The Jazz Guitar Chord Dictionary
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  1. #26

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    Jazzbow, Nice Tutorial on proper set up. And Vinlander thanks for that shot of yours. I was just reaching for the jig saw.....

    For years I had a '48 L-7 and loved it. I even sold it and bought it back! Eventually I sold it to buy an old Twin amp. I'd been jonesing for an acoustic archtop and last year went looking for something I could afford. Searching thru the web, I settled on a blonde 2004 Peerless example with a very nice Levy's bag.
    It arrived and to my delight already had a nicely done bone nut, the bridge was fine, (It's odd though A Rosewood base with an Ebony saddle, is that stock?) and nicely dressed frets. Except for strings it needed little.
    I left it as -is for a week or so then turned it into what you see in the second shot. I had a set of med phos. bronze on hand so I put them on. I've gone back and forth between the ebony bridge and one with a bone saddle. It's not a killer but it'll do until the real thing comes along.
    As it turned out I also found a very affordable UnSung built Broadway with a Bigsby tailpiece. I asked the seller about the stock tail and he was lucky enough to find it and send it along. I used the long side of it as you can see. Idea proudly swiped from Hank Garland!
    3 things I would have liked. First a non cutaway body, then figured veneers and, while the necks is decent I would have liked a bit more beef. After I got mine I saw one that had Birdseye back and sides but haven't ever seen another with figured wood. I realize it's a profit driven world but I doubt the cost of figured veneers would have broke the bank and might have sold more guitars.

    And lastly a blast from the past. A post war Deluxe I owned for a while leaning against a '52 Alamo Amp-6a. THE coolest looking amp I've ever owned!
    Attached Images Attached Images Epiphone Emperor Regent - Setup and Tweaks-001-jpg Epiphone Emperor Regent - Setup and Tweaks-img_0762-jpg Epiphone Emperor Regent - Setup and Tweaks-epialamo2-jpg 
    Last edited by Bigsbyguy; 08-20-2015 at 06:41 PM.

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    The Jazz Guitar Chord Dictionary
     
  3. #27

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    Great job Jazzbow, I loved everything about the post. All those hours of work straightening out the problems. How little effort it would have been for the factory to take care of those flaws and then they would have been producing a product to be proud of. Perhaps Gibson is afraid to show just how good a guitar can be without costing $10,000.Thanks for the effort.

  4. #28

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    Awesome thread, i'm about to buy an Emperor Regent too, and being aware of this will let me guide the luthier i hire to do a great work like you did.

    Thanks!

  5. #29

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    Great thread. I imagine paying a luthier to do all of that would almost double the price of the instrument, well, at least half as much again. Worth the bother?

  6. #30

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    Wonderful thread, absolutely wonderful!
    I'm going to follow your process to setup an Emperor Regent as well.

    With that said, do you think it would be better to get a bone nut, or one of those lubricated tusq ones for a guitar like this?

  7. #31

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    I have a question; I recently removed a pickguard on this guitar and found that the pickup was not attached to the neck bracket. Does this mean the guitar is broken, or is it just a different design?
    Last edited by JohnBee; 07-31-2018 at 06:34 AM.

  8. #32

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    I would say that Tusq is more consistent and harmonically better. There's a you tube video of that grumpy Dave fella doing a sound comparison twixt bone and Tusq by dropping them onto a hard surface. Bone went 'clunk' and Tusq went 'click'.

    But, as always, 1 out of 1000 music lovers would be able to tell the difference in a live music event (before alcohol of course).

    Lots of opinion out there. It's whatever gets you 'on & in'.

  9. #33

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    Quote Originally Posted by JohnBee
    I have a question; I recently removed the pickguard on my own guitar and found that the pickup was not attached to the neck bracket. Does this mean mine is broken, or a different design?
    Broke.

    Careful with soldering it back on.

    Or alternatively solder in another pickup.

    I have ditched the mini humbucker for a 50 year old single coil Vox pickup which will have to be noted on this thread, sometime...

    Have fun

  10. #34

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    Oh well that's not good - I was under the impression that the guitar was pristine, but I guess the seller kept this on the down-low. At any rate, I'll assemble a replacement pickup and pickguard rather than to mess with it, and include the broken as backup.

    With that said, do you have any recommendations for a replacement, or would I be better off sticking with the original?
    Last edited by JohnBee; 07-31-2018 at 06:35 AM.

  11. #35

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    The more common way of mounting a suspended pickup is to attach it to the pickguard. Sometimes they are attached to the end of the neck with a bracket. Perhaps this one originally had the pickup attached to the neck, but it was replaced with one attached to the pickguard. It's possible for the pickup to break off the bracket. That isn't the end of the world, because the pickup can be attached to a pickguard and still used. I'm not sure if that's the case with yours, or if you have a replacement pickup. As long as it works, I wouldn't worry about it.

  12. #36

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    Okay, I just checked and concluded that the pickup is indeed broken. And so I guess I'll just order a new one.
    With that said, do you think a "Kent Armstrong Handwound Mini Humbucker 12 pole side mount" pickup would be a suitable replacement?

    Also, I noticed the mounting face where the neck bracket resides is in pretty bad shape, though I wouldn't want to remove it, as this would expose the mounting holes and raw spacing. And so I wondered if you know a better method of addressing this, and/or whether there was a gold plated bracket to cover this up? Or would this be more of a custom piece?
    Last edited by JohnBee; 07-31-2018 at 06:37 AM.

  13. #37

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    Quote Originally Posted by JohnBee
    Oh well that's not good - I was under the impression that the guitar was pristine, but I guess the seller kept this little fact on the downlow.

    At any rate, I'll assemble a replacement pickup and pickguard rather than to mess with this one, and keep the broken as backup.

    With that said, do you have any recommendations for a replacement, or would I be better off sticking with the original?
    Hard to say depending on what your tastes are.

    Mini humbucker is bright sounding with no hum. Full sized humbucker warm bassy tone no hum.
    Single coil more articulate bright tone.
    Factor in pots and cap values then 'Whammo!' You're falling down the rabbit hole of tone desperately trying to cling on..... Wahhhh!
    Do what I've done and make up a couple of scratchplate with different pickups with an easy way to swap them around.

    Y'know methinks i should post up my electronic swappables for the Epi Emp Reg tweak thread this weekend.
    Give me time and I'll get some pix and maybe sound bites.

  14. #38

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    Quote Originally Posted by JohnBee
    Okay, I just checked and concluded that the pickup is indeed broken. And so I guess I'll just order a new one.
    With that said, do you think a "Kent Armstrong Handwound Mini Humbucker 12 pole side mount" pickup would be a suitable replacement?

    Also, I noticed the mounting face where the neck bracket resides is in pretty bad shape, but wouldn't want to remove it, as this would expose the mounting holes and the likes. And so I wondered if you know whether there was a gold plated bracket to cover this up. Or would that be more of a custom piece?
    The K/A is a good piece of kit.
    As for the remaining holes I must put the screws back in. However for the OCD types something could be manufactured. Sky's the limit!

  15. #39

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    A true OCD proponent would setup and electrolysis bath and replate the original bracket

    .oO now where did I put that electrophoretic gold dye lacquer

  16. #40

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    Thanks for posting such an interesting run through of your tweaks.
    I bought a 2012 Regent a couple of months ago and experienced all the same issues you had.
    The guitar had obviously hardly been used in the last 6 years and was in mint condition.
    The acoustic sound/tone was very dull and sustain very bad.

    What I've done so far:
    D'Addario 12-52 halfrounds.
    Replaced the nut with a ZeroGlide Zero Fret with stainless fret. (I've done this on all my guitars. Love it!)
    Gotoh TOM (black) with Ti saddles. Filed the saddles for a better radius and notched for a better string spacing.
    Sanded the bridge base to fit. I had the same problem as others with the ends of the base rising up on string tension so I just cut off the last 12mm of each end. Feeling through the f-holes this takes the base to just over the internal bracing.
    Grover locking tuners (black). (Had to fill in the old screw holes as new tuners off by a couple of mm).
    Trimmed down the pickup poles so the pickup lies flat and doesn't touch the top.
    Setup action and intonation. Frets almost perfect.
    MusicNomad F-One fretboard oil.

    What a difference!
    Sustain massively improved.
    Tone now full and mellow across all the strings. Just what I wanted.

    Jobs still to do:
    A 'harp' shaped metal tailpiece due soon.
    I've got a Macassar ebony fretboard that I'm sanding and shaping to make a new finger rest.
    Full width 12-pole humbucker on the drawingboard with Oil City pickups here in London.
    When that comes through next year I'll fit the finger rest and re-do the electronics with some Schatten Design thumbwheels.
    Gotoh curved jack plate (black).

    That will complete the black makeover as well! (never really liked the gold finishes).

  17. #41

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    Figured I'd revive this since I've decided to attempt to improve the bridge-to-top contact on my Epiphone ER.

    To be brief, I failed! Haha.
    I followed the OP's steps as far as taping and marking things. Picked up some 180 grit sandpaper, taped it down and got to sanding. I did it 3 times and still couldn't get it 100% flush. Ugh! It's better but still comes pretty short.

    Someone very knowledgeable played the guitar a few weeks and said that he thought the 3 high strings sounded a bit shrill, so I hoped this would help. I don't have the experience or tools to make the other improvements. Maybe next time I change strings I will take another bite at the Apple.

    On another note, I swapped out the high E & B strings for .13 & .17s. It helped a bit.

  18. #42

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    Hello matey, Jazzbow here.

    The bridge feet will push up as the guitar top flexes. I believe the centre of the bridge base (between the string posts) would need to sit flush. You could cut in the flex to the bridge plate but that skill takes many f'ups to perfect.

    Shrill notes could be the string gauge but it also could be a bad saddle string slot being flat. You should be looking at 1 inch height between bottom of string to guitar top plate at the bridge/saddle as a rule, this gives you the right break angle. Any less than an inch and we could be looking at a collapsed top or neck reset.

    Hello everyone else. I'm still here! Vaguely um and err not to mention lots of ha ha.

  19. #43

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    I have had an emperor regent since 2009. Its made in Korea.
    There is a lot to like about this guitar, but like many others, who have posted around. There seems to be a frequent dissatisfaction with some aspects of the guitars sound. not all of the sound, but part of it and if that could be fixed than the guitar would be brilliant.

    On my guitar it first need a big setup. I had it fully worked on in London and plecked. The finger board is now as good as any gibson. For many of these guitars the nut is in serious need of skilled attention and that alone will make them much more playable. For many, the frets will be OK, if not, the guitars neck is well made and can be a great fingerboard after some work in the luthiers.

    As for the sound, mine seemed very bassy, and woody, which was good. However it had weird scooped midrange with an annoying shrill quality to the treble part of the sound, particularly on the top strings. It sounded good acoustically but the electric sound was not great. This could be EQ'd out, either with the tone control on the amp, but that isn't really a great fix. I can see why many people were experimenting with different pickups.
    It would be better if the guitar just didn't make a shrill sound. This sound has stopped me from using the guitar, and using others, although I always hung onto it in the hope I might "cure" the sound on day.

    Finally I have, so I thought I would share my fix for my problem. I appreciate this might not work for others, or for every emperor regent, but it worked on mine.

    I simply replaced the top part of the wooden bridge with a metal tune-o-matic one. I have kept the wooden foot of the bridge, as that is already shaped to the guitars top. With the tune-o-matic that I got the top simply slotted on. The change to the electric sound was dramatic.


    • All the shrill treble has gone, replaced with a sweet clean glassy treble, as you would want
    • The scooped mid has gone and a thicker upper mid is now present
    • Bass remains the same, thick and large
    • Sustain, with flat wounds, is a slightly increased, but not excessive.
    • The airy quality of the guitar is still there, the "floating pickup" sound but no shrill treble.


    This has been a great improvement for this guitar, won't be selling now. Also won't be replacing the pickup, it actually sounds fine.

    Another small change I made was to replace the tone capacitor. The one supplied was of large value, as in line with vintage guitars. I put on the same value that a current gibson has. The tone control works in a more "normal" way with that change.

    In summary, if you want to get a better electric sound from this guitar, try swapping the bridge top for a tune-o-matic before doing anything more. Its an easy cost effective change and might get you the sound you want.

  20. #44

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    For reasons I don't completely understand, some guitars seem to prefer TOMs, and some seem to prefer wood. I haven't found a way to predict in advance which will sound better on an individual guitar. Some also prefer solid bases, and some seem to like split ones. The only way I know to tell is to try all the combinations.

  21. #45

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    I should consider myself lucky, because my -99 ER has never needed any work on bridge, saddle or fingerboard. The tone issues are pretty subjective, and many of us are constantly seeking for better PUs, capacitors, strings etc. After years with flatwounds I returned to roundwounds, because this guitar serves mainly in a swing-type comping role. I always try to keep the amp volume so low that the guitar itself is also heard. Unhappy with the original PU, I found very little improvement from the Sky PUs subsequently mounted. There's a Shadow AZ 48 waiting for installation, but I don't want to cut a bigger opening to the pickguard.

    Around 2002 I was on a business trip in Florida. A jazz trio was playing in the hotel lobby, led by a fine guitarist whose name I, unfortunately, did not catch. He was playing an ER and said it's just as good as his Gibson but much more sensible for a touring musician. It was the first time I became aware of TI flatwounds.

    Funny how much less discussion there's about the sister model Broadway, which has two humbuckers dug into the top and, hence, assumably, inferior acoustic properties.
    Last edited by Gitterbug; 07-04-2020 at 03:52 PM.

  22. #46

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    Quote Originally Posted by Imoy
    I have had an emperor regent since 2009. Its made in Korea.
    There is a lot to like about this guitar, but like many others, who have posted around. There seems to be a frequent dissatisfaction with some aspects of the guitars sound. not all of the sound, but part of it and if that could be fixed than the guitar would be brilliant.

    In summary, if you want to get a better electric sound from this guitar, try swapping the bridge top for a tune-o-matic before doing anything more. Its an easy cost effective change and might get you the sound you want.
    Nice observations Imoy.

    The ER is a sound long scale semi pro instrument or knock-about gigging guitar and great platform for changing the hardware.

    Hi everyone else from Jazzbows lush lockdown lodgings.
    Still here and tweaking shattered, torn and pulverized musical instruments.

    Funnily enough me next project is to swap out some pickups and an easy click in system for the Epi Emp Reg.
    I have, at present, a 60 year old Vox single coil pickup on the ole' girl at the moment.
    I also have a 60 year old Fenton Weil single coil pickup and loom plus an old Japanese made single coil from the 70's as well!

    The idea is to have a simple (Derrr) system to be able to swap out pickup looms in minutes, so swap a single coil to humbucker if needed in a buzzy live room setting.

    I'll crack on this week and post up the results here for your perusal.