Members GAS Man Posted August 9, 2012 Author Members Share Posted August 9, 2012 ^^^ I came soooooo close to getting one of those. I actually bought it, but it was during MF's warehouse moving days. Some 6 weeks after I ordered it (even though it was "in stock" I finally cancelled my order. I just go fed up with them telling me it would ship out tomorrow and it never moved. Sounds like karma looked after me on that one. I ended up with one of the GOW Gibson models in SB instead. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members guitarman3001 Posted August 9, 2012 Members Share Posted August 9, 2012 ^^^ I came soooooo close to getting one of those. I actually bought it, but it was during MF's warehouse moving days. Some 6 weeks after I ordered it (even though it was "in stock" I finally cancelled my order. I just go fed up with them telling me it would ship out tomorrow and it never moved. Sounds like karma looked after me on that one. I ended up with one of the GOW Gibson models in SB instead. Well, it's not entirely bad. I change the bridge pickup, filed down the nut slot, next is replacing the pickup switch. Once I replace the switch it should be fine. I've actually gigged it a few times and it plays well enough and sounds good with the new pickup but with the faulty pickup switch it's not reliable enough to gig right now. But it's a very nice looking guitar and for the price was a pretty good deal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members xStonr Posted August 9, 2012 Members Share Posted August 9, 2012 I would say that my experience with Epiphone pickups are that they = white bread Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members grunge782 Posted August 9, 2012 Members Share Posted August 9, 2012 They suck Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members jhall Posted August 9, 2012 Members Share Posted August 9, 2012 I had this tuxedo Epi LP standard that Had the most amazing playability. After the initial setup it never needed one again. It played smooth as butter and stayed in tune forever and a day.Unfortunately the damned thing sounded like a dog no matter what pickups I put in it they always sounded about the same as the stock ones. I even went so far as to put in a pair of Gibson Burstbuckers in it which at the time was $300.00 for the set. Guitar still sounded like mud to me. I unloaded it after four years o having the most comfortable, staying in tune, perfectly intonated and actioned guitar that sounded like a bowl of rotten Jell-O. Too bad as that was one great playing guitar and I've never played another Epi like it since. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members GAS Man Posted August 9, 2012 Author Members Share Posted August 9, 2012 One thing I think I perceive about Epiphone guitars, is that they are not only a good beginner's or entry level guitar, but they also seem to be a popular affordable guitar with gigging musicians that are out there sweating it out in the bars and clubs. I've seen stock Epi's being used by opening bands and the tone has been tweaked and cranked enough to where not too much of these apparent deficiencies are readily perceptible in those settings. I know that Epiphone promotes that image of the "player" on their product line as well, you see it (at least you used to) on each one of their shipping boxes. In the hands of the home hobbyist playing through their hand wired amp, or any amp where they're tweaking for that perfection of tone at moderate volume levels, then these issues may become more readily apparent to a player. Maybe Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members GAS Man Posted August 9, 2012 Author Members Share Posted August 9, 2012 I had this tuxedo Epi LP standard that Had the most amazing playability. After the initial setup it never needed one again. It played smooth as butter and stayed in tune forever and a day.Unfortunately the damned thing sounded like a dog no matter what pickups I put in it they always sounded about the same as the stock ones. I even went so far as to put in a pair of Gibson Burstbuckers in it which at the time was $300.00 for the set. Guitar still sounded like mud to me. I unloaded it after four years o having the most comfortable, staying in tune, perfectly intonated and actioned guitar that sounded like a bowl of rotten Jell-O. Too bad as that was one great playing guitar and I've never played another Epi like it since. I've had something similar happen to me with a Yamaha SG700S. But I finally decided to settle on the Gibson 496 & 500 combo. It just seemed like ceramic magnet pups were the best way to go to get along with the natural EQ of that guitar. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Norcal_GIT_r Posted August 9, 2012 Members Share Posted August 9, 2012 The pickups that came in my Epi LP were ok. Not great but there's certainly worse pickups out there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Chill Mike D Posted August 9, 2012 Members Share Posted August 9, 2012 I like the pickups in my Les Paul and Firebird VII, and I love the P90s in my LP Special. But the stock humbuckers in my ES175 were incredibly dull. I took those out and put P-rails in which have been a vast improvement. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members caveman Posted August 9, 2012 Members Share Posted August 9, 2012 The really muddy epi's I've come across were easily cured by replacing the caps and the crappy miniature pots with quality full sized ones. Night and day difference. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members GAS Man Posted August 9, 2012 Author Members Share Posted August 9, 2012 ^^ I've yet to dabble with that. I've been quite uncertain as to how much affect pots can have (outside of swapping the values) but I'll certainly take your word on that. Interesting testimony! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members cratz2 Posted August 9, 2012 Members Share Posted August 9, 2012 An amber Wildkat just like yours into the Bassman-side of a 60W Super Sonic is one of my favorite tones I've ever dialed in. Even though the pickups are widely disliked and the amp is almost universally despised. If I had a Wildcat, there's next to zero chance I'd replace them and I'm a bit of a pickup snob. The first time I played a Wildkat at a GC store, i was not impressed but that was largely due to the fact that I looked at it and expected it to sound Gretschy. And I also played next to it an Gretsch Electromatic that did indeed sound quite "Gretschy" at a similar price to the WildKat. But I eventually got a WildKat anyway when I couldn't resist a $349 blow-out on this one. But what I found about it is don't go for the Gretsch tone with it, go for more of the Nuge's Cat Scratch Fever tone, and that it does quite well IMHO. But if I ever did want to make it more of a Rockabilly sounding guitar, I know Jason Lollar has come up with varying degrees of viable options for WildKats. One of his options is a P-90 without covers which would create the most chime but decrease the chrome visual vibe of the guitar. Another option IIRC is a rewind of the chrome p'ups. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members ExiledCrow Posted August 9, 2012 Members Share Posted August 9, 2012 My Epi LP came, used, with the stockers. Not awful. The neck is a bit muddy/fuzzy but actually sounds pretty darn good if you want a bit of fuzz on your sound, I left it in, replaced the the bridge with a Super 3 which is much clearer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members V-Type Posted August 9, 2012 Members Share Posted August 9, 2012 I have the same opinion I always have of them.Generally most need too be replaced for my needs however I have come across a few in different models from time too time that rival the replacements I would consider.Same crap shoot with the duncan designs as well.Some are Great most are meh. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Into Nation Posted August 9, 2012 Members Share Posted August 9, 2012 The P90's in my '56 RI are great, no reason to swap. Every humbucker Epi I've ever fooled with was muddy. Every P90 I've played even at a very low price sounded pretty good. They must be hard to make sound bad. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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