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

  • Thread starter Thread starter Elapses
  • Start date Start date
E

Elapses

New member
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.
 
Elapses said:
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.
Click to expand...

If you have the pickups, the guitar, and the know-how then why not? Probably wontsound any worse.
 
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??
 
Last edited:
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.
 
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!
 
Elapses said:
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!
Click to expand...

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.
 
Elapses said:
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!
Click to expand...

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

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!
 
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:

https://homerecording.com/bbs/showpost.php?p=2981685&postcount=29

Bottom line is this: if it plays well enough to make you want to play it, tweak it!
 
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.
 
Elapses said:
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.
Click to expand...

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.
 
I'm pretty sure those Specials are Alder. Go for it, it'll be worth it.
 
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..
 
I have an Epiphone Coronet that I play all the time ever since I put Seymour Duncans in it.
 
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
 
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.
 
WhiteStrat failed to mention the awesome recording he did with his BlackLesPaul...

 
Roguetitan said:
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.
Click to expand...

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. :)
 
WhiteStrat said:
I've repped you to recently to do so again. so I'll just say thanks. That's very kind of you.
Click to expand...

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

No thanks or rep necessary, and no, you are not an idiot...no matter what your user title says!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top