TOO Good for a 'CHEAP' Guitar? | Semi Hemispherical Fret Ends on a Slash Epiphone Guitar.
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- Опубликовано: 22 июл 2024
- Welcome to Crimson Guitars HQ ruclips.net/user/CrimsonC... Ben is impressed by this Epiphone Slash Les Paul Standard November Burst. For a budget guitar, the quality is really good, and with a little effort and some parts, it could be an amazing guitar. Let down slightly by the lower-quality frets, Ben decides to turn them into semi Hemispherical fret ends. At the end of the day with a professional polish, some much-needed fretboard Restorative, this is looking so much better.
Dorset Guitar Museum www.dorsetguitarmuseum.com
#teardown #electricguitar #epiphone #moderne #epiphonemoderne
Chapters:
0:00 Introduction
1:00 The Gibson Epiphone
2:47 Looking at the wiring and a quick repair
3:58 Checking the neck and improving the frets
10:54 Cleaning the fretboard
12:00 Fight Me and Conclusion
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Хобби
I can't afford $6,000 guitars but I CAN afford $600 guitars that can be brought up to the same level of playability in an afternoon.
All power to you 👍
Epiphone have been making great guitars for years. I have two early 90's Epi's, an EM2 and and SG. Both made in Korea and both sound and play brilliantly. The EM2 was my main gigging guitar for nearly two decades and all its ever needed is some switch cleaner, a saddle for the Floyd and a fret level (which I did myself). The SG is pretty much flawless in fit and finish too, the pickups have that familiar SG growl to them and the neck is that nice 60's profile we all love. I honestly don't see why anyone would need to pay thousands for the Gibson originals when the Epi's are this good.
In my opinion it's always worthwhile doing a setup on any guitar you buy unless you plan on using it as a decorative wall hanger or bird house. Polishing frets, checking fret ends, string action, pickup height and neck relief set to your preference will make the playing experience so much better. Also irrespective of the cost of the instrument, check it, correct it then play it.
Ben I wish there was someone near me that would and could do the type of Quality work that you and your shop does! Amazing videos guys keep them coming. Cheers
As ever Ben, fascinating stuff and most definitely YES! All guitars should be given a chance to (literally!) shine..! It’s a shame - though cost-wise understandable - that the manufacturer doesn’t undertake this process! But good to know that with your passed-on expertise and wonderful luthiers tools and materials, we can get great playing instruments that aren’t necessarily unplayed ‘bank vault’ fodder…..! Cheers to all!
Can’t wait for this museum to blossom! 🥰🥰🎸🎸🍷🍷
I’ve got one of your polishing rubbers and they make a BIG improvement, terrific.
A good fret job and polish makes a difference on all the guitars I've ever played. Learning how to do my own setups has led me to a problem - all my guitars play like expensive ones no matter how cheap or expensive so it makes it that much harder to choose which one to sell when I bring a new one in. My wife made me make that deal...sigh.
Absolutely always worth the effort! Hell I bet you could turn a £90 clunker into a thing of beauty with a bit of that fret wizardry.
Great vid n most informative as ever
Great video Ben. I have a couple of Epiphone guitars and they are great, As you've said and I have commented before, a decent setup makes the world of difference, Planning on visiting the Museum sometime between the 6th and the 20th of April when I'm back home in Dorset.. I hope you will be open?.. will be great to see the place and maybe meet some of you.. Love the channel..
Love your channel man, it's like 90s Top Gear, but for guitar.
huh good timing, i just bought some tickets for this raffle :) such a nice guitar !!
About 8 years ago, I bought a brand new Epiphone Les Paul. All it needed was a little polishing of the frets. The pickups are stock and give me a nice growl through my amp. And that thing sustains for days. I love playing it, even though I'm a Strat fanboy.
I got myself the Anaconda burst and it didn't disappoint! Actually my favourite guitar to play now...good work as usual and yes I think it's always worth a check and setup..altho mine played great straight out of the box.
I have one of these and absolutely adore it....
To me it will ALWAYS be worth while to dress up the frets. I found here in New York that when winter comes around any new build I have done no matter how perfect in spring or summer come December or January the frets require touch up. I am about to go over my GGBO 22 build and touch those up, reoil the fretboard, do some finer detailing on things I didn't do as perfect as I could have to get the build done by the cut off date. Had I known everyone else would get AND take an extra month It all would have been perfected back then for sure.
I don’t understand the Luthier Teardown series but I love you. Keep the build videos coming!
It’s simple, it’s a database for other luthiers. So we can have the specs and know of any issues with said model. I really appreciate it, since I work on all guitars and all them time I get a random model coming in.
Just bought one of your files after watching you use it in this video. I know you make it look easy, but compared to my usual files, this looks perfect and I'm sure I'll get the hang of it soon enough. I've become obsessed with perfect frets - obsessed I say... I dream about them, shiny, perfectly shaped, level.... mwahahaha (sorry that's your laugh). Now my presshuss frets will be the ones to rule them all yessss, nasty hobbits frets no more. I think I should have a lie down 😈
I've got a Harley Benton strat, and recently got a Fender Player Plus one. The biggest differences between the two are the feel of the neck, and the quality of the fretwork. I could probably spend some time on the HB frets and get them a lot nearer to the Fender, but HB doing that for every guitar would require them to put a lot on their prices - it's a £150 guitar for a reason.
get a cheapy and take it to a tech - I could make it play great in an afternoon , a pro could do the same in an hour- I bought a 2nd hand squier tele for £75 in lock down, mainly to mess about with, it's now my favourite beater
Ben,
We bought two of those excellent guitars last year. One in that finish & the Goldtop.
A bit of a setup and a oil of the fretboards they were ready to go👍They come in nice Slash signature hard cases 👌Even got epiphone strap locks in the case candy plus a tin of Slash picks and blue vinyl Slash LP included with one of them👍
It feels divine to play polished frets.
The step up at Epiphone under the current ownership was a very smart move, since these models compete with other high quality imports like LTD or Schector. I can see some shortcuts, like incredibly thin binding that was probably poured in from the CNC blank (Music Man does this) and more limited finishes, But the hardware and pickups are to gig-standard if not tour standard.
Ben. I have both gibson and epiphone les Paul's and the fit and finish of the epiphone is as good or better but they seem to differe alot on the shape of the neck. Have you ever though of doing a video on reshaping a cheap guitar neck? I would Love to see how a professional like you would go about it. I think it would even make a great series of videos
I had no idea that fret file had both a flat edge and a rounded edge! this totally explains why the bottom edge of half my frets seems sharper than it should.
Agree 100% about giving the frets a good once-over, especially for "budget" guitars. A trusted friend once told me the main difference between a low-priced elite brand guitar and a high-priced "budget" brand (such as Gibson vs Epiphone or Fender vs Squire or Fender USA vs Fender MIM) is the fretboard. That's where it's easiest to cut corners in the manufacturing process. With that in mind, I've recently purchased a '59 Epiphone Les Paul and a MIM 50s Vintera Strat. I had the neck and fretboards professionally set up in both cases, with fret leveling and polishing and new graph tec TUSQ nuts. The result is two highly playable guitars with great necks and fretboards. I've compared them to comparable "elite" brand models that cost about 50% more and am very happy with my decisions. Now I can't imagine buying ANY guitar without having the necks pleked and polished. Of course, there's a price to having the extra work done, so it may not worth doing on a guitar that sells for a few hundred dollars, especially because at that price point there are usually electronic differences that really bring the value down.
Absolutely worth the extra time to do a set up fret dress and polish. Do this to ebery guitar.
Would love to see you do this sort of vid with an epiphone noel gallagher riviera vs a 1984 matsumoku riviera, IF you can find one.
I have this exact same guitar and love it such a beautiful work horse it's not a super expensive Gibson custom shop this is a gigging players guitar not a collectors guitar I play the hell out of mine I play it probably 20 hours a week for the last year since I had it and man it's been amazing stays in tune very well I think it's better then most of your Gibson Les Paul standard bottom end lespaul from Gibson
Nice job!
Don't sleep on Epiphone! My buddy has a metallic blue casino and that thing is my favorite in his collection of tele, strat, PRS, guild... The Epiphone is my go to every time we jam
I have to admit, I'm a little envious of your fret shaping skills. (I know, I know.... I just need to build more guitars to get the experience. ;) )
Ben would you ever do a proper tour video of your home guitars collection?
Ben we love how giddy you get when doing the giveaway. I heartily agree a less costly guitar with a little fine tuning and perhaps an upgrade or 3 like a bone nut is the way to go. I can just see someone buying a $4,000-10,000 dollar Gibson smiling at it from across the room and watching in horror as it slid over and fell off the stand. Noooooooo! (The scream that echoed around the world)
Curious as to what your thoughts are on the fretwork of the EART guitars I've been seeing a lot of lately.
Hey, Ben!! You should check out Firefly and Sawtooth guitars. I love my Sawtooth Strat-Style guitar I got for $90 and Firefly has doubleneck guitars with a hardshell case for $399. They're no match for a professional custom builder's guitar, but they are well beyond the Squire or Epiphone guitars, IMHO!
As an owner of the Victoria model of the Slash Epiphone I completely agree with everything you say. I know I will never be able to afford the upper echelon guitars, but I would (and probably will) buy another one for standard tuning (I chose to keep a Slash model as Slash as can be, Ernie Ball 11-48s and tuned down a half step). It is such a good guitar for the price. Devoid of case candy, but that’s forgivable as they included a hard case for the price.
May i also suggest a Epiphone Les Paul modern Figured. The specs are insane for the price.
My gibsons and fenders have become a great investment and buying my birth year ( 1973 ) les paul and hard tail strat and telecaster was a dream and now a reality. I love what some call budget guitars but I just call them cheaper instruments. My favourite tho Ben is my harley benton TE-52 tele copy! Ash body with a caramelised maple neck alnico 5 single coil pickups and cts or alpha pots and it cost £130. I say it's the best telecaster you can buy for under £1000 new... get one Ben and do a comparison to a USA tele and you will be hard pushed to tell them apart sound wise. All I've done with mine is change the tuners to locking and added a orange drop cap and a treble bleed and its been my main gigging tele for 2 years!
I have to replace the electronics on my Epiphones for them to sound right to me but I also play Gibsons. That being said there is not much I would need to do to that new 59 because I like the pickups. Would still upgrade to the higher end pots and switches. Also prefer the 50's oil in water (bumble bees), but I love a burstbucker. I also always do a fret dress but the Epiphones can be great guitars.
In my opinion all guitars need a pro setup to the players taste. Only guitar I've not had to set up out the box was a PRS 277.
I have a 2016 Gibson SG and I've never seen any guitar get close to being that fine! It's in a different league than any Epiphone.
I enjoy taking "cheap" guitars and making them play expensive. It's not always possible, but when you start with a well made guitar, it's a joy. The factory in Indonesia that does the PRS SE guitars is one of those places. Apparently, the Chinese factory making the Epiphones has stepped up its game.
44 years playing, 3 years hobbyist builder here. As a player, "rounded" is awesome. But a full tilt "hot dog" treatment might cost you some fretting real estate. Many necks are a bit over-beveled for the full hot dog treatment - as was your case here. I'm beginning to think - file ends perpendicular (straight up and down) instead of beveled, then hot dog from there. Of course, the E-ticket ride is CNC machined fret slots that don't go to the edge, fret tang nippers, a concave hemispherical cup grinder bit for a drill (yes, they make them), and "hot dogging" stainless steel fret ends before installing the frets. But precise length can be a hit or miss proposition, apparently. But with fender necks online for $35, it's hard for me to justify the extra effort of a DIY version of the same thing. So, I'm dealing with pre-installed frets that are often a bit over-beveled. "Rounding" is my new preferred way of dealing with fret sprout. It pretty much eliminates the possibility of fret sprout in the future. This seems to be the biggest advantage from a builder's point of view. I no longer bother with a 1/4 round file and do most of the work with a traditional fret end dressing file, as you did here. But I still use the half-round concave crowning file for just a light touch of the top corners. When polishing with a rotary tool, I'm getting faster results and less waste by putting the polish on the fret instead of the wheel. So, on my builds these days I go for rounded, and they turn out hot dog if there's enough material on the fret ends to work with. Over-beveled frets end up hot dog with a flat spot on the end. But rolling and rounding with sandpaper makes these smooth so they are just cosmetic imperfections.
I just got an epiphone and its very nice but the action was very high the low e needs intonation the top 10 frets have sharp ends and the relief is a bit off so i can do all that though im way slow these days. As a teen i would have thought it sucked and the set up does but its a good guitar
I’ve got a few guitars that would greatly benefit from this kind of upgrade… I’m tempted to take the plunge and buy the right tools, but have no idea where to start.
It's hard to say what you should start with in terms of tools. I got a mid range guitar tech set off Amazon to get me started and although most of the tools are not perfect they usually come with enough useful bits and bobs to get you going. During Covid I started buying cheap guitars secondhand and then, realising I needed to fix them up, started to pick up luthier tools bit by bit. One of my next purchases was a fret levelling file from Crimson which I still use. Then came electronics spares and... be warned, it is a rabbit hole once you begin, but a bloody brilliant and rewarding one. Now I have around £3k worth of tools and hopefully one day I'll get a small workshop somewhere but I have a long way to go and already have spent over £3,000 on tools and spares, which - over time - is not that much really and I've worked on 100s of guitars and basses already for friends and now even paying customers. It's really satisfying and meditative at times as you transform a grubby old guitar into something really rather nice and playable 😎
it's the light or the center of the frets are not flush to the fretboard ?
Yes, it is worth the time and effort to setup the guitar as best you can. Afterall it will be in your hands, why not make it as perfect as can be? Cheers and great vid!
Ben do you think there is any difference between a guitar made on a CNC to a guitar made by hand if both instruments are built from the same materials and use the same hardware and given the same lovely fret job as you do. Would there be a significant difference in the cost but not in the end result
If the same luthier put the guitars together there is no difference in my opinion. A good neck joint is a good neck joint whether it is made by hand or a CNC.. Same materials etc. The biggest difference is in the final set up and how the fret work and all the final finishing is done. This is all done by a human. Ben
I'm more than happy with a guitar that plays well, never been bothered by country of manufacture
Are you guys having issues fulfilling tool orders? Purchased a couple of tools over a week ago now and no hint of anything arriving yet
It's worth it if it makes a difference long term....
This is why I think everyone is 'demanding' Stainless Steel frets because they have only ever experienced 'cheaper' Nickel frets and associate the 'wear' and therefore softness of these to ALL nickel frets...
Agreed. Built a guitar with stainless frets only to realize that the tone is a bit more chime-y in string response to a degree that I'm not sure I like. Also, people don't realize how awful working with stainless Steel fret wire can be. It's so much more time consuming than the standard nickel/silver wire frets.
Ben.... the "Bob Ross" of guitar building and maintenance....
different hair dos
WELL worth the tyme
I think it's worththe time and effort.
Does it take awhile for new frets to settle in ?
No it shouldn't. DC
I’ve got a epi Gibson inspired 2021 gold top lespaul and it’s epic all cts pots etc amazing pickups it’s just a Les Paul plays like one sounds like one it’s bonkers really
I’ve also got a Gibson Les Paul junior p90 the tribute USA model. Was 800 new and it’s amazing the case along it comes in is a top end soft case . It’s very heavy tho lol . They used maple for the neck instead of mahogany which in my book is better least it won’t break lol
Fall away in the fretboard is a pretty common trick, come to find out... It allows you to introduce fall away without having to remove too much meat from the fret wire itself.
The answer to your question?
YES.
This is fascinating stuff and I'm tempted to just buy one, with my absolutely terrible skills, to see if I can "upgrade it".
The last time I did that, I ending up spending the same amount of money upgrading a £150 telecaster clone, as I did buying a very good official one (Corona)
The difference being, I didn't replace the neck or body - and that the "official" Fender telecaster holds it's tune for months at a time.
I bought new pickups, new tuning machines (pegs?), a new bridge, lots of tools (from Crimson of course), did a terrible job painting the body - and yeah, it turned out almost as good as a "real" telecaster - the one I own and love.... except it _looks_ shit. Plays well, the neck is pants, the frets are awful, even after levelling and polishing (thin and cheap), the body is ... meh. No idea what wood it is - cheap crap.
Arguably, I now have the tools at my disposal and these wonderful videos, to buy the guitar featured in this video and ... "grab a bargain?" - probably it's more to satisfy my nerd out from watching too much Crimson guitar content over the years - Christ, it's addictive or what!
... hmmm ... finger hovering over the buy button ...
A good fret polish is worth it on any guitar, regardless of the cost of the guitar.
Should upgrade the pups to a Slash set to really drive it home.
I have been lucky enough to play a lot of top branded guitars and never seen the value apart from investment in them, gigging them is scary, you can't relax in case you drop/ding it or worse someone nicks it. I've always bought cheap and made it mine even had a Grant 80s telecaster back in the day ( I miss you my wee Japanese tele) and I swear that thing jangled like a 50s tele at £40 with a gorilla tube cruncher amp and a boss hm2 with it. If it was a fender it prob would of been stolen from the pubs I used to play in. Lol
Did you recently have the tattoos on your scalp touched up? The wings seem darker than I remember them being. 9:55 he goes full Bob Ross.
Is the giveaway valid for those of us in the USA?
If it's valid in your State to enter prize draws, then yes. It all depends on your location and your state laws though.
Or put another way, how will your state ever know anyway. Technically you should declare the win on your tax return, but that's on you to tell them.
dorset is same place that tank museum from..?
The tank museum is about 15 miles from Dorchester itself so yes
When I started playing in the mid 70's most affordable guitars were a joke until the likes of Yamaha, Ibanez etc started producing post lawsuit models of their own designs. They moved the goalposts with affordable, quality guitars to the consternation of the USA makers. With the exclusion of Chibsons etc, quality has remained consistent across the board at the sub £500 price point, and now includes Squire and Epiphone. For those with more money available, the choice of of quality guitars between £500 to £1000 is amazing. Good days 🖖
The best you can do is bring your new guitar to luthier let do a setup, string action, intonation and fretwork. You pay some more but you get a 300% better instrument. My new Ibanez az premium is a fantastic guitar, but the fret ends are to sharp. Next days I bring the guitar to my luthier and I know he give me back my guitar with absolute perfect fret Endes
Definitely a YES Ben. Even if it took someone like me a whole day tinkering with it, the Guitar deserves it, and so does the player.
Anyone who says NO needs their brains testing. (I can give them the phone number for MY psychiatrist. She is really rather good, and affordable) 🤣🥳😵💫🤪🤣
what do you charge for a jobb like this?
Please email office@crimsonguitars.com and let them know what you would like done and they will give you a quote. DC
All my stuff is "budget" I can't justify 1000's on a guitar, I did spend an inordinate amount of time setting up my EJ200 via YT and it does play better for it, but tbh I seriously doubt I can make a gibson J200 sound any better than my EJ (lol) my favorite guitar cost me £5 from the recycling center ~15 yrs ago, it's a Musina Resonata, made in Markneukirchen GDR (if you know you know) was tempted to sell it when somone offered me £200 for it, but glad I didn't, needs a bit of work thesedays, some inner rattle sorting, maybe refinishing as the finish has crazy pavinged, still watcing YT vids to pluck up the courage to take the back off, I'll do it one day!
Veneer puts some people off. I can understand that from the awful photo-flame days. But a nice veneer is a perfectly lovely piece of wood. And with the right finish has just the same "3d" look as a deeper solid top. After all, it's not as if wood is transparent.
Epiphone are killing it recently with the new management, but is it any surprise? That slash epiphone is a high end guitar with a high end price so why wouldn't it be better just like any high end guitar.
Also remember Gibson built state of the art facility in China specifically to build epiphone guitars which the solely own and control. No other import manufacturer dose that. It's been open for 15 years.
Going to buy a fret end file from you to attack my innocent Tele. Thanks for the inspiration.
I bought an Epiphone LP Tribute plus 60s a couple of years ago for £480 new. Hard case, Gibson Classic 57 pickups, cts pots, switchcraft switch, locking Grover rotomatics, straplocks.
Bargain.
I think expensive production instruments (American Fenders, Gibsons, PRSs, Rickenbacker etc.) will disappear in the coming 20-30 years. It's simply not worth the money when you can get similar (or better) specs on import instruments. In the future we'll have "top of the line" production instruments in the $1000-1500 range, artist models for maybe $1500-2000 and then custom shop stuff from $2500 and up (prices in todays money of course)
What's that white beauty in the background, Fernandes?
I've found that for the past 20 years, Epiphone has beat Gibson. I had a Epi Les Paul, made in Korea, played great, no issues.
This a excellent guitar, however I think necesary change pickups to Seymour Duncan Slash. You must this comparation: ruclips.net/video/Pq5SacgNBiM/видео.html
If all it takes is a little elbow greases to turn an ordinary guitar into something I actually want to play then I'm all about it.
This slash model is not the cheap one, epiphone also make a $300usd version.
This model has a retail of 1,000usd
Your right its not cheap, but I think "cheap" is in comparison to the 12,999 usd Slash Brazilian dream or the 3,299 Slash Standard
It'd be worth having the tweaking done if it makes a significant difference to the overall tone of the piece but on that point you said only about a 1% rate of an improvement so unless you're a professional guitarist I'd leave as is because as well as having Slash's very own stamp & approval then I'd reckon they're ready to play straight outta China & they make such fine guitars from that particular factory. these Slash Epi's have been highly praised by guitarists worldwide as probably the best Epi's yet.who's going to be looking so far down the barrel so to speak unless you're such a great player & have someone like you at hand or those who even have their very own guitar tech? Then by all means have a close-up inspection & tweak.you're not exactly dealing with the bare bones of a guitar relic here
I always buy cheap guitars and fix them up. My very best guitar is an Epiphone. So polish away. In fact, I would replace that plastic nut with a Tusq also
Is it worth the time giving a budget guitar love? Absolutely, high end guitars shouldn’t need the love you’ve paid for it already.
Don't worry Ben, while there are still guitarists who are happy to pay £5000 for a Klon or £95k on an old Dumble there'll still be people willing to pay 6k for high end guitars!
👍🍺👍
Epiphone makes absolutely phenomenal instruments these days. My Gibson's are long gone, as my Epis are just better in every way.
And they are affordable, so I don't have to worry about wear from use, theft, insurance... I can also modify them to my needs / whims, and not worry about resale value.
I have a few older Epis (Korean), and they are steadily going up in price, so they are a nice investment as well in that sense - but I do keep them because they are so useful.
I'm never going to pay 1000s extra just so it's got a different name on the headstock - which incidentally falls off much quicker, and call thát the "play authentic" experience 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
q
Is Gibson challenging its far east Epiphone builders to surpass the quality of real Gibsons? And might it be part of a plan to move all Gibson production to the far east (possibly with the exception of the custom shop)?
I (wrongly)thought that would happen when Henry J left, still think a £1200 asian G Les Paul Standard will appear
"Budget" guitars in the current year should be called "reasonably priced" guitars, because when it comes to the specs and build you can get a solid product for a few hundred bucks and without even reaching the 1000 dollars mark. There is no reason whatsoever to ever buy Gibson when Epiphone is putting out those quality guitars for a fraction of the price.
Not a fan of Gibson or Epiphone. QC issues as you saw with that back plate screw are unacceptable for an instrument at that price point. The design flaws inherent to Les Paul's and Gibsons in general make Fender/Squier the better brand. Bolt on necks are not inferior and tonewood is a myth when you are talking about electric guitars (especially if you play at high gain outputs).
Sometimes I think Gibsons quality control is no better than Epiphone.
They do seem to be getting better.. but yes, I agree
So the man who owns a world class guitar company wants to buy an Epiphone? Have you overdone the head tat pain relief again Ben? 😆
Nowt wrong with epiphones
@@Forest_Fifer Not saying there is - just meant why would Ben want to buy any mass produced guitar?
@@rockpilerising sometimes I'd like steak and chips, sometimes all I really want is a big Mac.
I exclusively play cheap guitars
You'll get the itch for an above $1000 guitar at some point. I promise. It took me over 20 years of taking the cheap route of going Prelude, Cort, Squier, Ibanez, Epiphone, Rogue, Cozart and Firefly. Still love Epiphones (not so much the chinese ones), but sincerely have no regrets about shelling out a wee bit more than the cost of higher end premium Epiphones to get a true Gibson.
Polish and grind away, it'll never a Gibson.
No way on any Gibson..Epiphone all day long I have a 2021 Epiphone custom Koa Les Paul..absolutely incredible..Gibson = yawn 😴
You have a copy of a guitar that makes you yawn. Strange choice.
Hey man, you've got a little something on the top of your head! I don't know if you'll be able to wipe that off, or not.
Edit: Maybe lay off the nose candy, as well! Your hand was a blur!