New LP Std honeyburst plus top

[unamed]

Hi all,

Just my first post, hi everyone . I've just bought from a small town instrument shop an Epiphone LP Standard Honeyburst Plus top along with a fender mustang I amp.

I am pretty excited (my first electric) and actually is one of the most beatiful flames I've seen so far (at least in the Internet).

Actually I was douting between a custom black and another std. cherry burst (also plus top), but when I first saw this unit and I try it I felt in love (though I have to say I do like a lot the custom black... longin for an "old black"-like guitar)

The serial is 09121510XXX, so from it seems is from 2009 from the 15 factory... I was surprised to see that, but actually it seems (to my rookie eyes) it is in mint condition. No scratches, nor unpolished frets... everything seems perfect. I fought a little bit with knob height, but now seems fine (after some panic when one of it went down to the surface).

Only thing I was stranged of, althoguh I've seen it in a couple of pics on the internet, is that pickguard is white, in contrast of the rest of the plastics which are cream.

So now some questions Switch and electronics seem to work fine, also it stays quite resonably in tune (luckily). Should I change the string right now (still have the stock ones)? Which ones do you recommend?

I am pretty used on soldering and electronics in general, so I assume sometime I am going to upgrade it... First pots? caps? Recommendations (no idea)?

I promise I am going to upload pictures once I get back home (also pots and caps pic ).

Oh. Btw I have read also about the strap lockers (Schallers). I will also try to put them (I am not sure 2009 models need changing also the guitar anchors)

Cheers
marc

[Sportrider24]

Welcome Marc

Getting strap locks is a great idea. Nothing worse than dropping your axe. I like the look of a Les Paul without the pickguard but I'm certain mine was cream. It sounds like your guitar is a well maintained second hand Les Paul. Maybe the original owner changed the guard. If you search the forum you will see that there are many options for pots/caps and such but many here Like Jonesy's. Check him out in the vender forums. Strings are truely a personal preference thing. My LP is strung with 9's but many members perfer 10's. Manufacter preference is all over the map here so I'd do a string search. There are probably even several polls on it. Me, I perfer D'Addario's. Ernie Balls are another brand that many use.

Anyway, congrats on the honeyburst and post some pics when you get a chance!

[Hack]

Welcome!

[Mr.Draned]

Welcome aboard! Now, we need pics or I'm gonna start claiming my honeyburst is far sexier than yours.

[unamed]

Originally Posted by Sportrider24

Welcome Marc

Getting strap locks is a great idea. Nothing worse than dropping your axe. I like the look of a Les Paul without the pickguard but I'm certain mine was cream. It sounds like your guitar is a well maintained second hand Les Paul. Maybe the original owner changed the guard. If you search the forum you will see that there are many options for pots/caps and such but many here Like Jonesy's. Check him out in the vender forums. Strings are truely a personal preference thing. My LP is strung with 9's but many members perfer 10's. Manufacter preference is all over the map here so I'd do a string search. There are probably even several polls on it. Me, I perfer D'Addario's. Ernie Balls are another brand that many use.

Anyway, congrats on the honeyburst and post some pics when you get a chance!

Hi everyone and thanks for the answers.

The guitar is definetly new. I took all the stickers (pickups, back of the headstock...) and theygave me all the material from epiphone, that is for sure. Indeed I was doing some research about the white pickguard and I've noticed some other 2009 units were having this "duality", e.g.: Foro Guitarrista • Ver Tema - VENDIDA - Epiphone Les Paul Standard Honeyburst

And now.. the pics (they are not very good, promise better, since I only had the mobile here with me).

Comments much appriciated!!
marc

[unamed]

And the remaining oneS

cheers
marc

[HOT-BRIT]

Congrats and welcome

[tampa898]

Nice top on that one. Looks like a keeper.

[SJM]

Welcome to MLP. Very nice looking Honeyburst, welcome to the HB club.

BTW, good choice on amps too!

[Fuelish]

Unamed....welcome, and nice honeyburst ... my favorite finish, I must say...

Originally Posted by unamed

Only thing I was stranged of, althoguh I've seen it in a couple of pics on the internet, is that pickguard is white, in contrast of the rest of the plastics which are cream.

Yeah, I felt the same about mine......it is a cream color, but much much more subtle than the rest of the cream on the guitar....does indeed look white on there, but if you remove it (...hint hint ) and place it on a piece of white paper/whatever, the cream is obvious in that context, or was at least mine. I'd take it off, put the screws back in place if desired, and show off more of the flame - I'm not usually a slave to looks, but the difference in color from pup rings to pickguard was too garish for my taste, so the guard's been off for years, took very little time to get used to it not there. I LOVES my honeyburst!!!

Again, welcome to MLP...loads of info to be found here, and a generally civil place, in terms of internet forums...heh

[Sportrider24]

I agree, pickguard off!

[Malikon]

Welcome, happy new guitar day.

[bridge500t]

nice honeyburst and welcome!

[unamed]

Originally Posted by Fuelish

Unamed....welcome, and nice honeyburst ... my favorite finish, I must say...


Yeah, I felt the same about mine......it is a cream color, but much much more subtle than the rest of the cream on the guitar....does indeed look white on there, but if you remove it (...hint hint ) and place it on a piece of white paper/whatever, the cream is obvious in that context, or was at least mine. I'd take it off, put the screws back in place if desired, and show off more of the flame - I'm not usually a slave to looks, but the difference in color from pup rings to pickguard was too garish for my taste, so the guard's been off for years, took very little time to get used to it not there. I LOVES my honeyburst!!!

Again, welcome to MLP...loads of info to be found here, and a generally civil place, in terms of internet forums...heh

Damn!! You are 100%. I've just but a white sheet of paper side-by-side, and then it looks cream . Humm.. I like pickguards, so maybe I will have a try and order some cream pickguards in ebay and see if I have good luck and better matches pickups plastics tone (it's just 10 bugs or so).

Thank you all!

Btw, just swimming in the forum... I am just thinking in trying to find and buying a bargain epi standard or custom in my zone, and start building my own custom... I am dreaming in putting a bigsby b7 tremolo and paint it into some colour nearly black (matt black/very dark grey) and change all the electronics to have a deep fat sound (altough I have 0 idea which components I would need)... Just dreaming!

cheers everyone.

p.s. No I don't want a replica of the "old black" but my own old black...

[AZPaul]

Very Nice!

[crybaby]

welcome

[SexyGibson]

Congrats and welcome ! Enjoy that new axe !

[msfenderarg]

Very nice!


Welcome to MLP!

[TranslucentBlack]

Nice drawing msfenderarg. Detailed! Five strings, turned around humbucker and Keith's hand pretty accurate. Stones fan over here too!

[captcoolaid]

Funny my cream guard matches the rings and butyrate bobbins. Let me find it and you can have it if you like.

Is this darker than yours

[unamed]

Originally Posted by captcoolaid

Funny my cream guard matches the rings and butyrate bobbins. Let me find it and you can have it if you like.

Is this darker than yours

Hi captcoolaid,

Thanks for the offer is really kind for your side . However I don't think is worth doing it since I am located in Europe (Spain), hence shipping costs might be quite expensive (btw a couple of months ago I was running around your area and in RW city ).

Regarding the colour, Dunno. Difficult without the same reference color to decide. Nevertheless thank you for the offer.

cheers

[barricwiley]

Happy New Guitar Day!

[unamed]

Ok

i was just reading about mods, and specifically about capacitors. From what I understood, is one of the things that really makes the difference in the sound.


I am actually looking for a more clean sound, rather than power. I was just thinking about putting a 0.015 on the neck pup and 0.022 n the bridge.

I have no idea what brands/specific models are better than others. Taking a look at eBay I see caps for around 4-9 € and then others that cost 36€ a pair . Any advise on this? While reading info in the forum I thought investment in caps is usually around 10$ or so.

Does anyone have good reference from sellers on eBay with good stuff (better if they are european, to get lower transport costs)?

thanks

[warpedsoul]

Originally Posted by unamed

Ok

i was just reading about mods, and specifically about capacitors. From what I understood, is one of the things that really makes the difference in the sound.


I am actually looking for a more clean sound, rather than power. I was just thinking about putting a 0.015 on the neck pup and 0.022 n the bridge.

I have no idea what brands/specific models are better than others. Taking a look at eBay I see caps for around 4-9 € and then others that cost 36€ a pair . Any advise on this? While reading info in the forum I thought investment in caps is usually around 10$ or so.

Does anyone have good reference from sellers on eBay with good stuff (better if they are european, to get lower transport costs)?

thanks

Greetings and welcome to the forum.

I have the same model guitar that you have, but mine is transparent blue. I'm doing upgrades on mine, and will be replacing pickups, electronics, pick guard, cavity covers, and knobs. I'm going from creme to black. I will be doing a thread once I get everything upgraded .

As for the pots, I've done numerous hours of research on this subject. Jonesy and MartinSixString seems to be the leaders on the board with prewired harnesses. They use CTS 550K audio taper pots, have numerous options including prewired switch and jacks, and both are very helpful. I've sent both many many questions, and they answer quickly and haven't strangled me yet. I will be purchasing a set tomorrow that has the coil split push and pull pots. Might as well get that if your humbuckers have 4 conductor wiring.

The thing about getting Pots for an Epiphone is that if you use CTS pots, you will have to enlarge the shaft holes. Doesn't seem to hard, you will just want to be careful. I believe you just have to enlarge it by 1/16th of an inch or something like that. And if you use CTS pots, you will also need new knobs.

The second thing is that while Epiphone uses short shaft pots, many recommend using long shaft pots and adjusting the size in the cavity. Long shaft pots option ensures that it will fit. I haven't fully decided, but I will probably go long shaft pots just to be sure.

But if you are wanting just the pots and EU sellers, I've seen some sites online that sell just the pots over there pretty cheap. One site is Axesrus.
Hope this info helps.

[SNick]

Welcome Marc. Very nice Honeyburst indeed. Almost as nice as mine.

[Doug_Les]

Welcome abord, looks a little like my HB.

[unamed]

Originally Posted by warpedsoul

Greetings and welcome to the forum.

I have the same model guitar that you have, but mine is transparent blue. I'm doing upgrades on mine, and will be replacing pickups, electronics, pick guard, cavity covers, and knobs. I'm going from creme to black. I will be doing a thread once I get everything upgraded .

As for the pots, I've done numerous hours of research on this subject. Jonesy and MartinSixString seems to be the leaders on the board with prewired harnesses. They use CTS 550K audio taper pots, have numerous options including prewired switch and jacks, and both are very helpful. I've sent both many many questions, and they answer quickly and haven't strangled me yet. I will be purchasing a set tomorrow that has the coil split push and pull pots. Might as well get that if your humbuckers have 4 conductor wiring.

The thing about getting Pots for an Epiphone is that if you use CTS pots, you will have to enlarge the shaft holes. Doesn't seem to hard, you will just want to be careful. I believe you just have to enlarge it by 1/16th of an inch or something like that. And if you use CTS pots, you will also need new knobs.

The second thing is that while Epiphone uses short shaft pots, many recommend using long shaft pots and adjusting the size in the cavity. Long shaft pots option ensures that it will fit. I haven't fully decided, but I will probably go long shaft pots just to be sure.

But if you are wanting just the pots and EU sellers, I've seen some sites online that sell just the pots over there pretty cheap. One site is Axesrus.
Hope this info helps.

I am really looking forward to know more about your mods (some pics and a vid comparing the tone would we awesome ).

In fact I was only willing, at this point to change the ceramics caps for better ones, as is a small yet appriciable mod (or it seems so for the comments).

So focusing on the caps, I have been diging deeper on caps info, and I have no clear idea what is the difference between for instance Vitamin Q PIO and for instance the Russian caps sold by jonsey (I think). Could someone shade light on this issue? (know is a very newbie question).

Besides I was also looking at the wiring stuff. I am not expecting to rewire the guitar, but I was wondering if the famous 50's style wiring can be achieved easily from the epi stock wiring, without having to take pups or pots out...

I would have tried to guess it from the schematics, but I have seen in the wiring thread dozens of different schematics stating that they are 50's wiring diagrams. Anyone could point out some "rather standard" 50 diagram . I would only want that on the middle position volumes are independent, and if possible without chaning anything else (don't think so ) have a clearer tone.

Thank you guys and sorry for throwing so many questions in a single post

Cheers

[skynyrd67]

The brand of caps won`t make much difference in tone, I`ve got the russian, the luxe bees and tried orange drop non PIO and there really isn`t enough difference in them to distinguish with the human ear so get what you can afford. the main thing to keep in mind with a cap is its value, .022 is the standard for humbuckers, the difference in sound between a .022 and a .015 is the .022 will make your tone darker faster as you back down the tone knob. I like a .022 on the bridge and a .015 or .010 on the neck, so when I roll the tone back on the neck it doesn`t get muddy.

[warpedsoul]

Originally Posted by unamed

I am really looking forward to know more about your mods (some pics and a vid comparing the tone would we awesome ).

In fact I was only willing, at this point to change the ceramics caps for better ones, as is a small yet appriciable mod (or it seems so for the comments).

So focusing on the caps, I have been diging deeper on caps info, and I have no clear idea what is the difference between for instance Vitamin Q PIO and for instance the Russian caps sold by jonsey (I think). Could someone shade light on this issue? (know is a very newbie question).

Besides I was also looking at the wiring stuff. I am not expecting to rewire the guitar, but I was wondering if the famous 50's style wiring can be achieved easily from the epi stock wiring, without having to take pups or pots out...

I would have tried to guess it from the schematics, but I have seen in the wiring thread dozens of different schematics stating that they are 50's wiring diagrams. Anyone could point out some "rather standard" 50 diagram . I would only want that on the middle position volumes are independent, and if possible without chaning anything else (don't think so ) have a clearer tone.

Thank you guys and sorry for throwing so many questions in a single post

Cheers

I'm hoping to do a video recording of everything and upload it. Right now I'm recording some songs through my Fender Mustang amp to do a before / after comparison. One huge issue is that I'm not very good at all, lol. I mostly, make that I only know hard rock and metal. I will still try my best to do recordings of a variety of tones with both pickups. And hopefully I will do a video. You will just have to overlook my strong redneck accent .

The brand of capacitor isn't going to matter much, just the value. You can do the 50's style wiring with stock Epi pots. 50's style is just they way its wired. In my opinion, I'd change pots as well. Stock Epiphones aren't very good. On my guitar, there is no gradual increase or decrease. It's almost like its either on or its off. I can't stand that. I play a few songs that do a fade in at the beginning of the song, and my guitar now wont do that.

For a schematic, Jonesyblues or MartinSixString may have them on their site. I know they come with the orders. You can also go on SeymourDuncan.com and find a bunch of schematics.

[Taiber]

Nice one ..but my epi stand. HB PT is sexier ..btw welcome here