Epiphone PRO-1 Classic 2.0 Antique Natural | Part 2

◀ Part 1 

Cleaning, Polishing and Servicing

As seen in Part 1, this Epiphone PRO-1 Classic is in need of cleaning, waxing, polishing, servicing, and lots of TLC. Let's begin with the headstock. Detaching the tuners and "Epiphone" metal badge, for instance, reveals a hardened layer of dust and grime. This is especially evident on the headstock face, where one can clearly see the outline of the badge in the crud. 

No worries, though. Naphtha, followed by waxing and polishing, should have the wood nice and shiny again. The tuners will be serviced and lubed, and the badge polished. As for the 11 tiny screws holding everything together, they'll be cleaned, polished, and reused.

Hardware Disassembled for Servicing

GraphTech® NuBone™ Saddle

Bare Headstock Face

Back of Headstock Sans Hardware

Bare Headstock - Left Side

Bare Headstock - Right Side

Spot Leveling

Straightening the neck has revealed five high frets in the upper reaches of the rosewood fretboard. I suspect these frets to be behind the string buzz the owner mentioned when he first brought in the guitar. As these five frets are close together, spot leveling and recrowning should take care of the problem.

High Frets Marked

Spot Leveling in Progress

Recrowning in Progress

Fretboard Conditioning and More

Conditioning an unfinished fretboard normally begins with a rag and naphtha, followed by gentle abrading with 0000 grade steel wool. It has not been so simple with this rosewood fretboard, though. There's so much embedded crud that I've had to pull out a blade and actually scrape the fretboard clean before doing anything else.

Fretboard Scraping in Progress

Polishing the Frets

Lemon Oil Applied

Rosewood Fretboard After Conditioning

The rosewood bridge has been much easier to clean, thankfully. The layers of varnish sealing the wood has prevented dust, grime and crud from getting embedded. A good going over with a rag and naphtha, followed by some Gibson Guitar Polish; and the bridge is looking nice and shiny again. At this juncture, all that remains is to reinstall the hardware, restring, tune, and set up. For this purpose, the owner has chosen a set of D'Addario Pro Arte EJ30s. Quality strings, these be.

Rosewood Bridge Cleaned and Polished

D'Addario Pro Arte EJ30 Strings

Mini Photo Shoot

I'm satisfied with the way this Epiphone PRO-1 Classic feels in my hands, and how it sounds now. Most importantly, there's no more upper register buzzing. So, it's time to whip out my cellphone and snap a few pics. 

Epiphone PRO-1 Classic - Front View

Headstock Face

Rosewood Fretboard

Antique Natural Cedar Top

Epiphone PRO-1 Classic - Back View

Back of Headstock

Mahogany Neck

Mahogany Back

◀ Part 1