Giving new life to your axe (mods for your humble Epi LP)

[luvyoulen]

.022

[nalu]

.022

I see, i thought you did some experimenting on other cap values. I wanted to get some insights on different cap values. I'm planning to try out the 0.015uF after this one.

[luvyoulen]

hmmm repro bumble bee  ang binili mo??

[nalu]

hmmm repro bumble bee  ang binili mo??

@luvyoulen
Yes, luxe repro bees to be exact. You can see some photos on post #35 of page 2. Luxe repro bees are actually NOS PIO Russian Vitamin Q's encased in a metal and glass tube.

Where did you get your NOS Sprague Vitamin Q's bro?

[nalu]

Alright folks, time for updates...

I had the pots and caps in place with the nuts tightened. Toggle switch is in as well. I'm currently soldering the toggle switch wires into their respective pots.



Be careful in soldering the toggle switch wires. Last thing you want to happen is your toggle switch turning on the bridge pickup when you have it in the rhythm position.

I also had the pickups installed and soldered now. Notice that the only thing left to solder is the toggle switch wire going to the input jack.



Again, I turned to the ever reliable masking tape to hold the pickups in place. I didn't want to install the mounting rings yet at this point.

[tsunamic]

konting tiis na lang. ako'y sabik na sabik nang makita ang Lp mong "BUO" hehe. 

[nalu]

konting tiis na lang. ako'y sabik na sabik nang makita ang Lp mong "BUO" hehe. 

LOL... hang in there man.

[nalu]

Guess what, here's another problem I stumbled upon while finish up the wiring.



The Switchcraft input jack is not an exact fit with the plastic jack plate. Notice that the hole in the jack plate has a smaller diameter and 2 straight edges. I don't think this is something that I can remedy without the help of a drill. Looks like I got no choice for now but to stick with the stock input jack.

Before I soldering it in, I slid the wire into a heat shrink tubing like this. I was planning to use a spaghetti tubing but I can't find one anywhere.



I did this to make sure that the braided wire doesn't short anything inside the control cavity. The output wire going to the input jack runs across the entire control cavity. With the insulated tubing, I don't expect anything to get shorted to ground now.

Then, I soldered the stock input jack...



And that's pretty much it... photos up next...

[omat17]

naeexite ako..)

[nalu]

Finally got all the wiring and electronics done.

Here's what the control cavity looks like before with all the stock wiring and electronics.



And here's what it looks like now after the mods.



drum roll please... 

[r_chino18]

^^^

talk about neat wiring.. that looks mighty fine dude.. 

[omat17]

^^^

talk about neat wiring.. that looks mighty fine dude.. 

sobra..

[Boxedking]

ang linis! nice job man!

[Prinny Unknown]

nice ang linis mag wiring talaga
@about the jack
why not try to drill?
you have the stock incase you make a mistake naman eh =)

[nalu]

nice ang linis mag wiring talaga
@about the jack
why not try to drill?
you have the stock incase you make a mistake naman eh =)

Thanks!
I would if I had a drill and the exact drill bit for a 3/8" mounting hole.

[nalu]

^^^

talk about neat wiring.. that looks mighty fine dude.. 

sobra..

ang linis! nice job man!

Thanks for all the kind words! 

[Rmansh]

master luthier nalu, how much do you charge for this pro quality work? i want my LP like this.

[nalu]

master luthier nalu, how much do you charge for this pro quality work? i want my LP like this.

Sorry bro. I'm not a luthier. I can't even re-fret my own guitar. LOL

[omat17]

master luthier nalu, how much do you charge for this pro quality work? i want my LP like this.

+1:D

[rjthemute]

excellent work overall, solid and meticulous planning. obvious na medyo OC si nalu

Sorry bro. I'm not a luthier. I can't even re-fret my own guitar. LOL

I'll bet if you had your own tools you'd give it a go 

[nalu]

It's been a long time since I've updated this thread.  I'm not sure if it's my internet connection or if there's really something wrong with the servers, but I haven't been able to connect to philmusic for the past weekend.

Anyway, after finishing up with all the electronics and wiring. I'm about ready to install all the hardware upgrades. But before that I had to give this guitar some tendering loving care   and remove all the fingerprints, swirls, and filth  I've create while working on her.

So, first I gave it a good rub of Dunlop 65 Guitar Polisher and Cleaner. Although it's supposed to be a polisher & cleaner in 1. To me it's more of a cleaner and it's quite good at it. Then for the final polishing I used Big Bends Gloss Sauce Finish Rejuvenation Polish.



It has petroleum distillates which is what I prefer for poly finish. Then I buffed it with this.



Now, everything just got sexier LOL

[nalu]

I put the stock pick guard and stock pickup mounting rings back on since the one that came from the SD Seth Lovers were black.



I didn't have any problems fitting the RS gold top hat knobs as well.



Up next is the Gotoh Aluminum Stop Tailpiece.



Shown below is the stock Epi TP (made of cast zinc) beside the Gotoh aluminum TP.



You can immediately see a difference in craftsmanship between the two but the one thing that really surprised me is the difference in weight.  The Gotoh aluminum TP I think is 5x lighter than the stock TP.  Not that I expect the guitar to be lighter or anything, but I'm more interested in the resonant characteristics that the aluminum TP would give to this guitar.

Another good thing about the Gotoh replacement parts is that they have metric options which enables you to use the studs with the stock anchors. Here's a side by side photo of the studs.



There were no problems getting a good fit on this one.



Will post more pictures soon, got to go work on my pedalboard first 

[nalu]

Here are some photos and a little bit of chat from my experience in installing the bridge. I'm replacing the stock with a Nickel Gotoh Metric Tune-o-Matic Bridge.




Again, the difference in craftsmanship is pretty obvious.



Notice that there is a retainer wire on the stock bridge. On the Gotoh bridge, you'll also notice that there seems to be no slot for the strings from this angle.



The Gotoh TOM bridge is wider, thus longer intonation screws which in turn means greater range for doing your intonation adjustments.

Here's a side by side photo of the posts.



Notice that the Gotoh post on the top left has an offset in the thread. That offset was preventing a full low position on the anchor.



Unfortunately, I had to use the stock posts.



Good thing about it is that the Gotoh TOM bridge perfectly fits the stock posts.

[Rmansh]

^ this got me thinking. as much as possible i would prefer all gotoh parts rather than combine the stock parts with the new parts you have. 100% gotoh all the way. 

OT: please feel free to donate the extra parts to me. 

[nalu]

^ this got me thinking. as much as possible i would prefer all gotoh parts rather than combine the stock parts with the new parts you have. 100% gotoh all the way.  

@Rmansh:
That would require all stock anchors to be replaced with the Gotoh anchors that came with the Gotoh parts. Which means you could either bring it to a luthier and have them deal with it or DIY and pray that you don't mess the nice top. lol

You see, the anchors in this guitar are most likely pushed in through compression fitting. If the Gotoh anchors end up just a little bit smaller than the stocks, an epoxy would be needed to fill in the gap else you wouldn't get the maximum vibration coupling between the bridge/tailpiece and the body of the guitar. The point is, it requires skills, the right equipment, and the right resources. Way to risky for me at this point in time. But yes, I'm actually considering bringing it to a luthier one day and have them replace the anchors with the Gotoh anchors.

OT: please feel free to donate the extra parts to me. 

LoL