Complete EPI custom setup

[sdjjadk]

Hello All,
I just joined the forum and I am also the owner of my first Epi. L.P.
I have a Plain Top Standard in Heritage Cherry that for the most part plays and sounds great for the price. I did however adjust the neck a bit, change the strings, set the action to my preference and checked the intonation which happened to be spot on.
I found this thread and wanted to say thanks to the author! I have been playing guitar for about 27 years and have been doing my own setups for about 25 years now.
and I found this thread to be very informative and very helpful!

Thanks,

Shawn


__________________________________________________ ________________________

1987 Gibson SG Elite USA
2010 Epiphone Les Paul Standard Plain Top

Crate XT120R 2x12 Combo driving a Marshall 4x12 cab. Six Pack Stack! Yeah Baby!
Digitech RP-90 Effects Processor
BOSS SD-1 Super Overdrive for blues
__________________________________________________ ________________________

Gone but not forgotten,
1970 Hagstrom Super Swede
1988 Jackson Soloist Neck Through
1989 B.C. Rich ST111 autographed by Vivian Campbell of Whitesnake
1992 Ibanez RG550 autographed by Bruce Kulick of KISS

[Roman]

Originally Posted by Roman Rist

Before any super glue is fully hard and cured I scrape the fingerboard with a straight razor blade.

Due to lots of questions, here you go.

YouTube - Scraping the fingerboard.AVI

YouTube - Scraping the fingerboard.AVI

[nzo]

Thank You Roman, I appreciate the vid.

[kec]

Nice vid Roman!

[Roman]

Thanks folks, I hope it is of some use....more to come.

[Mookakian]

Thanks Roman Direct and vey helpfull

Do you mind if i ask a question? When you have a dent or scratch in the fretboard can you sand it out or are you best to scrape from the start?

[gtr-tek]

Fantastic info, Roman! Thank you ever so much!

I've been doing my own setups for years and got several good tips here!

I've purchased several Korean and other imports and upgraded them in a similar fashon. I show them to my buddies at home and music stores and they are amazed at how well they sound and play. If it has good wood and construction, TLC and upgraded hardware and electronics will make it shine!

[Harbournet]

Originally Posted by Muck Fe

You're a lucky man Hectgore, not only did Roman make a good guitar great, we also got to see how it's done. Wish we all had access to someone like Roman, sadly luthiers like him are very thin on the ground especially round here!! Oh well, this thread has at least given me the confidence to have a go at it myself.

Congrats Hectgore on a great guitar and Roman for a job well done.

Rick.

Hey I'm also in Sydney Muck - you can practice on one of my Epi's mate! do you have like a workshop? I live in an apartment....no room to do anything.

[vulture]

Thank you Roman. I've fiddle farted with my own set up's & gained mucho' more understanding from this thread.

This is one reason why this site is soooo super groovy.

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[Sushy]

How do you scrap your fingerboard when it has dots? I want to try this on my stratocaster

[Mookakian]

Originally Posted by Mookakian

Thanks Roman Direct and vey helpfull

Do you mind if i ask a question? When you have a dent or scratch in the fretboard can you sand it out or are you best to scrape from the start?

Cancel that, scraping is best

[metalinguist]

Originally Posted by Sushy

How do you scrap your fingerboard when it has dots? I want to try this on my stratocaster

Check out this video from the PRS factory tour. About half way through or so, you'll see exactly how the fretboard is scraped:

YouTube - Fret Dress and Final Approval - Final Assembly

YouTube - Fret Dress and Final Approval - Final Assembly

[metalinguist]

OK, lol, didn't even notice that Roman had already posted a video!

Looks about identical. Perhaps someone could delete the video I just posted? Seems redundant now.

[phastestgunn]

Master Roman, can I be your disciple?

[Bristol Posse]

This thread inspired me to join the forum

I did the entire set up outlined here plus new p'ups and pots and all I can say is wow. I never thought a $500 Epi LP standard could play like a real LP but I was wrong, you can get pretty darn close if you are prepared to put in the work

Thanks for a great tutorial

[brianugly]

I think the last time I read this was last year, but after reading it again, I am going to start working on some of my guitars.

The whole thread is great, and the intonation information is priceless!

[Roman]

Originally Posted by Bristol Posse

This thread inspired me to join the forum

I did the entire set up outlined here plus new p'ups and pots and all I can say is wow. I never thought a $500 Epi LP standard could play like a real LP but I was wrong, you can get pretty darn close if you are prepared to put in the work

Thanks for a great tutorial

Thank you! If this thread created that inspiration AND got you to get a better playing guitar out of it, my job here is complete.

[Randomized180]

Amazing thread but I don't think I'd ever do that myself. Would just a regular guitar shop do a simmilar set up to that? If not, what sort of place would I need to go to to get my guitar set up?

[ShelbyDude]

Thank you, Thank you, Thank you!!!!

I just performed the entire procedure on my newest Epi Studio. It had some serious problems right from the start. A dead fret on the low E and A strings at the 17th fret. Extremely high action and serious fret buzz if the action was lowered at all.

I scraped the entire fret board and oiled it. Then I checked the frets and found the 19th, 13th , 7th and 1st were all a little high. I filed them down, sanded and then polished them all.

I put new strings on it and man what a difference. No more dead fret, action is pretty low and no buzz. I can probably go a little lower, but I'll leave it for now.

Again, Thank you for these tips!!!

[heybulldog]

Hi my very first posting.

I am thinking of buying me an Epi Les Paul Custom $800 or Gibson Les Paul Studio $1300. I like the solid black with Nickel look.

I of course would love to be able to afford Gibson 68 custom shop $3500.

Not sure what to do.

[HOD]

hi!

Were can I buy a fret leveling file like yours and what is the number of the tool that you use to the arm straight?

thanks

[brianugly]

Originally Posted by heybulldog

Hi my very first posting.

I am thinking of buying me an Epi Les Paul Custom $800 or Gibson Les Paul Studio $1300. I like the solid black with Nickel look.

I of course would love to be able to afford Gibson 68 custom shop $3500.

Not sure what to do.

Not sure if this is the best thread to ask in, but I'd suggest buying either one used instead; you should be able to pay around $800 for a used black studio, and for a used Epiphone Custom you shouldn't pay more than $400.

[mglittle87]

Thats awesome Roman Thanks so much! I did this to my standard now I'm gonna do my custom and sg

[onioner]

Wow. Great stuff. The neck sanding, in particular, is a huge improvement.

I'm thinkin' that maybe I'm not taking off enough. What's a ballpark figure for how long one should be sanding w/ each grit?

Edit: I answered my own question, with that being "a little bit less time than I sanded." Oops. For a first try, I'll take it. Feels about a thousand times better.

[Escher]

Kudos Roman!! Thanks a ton for the fretboard scraping vid!

That was the one step I had not done in the past - so I did it on a silver burst custom that I picked up Friday, and it makes a huge difference! You just need to be prepared for some pretty good finger cramps by the time you are done..

I also used the superglue tip to take care of some frets that looked suspicious. Guitar now has the best fret job I have ever done. Look for a NGD announcement when I get home!

Thanks again!

[Hichisky]

I noticed you had a china sticker on the back of the head stock:
Complete EPI custom setup

I supposedly have the same guitar, an Epi Les Paul Custom in Ebony, but mine has a made in Korea sticker. Are they made in both places?

[onioner]

Concerning neck sanding, how about the necks on an ultra? They've got a different finish that's not nearly so sticky. It's still stickier than my sanded BB though. Can I give it the same treatment?

[angelodp]

Hi Roman, thanks for the insights. Just bought an 03 Korean Epi LP and its a great instrument. Neck did not need scraping or fret work. I did have to work on a loose jack and re-intone, but that it so far. I am going to have a go at caps & pots soon. Here is a detailed layout for general use. Its a bit of a messy chamber with all these wires and not nearly as elegant as a vintage wiring harness. As I understand things in guitars, everything adds up, so while I do not expect to have a vintage Gibson... I should be able to get a lot closer with new electronics and pups. The body is solid Mahogany and the cap seems to be maple veneer on maple according to folks at Gibson. Why the swap on the bridge? It seems to be a good bridge?

cheers A

[cody62]

Originally Posted by Roman Rist

Here we have a an ordinary Epiphone LP custom. It is complete with normal problems people encounter and take for granted. Fret buzz, plastic nut, high action, too much relief in the neck, etc.

Well we are going to put some love into it. Why? Well, it is a guitar and the owner loves it. An Epiphone can play as well as any other instrument.

Here we go;

BTW, excuse some of the picture quality.

here it is, high action and all.



The first thing is to remove the stings and take off the mounting ring of the neck pickup. I want the pickup to drop to the bottom of the route.



Next we tape it all up. this prevents scratching and damage, not to mention keeping the steel wool particles away from the pickup.




Now we take the nut off. First I score a line through the finish. we do not want the nut to take finish along with it when we remove it.




I will tap at the nut with something hard and a hammer. my preferred tool for the tapping is a fret file.



Now the nut is off.




More to come

Roman

Roman, I had my Epi LP Custom Black Beauty 3 done at Forrester Kustoms Guitar works here in Maryland. He made a Bob Colosi West African Hard Ivory nut for it, dressed, leveled and polished all the frets, put an ABR roller bridge on it, Replaced all the wiring with silver and cloth wire, a Switchcraft pickup switch and input jack, original CTS NOS pots, NOS Jensen paper in oil caps, TonePro Tail piece, Grover Deluxe Keystone tuning gears and Parsons Street Pickups ( Alnico 2 at the neck and middle and Alnico5 at the bridge) and it is a beast of an instrument now. Point being... your right, factories build guitars for profit... Luthiers build guitars for players. No truer words have ever been spoken!

[valek]

Thanks Roman for this awesome thread. i have yet to try the fretboard scraping and the fret leveling, but i sanded the neck on my Richwood RE-125 and man what a difference!
So thanks again for sharing this.