el degas white 3 humbucker custom

[Lead]

hi everyone i just found this sight and am so happy it exists ive had an el degas fender strat for at least 30 years now 3 dimarzio pickups maple fret board and it still sings out floyd tunes with so much ease, just love it. Ive recently purchased a custom and would really like if you could give me some feed back it appears some of the stuff has been changed around like the tuners and pickups, the finish and fret-board are in awesome shape. I was wondering if anyone knows the type of woods that were used on these puppies and if it would be possible to clone it to even closer to a Gibson custom with pick up replacement and what ever it would take to get it there, any input would be gladly appreciated thanks. ill try to post the pics now, lol the hard http://i1260.photobucket.com/albums/ii5 ... 83e553.jpg http://i1260.photobucket.com/albums/ii5 ... e4b74e.jpg

[charles]

Depending on your personal preference, you might want to have more vintage-styled PAF pickups in there.

The guitar should have a mahogany body with maple cap and a mahogany neck with rosewood fretboard. Of course it is a bolt-on rather than a set neck, but wood wise it ought to be fairly accurate to the Gibson it's copying. Congrats on the new guitar.

[Lead]

thanks charles were you able to bring up the pics the fret- board looks ebony to me my gibson studio is rosewood and much lighter in colour

[charles]

Ah yes, you are probably right on the Ebony fretboard for this model. The Custom should have ebony.

[Lead]

here are some more pics i havent seen them with chrome trim tuners are gold control knobs look authentic gibson what do you guys think http://i1260.photobucket.com/albums/ii5 ... 1420163533 http://i1260.photobucket.com/albums/ii5 ... 1420163534 http://i1260.photobucket.com/albums/ii5 ... 1420163534 http://i1260.photobucket.com/albums/ii5 ... t=14201635 http://i1260.photobucket.com/albums/ii5 ... 2016353434 http://i1260.photobucket.com/albums/ii5 ... 1420163534 http://i1260.photobucket.com/albums/ii5 ... 1420163534 http://i1260.photobucket.com/albums/ii5 ... 1420163534

[charles]

You won't find authentic Gibson parts anywhere on the guitar if it is stock. They'll be MIJ Gibson-like parts, but not genuine Gibson.

Also, beware if you are looking to replace any parts because Gibson USA parts will not fit. The parts used on this guitar will be in metric - you want to be sure to use import/metric parts.

[Barry]

I'm not a big fan of 3-pup Les Pauls, but the guitar looks to be in decent condition. The centre pup may be original (?) so if you want to get the guitar back to its original sound you could use it as a reference. It might have some markings on the bottom, or at least you can measure the resistance value to see where you should be. Most likely it will be in the vintage PAF range as Charles suggests. Up to you if youy want chrome or gold finish. I personally don't think open 'buckers look right.

The tuners look to be OK and as long as they're solid I wouldn't worry about changing them. Those knobs are incorrect though, they're more modern "speed" knobs and don't fit the style and vintage of the guitar. Again, a reminder that these are metric so be aware of the parts you pick.

[Lead]

Thanks guys big help, I had no ideal about the metric parts, do you have any suggestions for pickup replacements I'm a big randy rhoads fan and rather then paying 4k and up I'd rather try and set this beast up instead, the middle pickup is kinda in the way of my theam though but can't have everything. i noticed the pots have no markings on them also so have no ideal what they might be, haven't checked the pickups yet this guitar is set low a plays so well no string buzz and stays in tune like a champ, not ready to start pulling it apart till Ive decided exactly what to do
,

[charles]

With what you've described I'd personally leave the tuners and pots alone (why mess with it if it works!) and concentrate on putting in pickups that will give you the sound you want.

While I am a fan, I am certainly no Randy Rhodes expert; but I think a lot of his heavy sound came from pushing his Marshall amps to the max. I would stick to passive pickups (some sort of combination of Seymour Duncan Super Distortion and PAF pickups would be my choice) and be sure I have an amp that gives great break-up when pushed.

I'd put a Seymour Duncan SD in the bridge and PAFs in the middle and neck position. This way, you can use the SD to do cleanly-distorted leads on the bridge position, and slightly cleaner rhythm stuff on the mid/neck position and get your distortion more from overdriving the amp. Just my two cents!
(Alternatively, I'd just put a PAF-style pickup such as the Seymour Duncan PAF in all three pickup positions.)

[Lead]

Thanks again Charles, I did some research and found burstbukers come pretty close to that authentic gibson paf sound so I picked up today a pro rhythm and pro treble thinking I'll leave the middle one in place as it has the cover. You guys won't beleave this but closer examination of the neck pickup on this guy has a t on both bobbins, when I take it apart I'll check for pat# to see if it's the real deal if so do you guys think it's possible to mount a chrome cover on it and change it to the bridge position the pro rhythm I'll put at the neck, don't no if I can put the pro treble in the middle though you guys have any suggestions, if not possible I'll return it. Thanks again for any help http://i1260.photobucket.com/albums/ii5 ... 1420329565

[Barry]

Any BurstBuckers I've installed have had covers.
Looking at your picture there does not appear to be enough room to add one, or if there is, it would be an extremely tight fit. And don't forget that they also need to be soldered to the pickup plate.