1989 Epiphone Les Paul project
Discussion
I picked up an '89 Epi LP black with cream bingding, pretty sad state on the hardware and the pups had been replaced at some point with Seymour Duncans, one of which wasn't working right and the other, gold, was also really badly corroded, jack plug isn't healthy either with a lot of corrosion resulting in patchy signal. On the plus side the action is incredible - the neck is superb. After a bit of googling I took the plunge and ordered new hardware from axetec.co.uk late Thursday and they arrived today...
Starting point:
Took all the hardware off and unsoldered the pups and selector to remove the electronics, gave it a good clean inside and out:
Decided, after a brief fiddle, to leave the bridge and tail-piece lugs in place rather than risk damage. Fortunately the new bits are the same diameter and thread!
Unpacked the new goodies:
I'd hoped that the electronics were largely pre-wired but sadly not, it's just components... On with shielding the control cavities:
I used some thin card to make templates for the base which helped but it's still not as neat as I'd hoped. Not too bad for a first try.
Made a start on the wiring by making another template to mount the volume and tone pots on, turns out this was a good idea as the new pots are quite a bit bigger than the old ones so space is tight. The new circuit includes push-pull on the volume and tone pots to give humbucker/single coil (vol) and in/out of phase (tone):
Got the pickup selector wires on and screwed in and have done the capacitors and pot-to-pot wiring on the controls. Tomorrow will hopefully see the rest of the wiring done and the rest should be simple enough!
Had a few 'doh' moments including the classic wiring between bringe and neck vol pots rather than bridge vol and tone pots. Only managed to solder myself a few times. Not had so much fun on a Saturday afternoon for ages.
Starting point:
Took all the hardware off and unsoldered the pups and selector to remove the electronics, gave it a good clean inside and out:
Decided, after a brief fiddle, to leave the bridge and tail-piece lugs in place rather than risk damage. Fortunately the new bits are the same diameter and thread!
Unpacked the new goodies:
I'd hoped that the electronics were largely pre-wired but sadly not, it's just components... On with shielding the control cavities:
I used some thin card to make templates for the base which helped but it's still not as neat as I'd hoped. Not too bad for a first try.
Made a start on the wiring by making another template to mount the volume and tone pots on, turns out this was a good idea as the new pots are quite a bit bigger than the old ones so space is tight. The new circuit includes push-pull on the volume and tone pots to give humbucker/single coil (vol) and in/out of phase (tone):
Got the pickup selector wires on and screwed in and have done the capacitors and pot-to-pot wiring on the controls. Tomorrow will hopefully see the rest of the wiring done and the rest should be simple enough!
Had a few 'doh' moments including the classic wiring between bringe and neck vol pots rather than bridge vol and tone pots. Only managed to solder myself a few times. Not had so much fun on a Saturday afternoon for ages.
Finished and it works! Minor backache but very happy with the end result, minor tweaks needed to pick-up heights to balance bridge and neck (neck way too loud) and a small tweak to get the D and A intonated perfectly. Learned a lot doing this and may well have a go at renovating my old Washburn with floyd rose trem!
Wiring done, not the neatest but not as bad as I thought it would be...
All hardware on and it looks great...
Just need to build a proper man-shed at the bottom of my garden and have a proper workshop...
Wiring done, not the neatest but not as bad as I thought it would be...
All hardware on and it looks great...
Just need to build a proper man-shed at the bottom of my garden and have a proper workshop...
Might want to clean the lens on your camera, it looks a bit smeary. 
Nice work on the guitar though. The Epiphone wiki says that 1989 was the last year with that shaped headstock, and it was the first year for a set neck, so it's a fairly rare one.
http://epiphonewiki.com/index.php/Les_Paul_Custom
Nice work on the guitar though. The Epiphone wiki says that 1989 was the last year with that shaped headstock, and it was the first year for a set neck, so it's a fairly rare one.
http://epiphonewiki.com/index.php/Les_Paul_Custom
davepoth said:
Might want to clean the lens on your camera, it looks a bit smeary.
heh, good spot - just cleaned it, will see if the photos come out any better now.Thanks for the link to the wiki - hadn't thought to look for that.
Found two mistakes - the pickup covers are on the wrong way round - right position but don't align the pickups with the strings so that'll have to change and there's a slight issue with the wiring - the neck pick-up cuts out when I pull the tone pot to the out position which should reverse the phase.
Apart from that really pleased with it, just need to learn to play it!
Nice rescue job there. 
Shouldn't take too much trouble to sort out those little electrical niggles after all you've done. I've had mine since the early 90s and though it's been looked after I've ended up replacing the electrics as you've done, plus the brigde (it flattened out) and I got a Pro to replace the nut for me. It plays really well, though if your back hurts the weight doesn't help...
Hope you get many years of pleasure out it now after that work.
Shouldn't take too much trouble to sort out those little electrical niggles after all you've done. I've had mine since the early 90s and though it's been looked after I've ended up replacing the electrics as you've done, plus the brigde (it flattened out) and I got a Pro to replace the nut for me. It plays really well, though if your back hurts the weight doesn't help...Hope you get many years of pleasure out it now after that work.
That's a lot of work you've done there. That takes commitment.
What bridge did you go for? Did you have to file down the saddles to get the strings to sit right? I'm very tempted to try a Gotoh bridge in my modded Epi LP, but not sure I'm skilled enough to re-profile each saddle.
This weekend I replaced the original jack socket on mine with a Switchcraft one and the difference is huge. The new one holds the jack plug so much more securely.
What bridge did you go for? Did you have to file down the saddles to get the strings to sit right? I'm very tempted to try a Gotoh bridge in my modded Epi LP, but not sure I'm skilled enough to re-profile each saddle.
This weekend I replaced the original jack socket on mine with a Switchcraft one and the difference is huge. The new one holds the jack plug so much more securely.
bennyboysvuk said:
That's a lot of work you've done there. That takes commitment.
It wasn't all that hard barring the wiring - I really should have gone with a simpler effort for my first try - the push-pull switching on the pots made it a bit fiddly and I need to pull it out as something's clearly not quite right!bennyboysvuk said:
What bridge did you go for? Did you have to file down the saddles to get the strings to sit right? I'm very tempted to try a Gotoh bridge in my modded Epi LP, but not sure I'm skilled enough to re-profile each saddle.
Got all the stuff from axetec.co.uk (Nashville style, http://axetec.co.uk/guitar_parts_uk_040.htm). Had no need to adjust anything barring te height on the main screws and the intonation spot on and the action really low.bennyboysvuk said:
This weekend I replaced the original jack socket on mine with a Switchcraft one and the difference is huge. The new one holds the jack plug so much more securely.
Yeah, it was the jack that got me into thinking about replacing parts in the first place and then the prices on axetec made it seem silly not to replace the bridge and tuners as well. Then the wirk pickups needed replacing... IainT said:
bennyboysvuk said:
What bridge did you go for? Did you have to file down the saddles to get the strings to sit right? I'm very tempted to try a Gotoh bridge in my modded Epi LP, but not sure I'm skilled enough to re-profile each saddle.
Got all the stuff from axetec.co.uk (Nashville style, http://axetec.co.uk/guitar_parts_uk_040.htm). Had no need to adjust anything barring te height on the main screws and the intonation spot on and the action really low.I'm sure the Gotoh bridges do not come slotted, so you have to mark and slot them with a file...which I think I'll leave to a proper guitar tech since I can see myself getting carried away with the filing and taking it far too far.
OldSkoolRS said:
You're right, the Gotoh bridge comes without slots, so I fitted mine and took it to a Luthier to replace the nut and he sorted out the saddles for me. My original Epiphone bridge had gone concave. It all stays nicely in tune now, no rattles either.
Thanks for confirming. It's the rattles that are the really annoying thing. The Epi bridge just every now and then seems to have that sound like a string is touching a fret and it buzzes as the bridge spring-wire isn't firmly in place. It's definitely new bridge time in the New Year.I love my Epi LP though. I still prefer the playability and feel of my (heavily modded) Epi LP to my Gibson SG Standard.
bennyboysvuk said:
Ah, judging by the pics, that might be the bridge that I want to get away from. I find that the saddles move away slightly from where they're adjusted to and it's just enough for the wire spring piece that goes across all the screws to vibrate a little.
Absolutely no vibration or movement in the one I got, it's incredible well machined and the tolerances are perfect - not so fine that things bind but tight enough to prevent unwanted movement. The 'Nashville' one doesn't have the wire that the ABR style does:
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