Random refinishing!

VOLVO))) · June 20, 2011, 12:40:08 AM

A few weeks ago, a buddy of mine mentioned to me that he had an Epiphone Les Paul that he refinished himself, using spraypaint and a lot of 80 grit sandpaper... He said he wasn't very happy with the result, go figure. Anyways, (since I'm waiting for my new set of files to get here for Dean's guitar) I didn't bother taking any "before" pictures, they were gruesome and I don't know if I could bear to see it a second time. After an hour and a half of hand scraping with chisels, and sand paper, we finally had that sombitch down to bare wood... Sanded 100... Sanded 150... Sanded 220, engh, my hands hurt...

First coat of oil: Watco Danish oil - Black walnut. After getting the entire guitar down to baby-bottom smooth, we noticed there was a shitload of imperfections on it, hence it being painted in the first place... noticing this, I decided to go back and hit some areas with 80 grit again, to put some pretty aggressive scratches in the finish, so the oil would darken them and make it seem weathered. You can see them, sorta kinda, at the bottom of the guitar.

While we were waiting for the oil to soak in a bit, we decided that the finish job on the headstock that he did was fucking atrocious, it was the same spraypaint finish. Engh... He decided that it would be a great idea to use a HOLE SAW, one used for INSTALLING DOOR KNOBS to make a nice circle in the headstock for some little medallion he had. Turns out there was a PLASTIC cap on top of it, (what the fuck, Epiphone?) In lieu of sanding off all of the bullshit paint, I opted to veneer the headstock so that it DIDN'T look like complete ass, in comparison to the newly oiled body. We ripped off the plastic... (This is where I get too fucking anal about how things are done, for my own good. I can't let anything leave fucked up, or half-assed. I just can't. So I invest WAY too much time and MONEY out of my own pocket, to make my friend's/customer's shit look fucking awesome.)

He said he wanted something plain, and easy. I said "FUCK THAT, WE ARE ALREADY INVOLVED, LET'S FUCKING DO IT!"

Que the fucking TIGER OAK!

AND THE FUCKING WALLLLNUT! (I used an exacto to rough out the truss notch, and then sanded to perfection.)

The planer will take everything down to 3/32nd's of an inch, which is PERFECT for this. Tiger oak, with a walnut stripe? On a headstock? No. fucking. shit.

Dry fitting...

Wet fitting...

GOT ENOUGH FUCKING CLAMPS?

No, was the answer, we added one more.

One more, for good measure...

THE SAGA CONTINUES, TOMORROW!

RacerX · June 20, 2011, 01:28:21 AM

The last pic reminds me of bukkake porn.

VOLVO))) · June 20, 2011, 01:33:17 AM

7 clamps, 1 headstock.

Lumpy · June 20, 2011, 02:02:46 AM

Subscribed

The Shocker · June 20, 2011, 08:29:31 AM

Quote from: Lumpy on June 20, 2011, 02:02:46 AM
Subscribed

Ha! Is this turning into Harmony Central? Just kidding, love these threads.

Jor el · June 20, 2011, 09:17:48 AM

Always take the Before picture.

inductorguitars · June 20, 2011, 04:41:39 PM

Oh man with that many clamps, I love to see the glue OOZE out of every nook and crankie. Then smear it all over her head with a wet paper towel or rag. Or wait til it all drys only to use a VERY stiff and HARD chisel to scrape it off.

Oh hai what were we talking about again?

Worthless Willie · June 22, 2011, 12:08:33 AM

Finish...the fucking story man!

VOLVO))) · June 22, 2011, 10:29:52 AM

I aaammmmm! Been busy working. I've driven 1,230 payable miles this week! 2,460 total! Fixing guitars is my night job! Just so happens that my day job has been all showing up at night!

justinhedrick · June 22, 2011, 10:54:15 AM

Quote from: SunnO))) on June 22, 2011, 10:29:52 AM
I aaammmmm! Been busy working. I've driven 1,230 payable miles this week! 2,460 total! Fixing guitars is my night job! Just so happens that my day job has been all showing up at night!

damn sunn, that's a lot. what do you do, a courieror something? i'm assuming you only get paid when you have a load on?

VOLVO))) · June 22, 2011, 02:54:52 PM

Yep, Im a courier. On call 24/7. Paid one way. Good work for a misanthrope. No human contact, odd hours. The works.

justinhedrick · June 22, 2011, 03:19:45 PM

Quote from: SunnO))) on June 22, 2011, 02:54:52 PM
Yep, Im a courier. On call 24/7. Paid one way. Good work for a misanthrope. No human contact, odd hours. The works.

that's awesome. i wish i could do something like that.

VOLVO))) · June 25, 2011, 12:49:33 AM

Yeah, Yeah, I know I fucking suck. (Dean, your guitar is done, I just have to restring it and set it up.)

Here is where we left off:

Rough cut out done with a die grinder, if I had to do it again, I'd use a fucking coping saw. That die grinder is unruly.

Tape, Tape, TAPE! Never go in unprotected!

Oh portable oscillating spindle sander, you so crazy!

This was as far down as I was willing to go with power tools, getting a little dainty here...

Fuck. This. Extra. Wood.

Filing that notch was a whore.

Distractions in the shop KILL my productivity.

SHIT! I have to get some fucking work done! Cmon, Man!!!1!one

Tuner holezzzz, predrilled with a nice bit...

Then followed up by this badass!

All done!

I had to walk away from a couple hours, my hands were cramping up. I went inside and played video games. I came out, and found that my shop-partner/mentor was so anxious to see how this fucker was going to look, he took the liberty of cleaning up all of my edges, and sanding it down to 220 for me. It was beautiful, smooth, and lovely at this point..

First oil...

A fuck ton more oil later...

I'll post pictures of the final assembly sometime this weekend/next week. It's a fucking beauty, and I'm horribly depressed that I don't get to keep it. It also sucks that I'm basically doing it for 45 dollars. Anyways...

justinhedrick · June 25, 2011, 11:18:11 AM

well hey, that's alllllright!

grimniggzy · June 27, 2011, 04:34:36 PM

damn, looks good, dude is getting a steal of a deal.

inductorguitars · June 27, 2011, 05:32:01 PM

Nice job. I hate the hand cramps.