CA Guitar Repair Blog: Epiphone Special Model Restoration

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Howdy folks :) This is the second post of a three-parter regarding the restoration of a sunburst Gibson Epiphone Special Model Les Paul. In this post, we shall take a look at how the damaged headstock/neck scarf joint (Image 1) was repaired, and the back of the neck refinished.

For starters, the bolt-on neck was unscrewed from the body and the finish around the damaged area sanded off until only bare wood remained (Image 2). At this stage, the extent of the damage was clearly visible (Image 3). The scarf joint had split apart completely, and part of the fretboard had separated from the neck. It was indeed fortunate that the break was clean, and there were no splinters to be removed.

Following this, the surfaces to be mated were lightly scuffed with abrasive paper. Scuffing is important as it promotes glue adhesion to the wood. A dry run was conducted to determine the best placement for clamps and wooden cauls, as there would be little time to position them once glue had been applied. Titebond III Ultimate Wood Glue was then applied, and the joint clamped for a week (Image 4).

Once the clamps had been removed, dried glue squeeze-out was sanded off with 220 grit abrasive paper, and the entire repaired area sealed with several coats of super glue. After the last layer of super glue had cured, it was time to sand again, this time from 220 all the way up to 800 grit. By this time, the bare wood surface was sufficiently smooth for refinishing (Image 5). Additionally, the entire back of the neck was lightly sanded with 800 grit abrasive paper.

After cleaning the whole neck with naphtha and removing any dust with a tack cloth, masking tape was applied to the front of the headstock and fretboard; right up to the fretboard edges. This was done to shield these surfaces from overspray. The back of the neck was then color-coated with Samurai 29/209A Flat Black (Image 6).

The next step was to remove the masking tape and eliminate the paint ridge that had developed all along the border between the bottom edge of the fretboard and side of the neck. This ridge cannot be avoided. You have to put tape on before spraying, and no matter how careful you are; a little of the paint finds its way underneath the tape. This is what creates the ridge. A single-edged razor blade was used to scrape off the paint ridge and smoothen things out (Image 7).

Subsequently, the back of the neck was clear-coated with Samurai 1/128 Clear. This time around, only the the fretboard face was taped off; as the sides of the fretboard needed to be sealed with the clear coat. As can be seen in Image 8, the final coat of clear wasn't all that smooth; no thanks to the unwelcome presence of "orange peel." "Orange peel" is caused by high and low spots in the finish, and must be dealt with appropriately.

After a couple days of hang time, the clear coat had cured and was ready for some serious wetsanding. Wetsanding is a must if you want to minimize the amount of "orange peel" and even out the finish. And so, the clear coat was wetsanded with a succession of grits from 800 all the way up to 2000 (Image 9). Wetsanding in this way creates a relatively even and smooth surface that exhibits a dull sheen. The final step was polishing and waxing the clear coat, which definitely added some gloss and shine.

Having reached this stage of the restoration, all that needed to be done was to reassemble the Les Paul, do a routine setup with Ernie Ball Super Slinkys, put her through her paces; and have a quick photoshoot. Thanks for visiting, and do stay tuned for Part Three of this series :)