Vintage 1970’s M.I.J. Les Paul style restoration.

Here is another garbage can find, this time an electric guitar. Before starting this project I knew absolutely nothing about electric guitars… but how hard could it be?!?!

This is an unbranded (or at least unknown brand) made in Japan Les Paul style guitar from the 70’s. Well, I’m guessing it’s from the 70’s because it has that really cool vintage 70’s vibe and a ton of mojo …. and also because I showed it to a local electric guitar guru who told me that all the wiring and pots were likely from the 70’s.

This thing was missing the bridge and tailpiece, mounting hardware, and the neck pickup was dead. So, the hunt began for replacement parts at garbage can pricing. Thanks to Hamlin Bartel I managed to find everything I needed to turn this junker into something that can be played again. The bridge and tailpiece were salvaged from an Epiphone.

The neck inlays were also starting to pop up and were no longer flush with fingerboard. A little ingenious clamping and some cyanoacrylate glue fixed that problem. The volume and tone pots also needed a really good cleaning.