Hi!
I got this Epiphone junior as a gift. I have other nicer and “better” guitars so I want to mess a little with this one.
I want to change the bridge, tunning knobs, pick guard and pickups. Looking into it I found that there is a possibility to include a switch like on les Paul’s.
For the bridge and tunning knobs I want to go golden, but don’t know any good brands.
The pickguard is the lesser of the issues. I’d like to have a white creamish look.
My biggest concern is with the guts. Pickups and the possibility of the switch. Do you recommend humbuckers or know about how to do the switch thing? I’d like them to be golden too.
Have to add that i don’t want top of the line parts. The guitar doesn’t really deserve a ton of money poured into it, it’s more like a little project/experiment.
Any advice and recommendations are welcome.
Oh and suggestions for the volume and tone knobs! I guess white but I’m open to anything.
Sorry for the crappy english.
Edit: don’t know why the photo is on its side.
Edit 2: For some reason my replys on desktop didn’t come through. Thanks a lot to everyone, it’s been really helpful. Once I’m done with it I’ll update with photos.
Edit 3: It’s done! Has a warmer, bassier sound now. After changing the nut and fixing all fret issues plays much better and holds tunning a lot better. Also the bridge gave more sustain. Shame the golden knobs got lost in shipping.
Thanks everyone who chipped in. I have a more enyojable guitar now.
Guitarfetish parts are perfect for a project like this. They are cheap enough that you aren’t sinking a ton of money into an already cheap guitar, and are nice enough (given you don’t buy their cheapest stuff) that you feel like you’ve made worthwhile improvements to that cheap guitar.
The biggest thing I’d say is to replace that wraparound bridge with one that has individual adjustable saddles. The way it sits now, intonation is always a compromise, and that’s just not a good design from a performance perspective.
After that, the best upgrades you can make to a guitar like this are fretwork and a better nut. Assuming it still has the factory nut and fretwork, it’s virtually a guarantee that they are shoddy, and you just won’t be able to get it playing as well as it can without addressing those first. That’s the big thing people tend to miss while upgrading cheap guitars and why they often end up unsatisfied with the results.
And finally after tackling those issues, then I would start looking into other parts like pickups and tuning machines. There are lots of options on GFS that are both cheap and decent, it’s up to you to choose what you like. Check out some sound samples and the like. If you’re trying to add a coil split, just make sure whatever pickup you get has four conductor wiring and get a push-pull pot if you don’t want to drill any holes, though I much prefer mini toggle switches. If you’re trying to add a second pickup, well that is very in-depth for a guitar like this. Doing it yourself will be a nightmare if you don’t have experience, and paying someone to do it will cost more than the guitar is worth.
Beautifully put. Toss a GFS humbucker in there with a coil split on a push pull pot and some of their Wilkinson tuners. Parts done!
Just to echo what you said, I wouldn’t even bother adding a pickup. You’d have to route a cavity for the pickup and the switch, Make a back plate, And then connect the cavities. Way too much work for very little payoff! And this is assuming he has the skill set to do it without borking it. High risk low reward
The lighting bolt bridge with post screws is intonatable. Unless there are deep grooves it is fine. The pickups/electronics and tuners are where the big upgrade is. The nut could be a big upgrade too. That could just ne d cut properly.
+1 for guitar fetish.
The bridge is intonatable within a general ballpark, but you’re never going to get each string dialed precisely without individual saddles. If you aren’t playing anything that requires great intonation, that’s cool, but better intonation is never not better.
You can intonate a little flat and adjust your finger pressure. The guitar can never be in perfect intonation for all keys and even if it could I’m not sure you would want to.
So long as you are not doing a standard or drop tunig the lightning bolt will be just as good as a tune o matic or Nashville. The lightning bolt even has advantages. It won’t add little kinks to your strings so you will have better intonation on broken in strings if you care about being parts of a cent on. The only issue is if you use a set of strings with a wound g or ballenced for an open tuning. If you do one those you won’t be able to correct for it and would need a different shaped bolt.
I think we’re arguing semantics here. You are absolutely correct, there is no such thing as perfect intonation on an even temperament guitar (check out true temperament necks theyre trip).
However I will outright disagree with you that the lightning bolt is “just as good” as an adjustable bridge. It is certainly possible to have one with perfect intonation at the 12th fret across all six strings but it is absolutely not the norm. So you have to compromise and split the difference on a few strings.
Frankly, I like the looks of a lightning bolt wrap around over an adjustable one all day. But an adjustable saddle bridge is going to outperform it in achieving best possible intonation every time.
You were right in everything. Bridge, nut and fretwork made a massive difference in tunning, sustain and ease to play. You helped me get a new guitar with your advice. Thanks a lot!
For Knobs you might be able to get some from Tayda: https://www.taydaelectronics.com/hardware/knobs.html
I order pedal knobs from there and they’re pretty solid quality. You’ll need to make sure you get knobs that fit the shaft diameter of the pot on the guitar. I’m not sure what it is for an LP Junior. The knobs are relatively cheap so you could order a few sets to try but the shipping costs will probably be $10 USD minimum and they don’t do returns.
If you want to put in your own pickups you’re going to need to learn to solder and de-solder. This is a good guitar to practice that on though. Watch some youtube vids on how to solder if you’re not familiar and get a good soldering iron. If you can afford it I’d recommend buying a whole new set of innards you can assemble without potentially damaging the original parts. If you mess up you can always put the old parts back in.
There’s so many pickup types out there. I don’t think you can go wrong with Seymour Duncans.
As Cold Hotman said I wouldn’t bother with the switch because you’ll need to carve the body out for a second pickup and that can ruin the guitar. Coil tap might be possible but I’ve never looked into it myself.
The marshall white body, gold cap knobs are great, thanks for the suggestion.
And yes, the switch is for coil tap/split not for another pickup, I should have been more specific.
I’ll look into the seymour duncans, thanks again!
Since its a single pickup, you dont really need a switch, unless you want to do some kind of coil split/coil tap kind of business. Personally, what I think would be cool is a tone control like this guy did that allows for single coil tones without an additional switch. Very cool.
GFS does good bang-for-your-buck pickups, and IIRC makes “plug and play” sets that require little to no soldering.
And are you talking about gold knobs like these ones (barrel), or these ones (top hat)
deleted by creator
I’m not sure a new bridge would give you much.
For other hardware I highly recommend Wilkinson. Their tuners and pickups are excellent. I put a set of their EZ LOK tuners on my epi and really like them.
The 2 biggest improvements you can do are to get it set up by a professional and to gently sand the gloss neck down to a matt finish.
The professional setup for the frets was a great advice, but the bridge and nut improved the guitar’s sustain and tone by a great margin. Thanks for chiming in.
Gonna second those that have recommended guitar fetish. I did a very similar project on a single humbucker squire and I slapped a high output gfs rail pick up in there and couldn’t be happier.
deleted by creator
Thanks for the detailed response.
Those knobs look great! I havent thought of 3d printing. Excellent suggestion.
Yes, the switch is the coils split system. I haven’t really looked into it, is just if its a possibility I’d like to try.
And about why I’m messing with the guitar… Its a chinese epiphone, serviceable and good for my kids to practice around but not anymore than that. And i just want to try things. Hope it isn’t sacrilegious ha!
Thanks again, I’m definitely looking into 3d printed designs.
