52-59 Conversion, Amazing 2 piece Plain Top

[boogieongtr]

Here is a conversion I am doing for a customer. The guitar has had a refin to all gold. Lots of great things ahead so let's get started.
Ready to strip:

What a great find! The top is booked matched and 3/4" off center. This will make a great plain top Burst.

OK on the down side. This is why I don't like to buy all gold refins. There is a 1/16" shim in the neck pocket.

And about 1/16" of wood filler in the neck joint and the body has been sanded way out of profile. I'll deal with these 2 issues later.

First I'll steam the neck out. I pull out 4 frets and bore 8 small holes into the neck pocket for my needle.

A little steam:

The neck pops right out with a little pressure from my jig.

Here is another issue. You can see there are bit marks into the neck pockets bottom and sidewalls. These can all be fixed but I'm wondering if the neck is original to the body? Either way it will make a great old LP when the project is completed.

 

[Electric Lloyd]

Cool, Boogie! I love your projects. Thanks for sharing. Can't wait to see what's next...

 

[pinefd]

Cool, Boogie! I love your projects. Thanks for sharing. Can't wait to see what's next...

+1!!! Go, Jim, Go! Great project, and great candidate!


Frank

 

[guitarchitecture]

great stuff Boogie- keep it rollin' thx

 

[Rev.WillieVK]

Definite re-neck:

Shim or no shim, it should look more like this:

 

[Jean Christophe]

Let's go Jim !!!
Jean Christophe

 

[J.D.]

Evidence is pointing toward a non-original neck.

 

[The Stumble]

i remember this one from ebay it had been for sale here in the uk for a while and i came very close to buying it myself but far too many red flags towards a reneck

believe it or not the first thing i noticed was the 12th fret dot markers .....
they were simply too far apart and as they say the devil is in the details

 

[Classic71]

Wow, very cool thread. Look forward to seeing this through to completion, this is the type of thread where you really learn stuff. Thanks for sharing boogieongtr :salude

 

[Scott Lentz]

Jim, the neck may be an original neck that was reset in that body, that would explain the lack of fit and the filler on the top side of the neck. The mortise on the guitar is not kosher, drill marks and all. I especially like the bottom of the neck, is very telling in why it was removed so easy!

 

[boogieongtr]

Thanks everyone. Even with the few anomolies I think the guitar will be a great player.

Jim, the neck may be an original neck that was reset in that body, that would explain the lack of fit and the filler on the top side of the neck. The mortise on the guitar is not kosher, drill marks and all. I especially like the bottom of the neck, is very telling in why it was removed so easy!

I'm sure the neck is an original 50's neck but probably not the original neck to the body. The lack of glue is why it came out in about 3 minutes.

Next up is to clean the original pickup routes so my plugs have fresh wood to bond to. I use a 1/2" router bit and enlarge the pickup cavities by 1/64".

I cut the mahogany/maple plugs and use a 1/4" radius bit to round the corners. This will make a perfect fit.

Plugs made, dry fit and ready to glue into the body.

Plugs glued in

Plugs sanded and ready to move on.

 

[MapleFlame]

Great job matching up the grain lines. The plugs are one of the best fitting I have seen. Thanks for sharing.

 

[JIMI55LP]

This is amazing!

 

[zorglub!]

Really cool to see the process, thanks!

 

[latestarter]

And a thanks from down under too...keep up the pics please!

 

[boogieongtr]

Great job matching up the grain lines. The plugs are one of the best fitting I have seen. Thanks for sharing.

Thanks Steve, it took me 3 hours to find the plug for the bridge cavity. I went thru a lot of maple to find a piece that would match the tops grain lines. It's not perfect but a good match IMOP.

 

[latestarter]

And to think 90% of it will be routed away...that's a professional approach. Well done.

 

[Badoogie]

Great work, keep the pictures coming! :applaude

 

[boogieongtr]

And to think 90% of it will be routed away...that's a professional approach. Well done.

I do each project as if I were doing it for myself and that's how I would want the job done.

 

[boogieongtr]

Next up I cleaned up the bottom of the mortise and added a piece of mahogany. When I route the new 4 degree neck angle this will make certain the neck has a solid bottom to glue to. I also heated the binding and pulled it back for the next step.

I want the new neck angle to be 4 degrees so I use a jig and a digital level to get the correct angle.

I use a router and take 3/32" off the body thickness to get the 4 new degree body angle. I tape off the binding to make sure it doesn't get damaged.

Now the body has a perfect 4 degree neck angle.

I next have to make the binding channel 3/32" deeper. Inside of horn

Body side

Glue binding back on.