Epiphone Dot modifications...what should I do?!!!

rossi

BobTheSalmon said:

rossi said:

Change everything except the wooden and plastic bits .I used Gotoh ,Grover,and Tonerider Rocksongs .I did a fret level too .Complete transformation .Not far of a Gibson 335 I played the same time I bought the Dot.

Plenty of work to come then...cheers!

You dont have to do it all at once .Pickups first .Then new strings and stop tail .Then new bridge and then tuners .I did the fret level last .It was my first one and transformed the playability  and no buzzes on a low action .The mods made it a more complete machine like a Gibson,a feeling of solidity  .The Gotoh bridge and tail were much more solid and heavier ,well made .Even the Grovers were heavier and more solid and made a difference .As I did it a bit at a time with the same strings I could check how it sounded and felt as I went .The pickups sounded way better even as I tuned up after installation .I cut and shut the pickups so as to keep the original pots for a while .The switch failed after a few months then a wire came off a pot due to a bad joint .Installing new pots and wiring is probably the hardest part though the fret level needs care.It played and felt just like the Gibson .No rattles or  lack of depth . The whole guitar was transformed .

Every guitar with that cheap far eastern switch has failed .Epiphone and Fender Aerodyne Tele and another Epiphone on a friends .My Gibson  Midtown is still fine after 6 years

Kalimna

I have a Dot that i got for a steal, and the only 2 things I would change are the pickups and the neck profile. There's probably room to shave a little off the neck 'shoulder', and I have a spare set of OX4 Slash pickups that I think would do nicely. Maybe one day.

The setup on mine was superb when i bought it, and havent changed it at all.

I'd also like to do a refinish on it, but thats a big job....

Adam

impmann

I tried lots of different pickups in my dot...
I had a set of Alegree Old Timers in there that worked very well in a low wind kinda way. Very much a classic 335 blues sound.
I also slung a set a Gibson 490 pickups that had previously lived in my SG. I hated them in the SG but they sounded fantastic in the Dot. Proper Alvin Lee snarl from it.

The biggest surprise after trying loads of boutique and higher end units was refitting the original ones. They were the Chinese version of the Classic 57 and they sounded fine once the heights were properly adjusted. It sounded *right*... like an electric version of the acoustic sound.

As for the bridge etc... nothing wrong with what was fitted to mine. I guess it depends on your example, but ask yourself what you are trying to achieve by an ‘upgrade’ before spending money.

I guarantee that tuning issues will be the nut, not the machine heads. So many folks waste their money on ‘upgrades’ here whilst not fixing the underlying issue.

Good luck! 

zepp76

I think I still have a rather expensive loom with pots and switch/gubbins for a dot that I bought a fair few years ago. I’ll have to go through my “guitar stuff” labelled boxes from when I moved but I’ll have a butchers at some point if you want to tackle the wiring.

BobTheSalmon

This has been very useful - many thanks everyone who has contributed.

I'm gonna start with changing the nut and getting a decent set up, will then consider pickups and whether to change the bridge/tailpiece and/or go down the Bigsby route.

i will keep you posted, cheers all!

p90fool

Pop the pickup covers off. You may not like the look, but it's free and gives you a good idea of what the guitar will sound like with better pickups.

marktheharp

Interesting thread...
I have a chinese dot  from 2012 ,I think? Will have a look later.
Anyway had a bigsby already on there when I bought it..put 11s on it and holds tuning well...
But the pickups are lacking.played with pickups heights.. neck  pickup is woolly and bridge pickup not bad.. might try the allagree old timers or maybe a humbucker size p90 type in neck and leave the bridge pickup in there?
Used to have a dot that had the 50s wiring on it and was a great guitar, stupidly let it go....
Cheers Mark. 

chrisj1602

In terms of pickups, there’s not much that sounds worse a shit neck humbucker.

rossi

ICBM said:

BobTheSalmon said:

They are, but the first thing I noticed was that they didn't feel great and that a couple of strings seemed to bounce around tuning wise. Of course, this might have nothing to do with the tuners themselves.

Correct... it's the nut. Grovers are excellent, no point in changing them at all.

The Grover deluxe I installed were  noticably heavier.The original worked fine but I was after that Gibson feel .Again more depth through better metal .I did all this in about 2008 .

GJK1959

I have a Dot with Gretsch filtertrons fitted. Obviously doesn't make it sound like a Gretsch, but it sure perks the tone up.. 

marktheharp

Ooh post a pic please.of your dot with gretsch filtertrons..and did the guitar have to be modified to make them fit?

GJK1959

marktheharp said:

Ooh post a pic please.of your dot with gretsch filtertrons..and did the guitar have to be modified to make them fit?

Hang on - I'll have a go..

GJK1959

https://imgur.com/a/1QpFvX7

marktheharp

Looks great that