Guitar Modification Restoration Questions??

[John Michael]

Alright forum, I need some help here. There are two separate cases:

 

1) My friend has an old musicmaster that is just in terrible cosmetic shape. His brother at the age of 12 or so hand painted it (DIY to the extreme). The pickups are gone but most of the more important aspects of the guitar itself seem to be okay. The action is alright (might need a new nut though) the bridge is intact etc. What pickups do you think I should get? Any favorite color choices? etc. etc.

 

2) My other friend is buying a Epiphone Sheraton II (ebony I think..) and I'm trying to convince him to mod it a little bit to get a better tone. Has anyone done this? Or have any suggestions?

 

I might be able to post some pictures of the "restoration" hopefully.

[jff]

The Music Master had a similar pickup as a Mustang if I'm not mistaken. Isn't the Music Master the same body style as a Mustang, but with only one pickup? You could probably just put a basic Fender style single coil in there. Or perhaps a lipstick pickup (like what Danelectros have) would be cool if you wanted to put something in that was less "stock".

[a.miller]

#2 -- Put some Gibson pickups in it. I have found a lot of the stock Epi pickups are very muddy.

[rockinrob]

For the musicmaster, I believe that duncan has a reissue of those. They are one of antiquity models, just do a search for duncan antiquities, and look on the duncan website.

 

 

For the Epi, usually those guitars have really crappy electronics, and I have heard great results from replacing all of the electronics. you can go to www.rsguitarworks.com or www.mojomusicalsupply.com they both have prewired kits for es 335 (same electronics) or they also sell high quality original parts. The pickups on the epi could be changed to many different kinds, but I have some antiquities in my les paul that I love to death. It just depends on what you are looking for.

[Theobscureart]

I bought a Sheraton II a few years ago as a back up and they're really not too bad. There are a few things that you can do that would GREATLY improve the performance. You can/should replace all of the hardware. A Gibson bridge and tuners will keep you in tune better and get more of the string's vibes to the body. You can find any of the parts at the store from which you bought the guitar. Even if they're not a Gibson guitar dealer, an Epiphone dealer carries Gibson parts and accessorries. Its part of the deal. You can get 'em online pretty easily, too. Also, as noted previously, new electronics is a good idea. Especially pickups. There are a ton of options in Gibson's line as well as other manufacturers. Just remember that if you're replacing them yourself that you get the right pickup for the guitar (correct string spacing.) Gibson sources out its pots, wires, switches and input jacks for the Epi line to the lowest bidder - the jacks especially are notoriously (at least they used to be) suceptable to dirt, dust, and just plain breaking. The final and most important thing - even if you don't do any of the above - is to get it professionally set up by a qualified repair technician. Most import guitars are set up in 45 seconds at the factory and for $25-$50 a tech can make your guitar play great for your style and preference.

 

I did all of my upgrades myself pretty easily (though I am pretty experienced and I currently WORK for a major american guitar manufacturer) and it took one evening and I spent less than $200 to replace EVERYTHING but the wood - including strap buttons and knobs.

[John Michael]

I really appreciate all the help. I'm still bugging my friend to try some of this. As for myself, I just bought a '66 Mustang. Im still waiting (eagerly) for it to ship.