Cars or Guitars; Sweat Equity Keeps Them On The Road

"ClassicDatsunDebate" (gmagnusson)
02/06/2020 at 14:55 • Filed to: musictooppoto

Meet Tiger. Tiger is a 1999 Epiphone Dot, basically an imitation of a Gibson ES-335. I inherited Tiger about 10 years ago. Let me tell you right off the bat; Tiger is a cheap guitar. When I say cheap, I mean the quality of the components that Epiphone uses to make guitars like Tiger are lower and less robust than, say it’s Gibson lookalike. It has a plastic nut, electronics and tuning heads made in low cost factories, and made with mass production techniques that require wider tolerances for quality control. From the factory it’s an ok guitar to learn on and to play in your studio. Some people even gig with them but push ‘em through the rigours of even a weekly dad-rock session and their limits are usually noticed by an intermediate player.

Tiger has some redeeming qualities. He was built in the mid ‘90’s, at a time when Epiphone built this model in Korea, which some say produced better quality instruments than its contemporary Chinese or Indonesian factories. During the ‘90’s, the manufacturers were chasing costs out of their instruments, which meant Japanese factories gave way to cheaper labour from Korea, then Indonesia then China. Tiger has a very nice flame maple top (hence the nickname) which goes so well with the vintage sunburst finish. The Epiphone probucker pickups installed are nicely voiced and maybe even on par with the Gibson 57 classics in my SG, as far as tone goes.

Tiger has been abused. It looks like someone dropped him on his fretboard, seriously denting some frets.

Because of this, Tiger has been either in a case or hanging on a wall for the last 10 years. Barely played, neglected. Call me a ableist but I’ve got other options at my disposal.

Now, for an expensive guitar, dented or worn frets would mean a trip to the guitar tech for a fret leveling or a spot replacement fret. It’s an easy decision to spend $50 to possibly $300 on a thousand dollar guitar but when the guitar costs $400, it begs the question; cut my losses and buy another less expensive guitar? You’ll find lots of those guitars hanging on the wall never to be played again or sold on Craigslist, now someone else’s problem.

Tiger is in luck. I know guitars. I can fix him. In fact I enjoy it. It’s my zen time. It’s the same relaxation I get from tuning carbs or bleeding brakes or doing guitar setups. So I spent most of the day getting this guitar back into playable nick, even better than the factory spec for fret level-ness.

First off, I adjusted the truss rod until the neck was perfectly straight (guitar necks need to have a slight bow to allow the strings to vibrate). Then I masked off anything I didn’t want to damage while I’m sanding and filing.

Once everything is masked off, I use a thread rocker tool to find the high spots and mark them with red sharpie. Everywhere else gets black sharpie.

Then I used my 14” sanding beam and went to town on the frets with 320 grit. The goal is to get every fret top perfectly level will all the others. You don’t want to take off more than you need to, so you take off all the red and continue just enough to kiss all the black sharpie evenly with the sanding beam.

Then I use a file to reshape the crown on each fret. Then 400, 600, extra fine steel wool and finally a 4000 sponge. After that I oiled the dry fretboard wood. Turned out pretty good.

One other thing I fixed was the bridge saddles that were back assward. The tapered part of the saddle should face the tail stock or else you can get weird twangs when you don’t want them.

Bonus shot of my extraneous DNA matter on that bridge. I also gave those bridge saddles some deburring love with the diamond files. One of those things overlooked at the factory for the sake of saving time.

Then Tiger got a new set of NYXL 10-48 strings, neck relief adjusted to .012”, string action set and bridge saddles adjusted to set the correct intonation.

Five hours later, Tiger’s got a new lease on life. Action is low with no ‘choking’ exhibited like you see on older set-neck guitars. Would someone spend $200 at a guitar shop to fix a $400 dollar guitar? How about shop rates to swap out struts on your E36? Hard choice, unless you can do the work yourself. It’s the same thing as working on your own vehicle; you can enjoy your own zen moments filing or sanding or wrenching while you can keep mutts like Tiger or your favourite beater from being torn down for parts.

E:Repost for embiggin?

DISCUSSION (29)

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > ClassicDatsunDebate
02/03/2020 at 09:06

I also have a Korean Epi (G-400) , and also have some fret damage, but haven’t done anything to fix that yet. About what I expected, though I hadn’t looked up the process - post is very informative.

I like cars: Jim Spanfeller is one ugly motherfucker > ClassicDatsunDebate
02/03/2020 at 09:09

I used to play guitar a lot more than I do now. A Dot with a good fret dressing and all the good bits off a 335 plays and sounds, well, exactly like a Gibson, but for about $500 less if you do all the work yourself. Well done!

MeatSaber > ClassicDatsunDebate
02/03/2020 at 10:17

Those Dots are wonderful instruments with a little bit of TLC. Looks like you did a great job with the level and crown. Id love to find a stripped out Dot to build up and compliment my Epi LPC. D o you know what factory yours was made in? Some of Epiphone’ s Korean stuff came out of the World Musical Instrument factory, those things punch way above their weight class so to speak. Looks like a great beater!

ClassicDatsunDebate > I like cars: Jim Spanfeller is one ugly motherfucker
02/03/2020 at 10:56

Thanks. If you find a good, stable Epi set neck without the hump at the 17th fret you can make it a well playing machine. If you go whole hog and replace all the electronics, nut and saddles and a fret dressing, the mods could be more than starting with a Gibson. Mind you, the gap between an Epi and a Gibson 335 is much wider than say an SG or LP. Aftermarket doesn’t value mods that much either.

ClassicDatsunDebate > RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht
02/03/2020 at 11:00

It’s not a hard job if you have the proper tools. It takes patience, which is an exercise for me.

ClassicDatsunDebate > MeatSaber
02/03/2020 at 11:04

This one’s a Samick. Speaking of LP’s new 2020 Epi’s are apparently very nice. I’ve got my eye on a LP Modern in Pelham Blue that’s delivering in April.

Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo > ClassicDatsunDebate
02/03/2020 at 11:20

Couldn’t some of the cheaper components be swapped out?

I’m a big Chet Atkins fan, though I’ve been told by people who were close(r) to him, that he was a bona fide d**k.

Your project was fun to read about. I love musical instruments. There are some nice YouTube videos of acoustic guitars being hand crafted.

Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing. > ClassicDatsunDebate
02/03/2020 at 12:21

I’ve got an old Peavey T-45 that I’ve had for 30+ years that I got in trade for a stereo receiver. For years I’ve been tempted to convert it to fretless, a la Jaco Pastorius’s Bass of Doom, but haven't been able to pull the trigger. At the very least I should put some new strings on it since it does have kind of a peculiar sound due to the mismatched ones I have on there now...

f86sabre > ClassicDatsunDebate
02/03/2020 at 12:27

From what I gather my Sebring SA-20 is a cousin of the Dot.

ClassicDatsunDebate > f86sabre
02/03/2020 at 12:30

It was probably built in the same Samick factory.

ClassicDatsunDebate > Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing.
02/03/2020 at 12:36

That would be good for some 80's stuff

ClassicDatsunDebate > Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo
02/03/2020 at 12:41

You could swap out the cheaper components. it just depends what you wan t to do with it and how far down the rabbit hole you wa nt to go.

I haven’t heard that Chet Atkins was a dick. Stories I’ve seen show him as an affable guy.

Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo > ClassicDatsunDebate
02/03/2020 at 13:18

I like Chet’s playing very much and the guy who told me that, his aunt sang with Chet at the Opry. The one who I found annoying was Les Paul.

ClassicDatsunDebate > Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo
02/03/2020 at 13:54

Lots of ego to go around up in that stratosphere

Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo > ClassicDatsunDebate
02/03/2020 at 14:34

Indeed, a fair statement.

ttyymmnn > ClassicDatsunDebate
02/06/2020 at 15:04

That’s some nice work, and a great post documenting it . Do you know why the frets get progressively farther away as they move down the neck? The answer is buried in this post I made about the trumpet.

vondon302 > ClassicDatsunDebate
02/06/2020 at 15:44

I don’t play and I don’t understand some of the terms but I enjoyed this.

Good post!

lone_liberal > ClassicDatsunDebate
02/06/2020 at 16:10

I love this! I know next to nothing about playing guitar , and the last time I even touched something guitar shaped was when I was trying (and failing) to learn bass on a Peave y when I was in high school, but I’ve always liked the sound of those big hollow body guitars be they a Gibson or not.

ClassicDatsunDebate > vondon302
02/06/2020 at 16:28

Thanks!

ClassicDatsunDebate > ttyymmnn
02/06/2020 at 16:30

I remember that post of yours on the Trumpet. I think it has to do with wavelengths of tones. The shorter wavelengths mean that semi-tones are closer together as the pitch goes up.

ttyymmnn > ClassicDatsunDebate
02/06/2020 at 16:53

Basically. It’s all about the harmonic series.

Turbineguy: Nom de Zoom > ClassicDatsunDebate
02/06/2020 at 18:46

I bought an Epi ES-175 years ago when I heard they were being discontinued. Four years later they started making them again. Fuckers. Great guitar though.

gin-san - shitpost specialist > ClassicDatsunDebate
02/06/2020 at 19:18

Cool post! It’s nice that you fixed it up... some guitars just need a bit of attention and they’ll play like new. Kind of makes me want to buy another guitar...

TheRealBicycleBuck > ClassicDatsunDebate
02/06/2020 at 20:28

Fantastic post!

ClassicDatsunDebate > gin-san - shitpost specialist
02/06/2020 at 20:57

They do seem to multiply.

ClassicDatsunDebate > Turbineguy: Nom de Zoom
02/06/2020 at 21:00

The 175 is a great guitar. My teacher had one as his Jazz #1 until he sold it for a Benedetto.

Turbineguy: Nom de Zoom > ClassicDatsunDebate
02/07/2020 at 16:20

I just couldn’t get used to the body width, so I sold it. I’d like something with the 335's width but I’m not a fan of the 335 shape so I’m looking at the ES-235.

ClassicDatsunDebate > Turbineguy: Nom de Zoom
02/07/2020 at 18:20

I’d look at a 339 if i were you. It’s blocked like a 335 and has a double cutaway but way smaller through the bout.

Turbineguy: Nom de Zoom > ClassicDatsunDebate
02/07/2020 at 20:32

Meh. It’s just a smaller version of the 335. No me gusta. Maybe an ES-137.