Check out this pair of lezzers!!

Davey · #1 12-23-2007, 08:06 AM

Check out these beauties...

Curvy!

Filthy!

Tweakable...

Get the hell outta there Joe, this is lezzers only!!

Yeah so I got bored this morning, been awake hours because of a damn sinus infection (just in time for christmas!) so thought I'd take a quick few snaps of a couple of the best Epiphones I've ever played. Really lucked out with the pair of them and for what price Epiphones go for, I think these'll be with me for a long long time.

A tweak here and there, a new set of pickups in both, pickguards off and they play, sound (and look) just as good any Studio LP out there and it cost me less than the price of one of them for the pair. A GREAT little adventure in finding the right ones because as we hear all the time, you've got to find a *good* Epi, not just any will do. And like I say, they don't cost much so if you don't like the one you get you can always fire it straight back out for sale and pretty much get your money back. I'd definitely recommend doing it to anyone out there that likes LP's but not enough too shell out for the real thing.

(As you can see, I'm not much of a photographer and these were done quickly on my camera phone. I'll take some more flattering ones another time with the rest of my collection when I'm happy with it... er.. if I ever get happy with it!)

TequilaKing · #2 12-23-2007, 08:15 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ibanez249

Check out these beauties...

Filthy!

is that one of those '69 Les Pauls?

Davey · #3 12-23-2007, 08:18 AM

Excellent

Davey · #4 12-23-2007, 08:34 AM

Just a few pics here of what they were like before the elbow grease...

As you can see, there was no bridge or tone control, so instead of trying to find just one I thought I could maybe try and model this off a pic of one of Slash's goldtops, since I was changing the pickups anyway:

I wasn't too impressed when I saw a a few sizeable dings on the back of the neck when the only damage was supposed to have been stress in the laqcuer from 'age', hence the Zakk Wylde-job on the back of the goldtop's neck. Unfortunately this was the only pic I was shown and it didn't have any of the dings further down. Having said that, I got a bit of a shock when I sanded the paint off and there was MAPLE underneath. I was expecting mahogany

:

And here is the other one:

I owe Waz a huge thanks for letting me buy this back off him

Darin · #5 12-23-2007, 05:11 PM

Beautiful. The top of my list of dream guitars is a Goldtop with Soap bars. Hope to have one like this someday.

the.godfather · #6 12-23-2007, 05:16 PM

Very nice duet, a good Epi is as good as anything else imo. I bet that goldtop plays like buttah too with the back of the neck sanded.

Any particular pickups in there?

Davey · #7 12-23-2007, 05:24 PM

Toneriders, which are cheap PAF clones. The Zebras are Alnico PAF IV's and the black ones are called 'Rocksong' which are a nice and tight medium-hot pickup.

Best part of all, they're only about £50 a set and I'd recommend them to anyone

waz · #8 12-23-2007, 05:30 PM

I owe Waz a huge thanks for letting me buy this back off him

[/quote]

You are most welcome pal, glad to see it looking so good...........lovin the Strat still

Cheers
waz

Scali · #9 12-23-2007, 05:42 PM

Yup, a good Epi can be a great guitar.
I believe the Korean made ones from the mid-90s are some of the best.
I have one from 1995 from the Samick factory (with a figured maple top in honeyburst, looking exactly like the one in your picture). I bought it new. It's a heavy sucker and has a beautiful Les Paul tone and tons of sustain.
I looked around for secondhand Gibson electronics (some people are silly enough to replace the Gibson electronics with something from DiMarzio or Seymour Duncan, isn't it great?). I found a set of pickups from a Les Paul Custom cheap. So I now have a 490R and 498T in there, doing a great job. I also replaced the switch, cables, pots and jack with proper USA parts.

When I had the frets redressed recently, I also had a Graphtech nut installed.

The guitar still isn't worth anything, but it plays like a charm, and it sounds as good as the real thing.
I tried to sell it, and I also tried out some real Gibsons... But well, people won't pay enough to make me part with this guitar, and the Gibsons... well, why spend all that money on something I already have?
I've used the guitar on lots of recordings, and nobody ever even suspects that it's an Epiphone (for those who've heard the song Alive that I posted in the multimedia-section... that's her right there).

waylay00 · #10 12-23-2007, 08:18 PM

Nice! I'm in the market for Les Paul. My dad had a '56 TV Special, a '73 Black Custom, and one of the first '59 reissues ("preissues") from Strings N Things (now worth something in the five figures). But he got rid of them before I showed an interest to playing guitar....

But yes, I'm definitely in the market for a Les Paul, but not one of those completely chambered ones they're making now.

andy7jem · #11 12-24-2007, 09:33 AM

This was totally NOT what i was expecting

Nice guitars though

Eggy · #12 12-24-2007, 10:43 AM

Nice one Davey! The neck on the Gold top turned out realy well. They both look realy good.
I've only got one and now I'm a bit green with envy to be honest. I've got a project to finish off but then that'll be on sale to fund my next Epiphone hunt.

They're fantastic guitars and with a little love on tweaking you can get them exactly how you want them. They're a bit like the Subaru Impreza's of the guitar world. They're pretty good stock and not too expensive but once you get them into the garage and make some adjustments they become awesome.

My next one will be finished along the lines of the Les Paul faded series. The doner guitar will be an Epi with a decent flame pattern on the top and I'll remove all the finish from the top before applying a honey glaze over it. I'll be clear coating it with satin rather than gloss though a la -----

Eggy

Davey · #13 12-24-2007, 10:50 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by andy7jem

This was totally NOT what i was expecting

That was the idea!

Yeah those are some sweet LPs Eggy. To be honest I NEARLY plonked down a grand on one of those recently, but I just can't justify it. Let us know how they turn out.

One more thing, I just want to put out a recommendation on these ToneRider 'Rocksong' pickups. £50 will get you a set posted to your door and they're really really nice!

Davey · #14 12-24-2007, 10:54 AM

Something else I forgot to mention...

I ALWAYS string the tailpiece from the other side now. I bought a Classic ages ago and the guy was obviously a big Zakk Wylde fan. I asked him what it was about and he just said to try it because it seems to make the string resonate better. I must admit, I do think this is true... whether or not it's in my head now is another matter, so I string all my LPs like that now.

Eggy · #15 12-24-2007, 11:23 AM

I agree about cheap puickups. I put some CH 13k's in my Epi Custom and they're wonderfull. I'll be putting these zebras in my next project - 130183750178 .
They're only 9.2k ohms but they'll offer some contrast to my current guitar and at £14.99 for a pair I can't go wrong.