Les Paul Custom Plus Mods/Upgrades(Pic Heavy)

[DaveM]

I have had this Custom for almost a year now. Up until now I rarely played it. Out of the box it was poorly setup, had some bad fret buzz, uneven frets and the electronics were, well to put it simply, stock.

It was always my plan to mod/upgrade, wasn't my plan to have it take this long. Mods include Seymour Duncan Alnico II Pro Slash Pickups(Zebra Neck, Reverse Zebra Bridge), CTS 500k Audio Pots, Vitamin Q .022 PIO Caps, Black Top Hats with Gold Reflectors and Nickel Pointers, 50's Wiring, Gotoh Nickel Bridge, Gotoh Nickel Aluminum Tailpiece, Black Grover 18:1 Rotogrips Tuners, Dunlop Nickel Straploks, Tusq XL Nut, Cream Pickguard, Pickup Surrounds and Pokerchip.

Along with the upgrades I did a full setup following Roman Rist's guide(props for an excellent guide). At this point it plays as good as any guitar I have ever played. I'm still making small adjustments to the nut slots, doing this by my feel for how it plays rather than measurements.

 

[lpstudiored]

did you ebonize that board?

 

[Phildog]

Smokin!!!

 

[DaveM]

did you ebonize that board?

Nope, started with a razor blade scraping to get clean wood, sanded with the following grits in order 320 - 600 - 1000 - 1500 and finished with 0000 steel wool. Then applied Fret Doctor twice.

 

[SJM]

Man that's to die for! Superb job, I love it. I gotta get some of those knobs!

 

[RavenMadd]

pretty friggin sob

 

[DaveM]

You can see the color of the fret board better in this pic.

 

[lifele55]

That sir, is trully a beautiful top for a custom...

Black tuner, reflector knobs, cream hardwares, zebra pups... very classy man A++

 

[jobryan26]

Wow, that sir is sweet!

 

[Hack]

Oh Dave, that is a horrible looking guitar. You really need to get rid of that ugly monster, PM me, I will help you out.

 

[morats8up]

That thing looks killer, Very classy man! The only thing I would do differently would be a vintage style tuner.

 

[Kalamazuu]

That's very cool, I've been meaning to upgrade my Epi too, I should get on that. Where did you get that case? I've never seen a brown Epiphone case before, only the black ones.

 

[DaveM]

That's very cool, I've been meaning to upgrade my Epi too, I should get on that. Where did you get that case? I've never seen a brown Epiphone case before, only the black ones.

There are several Epiphone Les Paul's that come with that case. I have two, one with my Standard 1959, the other with my Bonamassa Goldtop.

 

[Doug_Les]

Very very nice, love the color, top and all you have done to it. I want one just like it !!!!!

 

[JasonR]

Nice looking guitar. If you want to sell it...I'm interested! LOL

 

[GERRYGTR62]

well-done ,very nice!!

 

[chrisobrien]

Where did you get that case? I've never seen a brown Epiphone case before, only the black ones.

I was thinking that exact same thing!


Really nice man. I love that top on a Custom. I wish they were more common.