Epiphone Cheapy worth modding?

Karbon

Hey everyone,

Ok so yesterday I ordered myself a Epiphone Les Paul special II. Its a limited edition model as it has a worn black finish and wrap around bridge but besides from that all Is the same as the standard les paul special II as far as I can tell.

Its a cheapy guitar and I ordered it specially to have lying around the house for random jamming/practicing and to use with my rocksmith game. This way I don't have to have my more precious guitars around for the domestic and/or the 5 year old to get hold of.

My question was...

I haven't even got the thing yet and I'm already thinking about modding it! Do you guys think it would be worth my time, effort and money to throw two P90s in this thing? I think itl roar with P90s in it. But the pickups will cost me the same as what I paid for the guitar! So what do you guys think?

Here are some pics...

Gareth

AlanRatcliffe

Karbon wrote: I haven't even got the thing yet and I'm already thinking about modding it!

Oh yes, you'll fit in around here just fine! ?

Do you guys think it would be worth my time, effort and money to throw two P90s in this thing? I think itl roar with P90s in it.

It'll change the vibe moving from 'buckers to P90s, but if that's what you want for it, then why not? Hang on to the original pickups so you can pop them back in if you sell and then you won't lose money doing it. Time - it doesn't take long to swap out a pair of pickups (I'm assuming you're handy with an iron?).

Plus there are decent, humbucker-sized P90 pickups like the Tonerider Rebel 90s that are inexpensive (about R1K for the pair), direct replacements for 'buckers (no routing or other permanent mods needed) and surprisingly good quality.

The only thing I would say is wait until you've had it a week or two before making any final decisions. Who knows? Perhaps you love it as-is...

Karbon

Hey Alan,

Thanks man, already feel right at home ?

Ok cool, I think ill do that. It should get here in about 2 weeks, Ill change the strings and jam the crap out of it for a while and see how I feel. Thanks for the suggestion on the Toneriders, that's a good price, will keep them in mind even if I don't do this one.

costafonix

I bought one of those for my son (from someone off the forum), and the only thing I changed was the plastic nut, I put a brass nut on and it now has the most incredible tone and sustain, with the stock pups.
You may consider changing the plastic nut to bone or something, then see if you even need to change the pups. :yup:

ryanguit

Hey there. I swopped a hardcase for a normal special II. The guitar plays great, has a fat neck. I thought it sounded like trash because I found it pretty dark and muddy... Turns out the pickups were 12k neck and 17k bridge. Ceramic metal monsters. Great if you just want high output but far from useful for any of my normal styles. What other guitars have you got? I can post some clips of mine with my current pickups. Dimarzio PAF Pro in the neck and some 9k pickup in the bridge I found in the shed (an old Ibanez stock neck pickup). I sold the original pickups for 500 bucks. So I paid... R100 for this guit and I love it now.

flatfourfan

spot on with Alans remark.

I hated my special II that I had a while back, the guitar just felt cheap alround. But I had it in for the guitar from day 1 anyway....lol.

Upgrading stuff that can be removed at a later stage if you decide to part ways is a great idea, just keep the stock electronics. I'd recommend doing an input jack and pot upgrade at the same time as I do recall the rest of the electronics to be a real budget answer.

DonovanB

you know what might be a cool mod here? is a maple cap similar to (who was it?) that put one on an old Ibanez?

man, the beauty of cheaper guitars is that you don't feel bad modding the hell out of it. New nuts, bridges, machine heads, pups. The options are endless aren't they?

flatfourfan

doing a cap properly is going to take you to what the value of the whole guitar is and then some.

I think once you get to that level, pick up an really good project guitar to mod from the start...........going to those lengths for this guitar isn't worth it.

tiller

Don't rush with that! Show it someone who knows more about guitars. If the wood is quite good, then you can modify with better pickups. If the would is cheap, then don't spend more money on it ?