Upgrading the AlleyKat

Posted on by Joshua Peromsik

AlleyKat Upgrade Time!

The Epiphone AlleyKat is a really nice guitar! With some crap attached to it. Luckily, it’s an easy fix to take the crap off. I was looking forword to this AlleyKat upgrade. You can google the stock version of the guitar for comparison, here is the guitar with all the fat trimmed off:

AlleyKat Upgrade - Guitar Stripped

After stripping the guitar I installed Hipshot Open Back Locking Tuners, and the Hipshot Bridge/Tailpiece combo:

AlleyKat Upgrade - HIpshot Tuners, Bridge, and Tailpiece installed

Then I prepped the wiring harness for the install. This isn’t the complete harness (not giving away all the secrets), but you get the idea:

AlleyKat Upgrade - Partial Wiring Harness

I installed a DiMarzio FRED in the bridge, and DiMarzio Vintage Minibucker (Neck) in the neck position. Then I gave the guitar a complete setup, including perfect intonation with a Turbo Tuner ST-300:

AlleyKat Upgrade - Completed Guitar with DiMarzio FRED and Mini Humbucker (Neck), Hipshot Tuners, Bridge, and Tailpiece

For fun I added a “MechMan” truss rod cover from Hell Parts:

AlleyKat Upgrade - Hipshot Locking Tuners

And I really like the way the Hipshot Locking Open Back tuners look with their “Jazzer” buttons (I call them the Jazzercise buttons):

AlleyKat Upgrade - Hipshot Open Back Locking Tuners

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