G&L Legacy USA upgrades?

Thu Nov 14, 2013 1:26 am

Hi,

I've been looking at upgrading my Epiphone Les Paul Standard.

Which got me thinking, is there any components I can upgrade on my G&L Legacy USA?

For example:

* Pots?
* Capacitors?
* Shielding?
* Tuners?
* Picups? (More sceptic about this one.. :))

Has anyone done any upgrades? Anything worth trying? :)

/Edson

Re: G&L Legacy USA upgrades?

Thu Nov 14, 2013 2:20 am

Your Legacy is a high end product and all the parts used are high level parts.

Your Epiphone is from the lower end and all the things you listed, may be replaced by easily to find better parts, necessary or not. But that's not the case with your US made Legacy. And even if the Legacy was a Tribute, there are few things to change, as the most parts are same or similar quality and pickups are the same.

If you do not like the sound of the pickups, you may choose another ones, but not for the build quality.

Re: G&L Legacy USA upgrades?

Thu Nov 14, 2013 3:44 am

Miles Smiles wrote:Your Legacy is a high end product and all the parts used are high level parts.

Your Epiphone is from the lower end and all the things you listed, may be replaced by easily to find better parts, necessary or not. But that's not the case with your US made Legacy. And even if the Legacy was a Tribute, there are few things to change, as the most parts are same or similar quality and pickups are the same.

If you do not like the sound of the pickups, you may choose another ones, but not for the build quality.


Great, thank you for the answer.

I wouldn't need to shield either?

My volume knob has gotten noisy when i turn it up/down, what do I use to fix, clean this?

/edson

Re: G&L Legacy USA upgrades?

Thu Nov 14, 2013 7:23 am

For your volume knob: DeoxIT Pot & Switch Cleaner , here is a

You can shield the guitar to help reduce transient noise. This won't eliminate the single coil hum.

Re: G&L Legacy USA upgrades?

Thu Nov 14, 2013 5:47 pm

If it isn't broken, don't fix it. Same goes for your Epi. If the pots work and aren't scratchy, and you like the tone (ie. pot value) don't change them. Alpha, CTS, Bourns pots are all basically crap. I don't change them unless I'm changing value or they fail. Changing from a working 500k Asian pot to a CTS is a not an upgrade, it is a waste of money. You can change VALUES, and get a real affect, like cap values (going from .022uf stock to something like .01uf, .0047uf, or my favorite with humbuckers .0022uf) or from a pot that measures low to a higher value if the pickup sounds too dark, or from a high value pot to lower value if the bridge is shrill. Those are worth doing and get real noticeable outcomes. Changing from a working pot to another working pot or the same with caps, of the same value, is a waste.

Good upgrades for G&Ls: If it has a trem and doesn't have a graphtech nut and locking tuners, by all means, do that.