Epiphone Special Model refinish and refret (hopefully)

I've had this Epiphone Special Model sitting in the corner since I traded a guy a microphone for it. He wanted the mike but I did not want the guitar since it had huge issues but I had no more use for the bass drum mike at the time so I thought I'd make it into a guitar for my wife's grandkids to play rocksmith with. It turned out to not even be good for that so today since I had nothing to do and no money I decided to revamp it with parts on hand. It should be finished in a week or less but anyway I thought I'd share in case anyone wants to laugh at me. This will be a learning experience for me. I've built two great necks from scratch but I've never pulled frets so this should be scary. Might as well learn on a junker. They sell used for from $25 to $175.
Read on if you like.

So here we go with a few before pics:

http://i225.photobucket.com/albums/dd18/DeepDrummer/Epiday11.jpg

The serial number says it was made in a factory (perhaps Japan) in October 1996:

http://i225.photobucket.com/albums/dd18/DeepDrummer/Epiday12.jpg

The back is well scratched up and although Black is not bad, I need something to do:

http://i225.photobucket.com/albums/dd18/DeepDrummer/Epiday13.jpg

My intention is to redo it without having to spend any additional money so I'll be reusing all the parts. I like the sound of the humbuckers on it and I have enough fret material to do a refret if I am lucky enough to get the old ones out without destroying the neck:

http://i225.photobucket.com/albums/dd18/DeepDrummer/Epiday14.jpg

The original nut has been cut down right to the fretboard sheesh:

http://i225.photobucket.com/albums/dd18/DeepDrummer/Epiday15.jpg

That would explain the high bridge position and ridiculous string height at the high bridge end:

http://i225.photobucket.com/albums/dd18/DeepDrummer/Epiday16.jpg

A closeup of the bridge adjustment:

http://i225.photobucket.com/albums/dd18/DeepDrummer/Epiday17.jpg

A few pictures before dissambly for reference later if need be:

http://i225.photobucket.com/albums/dd18/DeepDrummer/Epiday18.jpg

http://i225.photobucket.com/albums/dd18/DeepDrummer/Epiday110.jpg

http://i225.photobucket.com/albums/dd18/DeepDrummer/Epiday111.jpg

http://i225.photobucket.com/albums/dd18/DeepDrummer/Epiday113.jpg

A bunch of screws later:

http://i225.photobucket.com/albums/dd18/DeepDrummer/Epiday114.jpg


The nut came out well after scoring all sides with a sharp blade and not much of a wiggle:

http://i225.photobucket.com/albums/dd18/DeepDrummer/Epiday115.jpg

I then went out to the woodshed and plastered the body and neck with furniture stripper. I'd rather scrape than breathe possible lead paint dust:

http://i225.photobucket.com/albums/dd18/DeepDrummer/Epiday116.jpg

After doing a bit of yard work while it sat I came back to find it had bubbled up nicely:

http://i225.photobucket.com/albums/dd18/DeepDrummer/Epiday117.jpg

Finished scraping as the temperature was getting hot in the shed. I had the tunes cranked through a practice amp while I worked of course:

http://i225.photobucket.com/albums/dd18/DeepDrummer/Epiday118.jpg

I sanded it down to 60 grit:

http://i225.photobucket.com/albums/dd18/DeepDrummer/Epiday119.jpg

The front looks pretty cool but I'll probably try to match the woods a bit better with stain:

http://i225.photobucket.com/albums/dd18/DeepDrummer/Epiday120.jpg

The back looks better. Notice it is a laminated wood body which is pretty nasty on the edges. I'll be darkening that pretty dark with stain I think. As soon as I took the neck off I could tell it was made of plies. Not as important as on and acoustic but I had hoped for better. Still I believe the plywood and gobs of glue will meoow and dampen the tone in conjunction with the humbuckers which for this guitar is just fine with me:

http://i225.photobucket.com/albums/dd18/DeepDrummer/Epiday121.jpg

I called it a day at that point and after wood dust and glue dust (probably urea formaldahyde glue which is great glue but you know ...toxic *cough* good job I wore a mask. While I was making supper on the BBQ I decided to start aging my. I can't find a way to say it. Check the pic:
Curing my bone for nuts:

http://i225.photobucket.com/albums/dd18/DeepDrummer/Epiday122.jpg


I'll head back out now and put a coat of coloured wood filler on the sides since they are quite nasty and then I'll let it dry overnight to be ready for sanding through the grits to around 600 grit tomorrow. A successful day all around.

nice work so far. looking forward to seeing it finished. inexpensive Epis are pretty nice little guitars if you give a bit of TLC

Go ahead and bake the neck while you have the grill out.

Should I put hot sauce on that neck?
Heading back in to the dust for day 2. A cold front moved in so this should be a very productive day.
I slathered a bunch of wood filler to the edges last night so it would be dried this morning. Most of that will be sanded off.

http://i225.photobucket.com/albums/dd18/DeepDrummer/Epiday2a.jpg

Nice project! I've got Epi LP Special II and am thinking about how this might be a good way to go with it. The only reason I've kept it (it is a $170 guitar after all) is that the humbuckers do sound so nice and it's a great guitar to take out somewhere when you don't want to damage your good ones. Great work so far! I'm looking forward to seeing it through to the end!

Great thread, enjoying this....keep going.....Pelham blue would be nice!

Nice to see another hard working man! You can always go for a Heineken burst like I did:

Nice project! I've got Epi LP Special II and am thinking about how this might be a good way to go with it. The only reason I've kept it (it is a $170 guitar after all) is that the humbuckers do sound so nice and it's a great guitar to take out somewhere when you don't want to damage your good ones. Great work so far! I'm looking forward to seeing it through to the end!

Indeed. It'll be a great beater but it's coming along so nice I think the playability is going to be awesome.

Nice to see another hard working man! You can always go for a Heineken burst like I did:

Oh man. I could never do anything as beautiful as that. All I can do is sit in awe. I can handle the playability aspects but until I get a proper floor instead of dirt and a new spray gun, that kind of thing is out of my reach. Who am I kidding. That kind of finish will always be beyond me. That is one gorgeous guitar!!!

Since you are going to the trouble of refinishing it. I suggest something that is not a Gibson color, like Daphne Blue or a Gretsch orange. And maybe fabricate a PG. That would make it a custom guitar. If not, I'd consider TV yellow. That color looks right on a guitar like that.

Dan R

I started day 2 by sanding everything to 600 grit and putting some red mahogony stain on the neck. One coat until the neck work is done:

http://i225.photobucket.com/albums/dd18/DeepDrummer/Epiday21.jpg

I put one coat of dark walnut stain on the light parts of the body after taping them off and then hit it all with one light coat:

http://i225.photobucket.com/albums/dd18/DeepDrummer/Epiday22.jpg

Since it was time to face my demons and try to remove the frets on the neck, I practiced on a junker neck first. I heated the fret with a soldering iron working my way back and forth and used Stewart MacDonald's fretting pliers to pull it out. Those pliers are worth their weight in gold. The grip real close to the edge and grab frets like nothing:

http://i225.photobucket.com/albums/dd18/DeepDrummer/Epiday26.jpg

I put a Stew Mac fret protector on the fret of the epi's neck and heated up the fret to dissolve any glue that might be holding it in:

http://i225.photobucket.com/albums/dd18/DeepDrummer/Epiday24.jpg

I grabbed the pliers right quick and gripped the fret:

http://i225.photobucket.com/albums/dd18/DeepDrummer/Epiday25.jpg

It came out like nothing so I moved on up the board:

http://i225.photobucket.com/albums/dd18/DeepDrummer/Epiday27.jpg

Pretty soon there were no frets left and the tearout was actually minimal. I dribbled some super glue into each fret slot and then lightly sanded the board with 600 grit to make sure the new frets would have something to bite on:

http://i225.photobucket.com/albums/dd18/DeepDrummer/Epiday28.jpg

Then I got to go inside to what my wife calls my "luthier room" which is a stretch but anyway I checked the board for straighness and it was aweful:

http://i225.photobucket.com/albums/dd18/DeepDrummer/Epiday29.jpg

I knew it was bad but you could drive a truck in there and this is with the truss rod backed off completely:

http://i225.photobucket.com/albums/dd18/DeepDrummer/Epiday210.jpg

A bunch of strokes on the 18" stew Mac radius block clearly showed the humps in the fretboard as I had suspected:

http://i225.photobucket.com/albums/dd18/DeepDrummer/Epiday211.jpg

I did a lot of sanding until it was perfectly flat and radiussed to 9.5" down from the original 12" radius:

http://i225.photobucket.com/albums/dd18/DeepDrummer/Epiday212.jpg

I then placed the straightedge on the board and tightened the truss rod just until I could swivel the straightedge meaning I was getting a hump and then backed it off unti I could no longer spin it and then back up just a hair to take the play out of it. This would be Level and flat and ready to continue:

http://i225.photobucket.com/albums/dd18/DeepDrummer/Epiday213.jpg

It is starting to look good:

http://i225.photobucket.com/albums/dd18/DeepDrummer/Epiday214.jpg

Time to recut the slots since they are shallower due to the sanding ans the edges are almost nonexistent which is a bit wierd. Mabye the pushed them in from the side originally:

http://i225.photobucket.com/albums/dd18/DeepDrummer/Epiday215.jpg

I cut the slots down to about .060" which may be just a tad deep but not much. It'll do until I can order a proper fret depth guage:

http://i225.photobucket.com/albums/dd18/DeepDrummer/Epiday216.jpg

I radiussed some fret material using stew mac's fret bender. Nice unit!!:

http://i225.photobucket.com/albums/dd18/DeepDrummer/Epiday217.jpg

Then I started cutting and placing frets. I leave a bit more over the edge but it makes it nice and easy to get back on with the pliers later. I might lose a fret or two worth of material in the process but hey; what's a couple frets between friends eh?:

http://i225.photobucket.com/albums/dd18/DeepDrummer/Epiday218.jpg

I bend them to a bit tighter radius and tap the edges in to hold them for now:

http://i225.photobucket.com/albums/dd18/DeepDrummer/Epiday219.jpg

Then I took the neck back out to the shed and put the stew mac fretting caul onto the drill press 9'5" radius and proceeded to press them in:

http://i225.photobucket.com/albums/dd18/DeepDrummer/Epiday221.jpg

The i nipped off the ends nice and close with those awesome pliers:

http://i225.photobucket.com/albums/dd18/DeepDrummer/Epiday222.jpg

I then ran some this superglue into the edges of the frets to help them stay and clamped them for a few hours in the 18" aluminum radius block. This will keep everything bang on straight in the end:

http://i225.photobucket.com/albums/dd18/DeepDrummer/Epiday223.jpg

I put another coat of dark walnut stain on the body while I was waiting:

http://i225.photobucket.com/albums/dd18/DeepDrummer/Epiday224.jpg

I released the neck from the pressing block thing and it is looking oh so good:

http://i225.photobucket.com/albums/dd18/DeepDrummer/Epiday225.jpg

Sighting it endwise shows perfectly flat and true throughout:

http://i225.photobucket.com/albums/dd18/DeepDrummer/Epiday220.jpg

I'll let the superglue dry overnight with the pressure off in case it decided to spring at all but all in all this looks like it will be one very exceptional neck:

http://i225.photobucket.com/albums/dd18/DeepDrummer/Epiday226.jpg

Now the waiting begins. Waiting for this and waiting for that. I am ready to make a bone nut but this work day is done and it's time to play my Bubinga Tele since I love it so. I can't wait to see what tomorrow brings. 'scuse me I've got some picking and strummin' to do. *warming up the amp*:

My Bubinga Baby:

http://i225.photobucket.com/albums/dd18/DeepDrummer/Btele110.jpg

Since you are going to the trouble of refinishing it. I suggest something that is not a Gibson color, like Daphne Blue or a Gretsch orange. And maybe fabricate a PG. That would make it a custom guitar. If not, I'd consider TV yellow. That color looks right on a guitar like that.

Dan R

Good ideas but I always go for a woody look at least until I can rig up to spray again. I worked on trucks in the daytime and did body work on vettes at night and sprayed a few cars and bikes but that was many years ago. I know enough to know that I need better equipment to do it right so for now I'll just rub stuff on. I just want a few more players first and my patience level is nil these days. Total respect for those who spray though. I know how much work and how much cleanup is involved. I'm more of a butcher who comes equipped with accurate measuring skills. Someday....

Looking great so far! By the looks of it you are going to have a wonderful guitar when finished!

Thanks. The finish is not making me terribly happy. My talent at finishing kind of work is severely lacking. I just toured out the the shed and actually it may be ok at best. Still it should run well. When I am poor, which I am at present, I am a firm believer in the old adage "Chrome don't get ya home". When I can afford it I'll do better but that'll be a while. When racing cars and bikes I always went for performance first but when money presented itself finally in my forties, I actually chromed this vehicle before selling it for a song for grocery money. It was a winner too. My day will come again. A decent cement floor will have to come before I spray anything though. 3 steps in my shed kicks up limestone dust so for now I'll just rub on something and concentrate on performance as I learn the ropes mostly from the fine folks here at TDPRI. As I prepare to level and chrown and fashion a nut while everythign dries, Here is a quick video of the one I finally got to chrome for a minute. In the near lane as I kicked some racing butt back in '03. The last race I ever ran (sorry about being off topic for a reminiscing second there) I'll get back on track in a few hours:

fPuQWzEl1GQ

I promised myself some guitar playing time today since I haven't got more than a half hour in the last 2 days. I am not a patient man at all when it comes to a project and I have many ideas dancing around in my head. A foot stomp box for some bass sounds is eating away at me right now. I should have lots of time while stuff dries since it is taking forever in these damp few days right now.

Looks like it is coming out really good. I look forward to seeing the finished product.
I prefer wood stain over paint so I'm glad to see you're staining it.
I lve watching these build threads and I really appreciate you taking the time to photograph and post your progress. I would imagine that must take a lot of time away from the actual work on the guitar.

Looks like it is coming out really good. I look forward to seeing the finished product.
I prefer wood stain over paint so I'm glad to see you're staining it.
I lve watching these build threads and I really appreciate you taking the time to photograph and post your progress. I would imagine that must take a lot of time away from the actual work on the guitar. Oh yeah, I love that tele did you build it? Is a partscaster or from scratch?

Doing a refret is a pretty ambitious undertaking, and it looks like that is going well. I see what you mean about having the right place to spray. Check out the Reranch website. It is fun the see the projects. You are doing a great job. Hope it turns out to be a good player for you.

Dan R

Looks like a great job, and you're sure doing it with the right tools! I've got those Stew-Mac fretting pliers and they are great. I don't have as much in the hardware dept. as you do though. Re-fretting is the one thing that scares me spitless.

You are doing a great job. I can't wait to see it finished. Your work inspires me!

For sure Stew-Mac loves you! Looks like it's coming along well so far.

Looks like it is coming out really good. I look forward to seeing the finished product.
I prefer wood stain over paint so I'm glad to see you're staining it.
I lve watching these build threads and I really appreciate you taking the time to photograph and post your progress. I would imagine that must take a lot of time away from the actual work on the guitar. Oh yeah, I love that tele did you build it? Is a partscaster or from scratch?

From scratch. Solid bubingas and bubinga neck. Frets right in the neck. That is the most amazing guitar I have ever played and so says everyone else whose played it. Bubinga is great stuff. I hope to do one more like it sorta someday.

Looks like a great job, and you're sure doing it with the right tools! I've got those Stew-Mac fretting pliers and they are great. I don't have as much in the hardware dept. as you do though. Re-fretting is the one thing that scares me spitless.

You are doing a great job. I can't wait to see it finished. Your work inspires me!

I was terrified of refretting but it worked out good. I got lucky I guess. Stew mac has a grerat book on fretting. Great read. I must own shares by now and there's a few more items I would like form them. They make great tools.

For sure Stew-Mac loves you! Looks like it's coming along well so far.

Not bad. The neck will play great I believe as it is near perfect but the finish looks like ti was in a barn fire. Call it reliced or something. Let's see. As I was rummaging through the rubble I found this old Gibson. LOL. It'll have the gibson truss rod cover on it. Darn glued together guitars though. Nothing sticks to leftover and sanded through to glue. Still it'll have character anyway.

If I can ever get these photos to upload...
Anyway while waiting I'll ramble on:
I filed an angle on the fret ends and hit the ends at an angle with the fret file to get rid of any sharp spots. I'll touch them up a bit later on.
I started the day by taping off the fretboard and leveled the frets with 320 grit on the radius block. I marked the fret tops with a black sharpie and levelled until the tops were all showing silver instead of black. Then I sharpied them all again and used Stew Macs awesome diamond dust fret file to bring the sharpie mark down to a sliver.
Then starting at the 12th fret I marked them and took just a tad off each fret starting with 2 strokes at the 12th 3 at the 13th and so on to give a bit of fallaway to compensate for wear and such and assure no buzzing up top.
Tasped off ready to level and crown I think:

http://i225.photobucket.com/albums/dd18/DeepDrummer/Epiday31.jpg

Done deal. This is definitely going to be one fine player anyway:

http://i225.photobucket.com/albums/dd18/DeepDrummer/Epiday32.jpg

I put a little tung oil over red magahogony stain on the neck and rubbed it in a bit. It looks like it has a million miles on it which is just fine with me. It feel wonderful:

http://i225.photobucket.com/albums/dd18/DeepDrummer/Epiday33.jpg

I rubbed a bit of dark walnut stain here and there and some tung oil which will dry now until tomorrow when I'll hit it again before going to the city. There'll be a lot of waiting for tung oil to dry now for a couple days until I can reassemble it. Unintentially turned out to be a totally aged abused peice. Kind of like the old man working on it. It'll do:

http://i225.photobucket.com/albums/dd18/DeepDrummer/Epiday38.jpg


http://i225.photobucket.com/albums/dd18/DeepDrummer/Epiday39.jpg

So if you happen to see th eugliest epi of all time you'll know someone stole mine.LOL

http://i225.photobucket.com/albums/dd18/DeepDrummer/Epiday39.jpg

I was hoping to make a bone nut today but the other city nearby (45 minutes away) called to say my new acoustic was in so I had to scoot down and get it and then set it up to be playable. I probabaly won't get to nut cutting until Wednesday. No rush as I'll be waiting for the wood to dry anyway off and on. Overall I am pleased with the progress. I can't be too disappointed with the finish since I kind of stopped caring when I saw the amount of glue in it which is almost as much as there is wood. I know it'll sound and play great and that's good enough for what it is and what I'll be doing with it.
A few layers of tong oil and it'll look ok. It kind of grows on you. LOL:

http://i225.photobucket.com/albums/dd18/DeepDrummer/Epiday310.jpg

You're doing a great job! It makes me think I could do a fret job :roll:

I wish that I'd thought of it sooner, I would have suggested carving the headstock into the Gibson "open book" style. Maybe next time. Anyway, I feel inspired.

Nice!

Thanks guys. It makes me feel a little better about feeling bad. One minute it disgusts me and the next I kinda feel warm and fuzzy. LOL.
I hope to fashion a nut this afternoon after my trip to the city. While I'm there a stop at a favoutie music store is in order. I am a long way from cities so this'll take a while. hmm I have a couple hours. Fashion a nut or play guitar? I have to play a bit. I am suffering from guitar playing withdrawals. what to do, what to do. If I made a nut then I could put the tuners on and if I put tuners on then I'll want to mount it and if I mount it then I'll want to wire it and if I wire it, I'll want to plug it in and get sticky tung oil fingerprints all over it. Playing for a bit then maybe saw off a chunk of bone for a nut attempt this afternoon. Lots of new stuff for me to try on this one which is a perfect candidate to learn on.

You're doing a great job! It makes me think I could do a fret job :roll:

I wish that I'd thought of it sooner, I would have suggested carving the headstock into the Gibson "open book" style. Maybe next time. Anyway, I feel inspired.

Can you direct me to a gibson "open Book" pic? I'm not sure what that is but I am intrigued. And there WILL be a next time. I am addicted to messing with and building and rebuilding guitars now. Retired at 55 (for now) I told my wife the other day. "I have had a thousand hobbies over my life but I've never enjoyed one as much as this".

Can you direct me to a gibson "open Book" pic?

http://davidsontm.files.wordpress.com/2009/12/gibson-open-book-headstock-picture.jpg

Definitely, that would have went well with the antiquing reliced look.

Curing my bone for nuts:


lol, that's pretty funny. That's some strong paint stripper. What brand did you use?

I couldn't wait. Guitar playing will ahve to wait.
I started by cutting a chunk of bone off the BBQ, sun dried, BBQ'd again, air dried Beef free soup bone:

http://i225.photobucket.com/albums/dd18/DeepDrummer/Epiday42.jpg

I used the hacksaw to get it down to a smaller chunk:

http://i225.photobucket.com/albums/dd18/DeepDrummer/Epiday44.jpg

I used the slow wheel of my grinder with the guard that is on the side so the wheel is actually going away from me since my fingers were going to get real close. My thumb bounced off it once and I was glad my nails were trimmed. The other wheel would have cost me. A scary task that I do not recommend:

http://i225.photobucket.com/albums/dd18/DeepDrummer/Epiday46.jpg

I got it down to a wee bit taller, wider and thicker than the original and trimmed the ends a bit more after this pic:

http://i225.photobucket.com/albums/dd18/DeepDrummer/Epiday48.jpg

I flattened it out to the nut slot width on the back side of the 18" radius block. Those things are so handy for everything neck related:

http://i225.photobucket.com/albums/dd18/DeepDrummer/Epiday49.jpg

It fit the slot quite well width wise:

http://i225.photobucket.com/albums/dd18/DeepDrummer/Epiday410.jpg

Still a bit of length to sand off on the flat surface which took seconds:

http://i225.photobucket.com/albums/dd18/DeepDrummer/Epiday411.jpg

It's going to have plenty of height although ther mirror finish on the fret protector makes it seem super tall. It isn't:

http://i225.photobucket.com/albums/dd18/DeepDrummer/Epiday412.jpg

I flipped the 18" radius block over and radiused the angled back top edge until the sharpie mark dissappeared and the front edge was even and sharp all the way along:

I was just starting that process in this pic:

http://i225.photobucket.com/albums/dd18/DeepDrummer/Epiday414.jpg

It is looking mighty fine:

http://i225.photobucket.com/albums/dd18/DeepDrummer/Epiday415.jpg

It is a nice fit in the slot with good height:

http://i225.photobucket.com/albums/dd18/DeepDrummer/Epiday416.jpg

I layed the old nut on the new one and marked the slots with a sharpie:

http://i225.photobucket.com/albums/dd18/DeepDrummer/Epiday417.jpg

Using the string pack and string sizes as a guide I preslotted just barely with some of stew macs fine nut files. They have a rounded bottom and work very well. One cas easily cut down too far in a heartbeat so slow and steady with constant checking is in order. I will use these again once the strings are on to get the string height to final depth slowly over time to not overcut anything:

http://i225.photobucket.com/albums/dd18/DeepDrummer/Epiday418.jpg

Pre-slotting:

http://i225.photobucket.com/albums/dd18/DeepDrummer/Epiday420.jpg

Some nice little slots to make it easy to find my starting point when the time comes:

http://i225.photobucket.com/albums/dd18/DeepDrummer/Epiday419.jpg

I put a few dabs of super glue "gel" in the slot bottom and fretboard and back and clamped it down for 30 minutes:

http://i225.photobucket.com/albums/dd18/DeepDrummer/PIC_0001-2.jpg

I'm very pleased with the result. Now if I don't mess up with the final slotting later on, I'll be happy:

http://i225.photobucket.com/albums/dd18/DeepDrummer/PIC_0002-1.jpg

Checking out all views admiring my work before my wife starts yelling that it is time to get ready to go to town:

http://i225.photobucket.com/albums/dd18/DeepDrummer/PIC_0003-1.jpg

I am liking it:

http://i225.photobucket.com/albums/dd18/DeepDrummer/PIC_0005-1.jpg

Looking good:

http://i225.photobucket.com/albums/dd18/DeepDrummer/PIC_0006.jpg

So that's my first self made nut. I am pretty proud of this whole neck actually. It was great practice and got rid of a lot of fears. Do I recommend making your own nut? Nope. Really, if I hadn't ran out of nuts (I lost one somewhere along the line), I would have used Stew Macs fine aged nuts. It's hard to beat theirs. There's something about DIY though eh?
I better fly before she gets her husband kicking boots on. Have a great one wooosh>>>>

http://i225.photobucket.com/albums/dd18/DeepDrummer/PIC_0007-1.jpg

Loving this thread. I am finishing challenged and take a similar approach- what's a few stain blotches amongst friends! I am contemplating my first refret on an Ovation A/E which has tiny frets and I would like something a bit beefier. It's got binding though, and that terrifies me. Plus, I am not yet tooled up.

Anyway, really enjoying the thread and pics- can't wait to see how it turns out.

lol, that's pretty funny. That's some strong paint stripper. What brand did you use?

I dunno. Just some kind of furniture stripper. I like circa 1952 but they didn't have any so I got whatever they had. I'd have to battle mosquito swarms this time of night to check so I'll try to remember tomorrow to check.

The stripper is called Heirloom Furniture Stripper. My wife picked it out actually. Very powerful and very cost effective. I will use it from now on due to the low price and ample effectiveness:

http://i225.photobucket.com/albums/dd18/DeepDrummer/HeirloomFurnitureStripper.jpg

I played the little "Special Model" last night after posting for hours until the wee hours (sometime after 3 am). As I got warmed up and used to the smaller scale length I liked it more and more. It plays well everywhere. Hammer ons, pull offs, slides and bends all work well everywhere. I shoudl mention that I filed the Low E and A and the B and high E string nut things on the bridge ever so slightly to match the new 9.5 radius,
This mnorning I loosened the strings and took the bridge off and switched the 3 offending steel lower nuts (what do you call them on the bridge end anyway?) to the proper way around and re-tuned to pitch and rei-ntonated. It now looks like it should and has clearance for further intonation adjustments in both directions. That was bothering me a bit. I played it for a while and then re-tuned and checked the frets with the straightedge (the stew Mac fret ruler which is just so handy for a lot of things). Can you believe that the board has stayed perfectly straight since I snugged the truss rod up while the fretboard was bare wood? Whatever wood it is made of is nice hard really good stuff. I was so pleased with the results that I lovingly applied another coat of Tung oil and set it in the rack to dry a bit before I buff it once more. I'll hit it again probably at the next string change. A real nice player that thanked me profusely for bringing it back to life. It has earned a spot beside my last project for a while and It looks not too shabby. I'm a happy camper:

http://i225.photobucket.com/albums/dd18/DeepDrummer/Projectdone.jpg

After I buff it in seconds here, I think I'll be moving on to another project I've been considering. Building a stomp box so I can hear a nice bassy tone when tapping along to playing guitar. I still have one bass mike left and a couple scraps of wood so the cost to me should be virtually nil. I see a lot of stomp boxes using piezo's but I don't have one and hey this is free just collecting dust anyway. Have a great one folks and thanks for the far too kind words:

Boom boom boom maybe soon posted who knows where. Lots to do:

http://i225.photobucket.com/albums/dd18/DeepDrummer/StompBoxday11.jpg

I had to show you this since they look so good together.
From right to left. The Epiphone Special Model which is my first refret and first bone nut from a real beef bone refinished, The strat style thinned down with a homemade Bubinga neck, My Tele style first build solid body and solid bubinga neck.
TDPRI can take all the credit for everything that works perfectly. I'll take the blame for my lack of artistic talent in the esthetics of them. I am addicted to this now with thanks to TDPRI for teaching me near everything I know which is a whole lot more than I knew a year ago. 3 perfect playable necks set up exactly as they should be in my opinion. Very cool. TDPRI rocks!!:

http://i225.photobucket.com/albums/dd18/DeepDrummer/3done.jpg

Thanks for sharing all that Toriginal. I've been following this closely and I've been very impressed with your bravery at sharing with us complete strangers your first attempted refret. It looks like you have done a great job, keep at it and I'll look forward to seeing you attempt your first tobacco burst finish!

Thanks Real Madras. A tobacco burst would have gone well on this one too actually to hide the sides but I don't have the equipment or facilities for doing that yet. Finances aren't going to allow me to do anything for a long long time now I fear so free or near free is going to have to keep me going for now.

Oh man. I could never do anything as beautiful as that. All I can do is sit in awe. I can handle the playability aspects but until I get a proper floor instead of dirt and a new spray gun, that kind of thing is out of my reach. Who am I kidding. That kind of finish will always be beyond me. That is one gorgeous guitar!!!

Thanks for the praise, and sharing your build. However, that was done with paint used for model airplanes, if you fail, wipe it off with some spirit and have another go. Also, it doesn't smell, so I didi it in the kitchen. Then covered in nitro and polished. My first attempt. Just mentioning this to tell you that if a complete novice like me can, you can too...

Your project turned out great!

This thread is fantastic, Toriginal! I've got some work coming up for me on a solid body, and I'm keeping this thread linked for both tips and encouragement. You're doing a great job on it. I hope I can do even half as well...

Thanks. I decided to get a bit better tone out of it by making a new body and stealing a neck from an old strat project. It has a bit of a gap at the neck pocket but I'll address that in the end.
SO I made a template:

http://i225.photobucket.com/albums/dd18/DeepDrummer/EpiBodyDay13.jpg

Then I made as pattern for the router to follow:

http://i225.photobucket.com/albums/dd18/DeepDrummer/EpiBodyDay14.jpg

I yanked out the snchors for the bridge and tailpiece by using a hole saw to saw down beside them till they fell right out. Then I trimmed the excess wood from the anchors

The block of Bubinga is a little short so I'll be flat bottoming it:

http://i225.photobucket.com/albums/dd18/DeepDrummer/EpiBodyDay15.jpg

http://i225.photobucket.com/albums/dd18/DeepDrummer/EpiBodyDay16.jpg

Time to plane the block down. I am shooting for an inch and a half or less to keep the weight down.

http://i225.photobucket.com/albums/dd18/DeepDrummer/EpiBodyDay1.jpg

I am going to follow the sides of the original body with the router but I have to plug this hole first:

http://i225.photobucket.com/albums/dd18/DeepDrummer/EpiBodyDay22.jpg

http://i225.photobucket.com/albums/dd18/DeepDrummer/EpiBodyDay23.jpg

I spun this down on the drill press with a rasp to a taper:

http://i225.photobucket.com/albums/dd18/DeepDrummer/EpiBodyDay25-1.jpg

Plugged the hole and cut it off and sanded it:

http://i225.photobucket.com/albums/dd18/DeepDrummer/EpiBodyDay26-1.jpg

http://i225.photobucket.com/albums/dd18/DeepDrummer/EpiBodyDay27-1.jpg

The thickness is getting down:

http://i225.photobucket.com/albums/dd18/DeepDrummer/EpiBodyDay28-1.jpg

http://i225.photobucket.com/albums/dd18/DeepDrummer/EpiBodyDay29-1.jpg

Routing around the edge of the old body worked really well actually and my templates/patterns for the other routs worked well.

http://i225.photobucket.com/albums/dd18/DeepDrummer/EpiBodyDay214-1.jpg

I started applying a tung oil finish to the body:

http://i225.photobucket.com/albums/dd18/DeepDrummer/Epibubingabodyday32.jpg

http://i225.photobucket.com/albums/dd18/DeepDrummer/Epibubingabodyday32.jpg

Some nice grains showed themselves in the end:

http://i225.photobucket.com/albums/dd18/DeepDrummer/Epibubingabodyday34.jpg

http://i225.photobucket.com/albums/dd18/DeepDrummer/Epibubingabodyday35.jpg

http://i225.photobucket.com/albums/dd18/DeepDrummer/Epibubingabodyday36.jpg

I gently drove the anchors into the new body:

http://i225.photobucket.com/albums/dd18/DeepDrummer/PIC_0001-4.jpg

The bridge and tailpiece fit well:

http://i225.photobucket.com/albums/dd18/DeepDrummer/PIC_0002-2.jpg

The neck build is covered in the strat and tele sections where I posted thos builds a while ago. Back in the spring I think.

http://i225.photobucket.com/albums/dd18/DeepDrummer/EPIToriginalSpecialModelBack.jpg

http://i225.photobucket.com/albums/dd18/DeepDrummer/PIC_0007.jpg

The guitar player hasn't improved much but I believe the sound of the guitar has. What do you think?

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That is some primo turd-polishing, sir. Nice job!

Beautiful job! How were you able to compensate for the scale differences between the Epi and the Strat/Tele neck? Or were they both short scale?

Beautiful job! How were you able to compensate for the scale differences between the Epi and the Strat/Tele neck? Or were they both short scale?

I had already built that neck to Tele specs so I just made sure that the scale from the nut to the saddle for the high e string was 25.5" when placing the bridge and the saddle at this point was closer to the neck end of the guitar as this would theoretically would require lengthening it as I moved to the lower strings. It worked perfectly except I had to cut the heel off the neck a bit and got over zealous there leaving a gap which I may or may not fill. It bolted up nice and tight though and sounds fine but yes, it is a 25.5" scale guitar now. The original neck is still perfect and will still bolt right back on if I decide to steal this one for another project although I DO have another neck blank ready to carve up. I still grab my Tele style, more often than not but I long to try a pinecaster.