POLL: which is the best mod for the Prophecy?

[deeaa*]

Which do you prefer?

1:

2:

3:

4:

5:

[Commodore 64***]

1 or 4

[marnold***]

I voted #3 because I'm not a big fan of pickguards. You can a nice finish over a nice piece of wood and then you slap a hunk of cheap plastic on it.

[Eric***]

I'm with marnold. I don't mind pickguards, but I don't think they're ever really essential. After #3, I'd say #6 (like #5 but with a black PG), then #1. So always a black PG and with increasing size.

That being said, I fully expect you to ignore whatever this poll says and make it like #5, which is probably the best option: do what makes you happy.

[Commodore 64***]

That curly maple is pretty sweet. Maybe you shouldn't go PG at all.

[sunvalleylaw]

I am just too standard, and voted thusly. The no pickguard option might be cool, but I would want the regular pups.

[deeaa*]

Well, you've perhaps made me change my mind about there having to be a pickguard. Maybe I'll simply go for chrome HW with no other additions.

If I do put in a pickguard, I'll fake it with glued-in screw ends and fix it with double-side tape or somehow from under pickup rings...I don't want to drill unnecessary holes into the cap at least, so it'd be completely reversible. Besides, it's seeming hard to find suitable pickguards by any other means than either making one or buying a donor guitar to get one. A gibson pck won't fit and there's no specifically Epi-measured ones available.

[deeaa*]

Hm, just received an offer to swap for black parts off a Gothic model. I think I'll do that because it's an easy, simple option for now. Anybody can speak of the quality of Goth tuners? I also had an offer for black Gibson/Grovers separately...

[deeaa*]

Here's first pic and impression:



The color is darker than I anticipated, in any lower light it will appear black almost. The gold parts seem to have some wear to them already, and don't look nearly as bad as in Internet photos - it's quite Ok actually, not excessively bling in reality. Leering towards all black strongly, though. It could indeed look very mean with those.

As for playability - arrived in a cardboard box and completely in tune still(!) which was pretty amazing.
Condition is mint, back panel even still has the plastic wrap over it.

Action is ridiculously low with no buzz, I'll likely lift that up a touch - I mean, light action is just fine but if it's this low I can't bend easily as it slips under fingers too easily. Jumbo frets help, though, so I think this will likely have the lowest action of all my axes even once I lift it up a bit. The fretboard radius is a touch flatter it seems than on classic Gibsons, so it's much more of a shredder-feeling action too. I will put thicker low end strings on this I think, and nine top for extra easy bending.

The neck indeed is pretty slim, 60's slim taper style...workmanship is perfect, as expected in this CNC age, every angle and every surface is spot on and nicely polished of course. Very well made & oozes of attention to finishing. Very sturdy, full-range sound unplugged, really pleasant acoustically which promises a good amplified tone as well. Surprisingly 'tight' and responsive feel, all in all, there's not a hint of laxness or wobblying or anything, but a very solid sound and response. Could not be happier so far.

It is neck heavy, however, will have to relocate the strap button. The coil tap switch for neck pickup is on the 1st position, which I'll have to swap around definitely, if I keep these pickups. Will have to see about that.

But, yeah, so far I'd say this is way better than I expected based on playing a lot of SG style axes of late from, G400 to Vintage, VGS and Gibson Faded series - this is better than any I tried of late. An ESP-LTD 1000 series was pretty much on par and had a similar feel for some reason. Actually the Gibson faded is my least favorite of what I tested, playing-wise & for the feel of the faded finishing.

[Tig***]

Here's first pic and impression:

Cool! Most of the one's I've seen are dark, which is much better looking than bright red.
HNGD!!!!!

[deeaa*]

I'll say - I thought it'd be very crimson and tacky - much prefer the more classy & low-key color scheme in red. Black or blue or even normal red would be different, then I'd want the wood to show more, but this crimson kind of color is easily quite perverse looking. I once had a Jackson tele that was colored pretty much like this but way brighter, and it looked so dated and weird I had to paint it black instead.

[Katastrophe]

KEEP IT STOCK! I like the look of the worn gold with the rest of the guitar.

I am surprised, though, that you didn't get the trans black model in this range, as they come with EMGz.

HNGD! It is a beauty.

[deeaa*]

Well, there wasn't a trans black available just now, and then again, I kinda wanted a more traditional look. But, it'll turn into something less traditional now after all.

I just tested the guitar thru amp for the first time...whoa these Dirty Fingers sure live up to their name. They actually have just as much output as EMG85's or MORE, according to the input meter in Amplitube. Surprisingly close in sound as well, but these are more 'dirty'. We'll see if they're too metal for me...funny, usually EMG's are considered very metal pickups but these are way more driven sounding - the EMGs sound clearly more articulate and retain some clarity where the dirty fingers go more into pretty hairy overdrive already.

I may like to have one guitar like this - it does scream a bit more 'animally' than the EMG's...kinda hairy, saturated sound, but wails nicely for leads. More towards the usual sound people like, you know, like Slash, Gary Moore etc. Still, it's a big surprise to me in that usually passive pickups are clearly less kicking than my EMG's but these sound basically much the same, only dirtier and a bit looser/thicker. I mean, the EMG's seem to have _more_ low end, but it's more articulate. In these the low end is clearly less defined, more...filling. Hard to describe. Could be great for solos.

But, I'll definitely keep these in at least for now, see how they work in a band context.

The split-coil sound however isn't that great, with quick tests. Kinda clunky, with the low E somehow too loud and mids missing, but, well, this ain't no strat :-)

[deeaa*]

Now it's ripped free of gold parts, tomorrow putting in black chrome ones! Can't decide what kind of knobs though. Maybe small metal knurled ones. Maybe black speed knobs. Will see what the local store has in stock.

Further observations:can't get the bridge inserts out, tight as hell, so they'll stay under the black bridge. No matter.
Got the gold plating off pickup poles quite easily. Looks better already.
This guitar has been played a lot, despite the plastic still on back panel. Really carefully kept, not a ding on it, but by the way the neck has worn to satin obviously by playing and already nice wear on frets, I'd say it's been played quite a lot. In fact I'm thinking if I start using this much, it'll need a refret in a few years or sooner.

With the pickups out it looks scary...there definitely isn't much wood there around the neck joint to body on an SG due to neck pickup and the body so thin...they have to make the joint really well so it's tough.

[Eric***]

Interesting observations, particularly about the neck joint and coil split. Looking at your picture, I can see how when you get the neck pickup out you would realize just how little wood there is around there. That's really interesting to hear.

Also, I've yet to come across a coil split I actually like. I view them mostly as fun features that might get you to buy a guitar, but that are not that useful to me when actually playing the guitar.

[deeaa*]

I used to have a kind of a coil split on my LP...but instead of just making the pickup single-coil, it was arranged so that it made it dual single instead of humbucking, i.e. just like strat 2nd position. That was quite usable, I'd even say it was good. Not a strat, but a nice big clean sound anyway.

Yeah, I don't see myself using the coil tap much, at least for cleans. Could be fun for some crunch type sounds with both PU'son.

And yeah, it does look scary little for the wood around there...but, I suppose any SG is the same. Simply no room in the design!

[Tig***]

I had a feeling you might enjoy those Dirty Fingers pickups! You described their sound really well, but I never knew they were so close to EMG's.

[Duffy]

That's a nice looking SG. I'm sure the black chrome will look great and am anticipating seeing the pictures.

I have an Epi Tribute LP 1960's neck that has coil tapping - series and parallel, one push pull pot for each pickup separately. Playing this thru my Big Muff Pi USA into my Hot Rod Deluxe special ed. it sounded very excellent and the coil tapping sounded very excellent as well - whereas the coil tapping on all of the other guitars I have is not impressive, in my opinion. Maybe it is the Gibson USA '57 and '57 Plus pickups that make the difference. That Tribute is a very beautiful guitar and plays and sounds super excellent; I'd say as good as my solid maple cap Gibson LP Studio Faded with Burstbucker Pro's - I'll have to A/B these two guitars more to see what I think, but the Tribute is, to me, a very special guitar that exudes a vibe that is almost metaphysical and when I play it it is awesomely gratifying. I think Epiphone did a better job with this one than they had actually planned and it is, in my opinion, a very honorable Tribute to Les Paul. The whole is greater than the sum of the parts. It would not surprise me if it is a superior guitar to many of the low end Gibsons, all things considered.

Having played the Prophesy SG with DF pickups I can see where you would probably like that biting EMG-like tone. I didn't care for them because they sounded to harsh, not smooth like the SD JB and '59 combination or the Alnico II Pro's. I probably need to try one of these EMG type guitars thru my 6505+ and see what I think. I tried my Ibanez ART300 with the Ibanez active humbuckers thru it and the amp definitely got hit way harder by the guitar than with passives and it roared. I should try that some more and try an EMG fitted guitar thru an ultra high gain amp at the music store, maybe today, to see what I think. That might be the key to getting the best EMG sound.

I agree, definitely not a strat, haha.

Looks like you have a fine project guitar to dress out there. Good luck with it.

[deeaa*]

Here's the pics after mods!









It does look waaaayy better IMO now with black parts. Also, it does need a lot of light of viewing outdoors to reveal the wood grain, but it's there :-)