Epi LP special II mod

pikingrin

pikingrin

what is this?
Not sure why in the hell I decided to do this but I'm throwing a few bucks at that Epi I got a few months ago before I ship it off. It started out as just wanting to upgrade the electronics and quickly spiraled out of control...not even sure I want to get rid of it anymore at this point. :facepalm:

It started out looking like this when I took it all apart:
begin.jpeg
I guess I didn't expect much from the electronics but I was still disappointed in the low quality. Got some emerson 500k pots, a switchcraft output jack and a DiMarzio Air Norton pickup to go in as a replacement. Took the belt sander to the body (stripper did nothing) and it turned out looking like this:
beltsandbody.jpeg
I didn't remove the bridge mounting inserts so they remained the original sunburst; I ended up masking it off and spraying it dark green to try and blend in with the dye I was going to use. Prior to taking the belt sander to it, I also beat it up with a flat head screwdriver a little bit and it ended up digging a few nice chunks out in places. It's gonna be nasty.

I went ahead and played around with the dyes that I got, only to find that I didn't get down to bare wood in a few spots...body.JPG
I like the way it turned out though; it's going to possibly be my frankestein git when it's all said and done.

I tried the paint stripper one more time on the neck and, after about a week, gave up on it and took the orbital sander to it on a high speed with a 220 grit pad on it. Got it all down to bare wood without screwing up the shape and dyed the face of the headstock to try and match the body. I thought it came out pretty well...
headstock.JPG
fullgit.JPG

Since this is just a random beater project, and since I screwed the body up to begin with, I've started clear coating the body with spar urethane so I can build up a heavier semi-gloss coating without having to worry about what was underneath. This will not be the case when I start finishing my new build though...

Going to start the neck finishing tomorrow; going with tru oil over the back of the neck and spar urethane on the face of the headstock to try and match the body better. Tuners and pickguard blank material should be here later on this week and then I'm planning on replacing the nut, too.

I've put aluminum tape in the control cavity and some in the pickup cavities, too, and going to do the same to the pickguard once I get it cut and drilled - hopefully that does the trick.
I'll post some more pics once I get a little further along in the next week or so...
 
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I'm not quite sure what you're going for, but guessing it's a zombie-apocalyptic death guitar. The stabs from the screwdriver will provide some very interesting 3D relief. Kind of interested how that will turn out. I'm wondering if there is a way to bring the gouges out more. Add contrast to them. Spray a high gloss lacquer on them then sand off the paint that isn't in the holes.
 
Chili said:
I'm not quite sure what you're going for, but guessing it's a zombie-apocalyptic death guitar. The stabs from the screwdriver will provide some very interesting 3D relief. Kind of interested how that will turn out. I'm wondering if there is a way to bring the gouges out more. Add contrast to them. Spray a high gloss lacquer on them then sand off the paint that isn't in the holes.
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I wasn't really going for a "death guitar" but I thought that the little happy accident looks pretty cool. :)

I was also trying to find a way to bring out the deep gouges more; going to put that closer to the end of the finishing though because of the pickguard - not sure where it will end up. I'm not going to have a neck pickup anymore so that will have to be covered and I was toying with the notion of wrapping it around a little bit. I doubt it will cover the deeper gouges though. Went with a vintage cream color for the pickguard material...hopefully it works.
 
If i still had a bit of dispoaseable income i would totally be into a project like this. Keep us updated. Curious to see how this ends up!!!
 
It's interesting seeing what's underneath after you sanded it, since I've got one exactly like it. Well, two if you count the one-pickup version. And yeah, you have to get a certain kind of stripper to take off poly like that. Somewhere I've got an old Teisco-type body that I gave up on. In the furniture world, a lot of times the distressing is done by hitting it with chains.
 
notCardio said:
It's interesting seeing what's underneath after you sanded it, since I've got one exactly like it. Well, two if you count the one-pickup version. And yeah, you have to get a certain kind of stripper to take off poly like that. Somewhere I've got an old Teisco-type body that I gave up on. In the furniture world, a lot of times the distressing is done by hitting it with chains.
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I hear dragging it down gravel roads behind a bike or car does wonders.
 
I don't quite understand the screwdriver gouging. I mean, do what you want, by all means. But what are screwdriver gouges supposed to represent? I get relic'ing that's supposed to look like natural wear and tear. But what kind of wear and tear are stabs from a screwdriver? Lol. Maybe you could say the guitar was shot by a shotgun at medium-to-long range. :D
 
How do you know if I'm old? I may not be. :D

This project just shakes my professional sensibilities to the core.
:D
 
Greg_L said:
I don't quite understand the screwdriver gouging. I mean, do what you want, by all means. But what are screwdriver gouges supposed to represent? I get relic'ing that's supposed to look like natural wear and tear. But what kind of wear and tear are stabs from a screwdriver? Lol. Maybe you could say the guitar was shot by a shotgun at medium-to-long range. :D
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I got impatient when the stripper didn't work so I took a flathead to it to chip away at the finish and got a little overzealous. The screwdriver didn't work very well, as can be seen, but it sure did feel good! :D

Maybe I should have started the finish removal with a shotgun though...that would have been much more enjoyable! :laughings:
 
You had me at " I took the belt sander out"

:D

You could have at least taken the bridge and TP inserts out.

There's an easy trick. Drop a machine screw in the hole that is smaller than the hole diameter, and screw in the studs.
As you screw them in, it will pull out the insert.

Anyway, your guitar, have fun with it.
:D
 
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I dunno. I think it would be a rad little project honestly. Maybe ~NOT EXACTLY~ as the op is doing it, but i mean for guitarist that has multiple guitars and interest in maintaining or learning how to take care of said guitars. I am thinking it would be a good exercise to pick up a 200 dollar (or Less) Epi and rip it apart and rebuild it with better electronics and do your own cosmetic job on it.

It's freakin cool. I already have a shit ton of ideas for my own if i were to do it.

The last thing i need now is yet another project. I am turning into my father with 57 unfinished projects :(
 
RFR said:
You had me at " I took the belt sander out"

:D
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Is there really a problem that a belt sander can't solve? :D
RFR said:
You could have at least taken the bridge and TP inserts out.

There's an easy trick. Drop a machine screw in the hole that is smaller than the hole diameter, and screw in the studs.
As you screw them in, it will pull out the insert.

Anyway, your guitar, have fun with it.
:D
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If I would have spent any time doing my homework on a complete teardown, which would have most likely involved the question to the masses here on how to do it, I would have known that trick. Now that the suggestion is out there...I may go back and try it (If I have the appropriately sized machine screws on hand). Then I could just sand that back and try to blend that area in with the rest of the body.

Either way, Shan has it nailed. It's just a rad little project (of which I have too many of) that helps me wind down at the end of the day. No planning involved and it's just an experiment - along with a refresher course in soldering and guitar circuitry when I get to that point next week or so. It's like golf...get all your bad shots out of the way on the driving range so you can go play right on the course. :D
 
ShanPeyton said:
I dunno. I think it would be a rad little project honestly. Maybe ~NOT EXACTLY~ as the op is doing it, but i mean for guitarist that has multiple guitars and interest in maintaining or learning how to take care of said guitars. I am thinking it would be a good exercise to pick up a 200 dollar (or Less) Epi and rip it apart and rebuild it with better electronics and do your own cosmetic job on it.

It's freakin cool. I already have a shit ton of ideas for my own if i were to do it.
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This also, but I would change the 'not exactly' to not anything like'. :D

And then, otoh, I can hear John Hiatt (an Indy boy, btw) in my head singing "I don't know who they think they are, smashing a perfectly good guitar."
 
Hey, Texas - if I get so inclined, maybe I'll have you run the belt sander over one sometime. I forget if you mentioned it, but what grit did you use? I've got a belt sander somewhere. My problem is knowing how much pressure to put on it so that it doesn't take off too much too fast.
 
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