thanks, I will

Thanks for commenting, keep on rockin' sir,

yessir, we gotta keep on while we can, rock on

that's all, that's all I use unless I play downstairs in the "music room"

thank you

awesome, glad this stuff helps someone, thanks

thanks man, rock on

thank you, God Bless you, keep on rockin'

I dug in and taught myself this stuff in 2012, I was borderline suicidal, had 2 ropes in a bag, swear to God, and I heard "Pick up that guitar and learn and play", I had a strat copy at the time but wasn't even playing at all for several years up to that point. So I focused on one key and got all the scale positions of that key down, I got the shapes so embedded in me that I could move it all to any key. The decision to do it was the struggle the whole way, every day, I would argue with myself outloud, until I got it , the light came on, and for the sake of maybe 6 months, so glad I did.

thank you, God Bless

Wow, young man, this is the most powerful, uplifting, encouraging thing ever said to me. God Bless You

Roland Cube 10gx, $189 retail

@@Clayton-t5i great reverb!

you're so kind, thank you for the well wishes and the encouragement

awesome, that's my whole reason for doing this, and I purposely do it in a semi-sloppy way because I'm not out to try and "impress" anybody......lol. Rock on bro......

you could take the hardware off and sand a lot of it with400(be careful on the corners though,don't sand them , just buff them on the last procedure) then 600, then 1000, then 3000, then use a 3" dia. hand held car polisher that plugs into the wall , with multi speeds, and use Novus 2 to buff it out, it's a special craft to get down, I've done a dozen guitars that were satin, it helps make it more resonant, but I also do some special work to the nut also to help with resonance. AND , most importantly, I tighten the tailpiece tight to the body always. There's several different things to help with resonance, also I like the neck gun barrel straight, no "relief", or very, very little. all these things, if not done, make a guitar a dead dog IMO.

thank you ,you also, keep on rockin'

thanks man

I hope to make a finished piece with it soon

light strings, top wrapped, this is not intended to be professional, just an old guy noodling, that's it.

lol, thanks, pretty cool Epiphone I must say

@@Clayton-t5i Yeah no worries, i think you did great job 👍

good, a little here and a bit there, it all adds up

awesome, thanks so much

thanks, I got tons of them

thanks man, keep on rockin'

thanks so much, God bless

@@Clayton-t5i God bless you too. Keep makin' those good videos.

thanks man, some haters comment, and at least you keep it positive, I'm 70 yrs old and have health issues, so I may come across as a miserable old fart. I don't mean to.

@@Clayton-t5i nah i didnt take you that way , and sorry to hear about the health issues, i totally get how life can be so cruel man. I look after my wife who has MS and 3 boys, one that i home school as he is autistic ect. my only escape is in the evenings i can go into my man cave and play guitar and make music and youtube vids ect. currently saving up for my first ever real Gibson les paul, after 30 years of playing i owe it to myself to get a lp standard in ice tea burst in my collection :)

@@AtlanteanReacts awesome on going after that LP, before I got old (70......lol), back in 1993 I started playing in a Praise and Worship band, and I got big into Gibsons ,back then I was making good $$ cutting timber. I've owned about 50 Gibson USA's and about 50 Custom Shop Gibsons, and in 2008 got divorced (2nd time in my life), got out of the business, ended up going part time up until 5 years ago, health issues , now SS (less than 1000), so these Epiphones are my fave for my budget.

@@Clayton-t5i great guitars i have a few epis over the years, harley bentons...at the moment i have a modded tokai les paul....but there has always been that thing in the back of my mind....i picked up a guitar back in 94 on my 14th birthday, jimmy page is my reason for playing guitar...so i must get that real deal someday..its only right. im sorry you had to shed a load of yours after messy divorces mate...but i digress, these days we can get awesome guitars from all sorts of brands ect....fair play on your epi les pauls i say...and to be fair...epi were the original les paul.

yup, they took it back, I got a replacement

thank you, by the way I like the "Beatles" in your thing there, The best band ever IMO. John was my favorite, because he had that raw vocal, and attitude and liked to be funny. I don't care about his controversial side, we all have it in some way

thanks so much, I appreciate that

It's a 3 day project and the logo is kind of both , obviously a true holly veneer and the gibson logo, if it were fully as the custom shop ones, would be a lot of $$, on top of the $1300 this guitar cost, It's a thick recreation of a custom shop's Headstock, that requires taking everything off the headstock, including banging out the bushings, which is a carefully done thing. Then a prepping of the surface, for a Gibson truss rod cover, a handcut piece of wood that I glue in with tightbond wood glue, It has to be the right size and thickness so the truss rod tool will work, and the tool will have to be longer than the ones that are normally used Then the next morning when the glue is dry, I sand that area and put black wood putty over the 3 truss rod holes and the wood piece I put in the night before. That sits until the late afternoon, then I sand that whole headstock surface and coat it with a couple coats of urethane. The next morning I sand that surface again (600 grit on all these procedures). Now ,I apply the veneer/sticker which is one piece of the whole face of the headstock.Then a couple coats of shellac to seal that. Then I cover the words with handcut pieces . Spray a coat of flat black, after that dries I take the covers off the words. Sand again with 600 (very carefully). Then a couple coats of urethane. Let it set overnight again. Next morning I sand that carefully, and do a couple more coats. The next day I sand with 600-800-12 or 1500, and then hand rub Novus 2 in a swirling motion (a lot of elbow grease), until it looks like a custom shop VOS. Then I install the bushings(the most stressful part of the whole process) Bang those in with a rubber mallet. Then I install the tuners and assemble and string it. Intonate it Done.

Thanks , very kind of you

@@Clayton-t5i I have 4 Les Pauls too! I always wondered why - they're just great guitars. I have Dimarzio's in two of them. Fralin Pure PAF in another, and Pearly Gates in my Goldtop.

too much free time, and I'm getting old, now in the 70 bracket, just trying to do something, even if it's wrong......lol

after watching it, my own video, I agree, too much bla bla . I'll be more careful next time, 70yrs old, and losing it a bit

well, it kind of is isn't it?.....made in China.......would be cool to be able to get these at that $300-ish range

sorry about that, I shouldn't have posted it, I should have watched it first, ,I'm old and take something for pain at night due to health issues. I'll pay closer attention next time

At what point do you move on from negativity and focus on personal growth instead of spreading hate?

@@kbroomall I'm really sorry for the lousy video, no excuse, I'm old and suffering with pain.I don't know how to delete these

thanks, the best thing to do is go to a music store and play different guitars, take your time, if something "speaks" to you, get it. But don't make any quick decisions unless you're sure. For $1000, you could get a nice Epiphone 60's STD with a slim neck, like a Epi. Les Paul Classic, and you could get a decent amp, The guitar would be around $600 new, and a Katana 50 amp around $300-350. If you like a bigger neck ,maybe the Les Paul '50's STD. I'm a Les Paul guy. I have 4 '59 Les Paul STD's (I don't have that strat anymore.

@@Clayton-t5i Thank you so much

thanks, the amp is a Cube 10gx, it's delay is maxed out on this

thanks

Yes, I have it on craigslist. It's a lot of steps, taking the guitar apart for starters, I do the fret ends with a diamond fret end file, I take all the excess off the nut to look like a custom shop nut, I remove everything from the headstock including the bushings that the tuners go through, that in itself is a scary, very careful process, I remove all the parts on the top, including the pickups, hand rub top, back and sides with Novus 2 (it's brutal physical work to get the VOS look). I have to hand make a perfect little piece of wood to go into the truss rod opening, glue that in with tightbond glue, let the guitar set overnight, next day I sand that area I put the wood piece in, then I take 600 paper and sand the whole headstock face, put black wood putty into the screw holes and across the piece of wood I put in. 6-8 hours later I sand all of that face again to get a perfect smooth surface. I make sure a truss rod tool will work on the truss adjustment(I added about 1/4-5/16 of an inch in that space for the Gibson truss rod cover screw, then I do the Gibson logo, several coats of one shellac type, and the next day several coats of urethane type , waiting for each coat to dry and then sanding that before the next coat, this whole thing is a 3 day process and a rediculous amount of work. But I'm retired , so it gives me something to do

@@Clayton-t5i Do you also add 'wings' to the headstock because that's a Gibson shape not an Epiphone one? Thanks.

@@FezzantPlucka lmao.......good one

@@FezzantPlucka The new Epiphones have the Gibson headstock shape with no wings. A german luthier makes thin head stock overlays with the Gibson logo on ebay.

I own a 2023 TV Yellow Epiphone Les Paul Special and it totally holds up next to my Gibson Les Paul - I actually prefer the Epiphone. Hmmmm

thanks, hope it helps players a bit

It's impossible to be dishonest when you make it clear that it's an Epiphone, and tell the buyer exactly what you did, the ser# and double diamond logo is untouched, I tell the buyer exactly every detail on each specific guitar, to the last detail, My title on the ad is "2024 Epiphone '59 Les Paul- Modified.

I have one of those too, GC Lemon color

@@Clayton-t5i Southern Burst here.

thanks so much

I listened to one of the tunes, I think it's cool. Don't listen to the haters, many of the great rock an' rollers were told to hang it up, they're worth 10's of millions now, Just keep playin', do what inspires you, period.

Play what you feel. When the haters chime in, just turn up the volume!

It's a bit of work, I cut a small piece of wood (1/4' thick) and hand trim it to fit exactly in the open space, about 5/16 "long form the nut towards the headstock, glue it in with tightbond glue, let it set overnight, next day, sand it carefully, very light just to scratch the surface, and I sand the whole area ,including the whole headstock surface, with 600 paper, then I put black wood putty over the area I put the wood in , and I fill the 3 holes with it also, let that sit for about 6-8 hours, then sand the entire surface again, then I urethane the entire surface, let it dry, sand it again, shellac the whole surface, when it's nice and smooth I let it dry until the next day, then I create the Gibson Les Paul Model surface, then a couple coats of shellac, there's a couple other procedures, black paint while covering the name, then shellac again, next day several coats of urethane, sanding after each coat, it's a 3 day project

@@Clayton-t5iThanks for the info! You have made it look much more authentic. The time and effort is considerable but the Epi truss rod cover just doesn’t look right on the Gibson-style open book headstock, imho.

@@derekclacton same with the name Epiphone, don't get me wrong, I've been playing Epi's the last 12 years, and I still have a 2023 model '59, but the headstock now says "Gibson" to me, and then it has to have the correct trussrod cover also

thank you, glad it helps