Pros and Cons - Putting Seymour Duncans in a Cheap Epiphone... Yay or Nay??

[Elapses]

I have bought a cheap Epiphone (Les Paul Special 2) cause I'm broke but need a guitar - and Epiphones are not too bad to play (IMO).. I already have a pair of Seymour Duncan pick-ups...
Should I do it???
A few people I know say it is a waste of time/ money, but others seem to think it works well... Kurt Cobain did it... And look where he ended up! =(

I need your help!

Cheers.

[TelePaul]

Originally Posted by Elapses

I have bought a cheap Epiphone (Les Paul Special 2) cause I'm broke but need a guitar - and Epiphones are not too bad to play (IMO).. I already have a pair of Seymour Duncan pick-ups...
Should I do it???
A few people I know say it is a waste of time/ money, but others seem to think it works well... Kurt Cobain did it... And look where he ended up! =(

I need your help!

Cheers.

If you have the pickups, the guitar, and the know-how then why not? Probably wontsound any worse.

[Elapses]

Hmm, yeah, I guess... I am more interested in the why element... Does wood really make a huge difference to what a magnetic pickup picks up??

[danw]

If the current guitar is unplayable, like if the frets are falling off, or it has an awful, sustain-killing neck joint or something, then sure, toss it. Otherwise, the pickups should make a noticeable difference; I've heard those Epis come with pretty crappy electronics. Sure, the wood makes a difference (there are 8 bazillion threads here about the effect of wood on tone -- do a search on "tone wood"), but on a solid body, that's probably secondary to the pickups. The main difference is going to be whether it's solid wood or plywood; solid is usually going to have a better sound, and most folks here wouldn't recommend upgrading a plywood guitar. If these are solid basswood like I'm thinking, it's probably worth upgrading, especially since you already have the pickups. You may as well make it the best guitar it can be, right? Those pickups sure aren't doing you any good laying in the shop, and if you get a better guitar, you can always put the pickups in the new one. It's not like it's a permanent installation.

[Elapses]

Cheers man,
I will put em in! I don't think its plywood, but I will research it. The guitar is newish and has no probs other than crappy tuning pegs and terrible electronics... Simple things to replace!! I'll give it a go!

[Milnoque]

Originally Posted by Elapses

Cheers man,
I will put em in! I don't think its plywood, but I will research it. The guitar is newish and has no probs other than crappy tuning pegs and terrible electronics... Simple things to replace!! I'll give it a go!

It would not be very expensive to go ahead and replace the rest of the electronics in this guitar. The pots and jack that came in it are not of very good quality. If you are handy with a soldering Iron you should go for it. Those P/Us should be a very noticable improvement.

[stevieb]

Originally Posted by Elapses

Cheers man,
I will put em in! I don't think its plywood, but I will research it. The guitar is newish and has no probs other than crappy tuning pegs and terrible electronics... Simple things to replace!! I'll give it a go!

Yep, agree with that. I changed the pups and tuners on a Epi Standard, am very pleased with the results.

[notCardio]

I've got an Epi Jr Special (single hb p/u) that I'm going to put a Pearly Gates in. Yeah, the p/u will cost more then the guitar, but I like it and it's a cheap way to test pickup choices without continually resoldering your good guitars, plus it's a cheap way to have more pickup choices available to you.

Have fun!

[WhiteStrat]

I did. I have a black Epi Les Paul--the cheapie! Like $149. But this thing plays beyond it's price tag. So since I was playing it so much, I decided to have some fun I replaced every bit of hardware with new black stuff and replaced the pickups with Steve Vai/Evo pickups. I don't regret it. (BTW--the neck pickup was a serious upgrade; the bridge--not so much.) I'm glad I kept the stock pickups that came out of it, 'cuz I'll use 'em somewhere. Heres a post with a stock pic of the guitar, and my all black version:

http://homerecording.com/bbs/showpos...5&postcount=29

Bottom line is this: if it plays well enough to make you want to play it, tweak it!

[Gear_Junky]

do it and see if you like it. what kind of pickups?

people who tell you not to do it are brainwashed and hypnotized by brand names and expensive guitars.

it won't be an expensive gibson, but it will benefit and you already have the pickups! and if you can't afford a better guitar, what good is the advice to get a better guitar? ignore them!

having nice pickups will develop your ear (if you play) and when you can afford a better guitar you will know why you want/need it.

[Roguetitan]

Originally Posted by Elapses

I have bought a cheap Epiphone (Les Paul Special 2) cause I'm broke but need a guitar - and Epiphones are not too bad to play (IMO).. I already have a pair of Seymour Duncan pick-ups...
Should I do it???
A few people I know say it is a waste of time/ money, but others seem to think it works well... Kurt Cobain did it... And look where he ended up! =(

I need your help!

Cheers.

anyone who tells you it is a wayste of time dont know their ass from a hole in the ground.
and the wood has very little to do with tone the biggest difference in woods is their rairity and the cost of rare woods is expensive this reflects on the expense of the guitar but rare and expensive wood dont make a guitar posess any magical sounds, and anyone who says different is indeed brainwashed.

[Guitarer]

I'm pretty sure those Specials are Alder. Go for it, it'll be worth it.

[zazz]

thats what epis are for ...you buy em and then you change the pickups and go for a setup ...in the end you have a pretty good guitar on a budget..

[acidrock]

I have an Epiphone Coronet that I play all the time ever since I put Seymour Duncans in it.

[Richard Monroe]

I've got an Epi Les Paul Custom that has had a wicked fret job. I switched out the pickups for a set of classic 57 humbuckers and it's my go-to axe for a solid body with humbuckers. I'd do it in a heartbeat. While you're at it, why not replace the tuners? Mine has Grovers, and they're OK, not great, like the Grovers on my Taylor, but OK.-Richie

[antichef]

My son and I have an Epi Bully SG -- it absolutely has a plywood body. We replaced the bridge pickup with a Seymor Duncan Screamin' Demon pickup (he thought it would be cool), and it sounds good. I think the pots were actually OK to begin with (CTS 500k), and we swapped out the capacitor on the tone pot.

[solaris1982]

WhiteStrat failed to mention the awesome recording he did with his BlackLesPaul...

http://www.spottedmuse.com/files/anthem.mp3

[WhiteStrat]

Originally Posted by solaris1982

WhiteStrat failed to mention the awesome recording he did with his BlackLesPaul...

http://www.spottedmuse.com/files/anthem.mp3

I've repped you to recently to do so again. so I'll just say thanks. That's very kind of you.

[dgatwood]

Originally Posted by Roguetitan

anyone who tells you it is a wayste of time dont know their ass from a hole in the ground.
and the wood has very little to do with tone the biggest difference in woods is their rairity and the cost of rare woods is expensive this reflects on the expense of the guitar but rare and expensive wood dont make a guitar posess any magical sounds, and anyone who says different is indeed brainwashed.

For solid body guitars, that's probably true. Just be careful not to overgeneralize. The density and other characteristics of the wood have a huge impact on the sound of acoustic instruments.

[solaris1982]

Originally Posted by WhiteStrat

I've repped you to recently to do so again. so I'll just say thanks. That's very kind of you.

I'm just glad you replied to this post...it gave me an excuse to listen to it again.

No thanks or rep necessary, and no, you are not an idiot...no matter what your user title says!

[lpdeluxe]

I recently put SDs in an Epi Sheraton II, and the guy who said "replace all the electronics" is correct. The originals are crap.

It doesn't take much more to do the whole thing (and you won't have to tease everything in and out of the treble f-hole like I did).

[six]

Originally Posted by dgatwood

For solid body guitars, that's probably true. Just be careful not to overgeneralize. The density and other characteristics of the wood have a huge impact on the sound of acoustic instruments.

I would say it also has an impact on a solid body guitar. Why are the very most guitars made of wood in the first place? Different material WILL sound different. Even a fatter neck will alter the sound.
Take an electric solid body guitar, leave it unplugged, strum it. Take a different one, strum it. They won't sound the same. Although the pickups only pick up the vibrations of the string, the whole material of the guitar has an influence to these vibrations.

I have a Japan Jackson with a very thin neck. Unplugged it sounds dead, and guess what, it also sounds dead when plugged in, so pickups can't change this.

But I don't say a pickup-change is a waste of time and money. And I'm Mr "if cheap (or noname) does it, don't go expensive (or brand)" anyway.
If the guitar sounds nice when unplugged but suboptimal when amplified, chances are that a PU change turns it into something good.

Hey - been there, done that. Twice. The Jackson was hotter afterwards but still lacked life (that's why I bought a replacement in the end)... but my Cheri Telecaster improved a lot by putting in some DiMarzios.

I also have an Epi Les Paul Custom by the way, and - I don't know why - I quite like its stock tone.

[Roguetitan]

Originally Posted by dgatwood

For solid body guitars, that's probably true. Just be careful not to overgeneralize. The density and other characteristics of the wood have a huge impact on the sound of acoustic instruments.

that don't hold much water for acoustics either IMO
I used to build high end violins which spruce tops and flamed maple backs and sides are said to give the best tones however the best sounding violin I have I made from an old piece of 2"x12" white pine board even the neck is carved from the same piece of pine, the only hardwood used is the black walnut fingerboard and the walnut tail piece and chinrest.
Aparently all that fantastic tone is coming from the tail piece and chin rest

I have even heard some very amazing sounding acoustic tones come out of plywood acoustics... Imagine that