NGD Epi LP

deeaa · Mon Oct 04, 2021 2:51 pm

This 1991 Samick made LP Standard 50s Slim Taper ended up in my hands.

Boy, they made guitars well at Samick. 30 odd years old and it's near mint. Just frets worn, but there was still enough left to do them, recrown and all and they're still nicely high. The slim taper neck is absolutely straight and crazy slim indeed, but not lax. Also read that it has a long tenon neck joint. Easy to believe, this thing feels solid as f when playing. Still, it's not crazy heavy.

It has some nameless obviously Ceramic pickups- not bad at all really, but I'm gonna put in Epi Probuckers for appropriate match.

Don't know what's it worth, gotta look around...but it's a very good LP indeed. The top isn't exactly AA flame but I wonder if it's a good thing and means a little thicker than the usual Epiphone veneer.

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mozz · Mon Oct 04, 2021 7:22 pm

If you have the strings off, pull the neck pickup, should see the long tenon.

deeaa · Tue Oct 05, 2021 3:41 am

mozz wrote:If you have the strings off, pull the neck pickup, should see the long tenon.

Yep, gonna take the electronics out tomorrow night, got those Probuckers arriving by mail then (I hope).

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deeaa · Tue Oct 05, 2021 9:11 am

Yep, obviously long tenon. Also the top veneer is very thick...3mm minimum, when it's usually under 0.5mm. There's a maple cap under it as well it seems.

Can't wait to get this back together

deeaa · Thu Oct 07, 2021 9:09 am

LP is done. Gotta say this is a better guitar than any Gibson LP I ever owned, and the '92 I had was pretty great.

If only the neck was thicker...it's really slim. Incredible that it feels very sturdy nevertheless, no flex to speak of, and it's 30 years old. Would be great for leads, and it's also perfectly straight and all that, now that I polished and leveled the frets, you can get action as low as they come with ease.

But it's too thin for me, since I play mostly rhythm.

I put in Probuckers which are +/- 8 Kohm in it, and it sounds like a really good classic LP, you get very nicely defined driven midrange for those 80s riffs even at low gain, sounds a lot hotter than they are, but there's loads of clarity.

If I were to keep it for my own use, I'd consider putting a 498t in it...or maybe a 490 would suffice as the guitar sounds so tight and focused. But then again the pair now works together superbly, for once the neck pup actually sounds great and not too violin dark, just fluid and bell-like in comparison...so maybe I'd keep it like this.

Have to play it some more. Maybe I could live with the slim neck in the studio.

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Mossman · Thu Oct 07, 2021 11:07 am

Wow, that neck IS thin! It looks like a wizard neck.

I would keep the Epi Pro-Buckers... I think they sound great. I used to own an Epi LP Custom with PBs, and I just put a set in my Ibanez AS93. I agree about the clarity. I prefer single-coil pickups, and find a lot of HBs to sound "blurry" and inarticulate, but those PBs ring like a bell.

SamIV · Thu Oct 07, 2021 1:05 pm

I owned one of those briefly before I gave it to my brother. They are very well built. I actually liked the neck, and mine was a three piece neck. Just not much of a LP guy and my brother is. It was part of a trade and was not as good condition as yours.

deeaa · Mon Oct 11, 2021 9:14 am

Put it for sale at 500€, it sold in twenty minutes flat. Possibly the quickest sale I've made.

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Wed Oct 13, 2021 11:25 pm

Mossman wrote: ↑Thu Oct 07, 2021 11:07 am
...I would keep the Epi Pro-Buckers... I think they sound great. I used to own an Epi LP Custom with PBs, and I just put a set in my Ibanez AS93. I agree about the clarity. I prefer single-coil pickups, and find a lot of HBs to sound "blurry" and inarticulate, but those PBs ring like a bell.

I keep snapping used sets up when i see them around $40-$50 for different magnet swaps I want to eventually try (A3/A4/A6/A8)/ I always thought the only difference between the Probuckers and the Alnico Classic Pros was the magnets (A2 vs. A5) but I've since discovered that they're wound differently too...

Mossman · Thu Oct 14, 2021 12:23 am

tobijohn wrote: ↑Wed Oct 13, 2021 11:25 pm
Mossman wrote: ↑Thu Oct 07, 2021 11:07 am
...I would keep the Epi Pro-Buckers... I think they sound great. I used to own an Epi LP Custom with PBs, and I just put a set in my Ibanez AS93. I agree about the clarity. I prefer single-coil pickups, and find a lot of HBs to sound "blurry" and inarticulate, but those PBs ring like a bell.
I keep snapping used sets up when i see them around $40-$50 for different magnet swaps I want to eventually try (A3/A4/A6/A8)/ I always thought the only difference between the Probuckers and the Alnico Classic Pros was the magnets (A2 vs. A5) but I've since discovered that they're wound differently too...

Oddly enough, I started thinking about putting an A5 in the neck pickup last night. It's pretty articulate for the most part, but the E and A strings sound a little too... tubby for me. Lowering the pickup helped tighten up the sound a bit, but I still want a little more edge on the lower strings. I remembered thinking the same thing about the Tonerider A2 Classics I put in my last AL, and considered swapping the magnet, but never got around to it. At the time I thought maybe A2s weren't so good for neck humbuckers, but I had no such complaints about the neck pickup in my Epi LP Custom, which had Pro-Buckers. I guess it depends on the guitar... Imagine that.

deeaa · Thu Oct 14, 2021 12:31 am

I only use alnico V pickups. Most of my guitars have a 498t at bridge, or a JB, and also at neck I always put an alnico V bucker wired in parallel.

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Thu Oct 14, 2021 2:27 am

deeaa wrote: ↑Thu Oct 14, 2021 12:31 am I only use alnico V pickups...

Interesting, why is that? Or more specifically, what is it about the other magnets that you don't like?

Thu Oct 14, 2021 2:32 am

Mossman wrote: ↑Thu Oct 14, 2021 12:23 am
Oddly enough, I started thinking about putting an A5 in the neck pickup last night. It's pretty articulate for the most part, but the E and A strings sound a little too... tubby for me. Lowering the pickup helped tighten up the sound a bit, but I still want a little more edge on the lower strings...

FWIW, most LP Studios uses Alnico 5 magnets in the bridge (498) and Alnico 2s in the neck (490). For some reason, I would think the opposite would be a better way to go...

deeaa · Thu Oct 14, 2021 2:44 am

tobijohn wrote:
deeaa wrote: ↑Thu Oct 14, 2021 12:31 am I only use alnico V pickups...
Interesting, why is that? Or more specifically, what is it about the other magnets that you don't like?

I don't know really...I never even knew about the magnet type before, but simply noticed at some point that all the pickups I liked well seemed to be alnico 5.

So if I had to buy a pickup 'blind' I'd be mostly interested if it were Alnico 5 and something between 11 and 14 KOhm in strength.

Not sure if it really makes much difference. I just put a Levinson Blade bucker in one of my guitars and it's alnico 5 as well but I could swear it's ceramic even, not a huge lot of clarity and sort of...hairy despite only around 10KOhm.

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honyock · Thu Oct 14, 2021 2:00 pm

tobijohn wrote:
Mossman wrote: ↑Thu Oct 14, 2021 12:23 am
Oddly enough, I started thinking about putting an A5 in the neck pickup last night. It's pretty articulate for the most part, but the E and A strings sound a little too... tubby for me. Lowering the pickup helped tighten up the sound a bit, but I still want a little more edge on the lower strings...
FWIW, most LP Studios uses Alnico 5 magnets in the bridge (498) and Alnico 2s in the neck (490). For some reason, I would think the opposite would be a better way to go...

More movement of string equals more output so less magnet strength and/or windings are required to get same output as the bridge pickup.

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