones are basically the same (Epis come stock with Grover minis) but these are the locking type.  If there is a difference it will be where the screws go in.  Looking at the one I took off and the photos on the web they look very similar, but the hole might be in a different place, it's hard to say

I've played it with the Warpigs through the stock pots and the Orange Drop.  Hopefully this harness brightens it up a bit.  The pots I was given are actually above spec (i.e., over 510K). If nothing else there should be a brighter sound available via the bypass switch, which give a sound brighter than 1meg pots.  Explorers are quite dark sounding guitars.  The Warpigs are brighter than the Mighty Mites Motherbuckers that were in it, and certainly more 'open' and less compressed.  The sound from the pickups when I had it together before was great for mid-70s Black Sabbath and old school death metal.  I'm hoping that when all of these mods are complete I will have a broader spectrum of sounds available, even possibly an early Venom sound if I am lucky.  That might be pushing it though, as their sound was quite bright.

[Dmoney]

Are your pup cavities and the cavity under the guard connected to electrical ground? Or are the cavities just painted and not connected to ground? I imagine the control cavity will be grounded via the pots.

[Dave Sloven]

Are your pup cavities and the cavity under the guard connected to electrical ground? Or are the cavities just painted and not connected to ground? I imagine the control cavity will be grounded via the pots.

I might fit another wire if I have problems but at the moment the ground is purely by contact (like you suggest with the pots). I painted in the channels between the cavities with the shielding paint, so that if you place one of the tips of my multimeter in either pickup cavity and place the other in the control cavity you get a loud beep, as loud as you get with both in the control cavity.  It is of course possible that shoving the wires though might wear off the paint and break the connection, to avoid this as much as possible I painted across the top of the guitar so that not only does the shielding paint under the pickguard contact the shielding in the three cavities but also the cavities are joined by another route.  I also painted around the top of the selector switch cavity a bit to give more contact.  If I find that it sounds overly dark and I think that is due to the poor grounding of the shield I will add another wire in the selector switch cavity attached to the floor of that and to the pickguard and feed that wire down into the control cavity and solder it to the back of the neck volume pot.  Here's a photo of it after the second coat of shielding paint and just before I assembled it.



It's a very nice multimeter, by the way.  Avoid the cheapies, they're useless.

[Dmoney]

ah! i see

[FELINEGUITARS]

I would suggest running a wire from each of the shielded cavities - use a solder lug and a small screw to fix it down and make contact with the shielding.
Each of those wires should terminate on the back of the pot where the earth wire from the jack comes in
That way you will have an effective Faraday cage to keep the unwanted noise away from your wires.
A badly or ungrounded screened cavity is actually an antenna for noise - the earth path is very important

We do this with ALL our custom builds - the nickel paint works a treat (it needs to as it's expensive)

[Dave Sloven]

Thanks, I'll have a look into that.  The pickups have to come out again anyway in the near future when the triple shot pickup rings are fitted. Would I need seperate wires all going down to the pots or would a junction in the selector switch cavity and then one wire to the pots be sufficient?  How do you attach a wire to the underside of the pickguard?

Also, my SG Junior with the Stockholm P-90 feeds back like crazy if I stand anywhere near my amp.  Would the same shielding paint fix that problem, or would I need to do something different?

[Heket]

Hey, thanks for that amazingly in-depth post about your Explorer. Very helpful to those of us just dipping our toes in the world of tech.

[Lew]

hot  8)

[Telerocker]

Looks fab mate! I have to get me an Explorer, preferable in plain mahogany.

[Dave Sloven]

That bright yellow you can see in some of the pics is the wood (korina).

I tend to think it's a little brighter than mahogany, but not by a lot

[GuitarIv]

Great in depth post, keep us updated!

Now if only Gibson would reissue the 1984 Explorer without the pickguard in Hetfield Style I'd be all over the place to get one  :lol:

[Dave Sloven]

I'm getting a new pickguard for mine but not that Hetfield 'St Anger' era look of the five-checker plate.  It will be the Dimebag diamond plate look, like this:



Great for blinding people Phil Lynott style  :lol: