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Location: Maryland, USA | I've decided that I don't need to spend the money for a Les Paul -
I'm remaking my own. I got this off Ebay from a custom shop who wanted to remake this, but realized that without a brand name on it, they couldn't really set a price for it.
I got the body and neck for $80, has NO details on who made it originally.
I'm going to sand it until the paint is off and scratches are gone.
From there, I'll see if I will repaint or just stain the wood.
I'm also going to get some custom tuners and pickups to fit it.
This will be SWEET.
Here are some pictures:
Headstock (the writing is the color that was painted)
A lot of work to be done, I'll see if I can paint it in a vintage burst. If the grain is good, I might just stain it, and if the grain is bad and the vintageburst is too hard, I'll paint it black.
It'll be a couple months, I'll keep you guys posted.
It's also nice that there's a place that has decals for the headstock, so if I wanted to make it a "Parsons" guitar (my last name), I could decide the font and whatnot on their website, order it, put it on, paint over the decal, and when the paint is dry, take the decal off and taa daa!
EDIT: If anyone wants to know why the scale is there, I still have it there from when I weighed my Viper for StephenT. |
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Location: NJ | nice wallpaper. |
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Location: Tampa, FL | And there I was admiring your ceramic practice room. Mine has a scale in it too. |
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Location: NJ | my first car was green metal flake |
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Location: Upper Left USA | Someone else is hit with the "Build-it-myself" bug!
BTW - Which project will be finished first? The room or the guitar? Never mind. |
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| Jesus Al what was it ? A Dune Buggy?
That is some metalic Paint Job Man!
Randy |
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Location: GA USA | What's with the pole? Do you have exotic dancing in there? Or are you a freelance fireman? And it plugs in... spiffy! |
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Location: NJ | 68 oldsmobile delmont 88 400cui |
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Location: Maryland, USA | Which project will be finished first? The room or the guitar? Well, I've had the room for 11 years, so I guess the guitar will be finished long before :)
What's with the pole? Do you have exotic dancing in there? Or are you a freelance fireman? And it plugs in... spiffy! That "pole" is actually an old (and ugly) lamp. I mean to toss it out one of these days, I never use it. |
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Location: Omaha | No doubt they were afraid to fix and sell ANYTHING with a remotely Gibson shaped headstock on it...they don't want to get sued!
I do hope you find some wood under that paint...I dunno, though...could just be bond-o... |
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Location: Lake Hiawatha, New Jersey | I learned my lesson many years ago about repainting guitar bodies...removing a factory paint job is a royal PITA. Some of those finishes, especially laquer, are damn thick and super hard! Seems Michael has had luck with some real nice repaint results, but I wouldn't touch another one with a ten foot pole. Unless you have a good airbrush set up, ya might want to consider one of your other choices than burst.
Have fun, and I do wish you well with it! |
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Location: Upper Left USA | For the solid bodies - Airplane Paint Stripper and 80 grit. They do not give up without a fight.
Try the HVLP small airbrush setup. I would love to have a booth someday. For now its poof can laquer.
Keep us posted on the progress! |
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Location: Maryland, USA | No doubt they were afraid to fix and sell ANYTHING with a remotely Gibson shaped headstock on it...they don't want to get sued! Yes I was hoping you were going to mention that...this looks like one of those Japanese 70's guitars with the same headstock before getting sued...
I learned my lesson many years ago about repainting guitar bodies...removing a factory paint job is a royal PITA The paintjob on their now is not factory done - and since the Headstock was sanded until all finish/logo were removed, I'm going to assume the same occured with the guitar...I'm hoping the original paintjob is already gone, I just have that lousy custom job to get rid of.
But I have to sand it, those scratches have to go.
Unless you have a good airbrush set up, ya might want to consider one of your other choices than burst. I don't have an airbrush...maybe I should just paint black or stain the wood (on the other hand, I might not find wood like leftovertion said...
I have a friend with an airbrush, maybe I'll use it...
I could just use tape and what not to make a Grail (Zakk Wylde's guitar)...but I'm not sure.
I guess I should decide on what I want now, so I only have to sand enough to get rid of those scrathes...
Any (easy to do) suggestions? |
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Location: Morrilton, AR | Hey...That's a Saga prebuilt kit. I just bought one and built it a few weeks ago.
Introduction of myself...I found this site while I was searching for Ovation stuff. I have a gloss black breadwinner and wanted to find out more history about it. Anyway, sorry for going off topic here...
As for my Saga Les Paul copy kit...they come from the factory with a very thick clear lacquer sealer type deal, so I just put a few more coats on there. It's really pretty wood...mine is at least. And the come with a paddle type headstock that you can shape any way that you want. |
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Location: Upper Left USA | Stephen P,
Check out http://www.projectguitar.com
They have a lot of Tutorials and a great Forums! |
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Location: Maryland, USA | Are you sure its a clone?
Because it has the Gibson HEadstock...
Make sure your headstock has the same shape, like exactly the same on gibson les paul's have (without the Gibson Logo of course).
Or are the Saga's a 70's made item? |
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Location: Morrilton, AR | Can you tell in any way if it has been cut? Let me find a picture..
Here... 
I know that the body is a Saga..The wiring routes are the exact same. The neck looks like one too by the positioning of the nut/truss rod cutout/truss rod cover screws. I also cut my headstock to look like a Les Paul. I'll get a pic of it in a minute. |
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Location: Morrilton, AR | Here ya go. These are my axes.
I know..I ruined it by painting the neck black. I was going to do an Eddie Van Halen style wild stripe paint job..and painted the headstock. Then I was going to start priming the body and chickened out. The wood is way to pretty to ruin like that.
I paid $160 for my kit. Not bad at all, and the guitar was actually better quality than I expected--but still not up to par in some areas...compared to the Breadwinner at least. The pickups are actually pretty sweet sounding! The bridge is awesome for rock and metal..the neck can bring out the country tunes. I did have to do alot of setup though...and the neck is a bit fat for my liking. The tuners looked and felt like junk, but after I epoxied the bridge anchors in and let everything settle, it actually holds tune really well. I epoxied the neck too..major sustain :D . The pots aren't bad either. I thought the wood would be ugly and discolored..but I thought very wrong.
I'm still having issues with the G string. I think I filed the nut slot too low. It just doesn't sound good at all when playing chords like the E and D. Any help on that?
Stephen, I'm sorry...I just kind of gave the Saga a review lol...Now I'll shutup for a while.. :o
Also..Saga recently introduced this kit. Just read the instructions again...haha, look what I found:
"Note: Some headstock shapes are protected by trademark restrictions and we do not recommend that you use them." |
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Location: Maryland, USA | I do see that neck is bolt on like mine, and I've seen other Japanese models that were glued on.
Wait....looking at the top of the headstock where the Gibson style is shown...its been sanded down to the Gibson frame.
And from this angle, its cut the same.
I think your right!
How does your built Saga play?
What kind of wood is the saga then?
Since I guess this isn't the maple top and mahogony back I expected.
If this doesn't work well after I'm done, I'll still keep it, and then buy that all Mahogany Les Paul. |
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Location: Morrilton, AR | I like it. I'm still used to the Ovation though since I've played it for the last year. It plays pretty good though. I was able to set the action as low as my Breadwinner..but had a few dead notes. Nothin that some sanding couldn't fix :D Now I just have to fix the 3rd string issue...
The top is Maple, back is basswood. They come with binding too. |
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Location: Maryland, USA | The pickups, bridge, tuners, etc don't really bother me, because mine didn't come with any.
I plan on buying a EMG-81 for the bridge and an 85 for the neck, or I'll buy the bridge and neck versions of the Gibson Burstbucker Pro. I play a lot of metal, and I've decided not to go with the Seymour Duncans because I listened to what they say is their best distortion pickup, and I didn't like it compared to the EMG-81. And I already have a Dimarzio Super Distorion on my Ovation Viper 1271, so I want this guitar to sound different. I'm going to try out a ZakkWylde LP just to see how I like those pickups, and if I like them I'll just buy the ZW EMG pickup set. I've played the BurstBucker Pro's on all the LP Standard's I've played along with that all Mahogany LP (which I'm surprised has the Burstbucker Pro's compared to the other Studio's who have lesser quality pickups).
I'm happy that my Saga didn't come with all that stuff, because I want everything I put on it to be of the best quality.
I hope to make this my perfect guitar. I also plan on replacing the knobs though, they seem kind of cheap and I was hoping for a kind of goldish look anyway that some LP's have.
Thanks for all your help DR Man.
Now here's my new question: If I can take that crappy paintjob off, do you think the wood will still be intact? |
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Location: Omaha | drman929,
I noticed that you put your pickups in "backwards," that is, with the polepieces toward the center of the guitar on both pickups rather than toward the bridge and the neck...did you do that on purpose? (Or have I now ruined your day?!) Did you try them the other way and change them? Tonal differences you observed?
Just wondering? |
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Location: Morrilton, AR | Haha..wow..I never noticed that.
Just switched them..and there really isn't much difference.
About the wood--I would bet that the painter just sanded the existing lacquer and then painted it. However...I've read many Saga kit reviews and they say that the sealer on them is pretty much bulletproof.. :( |
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Location: Maryland, USA | I'm going to try some paint remover on the back, and if the wood is still intact I'll do it on the front and lacquer it up like yours. |
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Location: Evansville,IN | Always wanted a Les Paul, but couldn't see me parting with that much hard earned, but the Saga kit looks inviting. May give one a go for a Winter project. :) |
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Location: Maryland, USA | I put on some chemical remover (paint remover wasn't enough).
The back looks great, and now I'm ticked. The front areas look FANTASTIC, when they weren't screwed up with. Apparently some idiot tried sanding off the lacquer on some places, and the paintjob got absorbed into that wood, which may be impossible to get out.
The binding is still in good shape, which has me thinking of doing a Goldtop 1959 look, and on the bay I've found some decals for the headstock that have the custom LP style and the Standard. I'm debating whether or not to get one of those. |
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Location: Orlando, FL | Are you documenting this makeover with photos? May be helpful to others. |
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Location: Maryland, USA | I'll take some pictures in a few minutes.
Thanks for the idea. |
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Location: Maryland, USA | Here we are.
As you can see, the front has been damaged by some sanding. And for whatever reason the top layer is so thin at this point it can be peeled. I think a paintjob must be done at this point, and not a burst that shows the wood off either...
Once the back is cleaned up, it should actually look pretty nice.
Like I said, with the back looking nice and the binding looking good, I might do a 1959 Goldtop style.
Any more ideas? |
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Location: Morrilton, AR | Too bad about the front! The back cleaned up very nicely! :(
It looks like someone sealed the electrical compartments with some sealer already. I dont have anything in mine...and you can tell it. Someday I'll have to fix that problem..lol |
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Location: Maryland, USA | But I think with the Goldtop it'll actually look quite nice - and if I decide to buy Gibson clone decals, people might think I shelled out $3000 for this.
I'm looking at some Bill Lawrence pickups right now...
I'm definitely interested in them. |
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Posts: 274
Location: Maryland, USA | Update:
I've decided to go for an EVH style (NOT the guitar player, the guitar manufacturer) in being a flat black with all black hardware.
I ordered Bill Lawrence L-500XL and L-500R pickups about a week ago, they'll be here in a month. They're bladed pickups (Dimebag Darrell used them before/during the Seymour Duncan endorsement, so think Seymour Duncan Dimebucker look).
Decided on black Sperzel tuners, but I might decide to go for Schallers in the end.
Today I'm putting on some coats of flat black. Expect some pictures later today or tomorrow.
I'll be getting a Schaller bridge as well. |
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Location: Latitude 39.56819, Longitude -105.080066 | Starting to sound more interesting.
I am looking forward to the pics! |
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Location: Morrilton, AR | Awesome. Ready to see pics!
Actually..I just painted my "Les Paul" a few days ago...and it's funny that you mention EVH..but for me, it would be Eddie..not the mfr. The wood look became too boring for me. Check out my pickup questions thread to see that one and my strat project.. |
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Location: Maryland, USA | |
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Location: Maryland, USA | Here they are. The paint needs to be evened out a little, and I still need to put paint sealer and make it smooth, but this is pretty much what it will looks like.
Front: 
Back:
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Location: NJ | nice.
In your next round of photos, can y'turn the paper over? . . . I'd like to finish that story in the "Arts" section . . . |
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Location: Maryland, USA | What a coincidence...
I saw the Arts section on the photo and thought it'd be funny if one of you guys commented on it (like when you mention the lamp on page 1). And now you did.
I love this board ^_^ |
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Location: Maryland, USA | Update:
Painting is complete, guitar looks awesome
Bill Lawrence pickups are in, they look amazing and I can't wait to install them
I ordered the hardware today, it should be here in a couple weeks. Consists of:
Black Gotoh Tuneomatic Bridge
Black Tailpeice
Black Sperzel Tuners
Black Speed Knobs
Along with that, the pots, pickup switch, output jack, and wiring have been ordered.
In 2 weeks, expect the guitar to be ready. I have high hopes for this guitar, considering all of the parts in it are brand name and of high quality. |
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Location: Maryland, USA | And at last...I give to you...the complete Parsons Les Paul - Custom.
And the body zoomed in:
With Gotoh bridge and tailpeice, Sperzel tuners, rosewood fretboard, maple top, basswood back, Bill Lawrence L500XL and L500R handmade pickups, and flat black finish, the Parsons Les Paul Custom is the ultimate Les Paul shredding guitar. Made FROM wood, built FOR metal.
I thought that was a nice little advertisement for my guitar. The intonation problem has been fixed (nut wasn't cut correctly, and truss rod was too relieved), and with the pickups, the guitar sounds great. NEVER even a TINY bit of static or other kind of noise from these pickups. They're great.
I know, it does need a truss rod cover. I think I'll get a custom engraved one from a site I found. I also need to get a decal logo for the headstock. I also found a place that does custom ones, so it'll have Parsons (me last name) written on the headstock.
Whadya think guys? |
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Location: Maryland, USA | bump? Nobody cares? No comments?
I thought this would get some, with it being complete and all. But maybe not. |
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Location: south east Michigan | Heres a pat on the back for a job will done. A guitar like that will alway have a character that an off-the-shelf instrument cannot match. |
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Location: Tulsa, Oklahoma | Man it looks great!... What do you figure you've got in it? |
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Location: Latitude 39.56819, Longitude -105.080066 | Slipped through the cracks with all the holiday chatter. How about some sound clips! |
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Location: Midland, MI | I third the request for sound clips. I think it looks kind of goth. Then again, you do say it's built for metal. Congrats on a job well done! |
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Location: N.J. | Stephen,
That came a long way from what it originally was!! There really must be a great sense of pride being able to play an instrument you either brought back to life or built from scratch. I also would like to hear some sound clips as I'm curious how the Bill Lawrence p-ups sound. :) |
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Location: Orlando, FL | Great job. Thanks for all the updates, this has been a great thread to follow. Guitar looks great. Bet it sounds great too. Did you ever consider painting it bright green... :D |
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Location: Evansville,IN | Looks great Stephen. Probably sounds good too. I just wish I had the time and patience to do something like that. :)
I did buy a used Les Paul Studio Lite model M3. This isn't quite like the normal Les Paul. It has 3 p'ups, 2 hums, and a single, w/ a 5 way switch, no rhythm & trebel switch. It has the cherryburst finish, and ebony fret board. The finish is bad in a few places, as it spent most of its life on a stand that reacted with the finish, but it plays wonderfully. I looked at a lot of Les Pauls, but I liked the way this one felt best. :) |
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Location: Maryland, USA | I'd like to record a sound clip of it...but I don't have any software (or hardware) for doing that kind of thing (along with my guitar and amplifier not being close to this computer). Any suggestions on free software I could use without buying any expensive recording hardware? Or if the hardware could be inexpensive?
Thanks for all the compliments on it guys. |
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Location: Orange County, California | Stephen!! :mad:
Now you got me looking at Gothic Les Paul's form both Gibson and Epiphone!!! I might even stray as far the the LP VooDoo, but I'm not crazy about the red skull at the 5th fret. I like the way yours came out allot!! |
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Posts: 274
Location: Maryland, USA | At one point and time, I was considering a Gibson Gothic Les Paul...I liked the paintjob, as well as the Crestmoon inlay on the 12th fret.
But then I played some LP Studio's at a guitar center, and wasn't as impressed with it when compared to a Les Paul standard, so I decided not to purchase one (though I'm sure they'd sound better with different pickups).
I don't like the VooDoo series personally, the blood red combined with the black just puts off a weird vibe that I don't want in my guitar.
Glad I inspired someoneto go looking for a similar style guitar. Maybe I started a trend, who knows? |
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Location: San Bernardino, California | I noticed these in the last MF catalog.
http://www.musiciansfriend.com/srs7/g=guitar/search/detail/base_pid...
http://www.musiciansfriend.com/srs7/g=guitar/search/detail/base_pid... |
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My New Les Paul - But its not what you think