Kirk Hammett Epiphone Greeny Les Paul Upgrades & Modifications

[@darthaqua]

Congratulations on the subs milestone! Hey Doc, I love the Greeny sound so could you do a similar deep dive examination of the Gibson USA model (in the service of science) - very interested to see the nut cut slots and how the other details discussed in relation to the Epiphone measure up

[@GuitarQuackery]

Thank you very much. As it turns out, I just bought a Gibson 1958 reissue Les Paul, and I am already prepping a review. As I was contemplating that review, I was already thinking about reviewing some Gibson USA guitars that I have accumulated over the years. So, I’m glad to hear that viewers would like to see more reviews in this style.

[@GuitarQuackery]

I think I misunderstood your question, initially. Now I see that you are asking me to do a review of the Gibson USA Greeny. I would, of course, love to do that, I just don’t have access to one. I do jump on the opportunity to do reviews of interesting guitars that people bring to my shop. As soon as someone brings a Gibson USA Greeny, I will definitely jump on the opportunity. Hope this makes sense. Thanks.

[@AQMusic10]

Congratulations on 1000 subscribers! I have been trying to tell everybody I know about your channel in my guitar community. Keep up the great work! 🤘🏽🎸

[@GuitarQuackery]

Thanks for spreading the news.

[@BeauHannamGuitars]

Cool Video. I like your multimeter! and all the camera angles- Are you using Davinci resolve to edit this? (and cut your self out)?

[@GuitarQuackery]

Thanks for dropping by. I am using Final Cut Pro. I don’t particularly like it and I would like to start using Resolve. But there’s a learning curve. At my age, I don’t like to do a lot of learning anymore, LOL.

[@jonesmichaelstx]

Hey, Maestro, Bravo

[@GuitarQuackery]

Thanks.

[@brianintexas1108]

The buttons on the tuners are meant to replicate the Spurzel tuners on the actual greeny. While not actual Spurzels they are much closer to the look than the kidney bean shaped buttons.

[@GuitarQuackery]

Well noted. Another viewer already pointed out this detail. As you can tell, I am not much of an historic guitar authenticator. Thanks for pointing this out.

[@Ari_Calamari]

You could try copper with conductive adhesive tape on the bridge studs if the bridge is grounded

[@GuitarQuackery]

That’s an interesting idea. I would have to experiment a little bit. But as it turns out, your suggestion gave me another idea. How about spreading a very thin layer of solder? Just a few beads of solder in a couple of spots. I would use SMD soldering paste and just warm up the post with the heat gun. BTW, did you see my fix on the Epiphone Riviera kzbin.info/www/bejne/opy3mpxqbLuFnNU from about a year ago? On that guitar, the ground connection goes through the treble side bridge post. I did end up using Teflon tape, since I didn’t think of the better options we are discussing now.

[@nedflanders22b]

Yea, I'm not going to do any of that.

[@GuitarQuackery]

Not even polish the frets? That’s the one service that I would definitely do, since highly polished frets make it smooth to play and potentially slow down fret wear.

[@razor282]

Quality control on this guitar is really bad in my experience buying direct from Epiphone, but it sounds amazing. I’m on my third one and might send it back again because of quality control.

[@GuitarQuackery]

Wow, what were the issues?

[@oldasrocks9121]

Epiphone pickup rings are specifically sized, Vintage Forge sells them. I dont believe Allparts specifies the Epi rings

[@GuitarQuackery]

To be honest, I can’t even remember which replacement pickup ring I used in this video. But definitely, thank you for the tip.

[@Ari_Calamari]

The reverse pickup and the tuner button style is accurate for the original greeny. But the rest I agree on.

[@Ari_Calamari]

Well, the headstock veneer thing is kinda pointless for such a collectible, and pretty expensive guitar. Just buy a Les Paul kit at that point

[@GuitarQuackery]

I was not aware of the tuner buttons, until another viewer pointed it out, in one of the comments. I am well aware of the flipped pickup, I was just trying to say that I don’t like the way that looks. If the goal is to mimic the original Greeny, then of course we don’t wanna flip the pickup around. But I guess I personally don’t like guitars that are trying to be clones of other famous guitars, so if I had to keep this guitar I would flip that pickup around

[@GuitarQuackery]

Do you think that the Epiphone version of the Greeny is a collectible guitar?

[@markwright9352]

@@Ari_Calamari greeny had Grovers on it originally when Peter owned the guitar, Gary Moore put Sperzel on, which are still on the guitar today, don’t really understand what Gibson were doing put Sperzel buttons on Grover tuners doesn’t make sense at all

[@Severeband]

Dudley Moore is alive and well on youtube doing guitar videos. Cheers.

[@GuitarQuackery]

We are all glad to hear.

[@claudionesdebologna2533]

With that price tag the guitar should be perfect as it is

[@GuitarQuackery]

As it turns out, that’s actually an old Chinese proverb.

[@northernthrifter8817]

There's an old Chinese proverb that says don't try to turn an epiphone into a Gibson.

[@GuitarQuackery]

I like this proverb.

[@dugbert5]

There's an old Irish proverb, Ní féidir leat acmhainn a cheannach saor.

[@frankentronics]

Google translates this into the English language: You can't buy a resource cheap.

[@dugbert5]

Ha ha, google told me it was “ you can’t afford cheap. I’ve often bought cheap only to wind up spending more in the end.

[@GuitarQuackery]

Well, it isn't cheap. It's $1,500 for an Epiphone made in the same factory as the $600 models.

[@dugbert5]

@@GuitarQuackery You're right, $1500.00 for a guitar is not cheap. When I was a kid I bought a Gibson for $150.00! Had I known I would never have sold it and so many others.

[@GuitarQuackery]

I can feel your pain.

[@ozflyer1]

HA HA HA thread tape on the bridge pin posts???? YOU JUST BLEW A LOAD OF SOUND AND TONE RIGHT THERE..... well done, for a clued up guy you really have shown that you are a silly man..

[@GuitarQuackery]

I regret to say that you are mistaken. There is no difference in tone when you put some teflon tape around a rattling post. In fact, one could argue that it should improve sustain as energy from the vibrating strings would not be wasted on vibrating a loose hardware part. Please go easy on your comments on this channel.

[@yannickcharron3193]

Nice videos on the Greeny but damn thats alot of nitpicking.

[@GuitarQuackery]

There’s an old Chinese proverb that says, the devil is in the details. LOL Thanks.

[@yannickcharron3193]

@@GuitarQuackery 🤣

[@Jameswilliamclarkiii]

Those grover kidney tuner knob is gross, i like the one Greeny came with. Doesnt make it look cheap make it look old fashioned

[@GuitarQuackery]

I understand. My issue was that I've never seen any Gibson Les Paul with those tuner knob types. However, there are $100 Player Pack Epiphone guitars that have those tuner knobs and there are numerous other cheap guitars with those kinds of knobs. Also, until a viewer pointed it out, I was not aware of the fact that the original Greeny has those kinds of knobs, supposedly installed by Gary Moore. Tastes will be different.

[@Edward1312]

Why would you waste even more money upgrading an already overpriced Epiphone? Completely mindless.

[@GuitarQuackery]

It’s a hypothetical discussion of a theoretical upgrade.

[@Datimdavis2900]

Nothing of value here. It is a good instrument, once set up, out of the box

[@GuitarQuackery]

Once set up, it plays nice. I would obviously fix the nut. But like you said, the issue is value. My biggest issue is the fact that it’s overpriced.