NGD! good grief, another Epi ES-339

[Col Mustard]

All right! I'm back from our hellride (three gigs in four days)
and have gotten some sleep. I checked on this lovely blonde with the Black
preferences and she was still in tune (sort of mostly) when I picked her up.
So the bridge & tail + tuners mod is working together well. The darn guitar sounded so good stock, that I can't tell if I've made great improvement in her tone or not, but she likes Black parts *grins ...so the aesthetics are working.

Here we go with the pick guard project!

here I have my tools assembled, and have drawn around the stock PG, and drilled
some holes in the ebony to help relieve strain. Ebony splits very easily, so I've learned
(the hard way of course) to use care and patience and a sharp saw blade to cut away
the largest pieces. Then I'll work the edges with hand files and a dremel tool.

the outline is larger than the actual PG, which is good because it gives me room
to make the edges. I may or may not follow the actual contour lines once I get into it
with the files and dremel... I may make it slightly curvier to look more parallel to the guitar sides. we'll see. But I'll start from the original first.

 

[donepearce]

That's going to look good. I guess you are going to polish the ebony down to a woody shine? And can you get a black nut for the pickup switch? That would complete it.

My 339 is the same blonde as yours, and I'm keeping an eye on what you are doing. I like it a lot. Mine is a seriously well put together guitar... I'm guessing your is the same?

 

[Biddlin]

Good stuff Col. Congrats on the new addition. Really like the black hardware, too.
I see you ran the strings through the tailpiece, instead of over. Is that to accommodate lower action and bridge height?
;>)/

 

[Col Mustard]

Thanks for the good word, I'm enjoying this bout of mod fever. Don's saying his Epi is a well put together guitar is right on. Lineboat says the same about his. So these mods are NOT REALLY NECESSARY, JUST WHIMS ON MY PART... I could spend the same amount of money at the racetrack and have a lot less fun and end up with nothing. But I don't like to gamble. This Epi is a sure thing.

I tried top wrapping just for an experiment... the first thing I did was play it a lot stock. I thought the setup was odd
from the box, but was able to bring the action down to a workable level with the hardware supplied. I don't think there was
anything wrong with the stock bridge and tail, and the guitar sounded great as issued.
I didn't care for the feel of the Epi bridge top wrapped, so I'm back to straight through, and the guitar likes it this way.

My only complaint with the issue bridge was that my low E string's saddle had to be cranked all the way to the end of its
threads before it would intonate, and even there it was just a teensie bit sharp, measured by my Korg DT-7. Epi even reversed the
saddles for the E, A and D strings at the factory, so they knew.

The stock tuners were usable as issued, but maybe i'm spoiled by the excellence of all my others, and I found them just
slightly unresponsive. No big deal really, but this blonde wanted black. *grins ...I might have to name her Lola, because whatever
Lola wants, Lola gets. Right now this guitar doesn't have a name.

The Gotoh tuners feel more responsive to me, and they don't cause neck dive, so I'm happy with them. The Gotoh Bridge has more
travel (read that LOTS more) than the stock Epi did, so no more problems backing the E string saddle up... there's plenty of thread left.

Now I've been cutting out the Ebony pick guard. Here's a picture of it in progress... Note the split piece at the top.
I'll glue that down and stop working till tomorrow, and it will be dry and ready to withstand some more dremel action.
But it's coming into shape, and looks like a pick guard instead of a plank now.

And yes... once I've got the shaping done, I'll bevel the edges and sand it down to at least 600 grit, and finish it
with Tung Oil. I will look and see how the figure of the wood fits in with my Blonde/Black '52 Tele motif, and if it
looks too stripey I've got some Ebony Stain to tame that.

I've actually been VERY careful, and this is my only split so far, so I've done well. It's likely that the place where it's split will
be filed off anyway, but I'm going to glue it back together carefully AND NOT ASSUME I DON'T NEED IT. Those cutouts are critical
and I want them to look cool, so I'm going to use extra care in these areas.


while the glue is drying I'll see about getting this black tusq nut installed. That old one is from my
Epi Wilshire. I haven't removed the nut from the ES-339 yet. I guess I am an old Epi nut... *shrugs

 

[WavMixer]

Mod fever is in abundance around here now-a-days. Keep up the great work Col, she's coming along beautifully. Then again, I expect nothing less from you.

 

[Col Mustard]

Tally ho! Tusq nut projects are so easy, it's like cheating...
except it's not. It's good practical work and gets good results which make good music.
Here's where I begin: a stock nut on a new Epiphany, perfectly serviceable as is...

And isn't that bizarro my brothers, that spell czech on this site will assume I mean to write Epiphany when I write Epiphone, and change it from a nice ChiCom guitar to a Religious Experience... *laughs
Unless it's my own 'puta (which is possible). Well, I hope to have an Epiphany when I play this after getting it all together.

Now it's time to go get Customer Service. (that's my name for my big rubber mallet, as in "Excuse me, let me get Customer Service for you...")

I'm thinking that just a tap from Customer Service on the end of that little board against the stock
nut and she'll come free without needing any more persuasion. I've already scored a razor knife along the edge of the fingerboard and along the seam where the nut joints the headstock.

She-bop she-bop my bay-bee oooohhh

I'm glad nobody thought it necessary to glue this plastic piece in any more substantially than this.
This is the way it s'posed to be. Just one tap on the end of that little board, not even very hard.

I've sanded the black Tusq nut just a teenie bit, because it actually is very close to right when it
comes out of the package. I wanted it to enter the slot with resistance, but not too much resistance.
Also I like to round the edges slightly and sand that to 220 grit.

And there you have it... The Sledge-O-Matic assisted nut job.

I have not glued this Tusq nut in place yet... it's very firmly gripped by the slot, which means I sanded
it just enough, and not too much. I'm going to play it, and work with it, and get serious about setting
this guitar up with all its new parts in place and at some time in the future, I might put a couple dots of shellac on it to hold it in place more than it is, but right now its pretty tight and isn't going anywhere.

 

[donepearce]

I think a touch more sanding so it drops into the slot fully. There's a bit of a gap right now...

 

[Col Mustard]

yeah, likely on the next string change.


now I've been working on the pick guard. The glue seems hard enough, and I'm not
going to stress that area anyway, so here's what it looks like after some shaping:


I was geeked to get the holes drilled in this PG, so I could make sure everything fits properly before
I get too much further. For me, the sweatiest part of this project is to get the cutouts and to line up nicely
with the pickups and the neck, and then to be able to screw it on after I'm finished with the sanding
and the Tung Oil. But I think I have it now, pretty close.


This is what it's going to look like, but nice and shiny ebony.

 

[lineboat]

Damn! That's looking SWEET! I'm glad to see this one is working out for you. Nothing like falling for a new girl!
I like all the pics too. I'd do the same on stuff if they'd upload.

 

[WavMixer]

I hear that blonds prefer black nuts!

 

[eS.G.]

Oh my LORD you went THERE.....you REALLY went THERE?!?!?!?! Grant.......do you kiss your wife with that mouth?????

Say Col. Thats a lot of dead sexy mods in a short time......you might void the warranty-----er---perhaps a bit of "getting used to her"first?????

Awh hell naw.......she is a keeper

 

[WavMixer]

My mouth did not say that, it was my dirty little fingers

 

[Col Mustard]

yeah, I think it's going to look good. I already know it sounds good.
Funny, most mod fever artists swap out p'ups first, but I'm leaving these P-90s in place
along with the wiring harness. Next string change I'll look to see if they say Gibson on
them.

Most ETSG wisdom says swap out the wiring harness for good quality parts FIRST!
and then think about getting new hot distortion p'ups. I'm not doing any of that because I
bought this guitar after playing it, and I already know I like the tone.

Also, changing the wiring harness on a semi-hollow body guitar like this one is a PITA.
We have Mr. Lester Polfus to thank for inventing the little trap door on the back of our Les Paul
Guitars... that was part of his design. It's one of the few parts of the SG actually designed by
Les Paul. The trap door makes swapping pots and caps so easy, Lester was a mod artist.
But the ES-339, along with all its other ES series rich relations... like has no trap door.
I believe they install the wiring and guts before glueing the back of the guitar on.

So to get the wiring harness out, you have to haul everything out one of the humbucker routs,
or in the case of the 339, out the F-hole.

My blonde guitar has black F-holes, Grant... I'm sure you noticed.

But I'm not going to scar them up by dragging the wiring out through there, with guitar strings tied to
each shaft and trailing back through the proper post-hole, for pulling the new parts in to the right place.

My blonde guitar likely has blonde post-holes, Grant... but I haven't peeked to see. (or are they pot-holes?)

Anyway, the sound and tone is awesome and I'm leaving it alone now that I've got the hardware I want
and am moving along with what promises to be a fine looking Ebony PG. This has been a really fun
project, with no frustration...YET! I've got the action really low right now with all the new parts,
maybe too low. I'll play it some more tomorrow and listen a lot.

 

[eS.G.]

 

[lineboat]

Those poor little blonde post-holes might be like pot-holes if you drag a black shaft through there!

 

[eS.G.]

I think this MIGHT be getting dirty..........

 

[WavMixer]

I think this MIGHT be getting dirty..........

You just have a dirty mind.

 

[WavMixer]

All joking aside... This is a beautiful guitar, a great write up that inspires me to continue forward with my own project.

 

[Col Mustard]

thanks... I'll have a few more pictures when I finish sanding the ebony PG.
I like this guitar... it feels great in my hands and the P-90s are a whole new tonal
world to explore.

 

[lineboat]

I'm wishing I'd brought mine out here on the water. Reading all this makes me wanna play it!