I had originally planned to give my niece and her fiancee the 1960's Japanese starter guitar that I thought I had gotten up and running again. Well it turned out the neck gave way again and raised the action WAY too high. It has no truss rod and needs one, badly. So that will be a return project a bit down the line. Not too disappointed because I really like the little guy and want to keep it.
So, I went looking for another project to take its place for Casey and her beau. Found another Epiphone Junior from Goodwill, like the one I just finished. Looks like the first one will go to Casey and I will see if I can get this one going to keep for myself. How much of the issues it has came from the factory and how much came after is a good question.
Does not look too bad from a distance like the first picture. The action height is atrocious, at least 10mm. When I pulled the neck I found that someone had taken a router to it. I think I will need to router it all down flat again, install a filler block, and then re-cut the neck pocket. There was all kinds of leftover wood chips and wood dust in there. I cleaned it out, put it back on the body, and took my metal ruler across the frets and it lines up 3 to 4mm under the top of the bridge with the posts lowered all the way.
Speaking of the posts. They both look like the pic down below. They feel solid so I am scratching my head a bit.
The nut was sitting at a precarious angle. When I removed the truss rod cover the nut just fell off. The shelf it was supposed to be sitting on was beyond description. You could not even get to the truss rod from what looked like Gorilla Glue in the hole. I cleaned that all out and did some light filing to see what I had to work with. Maybe file it down a fair bit and glue in a shim. We shall see.
The pick guard was installed wrong at the factory. They lined it up with the end of the fretboard instead of the end of the neck. The fretboard sticks out another 1/4 inch past the end of the neck. There were extra holes under the guard but they do not line up with where it should have been placed. Another of life's mysteries coming from a Chinese factory.
There is a gouge in the tip of the lower cutout on the body. No idea how it could have happened. It, combined with everything else on the body, has helped me to decide that I will strip all the finish off the body and neck so I can do all the repair work. Filling and re-drilling the bridge post holes. Filling and re-cutting the neck pocket. I will probably just re-profile the cutout to shave off the gouge.
I knew this was going to be a fun one before I bought it. It is stamped USED on the back of the neck. There are companies than take guitars that come off the line with flaws in fit and finish. They make them playable and sell them cheap without warranties. I think someone bought it cheap and then tried to fix it themselves. So I got more than I bargained for, but this is exactly the kind of project that I have kept my eye out for. Something to push my boundaries and make me think and work harder. I have not yet done any kind of finish work yet on a guitar. This one will allow me to try that. We will see if I can do a better job than the factory and Bubba.
So, I went looking for another project to take its place for Casey and her beau. Found another Epiphone Junior from Goodwill, like the one I just finished. Looks like the first one will go to Casey and I will see if I can get this one going to keep for myself. How much of the issues it has came from the factory and how much came after is a good question.
Does not look too bad from a distance like the first picture. The action height is atrocious, at least 10mm. When I pulled the neck I found that someone had taken a router to it. I think I will need to router it all down flat again, install a filler block, and then re-cut the neck pocket. There was all kinds of leftover wood chips and wood dust in there. I cleaned it out, put it back on the body, and took my metal ruler across the frets and it lines up 3 to 4mm under the top of the bridge with the posts lowered all the way.
Speaking of the posts. They both look like the pic down below. They feel solid so I am scratching my head a bit.
The nut was sitting at a precarious angle. When I removed the truss rod cover the nut just fell off. The shelf it was supposed to be sitting on was beyond description. You could not even get to the truss rod from what looked like Gorilla Glue in the hole. I cleaned that all out and did some light filing to see what I had to work with. Maybe file it down a fair bit and glue in a shim. We shall see.
The pick guard was installed wrong at the factory. They lined it up with the end of the fretboard instead of the end of the neck. The fretboard sticks out another 1/4 inch past the end of the neck. There were extra holes under the guard but they do not line up with where it should have been placed. Another of life's mysteries coming from a Chinese factory.
There is a gouge in the tip of the lower cutout on the body. No idea how it could have happened. It, combined with everything else on the body, has helped me to decide that I will strip all the finish off the body and neck so I can do all the repair work. Filling and re-drilling the bridge post holes. Filling and re-cutting the neck pocket. I will probably just re-profile the cutout to shave off the gouge.
I knew this was going to be a fun one before I bought it. It is stamped USED on the back of the neck. There are companies than take guitars that come off the line with flaws in fit and finish. They make them playable and sell them cheap without warranties. I think someone bought it cheap and then tried to fix it themselves. So I got more than I bargained for, but this is exactly the kind of project that I have kept my eye out for. Something to push my boundaries and make me think and work harder. I have not yet done any kind of finish work yet on a guitar. This one will allow me to try that. We will see if I can do a better job than the factory and Bubba.
