Epiphone Dot - upgrades

Lesgrandepotato

I want it to sound like that! That clean tone is the sound in my head and the dirty sound is stunning. 

Corvus

Ta, the neck was Tonerider the Alnico 4, it did that glassier clear type of thing. The dirt was an Octafuzz into a Weehbo JTM, rolled the vol pot back some (had treble bleeds fitted).

paulnb57

I replaced everything but the nut on my Studio Dot, snot green tuners, replaced the black bridge and stop tail with chrome and installed Iron Gear Blues Engine pickups, through a master volume and two tones, havng originally had master volume and one tone, I cant get on with two vols..
Replaced the pots with CTS and a decent switch, utter bastard to get everything in through the f holes, but I got better at it after a wire became detached and it all had to come out again, deffo worth the effort as it transformed the guitar, which ironically, I now never play as I prefer Fender style, but you live and learn and its no fault of the guitar.....

Lesgrandepotato

@Corvus what was the piece you were playing? Your own stuff? Or something else. I’ve been working on Lenny recently. There are some similarities and I’d like to have a few musical bits I can work through 

Corvus

That was just unplanned ramblings, playing to the sounds trying to get the pickups character out, sorta thing.

Lesgrandepotato

Right! A decision has been made and a set has been ordered up. I’ll fit a new jack and switch at the same time and we should be golden :-) 

TimmyO

Gibson 57 Classics are fab in semis - I put some in a Sheraton years ago and it sounded EPIC 

Fretwired

I have a Dot which I upgraded - Tonepros bridge, Gibson '57 pickups, new wiring loom and switch and a brass nut. I got the pickups second hand on eBay for about £50. Including the guitar and labour to have everything done I spend about £500. Awesome sounding guitar though ...

Fretwired

TimmyO said:

Gibson 57 Classics are fab in semis - I put some in a Sheraton years ago and it sounded EPIC 

Wis ... I agree. I put a set in my Dot and they sound fab.

Lesgrandepotato

I’ve gone for some handwound unpotted cork sniffers. Hope they are worth the effort!

Lesgrandepotato

Ok - following up, I’ve fitted a pair of fletcher paradise unpotted nickel covers. It’s a solid hours work to put the loom back in. But using aquarium tube and a bend e string to pull in the jack. 
In terms of change in tone, I can’t remember exactly how it sounded before but now it’s fab. It has that gentle slightly microphonic ringing as the note decays, deeply musical and very articulate. It has much more in common with the sound from my Les Paul gold top than the muddy sound of my epi Les Paul. 
The only but I haven’t dialled out it lots and lots of bass in the rhythm pos, but a tweak to poles or pickup height should sort this. 
But for £289 for the guitar, (a while back) and £90 for the pickups - it’s way more than the sum of its parts.