Members mightysasquatch Posted October 21, 2005 Members Posted October 21, 2005 I bought a used Epiphone Limited Edition Dot Deluxe (ES-335) last week. It is the same as the usual Dot Deluxes, but it does not have a pickguard (and never did), it has a limited edition logo, and it is finished in transparent blue. Tomorrow I am ordering these parts............ Gibson/Grover Deluxe bean tuners Gibson Tune-o-matic bridge & tailpiece. Gibson 490R & 498T Covered Humbuckers. Gibson Black Tophat Knobs Gibson 500K Pots Gibson/S 3 way toggle switch All in chrome (it looks much better than the gold), plus I am having a bone nut made for it. I really wanted a Gibson ES-137 in transparent blueburst until I actually played one. It was nice, but I just didn't feel it was worth $1,500.......... Now I will have a killer transparent blue ES-335, at half of the cost. Guitar: $380 Parts: $375 Total = $755 vs. $1,500 I will do all my own work (except the nut, I suck at those), so my labor cost is practically nil.
Members Backstepper Posted October 21, 2005 Members Posted October 21, 2005 I would not bother with the Gibson pots, they tend to run $5-10 each, because they say Gibson. Buy some Alpha pots for $2.50 or less either from Guitarfetish.com or from a shop sold as the Dirt Cheap brand. I would think twice about the replacing the knobs, chalk that up into the why bother catagory. IF you do replace the knobs, look around for non-Gibson labeled ones, the G-word will add cost for the same knobs. I will also recomend a little pickup research. Seems that lots of people pull those same pickups out of their Gibsons, and go with something else. See if you can find out why. And if you dig the 490/498 combo, check for some used ones. Last peice of advice, check out the Tone Pros bridge, and see how the price compares to Gibson. The locking system really made a diffrence on the Michael Kelly I had that come with the Tone pros bridge. If it's just a little more, I woudl say go for that. Again with the Gibson, you end up paying for the G word. It is a groovy idea, I love modding me some guitars, I just figure if you're gonna do it, look into what parts other people swap off their Gibsons and why, and see if you can save a little dough, or take things a step higher.
Members randy34 Posted October 21, 2005 Members Posted October 21, 2005 i have the same guitar but in vintage burst flametop....the pots are fine...ditch the stock switch...keep the neck pickup( try adjusting the height) and take your time doing it a little at a time and you'll find the neck p.u. is a keeper....replace the bridge with a used burstbucker or similar.....the bridge is keepable, tighten the tailpiece all the way down and reverse wrap your strings, the tuners are 50/50 i replaced mine, knobs are personal preference and the black would look good, the nut is a good idea but i got lucky and mine is as close to perfect as i've ever seen.......if you do replace the pickups i'll buy em......i get compliments every weekend on my epi...hangs with any gibby....what style do you mostly play?
Members Crosscut Saw Posted October 21, 2005 Members Posted October 21, 2005 That will be a sweet guit when your done. I'm going to replace the pups in my dot one day but I have no idea about how to go about it. How in the sam hell do you get the stuff back in after rewiring it?
Members mightysasquatch Posted October 21, 2005 Author Members Posted October 21, 2005 I am considering a few other pickup combo's:Seymour Duncan Seth LoversSeymour Duncan Jazz/JB setGibson '57 classicsIbanez Super '58sI have the Gibson 490r/498t's in my Gibson SG Standard, and I love them.I will check out the Tonepros bridge.The tuners have to go, they suck badly, and I hate gold hardware. That is the reason for the knob change, unless the amber knobs look good with the chrome hardware.I play jazzy blues rock mixed with alt country. Imagine Gov't Mule playing Uncle Tupelo songs. Only not as good.
Members mightysasquatch Posted October 21, 2005 Author Members Posted October 21, 2005 So here is the final order, after some good advice from folks around here......... Grover Deluxe "Butterbean" Tuners Tonepros locking Tune-o-matic bridge WRC "Crossroads" humbuckers S 3 way toggle switch 500K pots Plus I am having a bone nut made for it. I have decided to leave the knobs alone (they are vintage amber).
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