15 year old and a Goodwill Rescue

[wagon]

My son came home from a day with his mother toting a Les Paul Special 2 that he "rescued from the Goodwill". It seems they were throwing it out because the truss rod is broken, he asked what they wanted for it, and they told him he could take it. The guitar tuned and plays well enough, but you can sure enough hear the truss rod rattle around in the neck. He seems to like it, and wants to keep it to tear it apart and learn how to do his mods, so that being said,obviously first one is going to be removal of the fretboard to replace the truss rod. My question is this...are the neck of the special 2 les paul, SG, and the les paul junior all the same? would anyone happen to have the actual dimensions of the heel for the neck. I know Epiphone doesn't sell one (not cost effective) but I'd like to have something lined up without having to pull everything apart on him in the event that surgery takes a turn for the worse.
Thanks in advance.

 

[RR-Ramblers]

Used Epiphone replacement necks are plentiful on eBay and Reverb. I have two in my shop, LP Spcl II's are great guitars. I had a 2009 LPSP II body that was completely empty and threw a new 2017 Epiphone LP SP II neck on it, put in some humbuckers and hardware and it was a really nice guitar. You can mess with fixing the truss rod, but simply putting on a used neck is a lot less hassle. Keep the old neck for parts...nut/tuners, etc.

 

[wagon]

Used Epiphone replacement necks are plentiful on eBay and Reverb. I have two in my shop, LP Spcl II's are great guitars. I had a 2009 LPSP II body that was completely empty and threw a new 2017 Epiphone LP SP II neck on it, put in some humbuckers and hardware and it was a really nice guitar. You can mess with fixing the truss rod, but simply putting on a used neck is a lot less hassle. Keep the old neck for parts...nut/tuners, etc.

Mostly what I'm seeing on there now is for the Les Paul Junior. While I'm pretty sure they're the same neck, I wanted to double check before I bought one. The few Special 2 necks are Slash Edition necks that they want upwards of 3 bills for. I'm sure the boy would love Slash on the headstock of his guitar...but I don't think his bank account is going to support that. He's pretty hyped about it. he found a Slash edition wiring harness on ebay for about $30 and he wants to get some humbucker sized P90s for it.

 

[wagon]

Used Epiphone replacement necks are plentiful on eBay and Reverb. I have two in my shop, LP Spcl II's are great guitars. I had a 2009 LPSP II body that was completely empty and threw a new 2017 Epiphone LP SP II neck on it, put in some humbuckers and hardware and it was a really nice guitar. You can mess with fixing the truss rod, but simply putting on a used neck is a lot less hassle. Keep the old neck for parts...nut/tuners, etc.

Would you happen to have the measurements off the heel of one of those necks?

 

[Kostas Kritsilas]

Best of luck with repairing the truss rod. If you and your son get that done, most other repairs will be simple. Do not be surprised if this doesn't work out, though, this is NOT a simple repair in that getting the fingerboard off and glued back on is a fairly advanced procedure (I am assuming that this has a rosewood fingerboard glued to the neck (I don't know Les Paul Special IIs very well, and I am assuming that it doesn't have a maple neck, please correct me if it does)). It can be done, and will result in a good neck if done properly. You may want to measure out the neck before embarking on this, to make sure the neck doesn't have any issues (twist, excessive back or forward bow) that the new truss rod cannot control. Looking for a replacement neck will, in the end, be faster, easier, and likely better way to go, but your son won't learn anywhere near as much.

 

[Noodling Guitars]

Would you happen to have the measurements off the heel of one of those necks?

If it's an Epiphone LP Jr , it should drop in just fine. worst case scenario is that the tolerances are a bit off (so there might be a small gap) and/or you may need to plug the old screw holes and redrill if the holes are slightly off, but neck width should be the same.

If you're going for a 3rd party replacement neck though, probably better off measuring the width of the one your son has and then asking the seller before making the purchase. The other thing to make sure you check when purchasing is whether the 22nd fret is an overhang or flush with the heel on the replacement neck - some sellers will say it "fits" but then if the 22nd fret is flush with the heel, your scale length is going to be completely out of whack.

If you're going down the surgery route, do you have all the tools required for the job? If this is the first time you're buying the tools/ parts involved, it might end up costing you more than buying a new neck.. I think what a lot of the youtube videos on fretboard removal don't show is the work required AFTER the fretboard is glued back on. Usually when you steam/remove the neck, you're bound to cause some changes in the fretboard which would require you to do at the very least some amount of levelling/ fret work following the process. If you're buying the tools just for a one-off job, it might not really be worth the expenditure.

 

[RR-Ramblers]

Mostly what I'm seeing on there now is for the Les Paul Junior. While I'm pretty sure they're the same neck, I wanted to double check before I bought one. The few Special 2 necks are Slash Edition necks that they want upwards of 3 bills for. I'm sure the boy would love Slash on the headstock of his guitar...but I don't think his bank account is going to support that. He's pretty hyped about it. he found a Slash edition wiring harness on ebay for about $30 and he wants to get some humbucker sized P90s for it.

Sorry for the late response, I had a busy week.

I do have an Epi LP SP II neck I can send measurements. I have about 6 guitar projects ahead of it so I could let the LP SP II beck go. If it is something you might be interested in, we can talk. I looked on eBay also and yes, not a lot of Epi LP SP II necks at this time and 3 bills for a Slash neck defeats the purpose of a Goodwill score. A LP JR. neck would probably work fine if there are any cheap ones. I could probably go about $60, if interested.

Robbie in Colorado