My modded Joe Pass

[FrankLearns]

Hi everyone,

i wanted to share with you a few pictures of my moded Epiphonw Joe Pass - maybe somebody likes it or was considering something similar. I always loved the neck on the Joe Pass and how it plays (I play with Chromes 12 on it), really comfortable with low action. I also always liked its accoustic tone. Although mine was built in Indonesia i really cannot complain about the build-quality of the guitar (the korean ones are typically said to be superior but i never had one in my hands). The dimensions of the guitar are just comfortable for me. The problem with the guitar was the somewhat sub-standard hardware. And i also wanted to be able to amplify its accoustic tone. After some research i decided to modify it.

Here is what i did:

- Changed the pickups against some boutique PAFs (they are these Amber pickips; spirit of 59). That was absolutely necessary as the stock pickups sounded thin, muddy and metallic to me. The Amber pickups are absolutely fabulous, but it was probably still a bit overdone and i suspect that Gibson classic 57s would have also done the job. (BTW: the guitar tech who did the job really did not want to change the electronics - so they are still original).
- Changed the nut against a bone nut that the guitar tech custom filed.
- Changed the bridge against a Schattendesign archtop bridge with a piezo. This actually required the guitar tech to drill a hole next to the original output jack. He said he couldn't fit the jack that came with the pickup. I find the solution he came up with quite practical and elegant. The additional wire from the Schattendesign bridge is running under the pickguard into the f-hole and is not in the way or visible.
- Changed the knobs against wood knobs.
- Changed the cheap plastic tortoise pickguard with the tacky Joe Pass signature against a wooden pickguard from ebay.

http://s1192.photobucket.com/albums/...t=IMG_1608.jpg
This is the modified guitar

http://s1192.photobucket.com/albums/...t=IMG_1610.jpg
This shows the wood pickguard and the wooden knobs.

http://s1192.photobucket.com/albums/...t=IMG_1611.jpg
This shows the two output jacks

http://s1192.photobucket.com/albums/...t=IMG_1614.jpg
This is the piezi cable going into the f-hole beneath the pickguard


- One thing that i haven't done is to change the tailpiece. I kind of like the looks of the stock one. Would it normally be wise to change that against, say, a Benedetto tailpiece? I bet many people here have experience with that kind of modification.

After these changes i think the guitar looks nice, is very versatile, plays nicely and sounds incredible. IMHO it easily sounds as good as an instrument in the 2000 - 3000 Euro range. Probably not quite as nice and big as an L5 or something in that category but it has a wonderful tone for jazz. The changing of the nut and bridge mellowed the tone of the guitar quite a bit. Before it had a kind of "crispy" sound that i always liked. Afterwards it is more in the classical jazz guitar territory, very warm, fat and mellow.

I play the regular pickups mainly over a Henricksen JazzAmp 112 and that gives a tone that i find absolutely incredible. All the warm, fat Jazztone that one can wish for with many variations depending on the pickup combination and tone knob settings. Everything from very dark on the neck pickup with the tone roled down (think 'round midnight') to bright, crisp and voluminous with both pickups on (think 'Affirmation').

The Piezo i play over a AER Compact XL and after boosting the bass and cutting the highs a bit i think that it is the really nice, accoustic, woody sound that i wanted. It is nice for comping with fantastic note definition or a bit like gypsy jazz. I really really like that sound and it is something that the PAFs won't do. The Schattendesign piezo also sounds good over the Henricksen but of course not as "fat" as the PAFs. The PAFs sound ok over the AER but it's not really for me.

I was wondering which highly priced, high quality guitar would be based on a similar concept of a thinner 16'' body, solid spruce top together with a 24 3/4'' neck? The JP kind of resembles a Byrdland to some extent, but of course the Byrdland has that short 23-1/2 '' signature neck that also is quite a bit narrower. It tends to leave too little space for "crowded" voicings IMHO (especially further up on the neck, e.g. a clean Dm7b5 on the 10th fret i find hard to do). Maybe a relatively close design is an Ibanez George Benson, but of course it is laminated and i personally do not dig the sound of floating pickups that much? Any other ideas?

Anyways, i just thought some of you might be interested.
Keep swinging!
Frank

[vinlander]

Congratz, nice guitar.
I also did some upgrade to my Joe Pass like adding a 490R for the neck pickup. I had thought about adding a Benedetto tailpiece but finally it was more suitable on my Regent; I put an harp tailpiece instead.
My Joe Pass gets close to an ES165 or 175 because of the pickup, I guess with an ABR it might even be closer.
Overall these cheap Epiphones make great upgrade projects if one doesn't think to get back money invested.
I already have a Regent highly modified and soon my Sheraton gets ALL its electronics changed for classic 57 /57+ and a BCS ES 335 harness.

[loydb]

I've got the same axe, and plan on making a wood pickguard for it, yours looks good. I've been considering dropping in some Ken Armstrong pickups as well.

[caravan]

So, you have a dual source system. How are you mixing the two signals together?

[FrankLearns]

I don't - i use two different amplifiers - the AER for the piezo and the Henricksen for the PAFs. I think that gives better results anyways since the PAFs do not sound so exciting over the AER and the piezo is ok over the Henricksen but i prefer to play it over the AER. Also the piezo has no volume or tone controls on its own. So far i have also been looking for one sound or the other and not a mixture. Maybe that changes.

I must confess that with my Godin guitars that can mix piezo and Humbuckers i did not dig the mixed sound so much (but primarily because putting the piezo in operation kills some of the humbucker output).

Cheers,
Frank

[jonnykiss]

Hi folks, great post! I'm thinking of doing the same with the Joe Pass Emperor and I was intrigued at the idea of putting a piezo in at the bridge with a Schatten design bridge. I also own the same AER amp and have tried using the regular pickups through it and it's not a great sound. So the piezo thing might be a good option. However, I like the idea of putting in a Tune-O-Matic bridge instead and therefore may not be able to fit a piezo.


Also, what other pickup options are available out there?

Guitar looks great by the way Frank!

[mongrel]

Originally Posted by jonnykiss

Hi folks, great post! I'm thinking of doing the same with the Joe Pass Emperor and I was intrigued at the idea of putting a piezo in at the bridge with a Schatten design bridge. I also own the same AER amp and have tried using the regular pickups through it and it's not a great sound. So the piezo thing might be a good option. However, I like the idea of putting in a Tune-O-Matic bridge instead and therefore may not be able to fit a piezo.


Also, what other pickup options are available out there?

Guitar looks great by the way Frank!

I have one made in 2006 in a natural finish. I replaced the fancy tailpiece with a simple Gibson style trapeze from Allparts, removed the pickguard, installed a tunamatic bridge with nylon saddles from an old Roland synth guitar (made by Ibanez), and have had two after-market sets of pickups in it. First I installed Vintage Vibe HCC's and, after I got a Samick JZ semi-hollow that I wanted to try them in, I pulled them from the Joe Pass and installed a set of Duncan Phat Cats which I like a good bit better than the HCC's. I think the JP is tailor-made for the P-90 type humbucker sized pickups with the lower the wind the better, at least for me. Of course it has flatwounds.