Epiphone Special II Upgrade

Epiphone Special II Project
A step by step breakdown of how I made my Special go from broken-down to better than new. 

This is a random picture I pulled off of the interwebs, however this is very close to (if not better than), the condition that my Special was at the beginning of the process. 

This is the "after" picture...bask in all the gnarly goodness.

I acquired this guitar used, about a ten years ago via  Ebay and though I can't remember the exact price I paid...it must've been in the $150-200 range.  This being my first "real" guitar (the no-name mexican acoustic I was given by my grandma doesn't count) I was loath to part ways with it once the electronics started failing me.  Being a curious person I took that opportunity to take the guitar apart to see what made it "tick", soon afterwards I was left with a box full of pieces that I faithfully lugged around the country as I moved from Arizona to Ohio, then Ohio to Alaska. 

PS quick side note, I want to add that while I did have some carpentry experience as a kid I am not in any way a professional luthier, and everything from this point on is just my humble opinion so proceed at your own risk.

PPS After a review of my project pictures I'm disappointed to find out that I didn't end up with as many pictures as I originally thought. It doesn't help that the breakdown happened years and years ago.  I apologize in advance for my lack of pics, however I have more completed projects that will have more detailed pics that you can refer to when I get those up.  

Step 1: The Vision

I love the classic look of the Gibson Les Paul Traditional. I just don't have $1,300 to spend on one.  When I started the project I decided that I would try to get my inexpensive Epiphone to look as much like this glorious Gibson as possible.  After researching on various Les Paul forums and other luthier type websites I came to find out that in general upgrading a guitar this "cheap" isn't really worth the hassle and potential costs.   Why spend anywhere from $100-200 on a guitar then another $50-100 in parts when you can just buy an Epiphone Les Paul Studio for approximately the same price without the work?  Well, I could write about the joy of making something with your own hands, or the knowledge and experience that you will no doubt pick up in the process, and how you just may become a better guitar player as you become more familiar with the parts and pieces realizing how small changes can make big differences in the way that you play.  But, at the end of the day it's your call, I will say however, that out of all my many guitars (including an actual-real-life Gibson) this one may not sound the best or play the smoothest, but every time I play it, it makes me happy which is why I started playing the guitar in the first place.  

Step 2: The Body

When I began the project I wasn't really sure what, if anything, I wanted to do with the actual body.  It (meaning the paint more than anything) wasn't in terrible condition.  However the one thing that I didn't like was the fact that if I looked hard enough I could see (and feel) the lines of the wood grain under the paint.  This is something that I've noticed on other low-end guitars as well.  Having some extra high grit (300-600) sandpaper lying around I decided to try and smooth it out.  I wasn't too worried about stripping the guitar to the wood so I mainly just focused on using a sanding block to slowly and methodically wet sand until I achieved a uniform smoothness.  My advice at this point is to always start on the back of guitar, that way if you do end up making a mistake, it won't be as noticeable.  Use a small circular motion and be careful when you come to the edges not to "round-over" with the sandpaper. After everything was said and done the whold process really didn't end up taking very long.  

Next I bought 3 cans of black Krylon Special Purpose Lacquer and a couple cans of clear satin Minwax Clear Aerosol Laquer. A good tip is to allow your cans to sit in warm water and to buy a spray grip such as the one pictured here to help make your life easier.  

Spray each coat very lightly allowing plenty of time to dry and wet sanding in between coats.  Apply the clear coat the same way.  

Step 3: Parts 

As far as my trusty box of parts goes, I was able to reuse almost all of the original hardware.  I was missing a couple tuners, and as you can see in the picture the pots probably could've been reused, but I figured that this was as good time as any to learn how to solder, so those ended up being replaced as well. In the end I ended up coming across Guitar Fetish where I was able to buy some great Grover tuners and all the electronics for a very reasonable price.  

For everything else (*pickguard, **pickups, knobs, etc) I went to Ebay. At the end of the day I was able to get all the parts I needed shipped to my house for under $100.  

*As you may or may not know the Special does not come with a pickguard.  I bought an off brand pickguard originally for the Les Paul which you can find on Ebay for around $5.

**I could've reused my old pickups, however in order to match the Les Paul as closely as possible I bought a pair of Epiphone 57CH +HOTCH Humbucker pickups for about $30 for the pair.  These are the pickups that you would find in many Epiphone Les Pauls as well as ES-335 Dot. 

Step 4: Assembly

Assembly wasn't too bad...just remember that if you upgrade your pots you may have to be ready to drill out the original holes in the body a little bigger.  I would suggest doing this before your glorious paint job rather than after (I had to learn this the hard way).  

Youtube became my main tool while learning the ins and outs of soldering and I was forced to throw my first soldering iron in the trash and upgrade to the Guitar Fetish model.  

Mounting the pickguard was my biggest concern because it was the only part that I was unsure would fit. If you compare my Special to the Gibson you may notice that the spacing between the volume knob and the pickguard in each guitar is alot different.  However I was able to mount everything without much problem at all.  

And that's it. Thanks for joining me for the ride.  Let me know how your projects go!