Les Paul Special to Les Paul Jr guitar mod 

FYI - Today's "poly's" don't come off with stripper. You need to either use a heat gun or to sand as you did. you didn't do anything wrong with the remover.

Turned out very well! Lovely!

Good for you man awesome. Punk for life

I thought this was being converted to a Junior? It still has two pickups.

I just got a Epi Special on ebay for a hundred bucks plus reasonable shipping to do the P90 conversion. It gets here Friday. I'm not planning on stripping the finish unless necessary (fit of the new pickups- and there are Humbucker fit P90s if that what it takes). It's a cheap guitar, so I don't know everything I'm going to do. Photos showed it to be in great shape, but I know original pickups aren't that great, and I have a Gretch Electromatic with cheap humbuckers already. The only P90 guitar I have is a 1954 Gibson ES125 with the pickup at the neck. It's great, but a different animal entirely. Your project was a labor of love, and it came out great. Thanks for the vid.

Too bad there wasn't a playing test! Loved the video

Did a very similar thing with an epi lp special p90, made a modified lp jr pickgurd and relocated controls. new bridge, nut, tuners, etc, and i have it tuned down to c-standard as my "pseudo-baritone" guitar. great job!

Very cool. On your next one try to worry less about blemishes - like the sticker on the back - and I think you’ll find it more freeing 🤘

My guess is the veneers on the top and back of the guitar are factory standards. They are all made the same to reduce cost. So, a solid color guitar has the same body veneers as a Sunburst. Anyway, I enjoyed the video very much. I have a USA Hammer Special that was in a fire in a store. I had to reset the neck because it got so hot the glue broke down into mummy dust. I am converting it to a Jr by plugging the neck pickup cavity with mahogany. It’s not a very long tenon so I’m hoping all that extra support over the tenon will help the sustain, etc. I also hope the neck glues weren’t damaged too much. Thanks...

The original Les Paul Junior was a single P90 guitar with a wraparound bridge so the only thing about this mod that is even slightly Junior like is the odd pickguard change. It looks a bit weird with the volume knob in the pickguard and the tone off it but strangely I'd say it is an improvement over the look of the pickguard that is on an actual Gibson Special... at least to my taste. Nice job making the guitar your own even if it was far from perfect, the final result is a unique instrument that looks pretty cool.

I’m impressed! You really did a good job! Who cares about the flubs?! Really, it gives the guitar more character! 🤘🤘 I may grab an Epiphone and do something similar. I have a problem with them not being better. I feel like Gibson and Epiphone should be able to produce killer products that don’t cost and arm and a leg but still be updated for today’s players.

Looks very pro. Inspiring video.

Liked and subscribed ❤

I took a Maestro LP Jr. and made it into a replica relic Gibson LP Jr. and put in a P90 dog ear pickup.

left hand body blank flipped upside down maybe?

Maybe the original finish was some kinda of epoxy or two-part system, too tough for the stripper to handle.

The veneer is so the different grains of the butcher(ed) block body , and seams , do not show up on front and back thru paint An even finis is then achieved Ancient Chinese Secret

$125 at a pawn shop...Guitar Center used to blow these things out for $79 brand new out the door. You could have talked the pawn shop down to like $50-75.

It would be better if you put a concentric 500/500 pots to mimic the gibson standards 2 volume 2 tone config

So what about this makes it a Special to Junior conversion besides the pickguard? The Juniors I know have 1 pick up usually in the bridge with a few exceptions of neck pick up models. My two Epi’s are a 2011 bolt on Junior and a 2021 Les Paul Special I

wood in this specials is always different sometimes its plywood

Great video! I have an Epiphone Les Paul Standard. If your guitar sounds anything like mine. I think you will be very pleased.

It's mahogany wood with a veneer on it. That's why stripper doesn't work!

Im planning on standing the neck down as well. How hard was it to remove the paint?

Hi ,you have a pdf to this pickguard?

this looks great. as a person who knows absolutely nothing about building guitars and this whole process, how hard would it have been to convert the pick up cavities for p90s? is it even doable without spending a fortune?

Not a steal , but , rock on

Polly is more of a plastic than it is a paint ! That's why your paint stripper don't work

Time Lapse Sanding is generally fine if you are talking Over, but not if your voice is a Chipmunk.

So you turned a Special into a ...Special? Why call it a Jr?

That's not a steal. I got mine for 40 English pounds.

That looks really bad honestly. Maybe you could do a 3 color sunburst like that Fender does on strats to cover up the back of the body instead of this because the sides especially look really bad.

Why would you call this a Jr? No dog ear p90. Two pickups. Not a Jr.

How is that a Junior with 2 pickups?

So you went from a Les Paul Special to a Les Paul Special! I guess I somehow missed the part where you converted it to a single pickup P-90 LP Junior!