The Guitar Magazine – September 2019

(Nandana) #1

T


he first part of this Flying V upgrade
project ended with the body ready
for spraying and the post holes
plugged. But before donning the
breathing mask, there are a few things
I need to do. The first is to refret the
guitar using wire that’s close to 1959 spec.
Original frets on a 1958 Flying V would
have been thinner, but the gauge chosen
by our guitar’s owner is still a lot skinnier
than Epiphone’s jumbo wire.
What follows is a very straightforward
fret installation, followed by end dressing,
levelling, then crowning and polishing.
I decide to string the guitar up and test it,
but in order to do so, I first have to locate
and drill the bridge post holes. I jack the
bridge up on some wood blocks to
approximate the correct action and
the strings are brought up to pitch.
Prior to starting this project, I noticed
that some of the saddles were adjusted
to their extremes in order to set the
intonation, so by slightly altering the
position of the post holes, I’m able to

establish a better starting position for the
bridge. I use a tiny drop of Super Glue to
fix the old nut temporarily, then put the
tuners back on.
After stringing up and tuning to concert
pitch, I experiment with bridge positioning.
The bass side stays much the same, but
I move the treble side very slightly towards
the neck. Once I’m happy, I select a
brad-point drill bit that’s exactly the
same diameter as the post holes in the
bridge. The holes hold the bit square and
by lightly tapping the top, the brad point
marks the centre for the new post holes
in the dowel plugs I glued into the body
last time.
Ideally, you should use a drill press to
make the holes, because the posts need to
be square to the body. To tap the thread,
I put one thumbwheel on the post, followed
by a washer, then a nut.
As the nut tightens against the washer,
the post itself turns and works its way into
the body. With both inserted, I perform
a quick setup and notice a slight increase

in sustain and a fuller-sounding midrange
compared to the factory configuration.
The final tasks before spraying include
veneering the front of the headstock – using
0.4mm maple here rather than holly – and
installing a bone nut to replace Epiphone’s
plastic part. Allparts UK (allparts.uk.com)
sells a drop-in bone nut specifically for
Epiphones, which makes the job a lot
quicker and easier than usual.
The respray is very straightforward
because I was able to preserve the base coat.
All the lacquer comes from Manchester
Guitar Tech (manchesterguitartech.co.uk)
and I begin with cellulose sanding sealer.
This is sprayed on thick, flatted back and
sprayed again. The second coat of sanding
sealer is flatted back; I spray the headstock
black before emptying three tins of clear
gloss. After a few weeks, I wet sand, polish
and buff and the fun stuff can finally begin.

GET CRACKING
The brief for this guitar is a fairly heavy
relic and, having enjoyed using a blade to

DO IT YOURSELF

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