Once I was considering parting with my 1963 Fender reverb unit and I took it to the guitar store to see what I could get for it. When I was showing it to the shop owner an old dope pipe of mine fell out of the back. I still have the reverb.
Dude sold this guitar on Reverb a year later and said it was this featured guitar. Said he didn’t like mods...put in Lace pickups, black bridge/saddles, changed out Ratio tuners for Planet Waves, changed toggle to white, and looks like he painted pick guard black. In my opinion Phil’s mods looked way classier. Shame all those upgrades got tossed. Maybe kept all the free good stuff for another guitar.
Thats messed up man ! He ruined the value of the guitar, 2wice !! Even worse the 2nd time because it got upgraded by Phil . I don't know about you , but to me I would've loved to have that guitar after Phil worked his magic on it and put a little of his mojo into it 💪😎👍
What a shame. Apparently he didn't like his own mods either. After modding again, why woukd he try to use the feature video as a selling point. Had he left it as is, it would have likely sold to a subscriber of Phil's channel. Instead, he gets a lifetime of comments bagging on his ingratitude & his ruinous mods. In the words of Bugs Bunny as voiced by Mel Blanc; "What a Maroon"
That is an amazing upgrade! The arcade button kill switch awesome. I'm really looking forward to the next one and have become a patron to support your future Sharpenings.
I like this series. The best part is the flow of your commentary. You could spend all day kicking around the internet to get the info you get in 5 minutes of one of these.
I have a thunderhorse and I love it. put locking tuners, a fine tune tail piece, and swapped the pickups for a black winter/sentient, and then for a fishman classic set. set it up perfect and it plays better than most gibson hp explorers.
Marvelous work! A $500 price tag to bring a dream guitar to life. That's why so many project guitars never get off the ground. I've had 4 in the works and it's been years. I just buy new in the box, now. $100 set-up and it's all good.
I like to work on cars and computers, so this kind of video is fascinating to me. To see what you start with, hear your thought process on what needs to be done, then watching the process unfold= excellent.
have never ever been into explorers but after seeing this one I just want to get one myself and start ripping out metal licks. It started out like the worst most uninteresting tacky guitar ever and you completely transformed it. I simply love your work. Please keep it up.
Been upgrading my own thunderhorse from stock for the last few months. Was trying to create a cheaper version of the mastodon golden axe explorer sig so I put the same lace pickups with a new graphtech nut and new electronics. Sounds beautiful, next up is a new hipshot Tone-A-Matic bridge so I can properly intonate in C standard with 13's as the stock bridge just doesn't have the saddle room. These thunderhorses are really some of the nicest explorers at their price point and the resale value shows this. Take good care of them!
the thunderhorse is just sick, such a nice guitar. brendon did well! and you did some great mods bringing the 'horse back to life, making it glorious again.
I have the same blue Jackson in the background and fixed it up a bit and works great now :) broke the head off it as a teenager and haven't played it 10 years
I have this guitar... haven’t modded anything because it’s perfect stock. The epiphone version has push-pull pots to get single coil tone out of each burstbucker. It’s sad to see that feature not on this guitar because in my opinion, that’s what made it better than the Gibson version.
Literally subscribed because of this video. This was fun to watch and is the type of thing I aspire to do, taking beat up old guitars and giving them the love to make them cool, fun to play instruments. I look forward to the rest of the series and hope you keep doing videos like this after that.
Great guitar for this segment and killer upgrades added. I like the choice of keeping the BB in the neck and adding an SD Custom in the bridge. Definitely one of my favorite bridge pickups. Awesome job and thanks to you and the vendors that have helped you out as well.
HAHA She's a beauty now.. Shiny Black and Silver... Love changing to 2 Passive Pickups... All good fixes... and what a great tone.. Nice job Phil. This viewer should be very happy.
Hi Phil! You should install no load tone pots in your guitars. When turned up full, it comes out of the circuit. Rolled off, it turns on. Nothing against CTS pots. I have those too. I only know of one other person with one. Should be standard. This guitar sounds great btw. I enjoy these videos.
Personaly I'd gone with Hetfield-specs on this one. Dual volume controls, toggle switch in the tone control position and, of course, leave the pickguard as is and put in another EMG. Had I upgraded the hardware I'd gone with a TonePros bridge, sperzel locking tuners, Graph Tech nut and Schaller strap locks
My respects for the passion and professionalism. All way back from Mexico. You Turned it to be a very very very good beautifull guitar. Thank you Phillip . Keep on doin what you do.
I would have changed one other thing as a personal preference. Moved the strap hook near the neck to behind the body near the heel so I could play it standing up. I need a classical-like high headstock playing position. Low slung, neck heavy guitars are too awkward and uncomfortable for me to play standing up because I don't cradle the neck. I need my thumb mostly in the centre of the neck to get a full range of motion for my fingers because my hands aren't that big. I had an epiphone explorer one time where one of the neck joint bolts was extra long to accommodate a strap hook and it was very comfortable for me because I could rest my right arm on the body if needed and the neck stayed in position and only dropped if I wanted it to.
Really dig the mods on this SMA. This Epi sounds amazing Phil, looks waaay better. Love the kill switch and the three-way location & the simple single volume & tone swith. MO BETTAH FO SHO!!
Thanks for this video, I could just relax and not worry about anything while watching what was happening. This was like a good Christmas gift before Christmas. Thanks and cheers.
Phillip, maybe consider putting links (with referral links) in the description for the parts you used? Anyway, great video! That axe isn't just sharpened, it's had its edge re-ground and then honed to a mirror-like sheen.
Great job bringing that guitar back to life. If it were me, I'd of put an EMG 85 in the neck. Awesome with the EMG 81 in the bridge. But that guitar sounds Awesome. Also great job fixing the body where the volume pot is. Could hardly see it anymore.
This is a great video. I could watch videos like this all day long. Not a fan of that pickguard or epiphones in general but you did a great job with what you had.
If The owner of this guitar only wanted this guitar for metal purposes, I would've put an EMG 81/60-89. If you wanted to make it versatile with EMGS you could put a 57/66 set and those cleanup really nice for cleans for being actives. Just my .02
Have you ever done any videos about modifications on bass guitars? Your videos are fantastic and your advice is concise and so helpful. Would love to see some episodes on basses though as I'm a bass player myself!
You can actually use ACTIVE and PASSIVE pickups in a guitar. Jim Root had it when he was still in stone sour. I think they used to volume knobs and the pickup-switch was wired differently so both circuits can stay away from each other.
Anyone else come back to watch these again? I find it oddly relaxing. Phil would you sharpen a axe from the UK? because I'd love my dean flying v 79 sharpened.
What a great idea for a video series. Bravo. I wish I had known about it sooner so I could have entered the contest. Looks like the guitar felt pretty good too. You seemed to be enjoying yourself. Hope you do this again sometime.
I bet that roll of paper was in there to keep the battery from sliding around.
Haha... "That's where they kept their weed man". Cool what you did to this guitar!
I thought of this when he said that...... ua-cam.com/video/eFktbuhAyLM/v-deo.html
Once I was considering parting with my 1963 Fender reverb unit and I took it to the guitar store to see what I could get for it. When I was showing it to the shop owner an old dope pipe of mine fell out of the back. I still have the reverb.
I hide mine in my guitars lol
Dude sold this guitar on Reverb a year later and said it was this featured guitar. Said he didn’t like mods...put in Lace pickups, black bridge/saddles, changed out Ratio tuners for Planet Waves, changed toggle to white, and looks like he painted pick guard black. In my opinion Phil’s mods looked way classier. Shame all those upgrades got tossed. Maybe kept all the free good stuff for another guitar.
Seriously? Really? That is so wrong. I play mostly jazz and I thought this a great guitar...except the pick guard. Yikes....
Dude's a bum with tacky taste. He ruined it, had it fixed up by Phil, and then ruined it again. What a douche!
Thats messed up man ! He ruined the value of the guitar, 2wice !!
Even worse the 2nd time because it got upgraded by Phil .
I don't know about you , but to me I would've loved to have that guitar after Phil worked his magic on it and put a little of his mojo into it
💪😎👍
What a bum lmao
What a shame. Apparently he didn't like his own mods either. After modding again, why woukd he try to use the feature video as a selling point. Had he left it as is, it would have likely sold to a subscriber of Phil's channel. Instead, he gets a lifetime of comments bagging on his ingratitude & his ruinous mods. In the words of Bugs Bunny as voiced by Mel Blanc; "What a Maroon"
Love this series!!! This is literally the best concept I've seen on a guitar channel. You should make it a permanent feature.
Right? Very interesting videos.
Man, this is fucking awesome! The owner is gonna be really happy. This series is so good, I hope you keep it going.
Agreed! Great videos can't wait till the next one.
He wasn’t! He sold this guitar a year after this!
@@harls7317 Damn, that sucks.
That is an amazing upgrade! The arcade button kill switch awesome. I'm really looking forward to the next one and have become a patron to support your future Sharpenings.
This just might be my all-time favorite video of Phil's
I like this series. The best part is the flow of your commentary. You could spend all day kicking around the internet to get the info you get in 5 minutes of one of these.
I have a thunderhorse and I love it. put locking tuners, a fine tune tail piece, and swapped the pickups for a black winter/sentient, and then for a fishman classic set. set it up perfect and it plays better than most gibson hp explorers.
Love the guitar and nice work. Also like the end where you do the products used and stuff. Thanks for being awesome
Wooooohooooo, that is freaking fantastic. You knocked that one out of the park. The strip down, rebuild and demo. Thanks Phillip !
Phil, this is a great use of your channel. Five people get great upgrades, and we all get to learn something. Thanks for doing this!
I'm 2 minutes in and praying you change that pickguard.
Good luck finding a ready made pickguard for an Explorer. ;^)
Yeah, a got to learn to love it thing. But, without it the guitar is just another Epiphone.
Not a fan of diamond plating myself!
it adds flavor, and if he likes it, well it's his guitar, not Phillip's.
didn't Brendon do it to his personal explorer? that's probably why the dude did it to his
The difference is stunning and it now sounds incredible. This series with the five guitars is turning out to be one of my favorites.
Maybe its me or because I play Thrash & Metal I love EMG 81's in Gibson's gives them a nice high end for shredding !
Talk about getting back to life! Literally! Amazing job Phillip. Cheers from Costa Rica...
leaving in the burst bucker was genius!sweet guitar
This is one of the BEST guitar series on the net. Great job Phil!!
Marvelous work! A $500 price tag to bring a dream guitar to life. That's why so many project guitars never get off the ground. I've had 4 in the works and it's been years.
I just buy new in the box, now. $100 set-up and it's all good.
I like to work on cars and computers, so this kind of video is fascinating to me. To see what you start with, hear your thought process on what needs to be done, then watching the process unfold= excellent.
8 bucks for the kill switch!?!? Wow, that's a steal, you could have way more than 8 dollars worth of entertainment value playing around with that.
I love this series. I hope it continues in the future!
have never ever been into explorers but after seeing this one I just want to get one myself and start ripping out metal licks. It started out like the worst most uninteresting tacky guitar ever and you completely transformed it. I simply love your work. Please keep it up.
Been upgrading my own thunderhorse from stock for the last few months. Was trying to create a cheaper version of the mastodon golden axe explorer sig so I put the same lace pickups with a new graphtech nut and new electronics. Sounds beautiful, next up is a new hipshot Tone-A-Matic bridge so I can properly intonate in C standard with 13's as the stock bridge just doesn't have the saddle room. These thunderhorses are really some of the nicest explorers at their price point and the resale value shows this. Take good care of them!
the thunderhorse is just sick, such a nice guitar. brendon did well! and you did some great mods bringing the 'horse back to life, making it glorious again.
I have the same blue Jackson in the background and fixed it up a bit and works great now :) broke the head off it as a teenager and haven't played it 10 years
I would have gone with a black scratch plate and hardware. But it would have been too expensive then maybe. But I like watching these repair videos
You are such a cool dude Phil !! I missed the contest registration but if you ever do that again, I'm in for sure. Keep it up !
PHil McK is pretty metal!
lol are you serious
Probably my favorite video on your channel so far, and I've watched them all! That guy is getting a really, really nice guitar back!
Unquestionably! But I bet they guy that gets it back is gonna be thrilled!! Or if he's not, he sure ought to be!
Totally makes me want a kill switch... you know for my acoustic ;-)
Congrats !!!
Just awesome Phil!! That's what this for, the first one (chapman) was disappointing because it didn't need much . This epi, was a prime candidate!!
This thing is pretty sweet in the end. Wasn’t digging it at first but I hung in there. Fell in love w the axe
As a lover of silverburst guitars I gotta say that the guitar is beatiful. Great job Phillip!!
I have this guitar... haven’t modded anything because it’s perfect stock. The epiphone version has push-pull pots to get single coil tone out of each burstbucker. It’s sad to see that feature not on this guitar because in my opinion, that’s what made it better than the Gibson version.
This series is Awesome Phil, Thanks so much, wow that axe is unbelievable great job Phil, cheers
You've inspired me to repair and completely redo my old 1993 / 1994 model Alvarez Dana Electric (the one without the mid body cut out). Great job man!
Phil, these are some of your best videos.
The arcade machine button kill switch was a stroke of genius. Looks great and feels satisfying to push.
Fantastic work! The owner is very lucky to have you work on their guitar.
Literally subscribed because of this video. This was fun to watch and is the type of thing I aspire to do, taking beat up old guitars and giving them the love to make them cool, fun to play instruments. I look forward to the rest of the series and hope you keep doing videos like this after that.
Totally missed the competition/contest...I have a Jackson that needs this level of love sadly, she was my first electric from high school too.
And the world just got a little bit louder!!!!! Phil, you rock.
So great to give back Phillip!
Great guitar for this segment and killer upgrades added. I like the choice of keeping the BB in the neck and adding an SD Custom in the bridge. Definitely one of my favorite bridge pickups. Awesome job and thanks to you and the vendors that have helped you out as well.
Siiick!!! It’s better than stock Thunderhorse now! I’d fret (full pun) to see my Snow Falcon in such disarray. Wonderful job!!!
That’s a “thunderhorse” model. Stock burstbuckers and a phenolic fingerboard
Sean Jackson That guitar needs to be in C Standard and have some Dethklok played on it :)
HAHA She's a beauty now.. Shiny Black and Silver... Love changing to 2 Passive Pickups... All good fixes... and what a great tone.. Nice job Phil. This viewer should be very happy.
Hi Phil! You should install no load tone pots in your guitars. When turned up full, it comes out of the circuit. Rolled off, it turns on. Nothing against CTS pots. I have those too. I only know of one other person with one. Should be standard. This guitar sounds great btw. I enjoy these videos.
Personaly I'd gone with Hetfield-specs on this one. Dual volume controls, toggle switch in the tone control position and, of course, leave the pickguard as is and put in another EMG.
Had I upgraded the hardware I'd gone with a TonePros bridge, sperzel locking tuners, Graph Tech nut and Schaller strap locks
My respects for the passion and professionalism. All way back from Mexico. You Turned it to be a very very very good beautifull guitar.
Thank you Phillip . Keep on doin what you do.
I would have changed one other thing as a personal preference. Moved the strap hook near the neck to behind the body near the heel so I could play it standing up. I need a classical-like high headstock playing position. Low slung, neck heavy guitars are too awkward and uncomfortable for me to play standing up because I don't cradle the neck. I need my thumb mostly in the centre of the neck to get a full range of motion for my fingers because my hands aren't that big. I had an epiphone explorer one time where one of the neck joint bolts was extra long to accommodate a strap hook and it was very comfortable for me because I could rest my right arm on the body if needed and the neck stayed in position and only dropped if I wanted it to.
NAILED IT!!! Kudos for matching the Duncan Custom to the Burstbucker 1. Excellent pickup combo! Looks and sounds great!
Brilliant Phil. Thanks. You are extremely skilled and experienced. Your knowledge of what to do to improve guitars is first class.
Amazing upgrade Phil, that guitar is a beast now. Very versatile but still a metal machine at heart!
Really dig the mods on this SMA. This Epi sounds amazing Phil, looks waaay better. Love the kill switch and the three-way location & the simple single volume & tone swith. MO BETTAH FO SHO!!
Thanks for this video, I could just relax and not worry about anything while watching what was happening. This was like a good Christmas gift before Christmas. Thanks and cheers.
Phillip, maybe consider putting links (with referral links) in the description for the parts you used? Anyway, great video! That axe isn't just sharpened, it's had its edge re-ground and then honed to a mirror-like sheen.
How are you so good hooking wires up with pickups? I can't do that easy... You look like Billy Corgan.
tbh this is like the coolest guitar info channel
Sharpen my axe!!! Awesome concept. Very generous of you as well. Best guitar based UA-camr in my opinion. Especially since pixxy is dead.
Great job bringing that guitar back to life. If it were me, I'd of put an EMG 85 in the neck. Awesome with the EMG 81 in the bridge. But that guitar sounds Awesome. Also great job fixing the body where the volume pot is. Could hardly see it anymore.
Maybe thew manual was to stop the battery from sliding around.When I install the tesi led killswitches i just use a piece of double sided tape.
This makeover by far, was my fave. Good stuff.
I was hoping for more coverage on that repair over the control panel. I need to repair that same issue and could have used some tips.
Gave the guy a new guitar! Awesome job
Man you raised the cool factor on that ax by 100% !
Awesome work Phil! Modding instruments is one of my favorite things to do..
I used to have one of these. They are super fun to play
This is a great video. I could watch videos like this all day long. Not a fan of that pickguard or epiphones in general but you did a great job with what you had.
I like the little pedals for the icons in the corner.
If The owner of this guitar only wanted this guitar for metal purposes, I would've put an EMG 81/60-89. If you wanted to make it versatile with EMGS you could put a 57/66 set and those cleanup really nice for cleans for being actives. Just my .02
I've noticed that there's an EMG and a regular humbucker. They're not compatible.
the passive humbucker wasnt wired
Cool, my daughter and I made the credit pics. Love what you did with this axe, it looks awesome.
Thank you for the Photos they were great!
Nice Axe Phillip.GREAT WORK. I'M SURE THE OWNER WILL BE IMPRESSED.
Have you ever done any videos about modifications on bass guitars? Your videos are fantastic and your advice is concise and so helpful. Would love to see some episodes on basses though as I'm a bass player myself!
Great job. Great series. You are the nicest guy Phil
What a great contest! Congrats to all you winners. Love the channel & your videos Phil.
Good choice taking out the emg their an ok pickup but after owning them myself I now realize passive pickups just sound way better.
Your stuff is so much fun to watch! Thanks!
Thanks for the tip on the swirl remover.
Two horns up my friend. Great work great video and great series. That's the first time I've ever written horns up...lol
Awesome job Phillip, I love seeing a guitar brought back to life!
You can actually use ACTIVE and PASSIVE pickups in a guitar. Jim Root had it when he was still in stone sour.
I think they used to volume knobs and the pickup-switch was wired differently so both circuits can stay away from each other.
How can anyone dislike this? Cheers Phil!, well done!
Oh my god. This guitar sounds beautiful. It gave me chills down my spine. What I would do for a tone like that....
Extreme makeover!! I would like to see the big reveal when the owner gets it! I hope the recipients of this service post videos.
Philip could you do a video on how to install a kill switch I really want to put one in my ibanez rg
Superb transformation, night and day and sounds great!
LOL, You put your weed in there SNL flashback. Thanks!
And another one comes back to life!Fine job Phillip!
Perfect choices to make that guitar sing and look great doing it! That is one lucky owner!
Skwisgaar is going to love the mods you've made to his guitar, that's f*cking amazing!
That jazzmaster at the back is divine
That guitar is one very lucky lady!
Yeah my old guitar would love being repaired by Phillip
Anyone else come back to watch these again? I find it oddly relaxing. Phil would you sharpen a axe from the UK? because I'd love my dean flying v 79 sharpened.
You're one great guy! Love watching and learning! Thanx!
Phil, you’re a top bloke, as we say in the uk. Happy Holiday to you and your family. Regards, Dazza.
I luvs me an Explorer. Nice work Phillip. Interestingly enough the guitar came with Burstbucker pickups and the fretboard is phenolic (resin).
What a great idea for a video series. Bravo. I wish I had known about it sooner so I could have entered the contest. Looks like the guitar felt pretty good too. You seemed to be enjoying yourself. Hope you do this again sometime.
BEAUTIFUL JOB !! Over and above the call PM !!