Hey guys, thought I’d share my latest project! This is an Epiphone Bully, I think the serial number puts it around 2001. This guitar came to me in 2011; it belonged to my brother and when he passed in that year it came to me. Don’t remember a ton of the specifics of how he got it; think he picked it up at a pawn shop or something, probably around 2006 or so.
Anyhow, I always like the overall feel of the guitar; nice feeling neck and not too heavy overall (though it has a tendency to neck dive). I never was blown away by the pickups, they tended to be a bit muddy no matter how I set them. The electronics were a tad unreliable too; scratchy pots and the switch didn’t always make contact on the neck position. And finally, I just didn’t vibe with the overall look, the red wasn’t really my thing. But, it had extreme sentimental value to me, being a memory of my late brother and also the first guitar I really started learning on. So I knew I’d always keep it. Took me over a decade to finally feel ok to tinker with it, so I finally pulled the trigger and made it fit my desires. I sanded down the red a bit to get the gloss off and painted it with black chalk paint. Topped that off with some wax to protect it a little bit. I wasn’t going for perfection but rather a matte black, rock n roll vibe. I also added a pickguard to fit my black and white motif I’ve been leaning into ( got a few black and white guitars and amps).
For the electronics, I simplified it down to just a bridge pickup wired to a volume pot. The neck pickup is stock and just there to fill the hole, I grounded it out to make sure it wouldn’t make any noise. I changed the bridge pickup to a mini humbucker I had kicking around; just a Wilkinson pickup from Amazon, nothing fancy but it sounds pretty good!
I plugged one of the unused holes already but still need to cover the old erector switch hole. There’s a long history with my brother and a connection to Superman/ Christopher Reeves (my first tattoo was a Superman logo and my brother’s name) so my plan is to get a silver Superman logo and glue to over the hole. Subtle nod to my bro.
The neck is pretty much stock still, just cleaned it up a little while the guitar was disassembled.
I think they pretty much covers the details. I definitely feel like I can connect more with the guitar now and I like to think my brother would be happy about that fact. I’ve written a good number of songs in honor of him and it feels special to play them on this guitar.
Check it out!
Anyhow, I always like the overall feel of the guitar; nice feeling neck and not too heavy overall (though it has a tendency to neck dive). I never was blown away by the pickups, they tended to be a bit muddy no matter how I set them. The electronics were a tad unreliable too; scratchy pots and the switch didn’t always make contact on the neck position. And finally, I just didn’t vibe with the overall look, the red wasn’t really my thing. But, it had extreme sentimental value to me, being a memory of my late brother and also the first guitar I really started learning on. So I knew I’d always keep it. Took me over a decade to finally feel ok to tinker with it, so I finally pulled the trigger and made it fit my desires. I sanded down the red a bit to get the gloss off and painted it with black chalk paint. Topped that off with some wax to protect it a little bit. I wasn’t going for perfection but rather a matte black, rock n roll vibe. I also added a pickguard to fit my black and white motif I’ve been leaning into ( got a few black and white guitars and amps).
For the electronics, I simplified it down to just a bridge pickup wired to a volume pot. The neck pickup is stock and just there to fill the hole, I grounded it out to make sure it wouldn’t make any noise. I changed the bridge pickup to a mini humbucker I had kicking around; just a Wilkinson pickup from Amazon, nothing fancy but it sounds pretty good!
I plugged one of the unused holes already but still need to cover the old erector switch hole. There’s a long history with my brother and a connection to Superman/ Christopher Reeves (my first tattoo was a Superman logo and my brother’s name) so my plan is to get a silver Superman logo and glue to over the hole. Subtle nod to my bro.
The neck is pretty much stock still, just cleaned it up a little while the guitar was disassembled.
I think they pretty much covers the details. I definitely feel like I can connect more with the guitar now and I like to think my brother would be happy about that fact. I’ve written a good number of songs in honor of him and it feels special to play them on this guitar.
Check it out!
