Help me hotrod this Chinese Epiphone

Matt300ZXT

Matt300ZXT

Well-known member
I've got this 2018 Epiphone Les Paul Standard Pro my dad inherited several years ago and now gave it to me, and I finally have it here with me. I want to hotrod it a little and could use some suggestion:

Tuners: standard Grovers. I'd like locking tuners on it, but don't want to have to ream out the hole and don't really want to drill new holes on the back. Hopefully, there is a solution that is 100% drop in.

Wiring: it has Chinese parts, so yeah.... It has coil taps on the volume pots, and standard tone pots. Also, I'd like to replace this 3 way, because it's just waiting to fart out at the most inopportune time. Perhaps there is a company that sells a premade wiring harness that isn't ridiculous? Also, I don't really need the coil taps, I don't think I've ever played on a guitar and used the coil tap function for more than just a minute to see how it sounds.

Pickups: I'm wanting DiMarzio, and this thing will only be used for good old 80s rock, some classic rock, a few blues licks. I've been wanting to try a Norton because I hear that's what Reb used back in the day. I always see the Super Distortion recommended, but I have X2Ns (ceramic) and basically hate them. But, I have an Evolution in the bridge of a super strat, and even though it's hot, it's so clear and crisp and shows up any mistake I make, so I like that one.

Bridge/tailpiece: not sure if this is worth upgrading. If it is, provide your case.
 
I believe Gotoh and Planet Waves are the same size as Grovers. Rondo music sometimes has import sized graphtech TOM bridges for cheap.
Alpha/AllParts pots work for me. CTS output/3way probably. Not really much into vintage stuff, but believe a lot of those prewired pot sets have bourns pots? Pickups are subjective to me, so no help there. Would recommend checking out Mike Stamper on youtube for pickup comparisons. A nice nut and setup going on it to finish. 🤷‍♀️
 
Matt300ZXT said:
I've got this 2018 Epiphone Les Paul Standard Pro my dad inherited several years ago and now gave it to me, and I finally have it here with me. I want to hotrod it a little and could use some suggestion:

Tuners: standard Grovers. I'd like locking tuners on it, but don't want to have to ream out the hole and don't really want to drill new holes on the back. Hopefully, there is a solution that is 100% drop in.

Wiring: it has Chinese parts, so yeah.... It has coil taps on the volume pots, and standard tone pots. Also, I'd like to replace this 3 way, because it's just waiting to fart out at the most inopportune time. Perhaps there is a company that sells a premade wiring harness that isn't ridiculous? Also, I don't really need the coil taps, I don't think I've ever played on a guitar and used the coil tap function for more than just a minute to see how it sounds.

Pickups: I'm wanting DiMarzio, and this thing will only be used for good old 80s rock, some classic rock, a few blues licks. I've been wanting to try a Norton because I hear that's what Reb used back in the day. I always see the Super Distortion recommended, but I have X2Ns (ceramic) and basically hate them. But, I have an Evolution in the bridge of a super strat, and even though it's hot, it's so clear and crisp and shows up any mistake I make, so I like that one.

Bridge/tailpiece: not sure if this is worth upgrading. If it is, provide your case.
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I would recommend using CTS 500k pots. If you want to go full Gibson midrange goodness, put in the small ceramic disc capacitors instead of whatever is in there now. The bumblebee caps sound great but are expensive.

If you want something that basically drops in and is pre wired, I cannot recommend Emerson enough.

Emerson makes really great sounding stuff and is easy to just pop in. Top of the line components all the way, I have installed several sets in various guitars for friends.

Note that many upgrades may require that you enlarge the holes for the pots. This sounds intimidating but it's really easy. You just take down a washer with masking tape centered over the hole as the size you want take a hand file and lightly enlarge the hole. Looks perfect.
 
GuitarGuy08 said:
I would recommend using CTS 500k pots. If you want to go full Gibson midrange goodness, put in the small ceramic disc capacitors instead of whatever is in there now. The bumblebee caps sound great but are expensive.

If you want something that basically drops in and is pre wired, I cannot recommend Emerson enough.

Emerson makes really great sounding stuff and is easy to just pop in. Top of the line components all the way, I have installed several sets in various guitars for friends.

Note that many upgrades may require that you enlarge the holes for the pots. This sounds intimidating but it's really easy. You just take down a washer with masking tape centered over the hole as the size you want take a hand file and lightly enlarge the hole. Looks perfect.
Click to expand...
I have a simple reamer i use for this
 
Grover tuners are good tuners, I'd worry about the electronics first as that is always the achilles heel of every Epiphone I've owned. I've had switch failures, the 3 ways are always junk. CTS pots and a good quality gibson branded selector switch all the way. And for less than the price of one of those prewired kits, which have to be wired in anyways btw. You can basically learn to solder up your own for similar $$$. That's what I did with my recent Viper purchase. Sand the shiny stuff off the back of the pots and get a good quality soldering flux and you're good to go. Guys here on the forum helped me out with a lot of tips and now I can do all my own wiring.

Smash said:
I have a simple reamer i use for this
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Seconded. I've used those for installing acoustic pickups. I just tape around the area I am reaming to avoid chips in the paint or tear outs in the wood. Go slow=success.
 
I will also say that I recently put the electronics from an Epi in another guitar and there was that weird muffled-ish yet brash thing that plagued the Epi before I changed the pots and caps out.... they make a pretty big difference. Again, if they have those yellow caps, I'd get away from those as fast as possible.

Electronics will make a big difference here.

Smash and Von have good advice for widening any holes - a reamer will work for sure, though I quite like using my round hand file for the work.


Keep us posted!
 
Matt300ZXT said:
Can I not just tape around the hole, line up my 3/8 bit and turn it by hand to slowly chew away at the excess wood?
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Have always just used a bit with my fingers.
Like 20-30 seconds.
Don't feel like I've ever taped it off either or had any finish damage.
There should be a washer under the nut even if you did a little.
 
Take the Dimarzio MegaDrive into consideration. Not a lot of talk about this PU, but it`s very 80ies like. Not shure if it will work for Blues.

Dimarzio does not have it on their site, but they still makes it. The PU was discontinued at one time, but enough people wanted it back. So Dimarzio kept on producing it.
 
Matt300ZXT said:
Can I not just tape around the hole, line up my 3/8 bit and turn it by hand to slowly chew away at the excess wood?
Click to expand...
You can do whatever you want. By hand, you wont fuck up. I have over reamed before and the pot fit in a bit wonky, but it never bothered me. At the end of the day, you are trying to get better electronics in there. Everything else is secondary
 
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