Let's Get this Pig Ready for the Party!

There's the part of me that's saying, "seriously dude, just cut your losses and let it go." However, it's too late for that... the order to StewMac went out yesterday. I'm going to do my best to turn the Chibson into a rock monster... as it stands she's looking, playing, and even sounding, pretty good. Here's what I have in store for Miss Piggy.

First of all all the electronics are getting yanked... they're working OK as-is but who knows how long that will last and I have a big change in store as far as wiring this thing up. 

As copied and pasted from duhvoodooman's post on thefret.net... 

From the various mods I've made to my Epiphone Dot's humbucker wiring, I now realize what I should have done to start with! So I've put together a diagram (attached below) detailing what I'm calling DVM's "Full Boat" Dual Humbucker Wiring Mod. The diagram shows a comprehensive overhaul of the stock wiring to add a large number of new tonal options to a 2-humbucker guitar equipped with separate volume and tone controls for each pickup. This mod has the additional advantages of (1) not removing or altering the three stock tones, and (2) not changing the appearance of the guitar (i.e. no drilling/new holes, extra switches, etc.).

I do not mean to imply that any of this constitutes "original thinking" on my part! I've just taken several well-known mods and tried to integrate them together in a logical way and represent them in a clear and well-labeled diagram. Hopefully, this will accomplish that end. If you're familar with the "Jimmy Page" Les Paul mod, you'll notice that this is very similar. The main difference is that it substitutes series/parallel switching on the individual humbuckers for the series/coil-cut switch the Page mod employs.

In a nutshell, the mod involves replacing all four of the stock control pots with "push-pull" pots fitted with 6-contact double-pole/double throw (DPDT) switches. It requires that both humbuckers be of the 4-conductor variety. While many "aftermarket" humbuckers sold by outfits like Seymour Duncan and DiMarzio are of this type, the stock humbuckers that come in most guitars are 2-conductor and will not work with this mod. So you may be looking at a pickup upgrade to be able to do this, which obviously raises the cost of admission substantially! If you don't need new p'ups, you can do this for the price of 4 push-pull pots ($40 or so) plus whatever wiring and soldering supplies you need. Pretty cheap for the tonal benefits that will be reaped! 

One other possible expense I should mention--for this project, you should definitely have a digital multimeter available to check continuity and troubleshoot problems. I picked up a cheap one at Radio Shack for $20 that handles the job nicely.

When completed, the "Full Boat" mod gives you the following capabilities:

• Run either humbucker with the two coils in series (stock) or in parallel (a brighter, thinner tone much like a single coil, but still hum-cancelling).
• Run the bridge pickup magnetically out-of-phase with the neck, giving an interesting hollow, somewhat nasal tone. Sometimes referred to as the "Peter Green mod".
• Run the bridge and neck pickups in series with each other, vs. in parallel, which is what the middle position of the 3-way pickup selector toggle gives on most stock dual-humbucker guitars. This gives a bigger, fatter sound. I refer to this as the "megabucker mod", because it essentially turns the two humbuckers into one big 4-coil 'bucker.

When you look at the possible combinations of these various options, there are 20 unique combinations, though some are only very subtly different from each other, and a few aren't very useful. But even if you found only 3 new settings that you really like, you've just doubledyour dual-humbucker guitar's tonal flexibility. And I'll bet there will be a lot more than 3 you'll find useful!

Additionally, the diagram shows the contacts on the volume pots for the pickup output signal and the wire to the 3-way pickup selector toggle reversed from the stock wiring. Doing this will make the two volume controls independent when the toggle is in the dual-pickup (middle) position. With stock Gibson-style wiring, turning down either volume pot while in dual-pickup mode will reduce the volume of both pickups simultaneously. Making them independent gives you mixing control over the two p'ups, a nice tonal advantage, IMO. I've really never understood why Gibson wires them the other way!

One last, important point: Let me give fair warning right now--this mod involves a LOT of soldering work! If you have no previous soldering experience, this would not be the project to learn on! But if you're comfortable with your soldering skills and have a mind to turn your Les Paul or other 2-humbucker guitar into a magical multi-tonal music machine, this mod's for you!!

Here's another way to do the "Full Boat", with coil-cutting for the two humbuckers substituted for the series/parallel switching. It's much easier to wire the two push-pulls on the volume pots, and I find that the coil-cut and parallel coil wiring both sound very similar. You'll sacrifice the pickup's humbucking property when you coil-cut, but the added noise is pretty negligible.

So, that's the plan as far as wiring goes... I tried to keep a lid on the cost of things as I really want to try and spend as little as possible while still making a huge improvement over the stock guitar. I went with StewMac overwound humbuckers, Orange Drop Caps (I almost always use PIO caps but am settling for these for this project), Alpha push/pull knobs, a new Switchcraft toggle and a Switchcraft jack... that ought to do it under the hood. All that crap cost another $200 bucks or so... bringing the the guitar and parts to about $550.

*    *    *    *

Then come's the lipstick...

* The cheesy Epiphone truss rod cover is going to be replaced with a real Gibson LP

  Custom truss rod cover. That was $20.

* Then some Dunlop strap lock buttons... $6 and well worth it. Despite being a knock-off, I

  really don't want it too take a fall.

* Then there are the knobs and pointers... a Gibson just isn't a Gibson (IMO) without some

  thumb cutters... those were only a few bucks and then there are the new knobs. Of

  course this isn't a Gibson but that's irrelevant.I don't know (and don't care) if LP Customs

  ever came with black reflector knobs with gold inserts but that's what I'm replacing the

  big ugly speed knobs with... another $10 bucks. Sorry if you're a fan of the speed knob...

  I could live with gold ones if they came stock on something but I just don't like the black

  ones. Visually I guess it'll have a '68ish look to it, though I think the hardware on those

  was silver... again, it's never going to be a real Gibson, or totally look the part, so I'll just 

  get it looking the way I'd put it together if I was working at the factory. I think it will

  look pretty sweet with the addition of the gold pointers and black and gold knobs. I'll be

  sure to post some pictures up here when it all comes together.

So I guess the whole deal will come in at just under $600... not bad, but not great either. One could easily spend $600 on a very nice guitar and not have to do any mods to it. The wiring on this one will set it apart and given that I've got it set-up and playing well right now, I think it'll be worth it in the long run. I wouldn't want to have to justify any of this to my girlfriend but at this point there are so many guitars coming and going I don't think she can tell them apart.

UPDATE:

Yesterday I stripped all the parts (minus tuners and bridge pegs) and began a few little fix-ups. The control cavity was roughly routed and so I've smoothed that out so that the pot shafts aren't poking out the top and 4 different angles. It'll look WAY better than it did. I've also countersunk the holes on the correct side of the control plates on the back so that they can be mounted properly... they were mounted backwards with the shiny side in and the rough dull plastic facing out. This also required a sanding of the plates and a slight plug and re-drill of the screw holes. Again, these are all little details that were clearly not addressed at the factory. I also broke down and bought a Gotoh bridge and the correct size pickup ring screws. The bridge was really cheap... the intonation screws and saddles were not really working as they should and I found a deal on the bridge on Ebay. The screws were just driving me crazy because the stock ones were nearly the same size heads as the pickguard screws and they had rounded heads... again, more nit picky stuff but I figured if I'm going to do this thing up right, I'll just do it now. 

A few interesting facts which have me wondering... I'm convinced pickups and the toggle switch were actual Epiphone parts. They were all stamped correctly and when compared to real Epiphone parts, were identical. Perhaps there were other Epi parts as well... again, the tuners seems very nice for knock-offs, and the strap buttons also seemed pretty nice... nice enough to be used on a much more expensive guitar. They weren't just the lowest grade pot metal. I can't help but wonder if there are people working at the Epiphone factory (of perhaps that this guitar came from the same factory) who are siphoning off parts to build these knock-offs? I do find it hard to believe that anyone would fake Epi parts... they certainly don't have a reputation as being top-shelf. Perhaps they were overstock before Epi went to their fancier Pro-Bucker type pickups? And why would you fake an Epiphone toggle... again, is the maker just selling to multiple factories or is someone stealing and redirecting Epiphone parts into other factories? Or again, are Epis and these fake Gibsons coming from the same factory? 

WEEKEND UPDATE: SAT MARCH 1st, 2014

Parts are supposed to be arrive in today en masse. It would be a rare event for all my project parts to arrive on the same day but it looks to be the case... we'll see if it happens or not. I'm looking forward to getting this thing together and rocking out! 

Meanwhile, I've been having a blast playing my hot-rodded Duo-Sonic the last few days... that little thing is just a beast! It might look like a "kid's guitar" but man oh man, it is a rocker! I installed a Dimarzio Fast Track II in the neck and a Super Distortion in the bridge with a coil tap switch... it can get some jangly tones and then all out rock assault tones too. At some point it could really use a refret but it's still playable for the time being. I recently found an original 60's case for it at a local music shop and they let it go for $80 which I thought was a stellar deal... I've seen them go for as much as $250 on ebay.

Now, back to Ms. Piggy... 

The wiring schematic was nightmarish, certainly one of the most challenging I've tackled... after getting it wired up last evening, it didn't work. This morning I tackled it again, redrawing the schematic and examining the wiring... I had missed two small wiring connections and mis-wired a third. Then the plug in... TADA! It was working fine though it has taken most of the rest of the morning to get a handle on how all the options work. I think I did make one critical error but not so critical that I'd consider fixing it now... basically the "option" of each knob is when the knob is in the down position. For example, the coil split options are when the knob is down, not up. I would have preferred the reverse if only because it's messing with my head to remember that everything is flip flopped but hey, i can live with it. 

As far as the sound... it's pretty darn good. The single coil tones are really nice and the humbuckers sound great running full steam also. I had read some complaints regarding the overwound StewMac Golden Age neck pickup being too muddy... I don't find that to be the case. The guitar itself seems to be less dark as it is bright ( the body/neck wood perhaps?) so I think the pickups were actually a smart choice. 

As far as the looks... it looks a lot better too. The new Gotoh bridge is a different shade of gold but whatever... it beats the hell out of the piece of crap bridge that came stock on the guitar. 

Overall, this has been a pretty challenging project getting this thing playing and sounding really well. There were a bunch of mini-mods necessary to get things put together and working properly and I would STRONGLY NOT RECOMMEND the purchase of one of these Chibsons if you are not proficient with guitar repair. Regarding the wiring, even as a seasoned pro I found that challenging so again, beginners beware. Would I buy another fake Gibson... no sir. It'll serve as a cool stage and studio bang around guitar but it ain't no Gibson! I'll get a demo vid up once I get the chance and that will be the end of the fake Gibson posts... cheers, JG 

Here's the latest picture... I added a TUSQ nut and a third (unwired original Epi) middle pickup. The nut made a HUGE difference... I was really shocked how it improved playability and tone to such a huge extent. Sonically, and as far as playability, this guitar can now hang with any from the herd. I feel a little better about the initial investment and subsequent spending to bring it up to par.

Losing the Way of the Jedi

A few months ago it came to my attention that "replicas" of very expensive American made guitars could be purchased for very little money (comparatively) from China. Call them what you will… fakes, counterfeits, knock-offs, etc. but curiosity has gotten the better of me. Forgive me father, for I have sinned...

Now, before you unleash a barrage of hate mail my way, here's what I have to say about the whole matter. Perhaps I will end up opening up a box in a few weeks (assuming it arrives) only to find a crap-ass guitar and I'll end up contracting bird flu. I suspect some of you hope that's exactly what will happen. I'm more nervous about the bird flu than the guitar actually, as I'm planning to tear it apart anyhow. Yes, I know that a $300 guitar will in no way, shape, or form compare to the equivalent $3000 guitar. I was born at night, but not last night. I'm really just curious to see if I can get the thing up and running proper.

I think most importantly is to disclose the fact that I HAVE ABSOLUTLY NO INTENTION OF TRYING TO PASS IT OFF AS THE REAL THING… I don't plan on selling it at all. Rather, I'm hoping to practice my fret-work and nut installation skills. Of course, I'm also planning to upgrade to the electronics and pickups and see what comes of the whole thing. Nothing too fancy, just some parts from Stew-Mac… I know there's that's whole thing about there being no sense in putting lipstick on a pig but again, curiosity has gotten the better of me, and besides, what's the harm sexying-up a pig?

In my own defense, I've put together various "Fender" guitars which are not Fenders at all. With the application of a waterside decal, they have only become Fenders at first glance. I don't try to pass them off as the real thing, and I won't try to pass this one off as the real thing either. Anyhow, the order went out via DHgate on February 13th… I'll keep you posted on how this all plays out… hopefully better that this! 

I am curious actually where the moral dilemma lies for others… is it the manufacture, purchase, or attempted resale of counterfeit goods that people are opposed to? I'm obviously torn myself, or I wouldn't be mentioning turning to the dark side or posting pictures of some dude getting struck down on the can. For me, the real crime is that people would try to pass them off as the real thing and that some poor kid might spend his or her hard earned money on a fake. I can't blame the Chinese really… if there wasn't a market they wouldn't be making them. Do I feel bad for Gibson? Not really. They sell plenty of guitars… hell, I own six "real" ones (and have owned plenty of Epiphones) so they'll gotten plenty of my hard earned cash over the years. Anyhow… I'll do an unboxing video when she arrives… if she does. 

TIMELINE:

2/13/14 - "Black Custom" Guitar Ordered 

2/16/14 - Message from DHgate that the guitar has shipped. EMS tracking

              number posted, however it's not working. I know it often takes USPS and UPS

              numbers a day or so to activate or become visible on their tracking sites, so I'm

              not too concerned yet. I'll check back later… I can't imagine the Chinese are

              celebrating President's Day.

2/18/14 - Still no tracking information on EMS site… looks like I'll have to contact the

              seller if there's no information by the end of tomorrow.

2/19/14 - I sent the buyer a message early this morning and has a response by early

              afternoon… he said not to worry and that he'd check the number and get back

              to me. I honestly can't complain about the customer service thus far. I have

              seen others posts (on YouTube video comments) that they suspect sellers put a

              fake tracking number up and then once it actually ships, put the real number

              up. I have no reason to believe that's what is (or isn't) going on… just saying. I 

              guess time will tell… honestly I'm in no huge hurry. I'd think 2 or 3 weeks would 

              be a normal time to wait between being shipped from China,clearing customs,

              and arriving in the States. 

UPDATE: As of this evening the tracking number is now working on the official EMS site, 

              just not via the DHgate site… a reassuring development. 

2/20/14 - Guitar has shipped from China... 

2/21/14 - Guitar has arrived at U.S. Customs in San Francisco... DAMN, things are moving

               along quickly. I have to say, I'm getting pretty excited to get my hands on this 

               thing and begin the upgrading process. I've been scouting for parts on ebay and

               elsewhere. In any event, something tells me it may be at Customs for a while

               but I really don't know what the process of packages moving though Customs

               is... maybe they'll irradiate it for bird flu for me? I've heard that they do

               actually irradiate some wood products upon arrival but I'm not sure why.

               Depending on how long it's there, shipping to Southern Oregon should be pretty

               speedy as we're only five hours north. So far so good... if this sale works out

               well, I'd be happy to provide the seller's store name if you PM me. I've actually

               already looked at purchasing a 335 model but we'll see how this goes first.

2/22/14 - Wholly crap... the guitar cleared Customs today! Quite a surprise that anything

               related to a government agency could work so efficiently... for a package to

               arrive in Customs one day and leave the next. I'm stoked the guitar is almost

               here! The rate at which things are moving are truly amazing... I'm both

               surprised and pretty impressed.

2/24/14 - I'm awestruck... the guitar left San Francisco shortly after midnight last evening

               for Portland, and has already arrived and been processed through Medford... it's

               quite possible it could be arriving later this morning. I'm looking forward to the

               unboxing party. At this rate it's been a total of 11 days from ordering to

               doorstep... I've ordered stuff from Musician's Friend that's taken longer to arrive

               than this.

UPDATE:   Out for delivery. Tick tock, tick tock...

THE DEVIL IS IN THE DETAILS

Well the guitar has arrived... if I were to give it a grade right now I'd say it's somewhere in the C range. Elements of it are surprisingly great, other elements are straight up bad. The good stuff first... the finish is gorgeous shiny black and really stunning looking. It's on par with anything with Epiphone on the headstock. The binding is also great looking and on-par with Epis. The width looks relatively true to Gibson/Epi thickness too which is nice as some of these knock offs. The bridge and tuners are actually surprisingly nice... the tuners in fact, are working as smoothly as "nice" tuners. Hmm, what else. Oh, the pickups do seem like real Epiphone pickups, not that that's anything to celebrate. They are engraved on the bottom and the wire seems to be just like the real deal... I've seen enough of them to say with some certainty that they're actual Epiphone pickups, though not wax potted. All the wire colors and thicknesses seem to match real Epiphone pickups.

Well, that might be the best of the best... things go down hill from there. The first thing I noticed when looking at a real gibson headstock inlay is that the font is slightly chubbier than the real deal... but the font looks right on otherwise and it's VERY close. You'd have to A/B it with the real thing (unless you're a total nerd for details) to tell the difference. The other thing I noticed right off the bat was the body shape on top... it's a little flat but not that big a deal for me, though not particularly accurate. Real Les Pauls feature a much more beautifully sculpted top... and god only knows what this thing is carved from. Of much more serious concern was that the case is also a bit flat and hence, the toggle nearly poked a hole through it during shipping. That also speaks to the overall quality of the case. The case reeks of chemical glue, toxic fuzz... who the hell knows, but it's airing out on the porch. Also, the pictured case was brown, the one they sent was black. 

Maybe I'll just get some bullet points going and simplify this process...

* The hardware is decent but some is already tarnishing... personally I don't care.

* The binding (in places) is a little rough... but not on the body, it's perfect. It's mainly on

  the neck in spots.

* The diamond inlay looks pretty good.

* Serial number and font are off... a dead giveaway when spotting a fake. It's too deep, all 

  the way down to the wood and too cleanly stamped. 

*The headstock shape is a little off and the top back of the headstock is slightly rounded

 at the back corners... strange, and not true to Gibson form.

*The nut is shit and really not spaced as well as it could be but it's functioning OK for now. 

*The truss rod works great and the guitar came perfectly intonated. However, the truss rod needed some adjustment 

* The control plate screws (and some others) are shit... they have sharp tops and don't

  match a real Gibson as correct size or shape.

* The truss rod cover is attached with tuner screws and is the same as an Epiphone TRC.

* The electronics (with exception of the pickups) actually function rather well... the

  toggle is beefy and not scratchy, the pots also function and aren't scratchy, and after I 

  sorted out a problem with the wiring (a ground wire touching something it shouldn't have

  been and shorting out the whole thing) it actually sounds pretty good. The input jack

  and plate are about as cheap as cheap can be but they work.

That's about it for now... I've spent some time adjusting the action and fiddling around with it and it's playing and sounding pretty good. Here's a short video of it in action...

 The verdict... don't buy one unless you're prepared to do some work on it. If you're an experienced player used to high quality instruments you're going to be bummed out until you fix it up. You'd be much wiser spending your money on one of these Ibanez pictured below... the quality is awesome and you won't need to touch a single screw on it. They're $500 bucks and look stunning. I won't be purchasing another Chibson, Fibson, fake, counterfeit... it'll be a fun project but it'll never be a real Gibson. 

 

Here's a good look at several close-ups and a few shots at a distance... from afar, it looks the part... close up you start to see where this is obviously a fake. I did black out the serial number with a fine sharpie so it wasn't so obvious... again not to try and pass it off as the real thing, but so it looks a little more accurate...

The Jerry Garcia Stratocaster Project

As 2013 was winding down I was busy at work on my latest project, the "Jerry Garcia" Stratocaster. It's really only a Strat at first glance, about the only thing that's unmolested are the neck and tuners, and a few bits of hardware. The body is a MIM Standard but I hacked out a pool rout, added another input jack, and removed a little more wood in the trem cavity to accommodate the pre-amp and battery.

The "Jerry Garcia" Stratocaster

Jerry's Doug Irwin-built Rosebud

It's wired up to loosely replicate Jerry's Doug Irwin-built Rosebud guitar, minus the midi stuff. What sets this guitar (and other guitars of Jerry's) apart from "regular" instruments in the on-board effects loop (OBEL) and pre-amp. To honor the wishes of Mike Wald, I will not reproduce any of the info on his page here, but if you're interested it can all be found here, along with wiring diagrams and lots of other gear info specific to Jerry's instruments. Mike was most helpful in answering questions about building both the guitar and the junction box necessary to make this whole rig work while still allowing you to use regular instruments… so I want to remain on his good side. For those looking for additional info about Dead related gear, he can often be found lurking around on the RUkind Forums. 

I was honestly surprised that everything worked as planned on the first attempt to get this wired up… I cannot express how glad I am not to have had to trouble-shoot the wiring in this puppy! 

The box was also my first attempt at pedal building. Here's a "work in progress" shot of it. It's a passive pedal so it was really pretty easy to wire up. Here are some other pictures of the guitar. Again, I could explain what everything does but it's all at Mike's page and explained so well there, that's there's no need to try and explain it all here. Despite having enough knobs and switches to be confused with a NASA launch pad, it's actually all pretty straight forward. The only thing that really took some time to get used to is the fact that the middle pickup has a dedicate tone and coil-tap toggle while the bridge and neck share a tone knob and coil-tap toggle. 

IN OTHER NEWS…

As per usual, I always seems to be trading something for something else or dismantling one guitar to build another. Gone is the LPB Tele… we just never bonded like I did with the IBM Tele. Many have commented on the "hideous shade of green" it is but I love it. Of all my efforts to recreate an authentic looking relic guitar, this one nails it. I even fooled my shop tech with it. The neck is big and fat and it just oozes real Tele tone.

The dismantling of the LPB Tele was to fund a little Jerry-inspired Start project. That deserves a post of it's own and I'll work on getting that together. Long before I unloaded the '81 Strat, I was still hankering for more of that 70's Fender juju. I found a screaming deal on a '79 Strat neck (with a nice fat profile) and mounted it to a rather unassuming MIM body, which I largely left stock. I did replace the middle pickup with an American Standard Strat pickup and added new caps but the rest is all stock MIM. I did add a "neck-on" toggle which I really like as a feature- the neck/bridge combo is a handy one. It sounds and plays incredible and so I'm leaving that one well enough alone. The neck had already been (successfully) converted to a 4-bolt, which no doubt had something to do with the fact i go tit on the cheap. I've seen other 4-bolt conversions which were terribly executed but this one is spot on. 

Hmm… what else has been going on here? Oh, the addition of a Derek Trucks tailpiece on my battered '61 RI SG. I added a "Les Paul" truss rod cover as well… neither were necessary but I think it looks pretty sweet. I don't know exactly what it is about this SG but I just love it… the stress cracks around the neck pocket are still holding their ground but as always, have me a little nervous. I'll play this one until it falls apart… she's definitely in the keeper category!

A Little Horse Trading

Ahh… the old Fender vs. Gibson debate. Ask either camp which is better and there are usually a handful of folks ready to go to blows defending their beloved brand of choice. At the risk of offending die-hard Fender fans I recently sought to trade my '81 Strat for a Les Paul. Here's why…

a. While I loved the idea of owning a "vintage" Fender let's be honest… it's perhaps the least desirable era of Strat to own, some might even argue that it's not vintage at all being an '81. As far as it being a real investment, it's unlikely it would have appreciated in value to any significant extent. 

b. I hardly ever played the thing… it was in great shape and so I was always afraid of putting the first ding in it. Knowing that if I did, it would further lessen the value of it. I also never warmed up to the neck shape… it was quite narrow down by the nut and it really just didn't feel right to me. Despite looking like a 70's Strat, which featured pretty beefy necks, by '81 they were using, well, a pretty wimpy neck shape.

c. I wanted a "real" Les Paul. I love my Les Paul Special but it's not exactly what I think of when I think "Les Paul". I wanted the classic maple topped mahogany body, trapezoid inlays, rosewood board, dual humbucker, back breaking Les Paul.

And so, I sent a handful of emails out to dealers and private sellers on Reverb.com and Gbase and waited to see what would happen. I was shooting to trade the Strat for a Les Paul in the $1400-$1700 range which seemed fair to me. I received a few responses suggesting I was crazy before I had any serious offers. I had also managed to rile up the folks on the Fender Forums by sharing my intentions to make such a trade. As you might imagine, it was not a popular there. However, the folks over at the Gibson Forums were all for it, though many said they would never trade a Les Paul for a Strat… no surprise there. 

After getting a few serious offers, I decided to follow through on one of them. A 2010 wine red (I guess Gibson calls it Merlot) Les Paul Tradional Pro II. It has push/pull pots for coil tapping, locking Grovers, and a matte finish on the back (while the top is still high gloss). It was all systems go… I made arrangements to drive to this guys house, which was great as we needn't ship the guitars to make the trade. It was nice to be able to see what I was actually getting and I'm sure he felt the same. In any event here she is…

Not being able to leave well enough alone I changed the knobs to the gold/silver reflector knobs used on the Les Paul Standards of the 1970's. The previous owner had already changed the truss rod cover. I also added some Russian paper in oil caps… yeah, yeah, yeah… I know may consider them to be a waste of money but I disagree. I can hear a subtle difference (or at least I've convinced myself I can). The only other mods in the works are adding some pickup covers… I just like the way they look better that the open coils. 

As far as how she sounds, she's a BEAST. The pickups sound great both split and running full steam. I know some don't like the BurstBucker 3s but I have no beef with it. It's a great sounding bridge pickup, especially when coil-tapped. All in all, it's a sweet guitar and one I'm not planning to get rid of any time soon. 

Here's a fresh shot with the pup covers...