Slothy
06-23-2014, 05:11 PM
So for the time being building my drums will be on hold. Probably until Christmas (money issues), but I'm busying myself with a late fathers day present being funded by my mom.
See, I have one of these: (http://www.epiphone.com/Products/Les-Paul/Les-Paul-Special-II.aspx)
57597
It's an Epiphone Les Paul Special II. There's nothing particularly remarkable about it. I bought it a number of years ago with the intention of learning, never really got around to it, and now that I am trying to learn again my dad is letting me use his $5,000 Les Paul. Suffice it to say that I don't need this anymore. So I thought about just giving it to him, but the man has enough good guitars that he does not need one I paid $150 for.
So the obvious thing to do was take it apart, refinish it and make some upgrades. Of course it occurs to me that it was probably only obvious to me.
So I've taken it apart, removed all of the hardware and I've got it sanded down now. No pics yet because my phone was charging when I sanded it, but I'll get some next time I do some work. But I can share the upgrades I'm doing until I get some progress pics.
To start off, I don't care for the control knobs on the guitar. They're not bad, but they could be better. Perhaps a little something like these?
57598
Of course the plastic nut at the top of the neck had to go. Fun fact, it came off with only a modest amount of pressure applied with one thumb. Instead we'll be adding on a better Tusq nut for it:
57599
Word on the street has it the wiring in these guitars is shit. So that'll have to go:
57600
And since the guitar can't hold its tuning worth a damn, we'll add in a set of these for good measure:
57601
As for the actual finish, I plan to paint everything but the top (and fretboard of course) black and seal it with some coats of the high gloss topcoat I bought to finish my drums (I have plenty). The top of the guitar is going to be veneered with some Maple burl I have from when I was building my arcade stick:
57603
And I plan to dye that a blue burst colour. The closest approximation I can find for the colour I'm shooting for is this:
57602
I got the colour idea from a conversation we had recently about his favourite colours for cars and the fact that he has no blue guitars. Plenty of black and red, but not a whole lot else. It's time for some variety.
No new pickups sadly since I don't know what he'd even want in it, but if decides he wants to change them after the fact I'm happy to switch them out for him.
So that's everything so far. I want to get this done in the next few weeks so I should be either updating frequently, or posting major updates soon.
See, I have one of these: (http://www.epiphone.com/Products/Les-Paul/Les-Paul-Special-II.aspx)
57597
It's an Epiphone Les Paul Special II. There's nothing particularly remarkable about it. I bought it a number of years ago with the intention of learning, never really got around to it, and now that I am trying to learn again my dad is letting me use his $5,000 Les Paul. Suffice it to say that I don't need this anymore. So I thought about just giving it to him, but the man has enough good guitars that he does not need one I paid $150 for.
So the obvious thing to do was take it apart, refinish it and make some upgrades. Of course it occurs to me that it was probably only obvious to me.
So I've taken it apart, removed all of the hardware and I've got it sanded down now. No pics yet because my phone was charging when I sanded it, but I'll get some next time I do some work. But I can share the upgrades I'm doing until I get some progress pics.
To start off, I don't care for the control knobs on the guitar. They're not bad, but they could be better. Perhaps a little something like these?
57598
Of course the plastic nut at the top of the neck had to go. Fun fact, it came off with only a modest amount of pressure applied with one thumb. Instead we'll be adding on a better Tusq nut for it:
57599
Word on the street has it the wiring in these guitars is shit. So that'll have to go:
57600
And since the guitar can't hold its tuning worth a damn, we'll add in a set of these for good measure:
57601
As for the actual finish, I plan to paint everything but the top (and fretboard of course) black and seal it with some coats of the high gloss topcoat I bought to finish my drums (I have plenty). The top of the guitar is going to be veneered with some Maple burl I have from when I was building my arcade stick:
57603
And I plan to dye that a blue burst colour. The closest approximation I can find for the colour I'm shooting for is this:
57602
I got the colour idea from a conversation we had recently about his favourite colours for cars and the fact that he has no blue guitars. Plenty of black and red, but not a whole lot else. It's time for some variety.
No new pickups sadly since I don't know what he'd even want in it, but if decides he wants to change them after the fact I'm happy to switch them out for him.
So that's everything so far. I want to get this done in the next few weeks so I should be either updating frequently, or posting major updates soon.