Improving an Epiphone

Acathla · 11 Feb 2007 at 21:16

Hello all,
Just picked a sweeeeet epiphone Les Paul Studio (Pirates of the Carribean edition!!!!) and love it to bits.
Fairly happy with it so far, but planning ahead I think a pickup swap is in the books.
I play mostly soft rock, sometimes step up to a bit of AC/DC type goodness, so I was wondering if anyone could recommend a decent setup for neck and bridge?
Seen some nice handmades from Swineshead (A uk comp), but know a lot of people like the Seyour Duncans.
Not sure on a budget at the mo, so gimme what you got!

OzZie · 11 Feb 2007 at 21:22

I'd go for a '59 in the bridge and a alnico II pro in the neck if it were me

Acathla · 11 Feb 2007 at 21:32

Was looking at the '59 actually. I've got a few mates who have tricked out their Epi's with a pair of those pickups and they end up being such good value! All the looks of a proper Gibson and a cool sound for well under the full asking price of a true Les Paul. Plus....you find me a real Les Paul with a Pirates of the Carribean skull and crossbones on it!
Cheers for the suggestion matey, I'll look in to this one and see what I reckon about this with the alnico II pro.

SidewinderINC · 11 Feb 2007 at 21:38

Acathla said:
Plus....you find me a real Les Paul with a Pirates of the Carribean skull and crossbones on it!

i'd really rather not!

maybe a pair of Alnico II's

OzZie · 11 Feb 2007 at 21:38

If you have a look on their website, you can get some samples and compare models. Slash used alnico II pro's to get his lead sound. It's all personal preference of course, but that's what i'd have. You can always use your switch to get the mix between the two

Acathla · 11 Feb 2007 at 21:46

SidewinderINC said:
i'd really rather not!

Don't knock it till you've seen it! Actually, I realise most people would rather not. Just been after a LP for ages, and am a big Pirates fan, so once I saw it I had to!

OzZie said:
If you have a look on their website, you can get some samples and compare models. Slash used alnico II pro's to get his lead sound. It's all personal preference of course, but that's what i'd have. You can always use your switch to get the mix between the two

Sounds good, defo like the Slash tone, but I never feel I can trust the sound clips, too much production going on! But, thats another vote for the Alnico II pro's, so they are looking interesting.

Northwind · 14 Feb 2007 at 00:31

I love the Duncan 59 in the neck of anything... Had one in my SG, got one in my double fat strat, my old Squier, even had one in the Tele till recently. Superb pickup. But in the bridge... Well, I favour a Distortion but that's maybe not for you. Custom maybe- that was nice in the Squier, but it didn't work in the SG, and that's a fairly similiar spec to your Epi. 59 works anywhere but I prefer it in the neck.

Duncans aren't the be-all and end-all, but they have a really good range and they're good quality. It's worth paying a little extra for 4 wire ones if you can, gives you options for the future- a coil split on a push/pull in the bridge is handy, but that's the least of what you can do with a bit of work.

I reckon... The last Epi I took to bits had fairly cheap electronics. The switches are unreliable too, traditionally. Might be worth replacing the whole lot with decent quality, Gibson own brand or CTS would be my choice.