Phil McKnight Shows Off Our New Epiphone Hardware and Electronics Upgrade Kit
Phil McKnight Shows Off Our New Epiphone Hardware and Electronics Upgrade Kit
Phil McKnight from the popular YouTube Channel Know Your Gear introduces our new Epiphone Hardware and Electronics Upgrade Kit. Many of these Epi’s are really great guitars and can play like their much more expensive brothers and sisters with some new hardware and a little work you can do yourself.
Items Used In this video:
Epiphone Hardware and Electronics Upgrade Kit
https://www.stewmac.com/item/2705
Guitar Tech Screwdriver Set
https://www.stewmac.com/item/3000
ESP Multi Spanner
https://www.stewmac.com/item/1344
Guitar Nutdrivers (Set of 3)
https://www.stewmac.com/item/5893
Peg Head Reamer
https://www.stewmac.com/item/0343
Solomon Soldering Station
https://www.stewmac.com/item/0501
Depth Stop Drill Bit
https://www.stewmac.com/item/1710
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I just modded an SG with active EMGs, Wilkinson roller bridge, locking tuners, bone nut, and jumbo frets…. Total cost was about $175, half the cost of this kit.
Why not just buy the Epiphone Tribute Plus for $800 and get Gibson pickups, Switchcraft components, orange caps and a hardshell case? $350 for these upgrades from Stew Mac puts the price of any decent model, Standard and up, way over $800 and you still don’t have a nice case to keep it safe. Just my opinion.
$350 for upgrades to low-end Epi? Is this some kind of a joke? Upgrading a playable Epi makes sense, if you can for example get used bridge pickup (Burny VH1? woah) or used tailpiece for cheap on some auction. So if a player makes couple upgrades with used parts, over the years he owned Epi guitar, it’s totally understandable and wise. But putting $350 in one go, into Epi guitar is such a stupid idea.
I am thinking about buying one of these guitars!
complete waste of time and money imo
What kind of neck rest you have looks nice
That depth stop didn’t really do its job, did it?
I wish Phil McKnight would do more of these videos. I like the way he explains things.
Hardly notable difference. Wasted
money
The Internet has given us a million "tone experts" all selling the same BS, "warm vintage sound", "increased clarity", "high and deep tones". If you want your guitar to sound great buy a good amp and practice playing your guitar! There are no shortcuts, including those stupid "relic" abortions
Awesome upgrade!
Stealing from Me is StewMac
Must have bought the $100 Epi. I have the Epiphone Standard Plus Top Pro and it came with the hardware that’s in this kit. When I played it at Guitar Center it played as well as the much higher priced Gibsons and several Gibson models.
You telling me that buying a $400 epiphone and then buying a part kit for $400 makes more sense than taking that $800 and buying a used les paul studio?
Too bad the pickups aren’t 4 conductor was more options.
Bill burr’s voice 🤣
Just picked up a new pick, or plectrum for you Brits, from Stew Mac. Only $20 each, same as any other pick but this one says Stew Mac!
How do I get rid of the Push/Pull knob …. I know probably a dumb question but I want just a plain HUMBUCKER
I know a bit about this subject.
I have owned 156 guitars, and set up hundreds.
The only thing I would ever do to an epiphone is change the nut, and I’m not a fan of the way their pots feel. I have put bigger Frets in them, but I did that for myself and it only cost me like 20 bucks. Save your money and learn how to set up your guitar!
And financially it makes NO SENSE! Dropping this much into your Epiphone will not make it worth $300 more!
Look, Mom- no hands! $260.00 POS guitar + $340.00 mediocre parts + Three hours of labor = $600.00 🔥 trash 🗑
Nice little guitar! Throw in some strap locks and it’ll be ready to rock! Good job, Phil and StewMac!
Are these upgrade kits compatible with the epiphone special ii models?
Hey I have the same guitar
My Epiphone upgrade kit is a Gibson. 🙂
F that chinaphone and that f’d up mission you’re on kid
Has someone tried this upgrade kit? If yes, what is the feedback?
I have gone though comments, but sadly I did not find anyone addressing this question.
Thank you in advance!!!
I have an Epiphone Les Paul Special II and I’m planning to change the bridge and tailpiece set of it with a roller ones, but I’m hesitant to buy online because I don’t know its measurements, can you recommend or help me on this?
THey always forget to tell you that the bridge saddles come unnotched so people like me who don’t know how to file are screwed.
Does this work with the epiphone sg the normal one that costs 180
Did the new tuners require reaming to fit them?
I like Phil. For me the only useful thing is the tape trick. Soldering outside the cavity. Put tape on your drill bit to set depth. Also to you guitar gurus out there: Why buy a fret rocker? Wont any properly sized metal straight edge do?
This Tape trick for the elektronics is so good!
Adorei 🙋🎸
If you talked any faster….you would be traveling BACK in time…
What did you do with the old hardware?
i just don’t get you man, you are negative, cousin figel
Sounds like a Ad , didn’t really hear a big difference.
I couldn’t hear much of a difference with the upgrade. Both sounded thick and muddy. I’m on a desktop with a nice set of speakers. This is just my experience, but when a guitar is dull and muddy, there isn’t much that can improve it.
Best advice in the vid is to hold on to the original components. If he sells the guitar, don’t want to give away the StewMac parts. I think the new pots have to stay, though.
What I’ve found upgrading my Epiphone so far:
1) Probuckers are fine pickups no need to replace them
2) Replace the nut – bone will give a bit more sustain and with nut sauce will help with bends. Stock nut is too high, you can fix this with a set of nut files if you don’t want to change the nut.
3) Lower pickups to about 3mm from depressed string at last fret. Adjust up gain on amp. This gives you a better sweet spot and more dynamic control.
4) Adjust polls on pickups to reduce ‘mud’. From stock flat setting adjust as follows
Low E no change
A string one turn up
D string one and a half turns up
G string one turn down
B string one turn up
High E one turn up
This adjusts for different string core thickness and increases clarity.
5) Buy gotoh bridge 6mm holes for Epiphones. Better machined than stock. Apply nut sauce.
6) Install metal plate on jack socket, the plastic ones break. Make sure you get a curved one with the right spaced holes.
7) Screw stock tail piece down and over wrap strings as Bonamassa does.
8) Setup. Level frets if necessary, crown them. Check neck relief and reduce string action as per preference.
9) You could install short switchcraft toggle switch for better reliability. (Or just clean stock once a year).
10) Stock electronics are fine. Not much difference in changing them. IMO only worth it if you want more features ie. phase cancelling, parallel.series wiring etc. If you want every possible combination search Jimmy Page wiring diagram – good luck there are wires everywhere !
11) Leave the tuners as they are.
Total cost not much !
If there were a way to replace “Epiphone” on the headstock with “Gibson” and change the headstock to match Gibson’s shape!
How about adding a treble bleed circuit to brighten high frequency at low volume, cheap upgrade.
Sounds the same an you forgot to change out the nut
Hell yeah.. new knobs make all the difference..😂
It might sound simple, but the basic tips for keeping parts organized and ready to return to stick are very good.
Up grade ?burn it
Cool stuff, but your prices are way too high. Who is going to put a $400 upgrade kit into a $250 guitar? Seriously.
I am chasing used Epiphone Studios on ebay right now but adding the cost of these upgrades (as sold by StewMac) would bring the price up higher than a new Epiphone modern or most of the other higher end epi’s. Or conversly for the same price as the kit I could get the new Epi 2020 Studio.
The ultimate bolt neck Epiphone upgrade? Use it as a canoe paddle…
Take the money you would spend on this and put it into the guitar budget and you can buy a good guitar, instead of that junk. Ultimately at the end of the day, it is an expensively modded piece of shit.
Thanks for this! The pickups and tuners are the main upgrade for sure. I picked up a set of Gibson 57s that came out of an SG (the owner went with active pickups) for $40 and a set of Grover Tuners and dropped them in my 1997 Epiphone Les Paul Standard. I didn’t change the pots because the tone wasn’t muddy and at 10 I get lots of bite and clarity. I might drop my multimeter on the pots and check if they are 500k and add 0.22 caps to see how it affects my tone but honestly, I don’t think there’s a need to go with paper and oil unless you’re doing a retro or vintage guitar and the owner ‘needs’ to have old school parts. Big thanks for letting us hear the sound difference! Far too often the tech just says, "I hear a difference" but never let us here the before… .thanks!