This is an Epiphone EB-O that I picked up for $100 at my local Music Go Round. I was under the impression that it was heavily used because of the fingerboard and fret wear but what really surprised me was that it was so heavily played despite having some of the worst action and fret work I'd seen in a long time. Kudos to the previous owner for having the drive to stick with playing such an instrument in dire need of fretwork and a set up. When I got it home I did a much needed fret level, crown and polish. The stock mudbucker pickup sounded alright but it was very anemic. I'm not surprised by the low output seeing that the magnets were extremely weak and the coil measure less than 2K ohm resistance... 28K ohm less than a lot of cheap aftermarket mudbuckers. I decided to forgo rewinding the stocker and instead install a TV Jones type humbucker and a strat style single coil. I originally installed an aftermarket dual coil dual rail Strat type pickup but liked the sound of an overwound single coil Strat type instead so that's what I stuck with. The aluminum pickup mounts were made from an aluminum door kick plate and the tail piece was a section of 1/8" aluminum I had lying around. If you've ever dealt with the stock Epi 3-point bridge you'll know why I bothered with the tail piece. Needless to say I really like playing this bass and it has a nice low growl like my P bass with the Model One at the neck. It's a definite keeper. |