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Post by alexkirtley on Apr 25, 2015 18:34:28 GMT
A while ago I bought an Epiphone inspired by 1964 texan as a bit of mess around/modification guitar, when I got it the thing that stood out was the horrible orange 'vintage toner' it looked nasty and cheap, however I tuned it up and found it was a great bluesy guitar, it is built like a tank with oversized bracing, similar to the 60's Gibsons so it is similar to the sound out of Lightnin' Hopkins' J-50, to my mind anyway, but the colour really put me off. The first call of action was to replace the pickup, I don't like undersaddle pickups so I switched it out at first for an LR Baggs as I tend to use them in my guitars.  At first I dulled the finish with wire wool to try and improve the looks, that didn't work so I refinished the guitar  finally, thanks to @chickenbonejohn, I bought a lawrence soundhole pickup, I love it, it sounds great, really looks the part and it's going in the epiphone eventually, I had it modified for permanent installation with an end jack and it should turn out great.  |
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Post by Deleted on Apr 25, 2015 18:52:59 GMT
Nice job. Epiphone is putting out some nice guitars. Must have been a big job removing the finish. Did you use stripper or r sandpaper,etc? What did you refin with?
I have done several refins not fun work till its done.
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Post by alexkirtley on Apr 25, 2015 23:11:31 GMT
Nice job. Epiphone is putting out some nice guitars. Must have been a big job removing the finish. Did you use stripper or r sandpaper,etc? What did you refin with? I have done several refins not fun work till its done. Yeah it was, thick finish!as a result I only fully stripped the top, the back and sides are more of an overspray, I started with sandpaper but it didn't quite cut it so I used a small blade as a scraper for most of it then finished with sandpaper, it really turned out good, looks like a different guitar I used a polyurethane satin finish from a can, did the job, and it's not as thick as before, plus, not orange! |
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Post by Deleted on Apr 26, 2015 9:18:46 GMT
Glad you like the pickup!
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Post by alexkirtley on Apr 30, 2015 16:31:44 GMT
The finished product, with probably the best saddle I've made yet  |
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Post by Deleted on May 5, 2015 16:06:58 GMT
Hi Alex...I just bought an epiphone ib 64 Texan on eBay for a very nice price ($105)...waiting for it to arrive. It looks new but has bridge lifting according to seller. I am pretty good at making repairs, but will reserve judgement on the top finish until I see it, but otherwise looking forward to the tone and playability that you and many others attribute to it... In your estimation do you feel the quality of tone woods is good and was it nice spruce when you stripped the top? Your final photo looks great.
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Post by pete1951 on May 5, 2015 17:16:41 GMT
.....with no bridge on, refinishing the top is much easier . (you can get nitrocellulose in a spray can, might be even better tone??)
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Post by Deleted on May 5, 2015 18:56:31 GMT
Pete yes that is certainly true...but not sure I want to go thru the pain of stripping poly. It will depend upon what it looks like when I get it, and it should be playable with the partly-lifted bridge to evaluate tone... If it nearly as good as the epiphone masterbilts, should be good.
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Post by Deleted on May 6, 2015 21:52:02 GMT
FYI the Texan arrived today, and I am very happy with it. While the bridge shows some minor lift at the bottom, it is quite secure, and the bridge plate (rosewood!) is fine and doing the work of holding the tension...so will leave it. The problem is the frets were never dressed, the saddle to low at the 1 string, and the nut slots seem too deep, so it was fretting out in spots until I fixed the issues.
This is consistent with many guitars coming out of the far east...generally very well made but need a detailed setup and fret level.
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