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Bringing back an SG Copy from the Dead !


SG Lou

Question

Posted

Been working on this project as time allows and I have gotten to the point

thats it's ready for it's finish.

Body was donated from a Samick SG as the neck on the Samick was shot:

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See that V to the right in the above picture ?

That was a project I picked up on ebay and it didn't work out as the Gibson Neck that was on it was glued into the homemade body at a 3 degree angle and we all know it's almost impossible to use a Strat style Trem on an angled neck so off came the neck and the body becomes firewood !

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Anyway, I had to do some rebuilding of the heel and tenon as well as the headstock as the headstock was already shaped like an arrow head as on Randy Rhodes Polka Dot Vee.

Here are the results. I didn't take pictures of the process as I was flying along on it and didn't stop to photo the process.

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After the work on the neck was done I went to the body.

I cut the neck off at the joint leaving the original wood intact and routed it to shape along with the tenon route like the Early 61 thru 65 Box Neck Joint.

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I also pulgged the bridge pickup route along with the bridge and stop tail piece holes. Reason for that was the Samick had a 25 1/2" scale and I used

a Gibson 24 3/4" scale FB from Stew Mac.

Neck joint has perfect snug fit and its dead center to the body.

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Ready for some Inlay and Fret / Binding work.

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Cut my own Trap inlays and got them in. Than after tapering the FB to the neck it time for Frets to be pressed in.

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After filing the fret ends flush to the FB it was ready for glue up.

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Binding glued on .

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Here's a shot of Templates for the LP project. I have to make 2 more and they are done. J. Catto's plans were used.

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Binding work is done, neck is glued up.

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Here's a close up of the neck joint.

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Headstock shots showing the work done to it. You can see the overlapping layers of Mahogany as well as the Mahogany plugs that hide the Maple dowels that i used to beef up the joints where the new headstock material joined the old.

Note in the first picture those 2 plugs just below the headstock, they were already there as someone plugged the hole for a locking nut that was on this neck !

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So thats where i'm at with this. It's finished sanded and I'm awaiting the STP so I can drill the anchor holes for it along with the ground wire hole.

Once thats done it's ready for sealer.

I will shoot this with an Acrylic Lacquer in Pelham Blue and it will have Nickle hardwear, a 5 ply pickguard and Gibson pickups

15 answers to this question

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Posted

Neck joint looks tight. Very nice.

Thanks ! I guess I made a good template for it !

Being i didn't take any pictures while replacing the headstock , I'll use MS Paint to show how it was done.

This was how it looked when I started.

HS01.jpg

I cut off portions of the headstock untill I was left with this:

HS02.jpg

I than cut a piece of mahogany so if will fit onto the cut portion and added a maple dowel just above the truss rod pocket to beef up the joint.

HS03-1.jpg

I than used my drill press and a milling bit to mill about an 1/8 of an inch off of the back of the headstock and milled it down past the joint of the new piece. I than glued up another piece of Mahogany to overlap the previous joint:

P6240013.jpg

After cutting the headstock to shape I drilled holes for a 1/4 maple dowel on both sides of the headstock stopping just short of the truss rod pocket. Glued in the dowels and topped off the hole with mahogany plugs:

HS07.jpg

Thats pretty much it. Added a Willow veener to the face and finish sanded it.

I'm pretty sure the headstock will hold up !

Posted

Polished up and ready for assembly !

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Posted

Great work! I love the way you softened the the heel, and shaved the wings for better fret access. The finish looks really cool too.

Posted

Great work! but aren't the pickups way off center?

Yeah It dose look a little off dosen't it?

I never noticed that until I read your post. I didn't do any of the body work as the body was donated from an old Samick and I know I centered the neck properly.

I went out to my shop and placed a pickup into the cavity with a ring on it and it looks good so I guess i'm ok !

Posted

Great work! I love the way you softened the the heel, and shaved the wings for better fret access. The finish looks really cool too.

Right....because SG's really need better fret access! :P

Seriously though, this is very cool and you are an amazing luther! Someday I hope to be able to do this kind of stuff.

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