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Joined:
June 2005
Posts: 274
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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March 2002
Posts: 14842
Location: NJ | nice wallpaper. |
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August 2004
Posts: 604
Location: Tampa, FL | And there I was admiring your ceramic practice room. Mine has a scale in it too. |
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December 2001
Posts: 10581
Location: NJ | my first car was green metal flake |
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December 2003
Posts: 13983
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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February 2004
Posts: 2487
| Jesus Al what was it ? A Dune Buggy?
That is some metalic Paint Job Man!
Randy |
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July 2005
Posts: 3408
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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December 2001
Posts: 10581
Location: NJ | 68 oldsmobile delmont 88 400cui |
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June 2005
Posts: 274
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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July 2004
Posts: 338
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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Joined:
August 2002
Posts: 623
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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Joined:
December 2003
Posts: 13983
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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Joined:
June 2005
Posts: 274
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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August 2005
Posts: 9
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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Joined:
December 2003
Posts: 13983
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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Joined:
June 2005
Posts: 274
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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Joined:
August 2005
Posts: 9
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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Joined:
August 2005
Posts: 9
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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Joined:
June 2005
Posts: 274
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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Joined:
August 2005
Posts: 9
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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Joined:
June 2005
Posts: 274
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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Joined:
July 2004
Posts: 338
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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Joined:
August 2005
Posts: 9
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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Joined:
June 2005
Posts: 274
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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Joined:
May 2005
Posts: 327
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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My New Les Paul - But its not what you think
