the detached chunk of finish and wood
back onto the body using Cascamite glue.
Rather than risk further damage to
the guitar, I decide to heat the remaining
ferrules before attempting to remove them.
With my soldering iron set to 450 degrees,
I insert the tip into one of the ferrules and
after a minute or so, I try tapping. It comes
out cleanly and I work my way through the
remaining four using the same method.
At last I’m left with just the body –
it’s astonishingly light. It weighs a fraction
over 2kg, which is one whole kilogram
lighter than the Greco Les Paul replica
body that I used for last year’s Goldtop
conversion project. To put this into context,
the Goldtop ended up weighing 3.8kg
fully loaded – or 8.4lb if you prefer –
which is on the lighter end of the
vintage Les Paul spectrum.
STRIP DOWN
In the official promotional video for this
model, Joe Bonamassa says that they could
have done an aged model, but “part of the
fun with guitars is putting your own marks
on them”. I agree with Joe’s sentiment,
but the poly finish is so tough on this guitar
that it’s unlikely to exhibit any significant
playwear for the remainder of this century,
at least.
I experiment with Nitromors, but after
that fails, I try scraping the finish with a
fresh craft-knife blade and eventually get
through the outer layer in a small area at
the end of the body. In the process, I dull
two blades and I have to accept that it will
take too much time and effort to strip the
body this way. So, it’s back to ‘Plan A’ and
with a feeling of weary resignation, I dig
out my paint-stripping heat gun, which can
easily be found in any DIY store.
The difficult part is getting your
technique right, so the finish comes off
without damaging the guitar. Two things
concern me here. It’s very easy to scorch
the wood when you’re doing this and since
Korina is so pale, and the finish is going to
be clear, it won’t be possible to hide any
burn marks. In addition, close examinationhas revealed that the front and back of the
body are veneered.
Epiphone did a great job, because the
two-piece body is centre joined and the
joins in the veneers line up perfectly. But
the added danger is that too much heat
will cause the glue to let go and the veneer
might bubble up. Having stripped a few
other poly-finished guitars using a heat
gun, I know that the secret to a successful
outcome is to accept that it can take a very
long time and that the finish will only peel
off when it’s ready to.
If you try to persuade it with your scraper
knife, you’ll end up damaging the wood.
When you get bored or frustrated, you’re
more likely to try and speed things up.
Instead, accept that it’s time to take a
break and come back to it when you’re
in a better mood.
With the V firmly clamped in my
trusty workbench out in the backyard,
the poly bore-fest begins. I would strongly
advise that you work outdoors and wear a
breathing mask, because the fumes smellDO IT YOURSELF130