budget bassist

That’s great to hear! I’ve also found one local to me that opened in October this year and it’s got me thinking about the neck I never managed to finish on this project, amongst other things…

I think this might be the ticket. It’s settled down a bit now so isn’t nearly as bad. At this point I just want to play the damn thing so I think I’ll just crack on and see how it goes.

Well flip. Final application of stain and the veneer started to lift at the bottom edge. Not sure what to do now. Sand the top and stain again hoping it doesn’t lift again or just oil it and enjoy it knowing that I’ve made a few mistakes and it has very little monetary value anyway… maybe if I’m feeling adventurous later on I could attempt to remove the veneer and put a new one on.

More stain… ignore how blotchy the front is, it was still drying

Wow, that’s a steal! Any plans other than just strings and play it?

Mostly taken back to 320 grit to highlight the grain. Bit patchy so will go over it again then 400 grit and stain again tonight

And the front.

Sanded to 400 grit and first stain applied. Once it’s dried I plan on a light sand for any grain that’s lifted to hopefully highlight it for the next coat.

That would be nice too, but I already picked up a dark walnut stain.

Last nights progress - got the last of the old finish off with the exception of some tiny parts around the heel that are impossible to get into. Started sanding everything else to a finer grit ready for stain. Aiming to do the stain over the next few days. I think the parts on the neck that I couldn’t quite get some of the black out of are that way because they’re end grain and I’m anticipating that they’ll soak up the stain well enough that it’s not noticeable. That’s my hope at least.

Got a little more done tonight on the sides and neck, the heel was a particular PITA, there’s still a tiny bit more to do there and the lower cutout and then it’s fully stripped. Next it’ll be sanding with some finer grits in prep for the stain. I picked up a dark walnut dye and some tung oil today.

That’s a real shame, the I remember the guys there being super helpful and accommodating as you say. The Fablab model as a whole is ridiculously useful to so many people, I just think most don’t know they exist or where to start.

Haha, definitely going dark. I’m really not a fan of natural finishes most of the time. I’m also working on getting some chrome hardware.

Well, after a few sessions (several hours) of sanding, I pretty much have fully stripped the top, the top of the neck/headstock and the bottom half of the sides. Unfortunately the nicely figured maple on the top is a very thin veneer (VERY thin) and I managed to sand through in a few spots but I think it should look fine once stained, I hope… Hopefully the stain and hardware I have on order isn’t held up by the highway closures and flooding around here as I’m hoping it will be ready by Christmas, for no other reason than as a Christmas gift to myself. Here’s a big photo dump from the last week with a couple of mock ups with hardware.

I assume it must be cheaper to build all the bodies the same than to purposefully produce a run of lesser quality for paint as the majority of the studio guitars would have had a clear satin finish on them. Either way, I'm happy - it looks great. Yep I'm taking it down to bare wood so that I can stain it as you mention. Thanks for the tip regarding the bridge studs - I was wondering what I was supposed to do with those. I'll give that a go!

That's what I was hoping, thanks. Yeah the top looks much nicer than I expected. I'm excited to see how it comes out!

Spent the afternoon stripping paint, this is where I got to. borrowed a friend’s orbital sander and got the back down to bare wood and got rid of most of the black paint on the sides and top but can’t go through the sanding sealer with the sander as it creates flat spots. You can see where I’ve accidentally gone through the sealer with the sander by accident - I should be able to smooth that off by hand though. Hopefully a few evenings of this and I’ll have it fully stripped and prepped. Just ordered my stain and some new screws this morning from stewmac The back looks nice, looks like the body is 4(?) pieces of mahogany and the top is a (nice looking) maple veneer. Unfortunately a piece lifted up and came off by the pickups while I was sanding - should I just glue this back in?? neck is very light coloured with a tight grain - specs say it should be mahogany but looks a lot more like maple to me.

Well, I was curious too. I only had some 220 grit to start off with but I wanted to see what was under there so I sanded back a few sections - first impression is that this is going to take me a while. looks like there’s some nice wood under there and I didn’t give epiphone enough credit for their construction - what I could see in the control cavity was obviously just each router pass. So far I’m pretty happy - I can’t wait to see how this turns out. Also the neck seems to have a TON of sanding sealer on it - that’s going to take a while to shift.

Having spent some time removing hardware last night it looks like there’s a maple top same as the regular studio and I think that’ll likely be two-piece, and it looks like the facing wood on the back might be relatively okay too, but the rest of the body looks to be made of three different layers sandwiched together, so the sides could be a bit of a dogs dinner in which case I’ll definitely want to go darker. Take a look at the control cavity to see what I mean… part of me was thinking about just stripping the top and the neck, but I’m going to hunt around a couple of music shops today to see if I can find another studio and see how it looks in comparison. If it’s glued fairly well then it may even be difficult to tell?? I attached a couple of photos of bare patches of wood just to show the colour. For sure is maple top and mahogany body/neck. No weird poplar or anything in there.

Must’ve been 😂

I’ve never been much of a sunburst fan honestly. Probably because every cheap Strat clone seems to come in that finish. Here’s my inspiration. I’m thinking a shade darker, and I won’t be modifying it quite as extensively with regard to pickups, hardware etc

Hi guys, some of you may remember me - looks like this is my first post since 2015 so it's been a while. I pretty much haven't touched a bass or guitar since then but I'm hoping to make a triumphant return. Hopefully my bass will get shipped to me in Canada, but this thread is about my guitar project (feel free to move it if it's in the wrong place). I felt like getting back into guitar and have always loved Les Pauls. Everything is expensive here in Canada, including guitars, but I stumbled across an Epiphone Les Paul Studio Goth for sale relatively cheap, presumably due to the less than desirable finish. Despite that, the specs are basically identical to a normal Studio with mahogany body and neck, set neck construction etc. so my plan is to strip the paint and refinish it - it's in slightly rough shape and I love a good project. I'm thinking a dark walnut type stain with a satin finish - maybe laquered, maybe oiled. Not sure yet, but I'd appreciate any input on the pros/cons of those. So without delay, here's what $170 worth of Epiphone Les Paul Goth looks like (hint: dusty/rusty AF)

Making a slightly delayed return to this after several years of life upheaval. Some of you may remember me?! I did eventually finish this and gigged it a few times. I can't actually remember what state this thing is in since I haven't seen it in a few years but I'm hoping I can get it shipped to Canada where I'm now living and hopefully pick up playing bass (and guitar) again for the first time in about five or six years. Here are a few of the last photos I took of it. I seem to remember it playing and sounding pretty decent!

[quote name='88reaper88' timestamp='1420943908' post='2655401'] Just an idea; Why not fibreglass the polystyrene body and actually use that? Might be an interesting experiment tone-wise [/quote] Interesting idea, might be worth a try! Almost seems a shame to have 'wasted' all that machining time on it. This has really been on the back-burner due to not having any money and/or time. I've tried a few prototype necks, but none have worked out. I should have better access to a router again soon I'm hoping and can continue this project. But as I say, time and money are a factor, and I'm trying to spend as much time as I can at the moment earning. That said, I have a few other projects going on concerning CNC/advanced manufacturing, and if anyone is interested in these, I would be happy to post a few of the less IP-sensitive details, though I am trying to keep a lot of it under wraps at the moment. That being said, I've just agreed to play a gig for a reggae covers band later this month, so this thing really HAS to be finished. I've ordered a very cheap chinese 3 band pre for it, and if that doesn't arrive in time, I'm just going to wire pickup to jack.

Sold Simon my Musicman SUB, all went very smoothly and he was a pleasure to deal with. I wouldn't hesitate to do business again