This one is going to take a while, I like a challenge now and then! It’s perhaps going to take longer than I thought but since it’s a quality guitar it shouldn’t be too difficult.
The guitar with the new parts…
Along with the new parts it also needs a little bit of TLC, the frets are rather worn so before I do much more I’m going to sort them out.
To do that I first need to take out the nut. Unfortunately it broke so I guess that’ll be another job.
I’ve cleaned out the slot and I’ll cut the bone nut to shape and size after I’ve done the fret-dress.
All stripped out…
First I’ll level off the fretboard before levelling the frets.
With the level beam grind down the fret tops..
You can see where the worn spots are, so just a little more to go.
Just about done…..
With the fret tops nice and even next I need to re-shape the top of each one.
A long job but I’ve got them done.
The next phase is to re-polish each one in turn. I’ve run out of time today so I’ll carry on tomo
Got the frets polished…
Next I turned my attention to that broken nut. I used a grinding disk to cut a bone blank to the required size…
It’s a fiddley job which I rather hate, the job is easy, it’s just the smell of grinding bone, like working in a slaughter-house! yuk.
It needs a little work on the slot to get it to fit properly. I’ll cut the string slots when I get the guitar back together.
With the frets done I gave the fret-board a good clean and re-oil….
Next I made a start on the hardware. Life is never that simple though, the pointers for the Vol/Tone controls don’t fit the pots’. Not a big problem, I just need to file the hole out a little.
With the new pots’ fitted, wire them all in.
The next problem, the cover doesn’t quite fit and the screw holes don’t line up.
It’s not far out, I just need to soften the curves a little.
The screw holes are a little more of a problem. Since they are close I need to drill out and plug the old holes and re-drill them.
Once the glue is dry I carefully cut the tops flat.
With that done I need to go back to that nut that I made. Marking up the string spacings with the spacing rule.
All I need to do now is a full setup, starting with the set in the neck.
A little high so a small turn of the truss-rod.
The next stage is the action at the 1st fret. Since the nut is new the slots need cutting down quite a lot.
Next the action height at the 12th fret. A little high so I need to drop the bridge down a little.
Lastly the intonation. It wasn’t far out, just a small tweek here and there.
Since the pickups have been changed the heights also need adjusting to give the right balance of treble and bass and volume across both pickups.
I’ve never really been a fan of the Les Paul, but this one has turned out really nice, If I do say so myself.
