I have a body for a guitar... don't know much else

Ok, so long story short, for $5 I came into possession of a mildy bruised guitar body that looks to be that of a Les Paul. Don't know if it's an Epiphone, Gibson, or competitor's knock-off, but it's a Les Paul body all the same. It has no neck, no bridge, the paint's scraped here and there, it's got some dings in it and a ripped up sticker promoting the use of protection during certain activities. What it does have are two humbuckers (don't know what kind or anything else about them, a pickup switch up at the top near the neck, 4 knobs for volume and tone, and a smaller two-way switch between two of the knobs. The neck was a bolt-on as well. I can't find a picture of it online and I don't have a digital camera to take a picture of it with to show you all, but that's all I know about it. I plan on completely revamping it just for the kicks of getting some good field experience for cheap. If any one knows more about what kind of guitar it was before such a tragic outcome came unto it, please do tell.

If it's had a bolt-on neck, then I don't think it was a Gibson. A photo would really help! You could check the bases of the pickups to see if there's anything printed on them. And is there anything written in the neck pocket or on the wood underneath the pickups?

Yeah, I wasn't expecting it to be a Gibson. Here are a few pictures I took. The first one is a self explanatory full body view. The second is of that funny little switch in the midst of the knobs. The third is obviously of the back side. Will these help?

Front

Can't tell you what the brand is but the little switch is a coil tap to split the pickups to singles.

Yeah, there wasn't anything written under the pickups either, so no luck there. I was initially planning on replacing everything on it and just sticking with the body, maybe redoing the paint job or something like that. I dunno, it's going to take me a while, so I'm gonna figure out just what I'm gonna do with it in that time.

I think it's an epiphone... maybe a lp-100? that's the only epi I know of that has 4 knobs and a bolt-on neck.

a serial number in the neck pocket would help, but it appears that if there was one, it was since scratched out. I'd think that any gibson/epiphone LP neck should fit it, or you can buy a block of wood from stewmac and grind it down to your own shape :cool: the switch between the knobs was probably an aftermarket addition and could be series/parallel or coil-tap.

I'd say you got a pretty good deal for only $5! heck, I'll buy it off you for 6... :D

Even though it's a bolt-on neck, would I still be able to glue a neck for a set-neck type effect? Or are there more details inolved that make that not worthwhile? Also, what type of steps do I need to clear the paint off?

you could glue in a neck, but you might need to cut a bit more wood out of the neck pocket to increase the surface area for the glue - depends how 'handy' you are with that kind of stuff. The neck needs to fit tight in the body. As soon as you start removing wood, you run the risk of getting the neck pitch wrong.... as a first attempt I'd suggest sticking with the bolt on approach unless you're confident with wood working...

On removing the paint, if it is surface and not stained, you should be able to use Nitromores or similar paint stripper. You could also heat gun it and scrape it, or sand but you'd probably lose some of the wood as well in doing that. Also depends what you'll re-finish it with. You could just sand it back a bit and spray over if using a solid colour. It's alot like furniture making in most respects... The hardest part is going to be making the neck, as the body is already there that should be (comparitively) easy ish.

And on the guitar's identity - I'm with 6strings.....

Originally Posted by: Cryptic ExcretionsEven though it's a bolt-on neck, would I still be able to glue a neck for a set-neck type effect? Or are there more details inolved that make that not worthwhile? Also, what type of steps do I need to clear the paint off?

I believe that you can, and it's something I've thought about doing as well, just never actually tried. and on painting... well let me tell you from experience that taking paint off is a PAIN! and that's why I have a 3/4 sanded body STILL sitting in my garage (it's been there for months)

Ok, also, are there any ways to smoothen out dented spots? Like a putty or something that could be smeared into any dents? I'm planning on repainting it, so I'm not worried about it looking crappy since I'll be covering it anyway. I'll probably just stick with a bolt-on neck for now. Maybe later I'll replace the neck with a set neck, but I'd like to see if I can get this thing sounding good.

if you're gonna paint it a solid colour, you should be able to sand it back just a bit to get a surface the paint will take to, and use normal woodfiller for any dings etc, and just sand it level once set....

How are you going to paint it? Don't poison youself with spray can laquer will you? :eek:

You know, I wouldn't bother with a set neck, especially if it's been made for a bolt-on. I know people who have done the conversion and noticed no difference in sound. The good thing about a set neck is that, when it's done well, you have good access to the higher frets. But if the neck pocket area is already set up for a bolt-on then you're not gaining anything by gluing a neck in, unless you take the time to re-shape the heel and that kinda thing.

To fill the holes and dings get yourself some Bondo car body filler. It's much better than wood filler, which is softer, more brittle and more likely to cause cracks in your refinish job.

You don't have to take the paint off to refinish it, though it's not a bad idea. Whatever you do, get a decent mask. Get one to keep the sanding dust out and another for keeping the paint fumes out. Really, you don't want to get this stuff in your lungs.

To prepare it for finishing, sand it with 220 or 320 grit sandpaper till it's pretty smooth. Then use a primer such as BIN or Duplicolor Auto Primer. Get it as smooth as you can afterwards by sanding it with 320 grit paper. You might have to repeat these steps a couple of times. Then shoot your colour. I recommend something forgiving like Duplicolor auto paint or the nitrocellulose lacquer available from reranch.com. When your colour has dried hit the guitar with a couple of cans of clear (not all at once, obviously). Then let it cure, which will take about a month. Don't touch it till then. Once it's cured (in a safe place where the fumes can't get into your house and make you sick), sand it, starting with about an 800 grit paper and working up to 2000 grit. Keep your sandpaper wet with either mineral spirits (wear gloves and a mask) or baby oil. Then polish it out with car polish.

This can be an addicting and frustrating hobby. Good luck. :)

I guess I should've thought about this sooner, but I have no idea where I'm going to do this. I live in an apartment and don't know of any place I can just blast paint away at free will. Of course I'm far from ready to paint so I'm not exactly too worried right now, but it doesn't hurt to know what I'm up against. I may start dealing with the removing the paint, though.

my guess ....yamaha...could be an epi but it looks wider from side to side down near the tailpiece section than an epi.....could be illusion though

pic of yamaha lp

regardless of the wisdom of it, when I laquered my last project I did it outside, and after a few sands / re-coats it was fine....

As long as you get all of the clear coat off and scrath up the pain with a high grit sand paper, you'll be able to paint over with no problems. But I would choose a darker color paint than the one thats on there if you take that approach.

The pic that zoso posted is a set neck Yamaha LP... I wouldn't worry much about finding out what brand it is. You will never know for sure. I will bet money that it is not an Epiphone... Low end (bolt on) Epi LP's more often than not have a flat top... Yours appears to have a carved top. I would say that's it's probably an early 90's knock off.

As for the blemishes and refinishing... I suggest sanding the entire body down to bare wood... This will get rid of any dings that have only affected the finish... and leave you with the much more shallow dings that made it through to the wood... With these, you shouldn't need to use any filler... I would first use a damp rag and a soldering iron to steam out any dings... This is done by placing the damp rag over the tip of the soldering iron and placing the tip where the ding is... This add moisture to the wood... expanding the area... and retracting the ding... Then when the wood dries it should be back to normal... You may want to run the sander over it once more just to make sure it's not expanded out too much... Then you're ready to apply a primer and finish... or dye... or whatever you choose to use.

For replacement necks check out warmoth... they can be pricy but it's not easy to find bolt on necks that don't have a standard Strat heel... which is the most common kind of bolt on... The strat heel is rounded... where as yours is square... Warmoth offers different heel shapes, spacings, radius', as well as you can have them finish the neck....

Good luck.

so much for my "wealth of guitar knowledge" :rolleyes:

Originally Posted by: aschlemanlotsa good points

About the neck, if you do go for a Warmoth one, make sure you select the right scale length. Most of what they sell will be 25 1/2" and you want a 24 3/4" scale length. I'm prolly stating the obvious, but it's easy to forget when you're looking through 1000 different necks and comparing woods and frets and so on.