Firebird style headstock on LP?

[M29]

Hello,

I have been giving this old project some thought and I was wondering what you all thought about putting a Firebird style (not exactly) headstock on my broken Epi LP Studio? It might look goofy but it might not look too bad. I have to put something on there and wanted to do something a little different.

http://webpages.charter.net/tankm4/lpsudio.jpg

I am thinking about either grafting another headstock on or maybe unglueing the fretboard and neck and starting over and make a new neck. I have not unglued a guitar before. I don't have a humbucking guitar except for my semi-hollow body and I am having GAS for one but don't have the money for one right now.

Any ideas?

M29

[mrmudcat]

Hey bro is the truss rod still functional?

[M29]

Hello mrmudcat,

I bought this off the web about a year ago with the intentions of doing something with it and now that I check the truss rod it does not work. It appears like the nut is stripped, it keeps turning. So.... I might as well remove the fretboard and possibly the neck. I don't know if it is worth going through all that but I could use the experience un-gluing the board and neck.

M29

[mrmudcat]

Well Ill offer my opinion but it is just that brother my opinion others might see it different.Best thing is to replace the neck ,it sounds to me the truss rod is broken also if it turns freely.As to where you want to take it from here is of course up to you.I know some might disagree but ive done alot of projects just for fun/hobby over the years and If that was a real Gibby lespaul maybe Id say it was worth it. Of course from here you can remove neck and glue another in. Stew-Mac has the glue and stuff and of course the neck can be found on ebay.Keep us posted.I will try to help all I can.:rockon:

[mrmudcat]

;) Also you could graft a new headstock and set this up for a slide guitar .....no truss rod needed............:AOK:

[ted s]

Hi M29, I think it would be slick to put a different style headstock for sure, brake a rule here or there, make that puppy unique.

[M29]

Hello mrmudcat and Ted S.

I think I will remove the fretboard and the neck. I haven't done that yet. I have built a couple guitars over the years and I think I will make a new neck for it. I am still unsure on the headstock. I think I will mock up a Firebird headstock to see what it would look like. Wonder where I could find a pattern for one.

Any ideas on how to unglue this neck? From what I have read they usually use a steam iron some how. I think I need to remove the finish first and see where I am at.

The body looks like it has an Alder top. It is not very thick though. The rest of the body I think is Agathis mahogany. It has a thin veneer of African or Honduras mahogany on the back but it is very thin.

Thanks all for the tips all.
M29

[mrmudcat]

Few things top looks like a maple veneer. Heat and steam is still the best way to remove a neck in my opinion.You can try it dry by running a putty knife(thin) between the seems.The fact it was thrown together fast with white glue might mean it will come off easy!!:D :beer: Heat the fretboard seems first where it comes into the body then run the knife along seem to loosen it up.Try these two methods first but dont force it .

[M29]

mrmudcat,

Yeah that top looks maple, I thought I read somwhere it was alder. It is not very thick though so I don' know how much it contributes to the sound. It is carved though and that will save some work.

I will start with the fretboard. This might be fun.

M29

[mrmudcat]

Yea get you a small heat lamp or a blow dryer 1200 watter or the biggest baddest one to warm up the seems.Again be carefull if you want to keep the fretboard:D :beer:

[marnold]

Last year there was some articles in Premier Guitar on restoring an SG. IIRC, taking off the neck and dealing with a broken headstock were some of the things they fixed. Might be something to check out.

[M29]

Hello Marnold,

Thank you for the info. I ended up getting a free subscription to Premier Guitar magazine and I just got the first issue. This magazine puts them all to shame. I will get a subscription to it when this runs out for sure.

I was playing around with my Epi Les Paul and pulled the fretboard off to see what it was like underneath. Kind of interesting. I am thinking of making a neck through neck for it. The truss rod just pulled right up with very little effort. It was stripped.

http://webpages.charter.net/tankm4/epi1.jpg

http://webpages.charter.net/tankm4/epi2.jpg

Thanks guys for all your tips.

M29

[M29]

Hello,

Would anyone have these dimensions from either an Epi or Gibson Firebird, I am not picky? The two narrower dimensions are across the headstock at the farthest points.

Shoot...the center to center distance on the machine heads would be nice too:D


http://webpages.charter.net/tankm4/fbirdhead2.jpg

Thank you for your time and help.

M

[M29]

Well I finally got the finish off of this body. I am trying to salvage the yellow stain in the maple top and it looks like I should be able to. I don't know yet if I am going to paint it a whiteish blonde or a sunbrust of some sort, Maybe with black.

Here is a shot of the body stripped down. I am tempted to try a binding around the top but don't know if I want to go there with this one. I sure need the practice, I never did binding before :munch:

http://webpages.charter.net/tankm4/epi3.jpg

Here is a shot of my headstock repair so far. I have a chunk of mahogany laying around here that might work.

http://webpages.charter.net/tankm4/epi4.jpg


I am thinking of going out on a limb here with a maple fretboard, maybe birds eye and the Firebird headstock. Might be pretty goofy but it will be different:rockon:

M29

[duhvoodooman]

Wow, this has become quite the project, M! Looks good so far. :AOK:

Goofy but different? Geez, that's how my wife describes me....

[M29]

Hey DVM my wife says the same thing:thwap:

Thank you for the kind words. I am knee deep in the hooplah with this one.

M29

[Bloozcat]

I see you got the poly finish off the body, M29. Cool...

That Firebird headstock ought to get some looks!

[ted s]

wow m29, up to your armpits in alligators there eh ?
With the lack of headstock you could just string it with one REALLY THICK STRING ! or use it as a large shrimp fork.

[M29]

Thanks Blooz. The headstock might get some looks but they might not be nice:thwap:

Shrimp fork...hmm.......That may work. I could then turn it around and use it as an ore to make my way back to shore. Thats a good idea Ted s:AOK:

M29

[Bloozcat]

Thanks Blooz. The headstock might get some looks but they might not be nice:thwap:

Shrimp fork...hmm.......That may work. I could then turn it around and use it as an ore to make my way back to shore. Thats a good idea Ted s:AOK:

M29

My buddy Pat at Resurrection had an SG body lying around and got the idea to take a spare Strat neck that he had, and make a set neck FrankenSG out of it. It was pretty strange looking, but somehow appealing at the same time. He made it a 25-1/2" scale, and it had a tone all it's own. Mostly SG, but with some definite Strat overtones due to the scale length and maple neck.

[M29]

Hello Blooz,

I am not sure yet what I will actually do with the headstock but I will mock it up with some cardboard and see what you gals/guys think. It might be too far out. I do want something different though. Something to catch the eye but not put one out or asleep.

Does your friend Pat have a website for Resurrection Guitars?

M29

[robert43]

I am intrested to see the results

[Bloozcat]

Hello Blooz,

I am not sure yet what I will actually do with the headstock but I will mock it up with some cardboard and see what you gals/guys think. It might be too far out. I do want something different though. Something to catch the eye but not put one out or asleep.

Does your friend Pat have a website for Resurrection Guitars?

Barry

I don't know what happened to their website, M29. I did find them on Myspace though:
http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendID=173768517

The band you hear playing when you go to Myspace is son Tim's band - The Nouveaux Honkies. They're a funky mix of blues, jazz, roots, music (you can also click on their name under friends of Resurrection Guitars to hear more). I was shocked when my wife and I saw saw them locally and my wife actually liked their music. My wife generally likes ear-rot, elevator/dentist office music and the like. At least she's finally come to realized that Barry Manilow and Neil Diamond aren't worth wasting your hearing on. It's a start...

[M29]

Thanks robert43:AOK:

Thanks Blooz, I looked around but could not find the site I thought was correct. There is some beautiful work going on at Resurrection Guitars. I need to spend some time on that site. How awesome to have a friend that close doing that kind of work. Yeah my wife liked bubble gum rock...Carpenters and the like:thwap:

Here is a mock-up of what the Firebird headstock would look like. I kind of like it. I don't know what copyright issues would come from this but maybe I can change it ever so lightly:D I can see right now it will have to be a bit larger. I also want to have it angled back.

http://webpages.charter.net/tankm4/epi5.jpg

M29

[M29]

Hello,

This is where I am at with my Epi LP headstock repair. I have a blank cut with the needed angles to glue to the neck now. I burnt some of the wood with a dull saw blade but that will sand out.

http://webpages.charter.net/tankm4/epi6.jpg

Does anyone have any suggestions as to how to get a real tight glue joint with these angles? I suppose I could put a guide pin or peg in to keep it from moving while I clamp it together.

M29

[Kazz]

I like where you are going with this.....very interesting.

[Mr Grumpy]

Well...........my Gordon Smith is a LP double cut shape a maple board and a sort of weirdish strat 3+3 headstock, might give you a clue. Its different alright and works for me.....

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y220/noddyman/fa4f09ea.jpg

[M29]

Thank you for the kind words Kazz!

Hello Grumpy, man I like that GS. The body style looks great and the headstock as well!

I finally got the headstock blank glued on, now I have to get the shape sawed, glue some laminate on the face and start blending it all in.

http://webpages.charter.net/tankm4/epilp7.jpghttp://webpages.charter.net/tankm4/epi7.jpg

I am not concerned about the grain pattern matching up although I think it will match pretty good. I am going to do an overall black with a yellow,to red,to black burst type finish on it, unless I change my mind... which I usually seem to do:D

M29

[M29]

I have a little more done on this headstock. I used a coping saw to get closer to the shape I wanted in this picture.

http://webpages.charter.net/tankm4/epi8.jpg

I used an air sander with a 40 grit disk to take this down fast. It will be hand work from here on out. The overall shape is a bit larger then what I want, I will get closer to the finish size as I go to finer files and sandpaper.

http://webpages.charter.net/tankm4/epi9.jpg

M29

[M29]

Well I got some goodies in the mail. I have a truss rod, fretboard radius block for leveling the board, a set of abalone dots, fret caul, frets (not pictured) and an ebony fretboard to move this project along.

http://webpages.charter.net/tankm4/epi10.jpg

It looks like I am going to have to open the truss rod channel up a bit but the length is good. The ebony board has light streaks in it and most would stain it black to cover the streaks. They are so uniformly spaced through out the board I might just leave them there for something different.
I think I am going to thin the headstock out some more on the back side and make the volute a bit smaller. Then I can drill the machine head holes. I still need to pick them up. I am going to wait until I get the fretboard mounted before I finish blending the headstock repair. I will need the finished fretboard to help blend all this in.

Just an update for anyone that is interested.
M29

[ET335]

Just an update for anyone that is interested.
M29

I think that many of us here are very interested M29...you are doing a major repair that is very time consuming and takes a lot thought and patience.

I have been following this thread all along and you are doing one Heck of a nice job on this git.I for one think it will turn out to be a great looking Guitar.

also I agree with you on the ebony fretboard,looks nice just the way it is.

you are doing a great job M29. looking good!!:bravo: :beer: :AOK:

[M29]

Thank you for the kind words ET335! I enjoy doing this kind of stuff. It is a drag though if I mess something up along the way, I might not be able to fix it and then loose all of what I put into it. I can use the machine heads and bridge parts though if I mess up, but the truss rod and fretboard will be wasted. I just hope that headstock don't pop off when I put tension on it. It should be okay.

Thanks again.

M29

[warren0728]

very cool project....i am enjoying the updates and look forward to seeing the completed project.... :AOK:

ww

[hubberjub]

Thank goodness for stumac.com. Looks good.

[M29]

Hello,

Got a few more things done.

I put the truss rod in, glued the fretboard on as well as the headstock overlay. I kind of like the ebony on the whole neck I think it will go well with the black color on the rest of the guitar except for the burst on the front.

http://webpages.charter.net/tankm4/epi11.jpg

http://webpages.charter.net/tankm4/epi12.jpg

http://webpages.charter.net/tankm4/epi13.jpg

I am not concerned about the glue joint grain matching it will all be painted black anyway but it did come out pretty good.

I am installing the abalone dots in the fretboard now and it looks pretty cool.

Thanks for looking.

M29

[warren0728]

looking good...you are doing a really nice job! :bravo: :beer:

ww

[M29]

Thanks WW:D

[sunvalleylaw]

Looking good M! I sure respect the work that goes into these projects, and enjoy watching them progress. Thanks for sharing it.

[M29]

Thanks SVL I am getting anxious to play the thing. Starting to think about what pickups to get for it. I have some cream pickup trim rings but I have been thinking that black might be better. I just don't want to make it too black. Or maybe I should make it all black:confused:

Thanks again.

M29

[sunvalleylaw]

Oh, I am not a huge fan of all black hardware. Reminds me too much of 80's asian car bumpers. A little cream may lighten things just a little. Just my $.0.02 though.

[Big K]

great work!!!!

[M29]

Thanks guys.

M29

[Bloozcat]

I haven't checked this thread out in a while.

Good looking work, M29! It's all starting to come together nicely. Can't wait to see more...:AOK:

[M29]

Hello,

Well I got my inlays in, my side marker dots in and the frets on. I had a scare while leveling the frets. I kept getting a buzz from the 12th fret down toward the nut. I checked and leveled checked and leveled and the D string kept buzzing in that area. That neck is very very straight and the string was fine from the 12th fret up. I finally thought maybe the string was bad. I have never had a bad string and thought nah I don't think it is that. I finally got fed up and changed the D string and bam! that was it. No more buzz. I never would have thought it would have been a bad string. I even bent the G string up into the area of the D and also bent the A into that area and got not buzz. That is what really made me suspect the string.
At any rate...Here is a pic of the crowning that I am presently doing. I strung it up with the rough frets bare with no electrics and it plays good. It has a nice open even sound, no mud and a good resonance. Shoot... the headstock hasn't fallen off yet either. :D

http://webpages.charter.net/tankm4/epi15.jpg

M29

[M29]

I just realised I didn't have a finished photo for this thread. I think most of you have seen this by now but just to finish this up here is the finished guitar.

http://webpages.charter.net/tankm4/bb18epi.jpg


At this point, (12/22.09) the ebony fretboard has shrunk a bit and the fret ends are protruding some but that is easily taken care of. It plays great, I love ebony fretboards. I have Dimazio Classic PAF's in at the moment but I am thinking of putting some GFS' humbucking mounted P 90's. I have a set in my semi-hollow body and love em. Might make this thing really rock.

M

[oldguy]

I just realised I didn't have a finished photo for this thread. I think most of you have seen this by now but just to finish this up here is the finished guitar.

http://webpages.charter.net/tankm4/bb18epi.jpg


At this point, (12/22.09) the ebony fretboard has shrunk a bit and the fret ends are protruding some but that is easily taken care of. It plays great, I love ebony fretboards. I have Dimazio Classic PAF's in at the moment but I am thinking of putting some GFS' humbucking mounted P 90's. I have a set in my semi-hollow body and love em. Might make this thing really rock.

M


It's about time!!!


Kidding........really nice job, M, really nice. Thanks for the picture also, the guitar looks great in front of that combo!:AOK

[M29]

Thanks Glenn. Yeah is has been a while :thwap It is strange looking but it gets a lot of attention, people can't figure out what the heck it is. :socool