Finally Done - Silverburst project

samzadgan

This project has taken over a year, but today I consider it done. 

The guitar started life as a Silverburst Epiphone LPC and to start with the big painting and woodworking had to be done by someone who knew what they were doing...not me...so I sent this second hand guitar off and got the following done:

- reshape headstock

- apply Gibson LPC headstock overlay

- strip back the paint and apply Silverburst finish

- coat with nitro

- apply tint (to make it look like a late 70's one)

when i got it back, about a year ago now, i changed out all the pots and put in some Lace Dirty Hashers...and it was fine for a while. But, although this guitar looked great and felt amazing to play, it didn't sound that great.

So over the next 6-8 months, i tried out a few different pickups until I settled on some Gibson Burstbucker's which i really like. Next I changed out the stop tail piece and the bridge for Faber steel set, and immediately this lifted the tone and resonance to another level. It was as it this point that this guitar started sounding like the real deal.

Interesting story...I was selling an amp and a guy came over to try it out...I had the LP and my Aluminium neck JM next to the amp...the guy asked to play the LP as it was similar to his guitar and his a LP guy. So I hesitantly handed it over thinking his going to think its a chibson. To my surprise, he was taken more by the guitar than the amp...he started questioning me on the year...pickups etc etc...turned out, he had a mid 70's Custom, but he thought mine played nicer. He thought mine was of the same heritage, and had at some point had fretboard replacement...because mine is rosewood...he was a little shocked when I came clean as to the story...so that just confirmed how I felt about the guitar.

So fast forward a couple of months, and I've done the final mod, the only thing that had been bothering me was the fretboard...so I bought some Minwax ebony stain pen...ridiculously easy to apply...over the last 4 nights, I've applied 3 coats and last night i cleaned it and oiled up the board. Tonight, i though the colour would have faded and settled...but no...it looks great. 

from humble beginnings:

To this:

And finally...before and after on the fretboard:

gusman2x

I sure do love a silverburst me.

KingNothing

I don't really understand why people insist on having Gibson or Fender on their headstocks if its not a Gibson or Fender but whoever's done this has done a great job, it looks sweet. 

usedtobe

Very nice!

Gassage

Aussibson

Danielsguitars

The headstock shape is nicer imo

samzadgan

KingNothing said:

I don't really understand why people insist on having Gibson or Fender on their headstocks if its not a Gibson or Fender but whoever's done this has done a great job, it looks sweet. 

2 reasons really...firstly i dont like the epiphone headstock shape, i think it looks like crap. secondly, my dream has always been to own a Gibson LPC Silverburst, but I cant justify paying that much for a guitar, but now i have something that looks, plays and sounds the part, so I'm happy that I've hit that life goal!

I never went down this road to create a rip off Gibson...because even if I dont play it, its something i would hang up on the wall and just appreciate the beauty of.

TTBZ

That looks great! Dunno if I'd put the Gibson logo on it myself but the reshape makes it look so much nicer. Interested in doing this to an Epi myself actually since that's the main thing I dislike about em! Do you have any closer photos of the headstock?

samzadgan

TTBZ;1125049" said:

That looks great! Dunno if I'd put the Gibson logo on it myself but the reshape makes it look so much nicer. Interested in doing this to an Epi myself actually since that's the main thing I dislike about em! Do you have any closer photos of the headstock?

@TTBZ i know what you mean about the "Gibson" but actually its a lot mor cost efficient and easier, as you can get the overlays and fit the reshape the the overlay anyway.

Reshaping, adding binding etc would probably be more work.

Ill take a few close up shots of it tomorrow.

samzadgan

@TTBZ...here's a close up of the headstock...

TTBZ

Looks great, done a really good job of that! Giving me some ideas

PVO_Dave

Hi @samzadgan - I bought one of those Minwax ebony pens after seeing this and some other online recommendations, how do you apply this around the blocks and binding, does it just wipe off?

samzadgan

PVO_Dave;1139062" said:

Hi @samzadgan - I bought one of those Minwax ebony pens after seeing this and some other online recommendations, how do you apply this around the blocks and binding, does it just wipe off?

I was really careful first time around, then realised even overnight it doesnt stain anything but the wood...wipes straight off. I was still careful on subsequent coates but confident enough that it will wipe off.

PVO_Dave

samzadgan said:

PVO_Dave;1139062" said:

Hi @samzadgan - I bought one of those Minwax ebony pens after seeing this and some other online recommendations, how do you apply this around the blocks and binding, does it just wipe off?

I was really careful first time around, then realised even overnight it doesnt stain anything but the wood...wipes straight off. I was still careful on subsequent coates but confident enough that it will wipe off.

Excellent - Thank you, might start on that tonight, when I ordered my custom explorer kit, they sodded up the order and made it with rosewood instead of ebony, the discount they gave was enough to keep it, but it's still something that doesn't look quite right