'64 Epi Olympic finished!

You may remember my purchase of an oddly modified 1964 Epiphone Olympic a month ago. Earlier this week, I finished putting the guitar together as I had imagined it.

Unfortunately, the only original parts are the body/neck and pickguard, maybe a few screws.

The guitar had a Bad Ass Bridge on brass studs, a Fred Stuart Blackguard pickup (it sounds great in my Tele), 250k volume pot, a Fender TBX tone control, Radio Shack knobs and a modern 3 screw Epi truss rod cover.

The guitar didn't sound bad but not how I wanted it to sound. I wanted a poor man's Les Paul/SG Junior or Coronet.

I installed a new lightning bar bridge (compensated for an plain G string), vintage length steel studs, RS 500k Superpot volume pot, 500k tone pot, reflector knobs, a Gibson truss rod cover (it was a direct fit), and the best part- a Tyson Tone '57 Dog Ear P90. Because I put the pickup over the original pickguard, I had to go with a low profile neck position pickups wound as a neck pickup.

Unfortunately, the pickguard and body had been butchered for a humbucker then, later, a Tele bridge pickup (though these mods made the guitar cheap and allowed me to feel free to put the P90 in it). The pickup had been completely routed away between the pickup and the bridge. I patched it with a piece of a Strat backplate. The body had been routed towards the bridge, past the pickguard so I covered that with a piece of gasket material. Luckily, the guitar was structurally sound.

The sounds awesome and looks good! The frets are a little worn but not bad. I may have it refretted in the future if I end up feeling like it needs it.
http://i1072.photobucket.com/albums/...jpg%7Eoriginal
http://i1072.photobucket.com/albums/...psqb06wxid.jpg
http://i1072.photobucket.com/albums/...psyhblp1hz.jpg
http://i1072.photobucket.com/albums/...psrgdlj1hn.jpg
http://i1072.photobucket.com/albums/...psvdeziuoy.jpg
http://i1072.photobucket.com/albums/...psseg8pjcn.jpg

Some of the parts that I removed from the guitar-
http://i1072.photobucket.com/albums/...psqmz7p6db.jpg

Don look's good hard to tell that PG is patched.. Rawk on!

Ahh, MUCH better!! Looks "right" now, good job buddy!!!