Epiphone LP is nice - Upgrades/Guitar work

[Music&Chaos]

Hello all,

I have been working on several Epiphone LPs doing cap changes and pickup installs and such.

The Mallory mustard caps strike again. These just sound terrible in the Epiphones but they seem to come stock in them.

Mushy low end? Raspy/brittle highs and suppressed mids? Swap out those caps.

In this case, went with Vitamin T Paper in oil caps.

Installed a set of Planet Tone 57 pickups.

This is a really, really sweet guitar now. Has that 50s tone all over it!

Balanced but has some nice snap and bite. Transparent and very open.

I am not sure I have had so much fun ever on an Epi.

That being said, I still dislike the finish overall when compared to nitro.

If they could just finish these things in nitro....man......they could be so close.

As it sits, still feels like an Epiphone, like they all do and not their Gibson counterparts BUT that is alright.

Let Epi be its own thing and it's all good.

A really great playing, great sounding guitar that I would honestly consider owning.

First Epi I have found that has made me feel that way. Don't worry, it took almost 20 years for me to find a Gibson I liked the feel of too.....

 

[Music&Chaos]

@The~Kid

If it had the nitro finish, I could see these being proper competition against Gibson. As it sits, I could see how someone would prefer this Epi over certain Gibson models, at least after the upgrades.

 

[ZEEGLER]

I used to have a couple of Epi LPs. The thick poly finish is definitely offputting. I de-glossed both of mine, and while it didn't thin the finish down really, it certainly made the guitars look and feel better.