Andy 40's Artist LP60 needs a pimpin'

I needed a win lately so i dug up my Artist Guitars LP60 and decided to pimp it a bit.:cool:

I bought this little guy for my 40th and like the finish and the way it played. They are about $250 nowadays but back then it was closer to $200 new.

It isn't bad stock, the body is mahogany with a flame maple veneer - tobacco burst, it says the neck is maple but I think its mahogany. It comes with a plastic nut, 2 x Wilkinson Humbuckers and from what i can see most of the wiring and parts come from Korea and/or China.

It sounds ok, but against my PBG LP............ it doesn't even come close. I needed to pimp it....or I'll never play it.

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Sooooo over the past 2 days been workin' on some pimpin'

Upgrades are:-
1. Bone nut and new control knobs;
2. Gotoh Audio Taper Pots (the ones I couldn't fit into my ES-1G) and add treble bleed;
3. Switchcraft toggle switch;
4. replace all wiring with vintage push back wiring;
5. Tonerider Generators;
6. Klusons 3 a side.

Im also gonna get rid of the rhythm/treble indicator and the plastic pickguard.

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Interesting try out...I got a bone nut from realparts Gibson specs and only had to file down each end a little and the base a little and it fits pretty well.

Finished by lunchtime today:D

pick of the wiring

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Sufficiently pimped...

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nice work Andy, that looks heaps better than it did. How does it sound and play now much improvement ?

yeah eons better.

It wasn't bad before though the wilkinsons but the sound and tone lacked punch and clarity and was quite muddy or wolly. I suspect that it was a combination of the plastic nut and korean/chinese parts that caused it.

this is my G n' R guitar so it will spend its life in Eb tuning...

I'll probably re-use the Wilkinson in my double neck.

good stuff Andy, you will need another pair of Wilkinsons for the SGD though. The electronics looked pretty cheap so sure the upgraded pots/caps/switch has also helped the sound.
Zebra pups go really well with the cream surrounds too !

looks kick ass now mate, nice job, amazing what changing a few simple things can do for an inexpensive guitar

Thanks guys, I think i spent about $200 on the upgrades. so that's about $400 all up and i'd be damned if it didn't sound just like a "G"

Choice upgrades, looks & no doubt sounds great!

Hi Andy, Looking good and no doubt it sounds way better. Mind you those Wilkinsons are supposed to be equivalent to original spec PAF's so another pair in the SGD would be way better than the stock Chinese units.

What were the replaced tuners like as they looked OK from the pics? I need to replace tuners on my Slash epi as per these shots and was wondering if your replaced ones were working properly and if we could do a deal?
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