'99 LP 100 "Barn Find" Refurb

[Blind Dog Melonhead]

Hi there,

Noob here. Wanted to say thanks again to all those who weighed in on whether my LP was legit. I'd menetioned that it was a "barn find" project and that I'd post progress here, in case anyone was interested.

So, first the backstory. This is my first electric *ever* and questionably, I also chose to make it my first project.

I found the guitar on a local classified site and set-up a meet for the transaction. The seller assured me that it was structuarlly and electronically sound, but had been abused. All the cliches came out for this one - dodgy side of town, night time, rain. I pulled the dust-caked, broken stringed, dinged and damaged guitar out of a filthy gig bag and gave it a quick ( and boy do I mean "quick") once-over under a street light to make sure there weren't any obvious structural flaws. He was right, it was a mess. I handed over a couple of 20's, and he thanked me saying, "great, now I can go buy some food..."

I rationalized that if nothing else, I was investing in an education. It was the same approach I used with bicycles, motorcycles and boats - the first one should always be something solid and classic, but dirt cheap that you won't mind breaking, so that you'll be skilled and competent when it's time to move on to the good stuff.

I pulled this out of the bag...

 

[Blind Dog Melonhead]

The strap lock at the neck was a 3" wood screw, the schmutzy dreck top left was nasty hardened glue residue from what appeared to be duct tape and it ran halfway down the back and along the neck. My guess is that when the strap lock broke he likely tried to keep the strap on with duct tape, and then just lost interest.

 

[Blind Dog Melonhead]

The first step was to check the electronics so I plugged it into the amp and everything seemed to check out okay (but, this is my first electric guitar, so what do I know?). It sounded crunchy and gritty, but deep and rock n' rolly, so that made me happy.

The next step was to wipe all the dust off ( a 1/2 package of baby wipes) and strip it down for a thorough cleaning and exam...



BTW, I'm not a slob, that's just all the space I have to work with...

 

[Davis Sharp]

Well, some oil and elbow grease should get the adhesive off. Naphtha (use in a well-ventilated place) and antibiotics will clean off the gunk.

If the neck is straight and the pickups work, then you got an excellent deal for 40 Looneys.

 

[Blind Dog Melonhead]

Got up close with the electronics, cleaned, scrubbed and suctioned all the cavities, polished the frets, oiled the fretboard 3 times (it was so dry it was just drinking it in), and spent several hours cleaning off the residue with vegetable oil, Murphy's Oil and a blow dryer to remove all the glue and she's ready for the next steps...






Next up: repairing the strap button with a toothpick and epoxy repair, cleaning the rust off the pickups, cleaning the electrical contacts, buffing with swirl remover, cleaning the plastics, and re-assembling for stringing and set-up.

Thanks for reading.

 

[John]

She is starting to look good, nice job.

 

[Brian16sg]

Congrats! its always a good feeling making something shine again.

 

[Raiyn]

toothpick and epoxy repair,

Epoxy is overkill. You'll have better results with Titebond wood glue. I can't see what you've got going on exactly, but even if you had to drill and dowel it I wouldn't use epoxy. Toothpicks, yes - epoxy, no.

 

[Paruwi]

just don't clean it this way.......

 

[King B]

I hope his hands aren't slippery....he could easily drop that and cause severe damage.

 

[LSAR]

Very nice! I love picking up a cheap and filthy guitar, then making it shine again and setting it up to play great again. I've been noodling on a $50 Squier lately that I got in similar filth...now that it's set up right it's my #1 currently and has actually aged really nicely. Hopefully the end result will be the same with your LP, OP!

 

[RTH]

Epoxy is overkill. You'll have better results with Titebond wood glue. I can't see what you've got going on exactly, but even if you had to drill and dowel it I wouldn't use epoxy. Toothpicks, yes - epoxy, no.

Agreed. Titebond is the epoxy of wood glues.

 

[Davis Sharp]

just don't clean it this way.......

Normally, I'd agree. But given the description, that might not be a bad idea.

 

[Blind Dog Melonhead]

Belated thanks for all of the welcomes, encouragement and advice. Very much appreciated!

That video gives me the shakes.

Thanks also for the useful recommendations for repairing the hole. It is quite deep and wide, as he sunk a hefty wood screw in there. It will be too big to hold a standard sized screw for strap peg, so I’m guessing that a dowel repair might be necessary - unless anyone has experience that proves otherwise...?

I do have a question re: contact cleaners for the electronics. Deoxit seems to be the consensus for that, but it’s proving hard to find here and is pushing $30 a can online (plus we have a postal strike here right now).

Automotive contact cleaner aerosols caution not to use them on home electronics.

I see that isopropyl alcohol is a leading ingredient in Deoxit. It’s cheap and readily available at the corner store. Would it be safe to use that on the electrical?

Many thanks.

 

[Marco_J1975]

just don't clean it this way.......

This guy is teaching us how to learn to play fluidly...
Though I would advise to put the guitar in the tumble dryer afterwards for at least two hours to completely dry the electronics, before you connect your electric guitar to the power plug/socket . Because we all know electrics and water do not go well together.

 

[Davis Sharp]

Belated thanks for all of the welcomes, encouragement and advice. Very much appreciated!

I do have a question re: contact cleaners for the electronics. Deoxit seems to be the consensus for that, but it’s proving hard to find here and is pushing $30 a can online (plus we have a postal strike here right now).

Automotive contact cleaner aerosols caution not to use them on home electronics.

I see that isopropyl alcohol is a leading ingredient in Deoxit. It’s cheap and readily available at the corner store. Would it be safe to use that on the electrical?

Many thanks.

I use whatever contact cleaner I found it the electronics section at Home Depot. It's about $5 US.

 

[Raiyn]

I use whatever contact cleaner I found it the electronics section at Home Depot. It's about $5 US.

I've got an old can of Radio Shack Contact Cleaner that the nozzle is about gooched on. I keep meaning to buy a can of Deoxit, but I still manage with what I have.

 

[RTH]

I've got an old can of Radio Shack Contact Cleaner that the nozzle is about gooched on. I keep meaning to buy a can of Deoxit, but I still manage with what I have.

Oooh...radio shack! I sure do miss that place. I recently had to order a soldering tip from radio shack online for a 20 year old iron i refuse to give up. I bought a Weller in the same price range and it was cheap cheap cheap!

 

[Blind Dog Melonhead]

I found some 99% isopropyl alcohol at the deugstore for a couple of bucks. Seems to work great but it’s giving me a headache . Tiny condo and can’t open windows in this atrocious weather...

Annnnnyway...

So, I’m a bonehead. I removed the plastic pickup guards from the pickups to clean everything and now when putting them back on am wondering what height to actually set them at? Flush with the guard? Do I need an actual measurement from the pick up to the strings? Is it a by-eye kind of thing? Never occurred to me when taking them off (dumb).

Also, so the pick guards slope downhill toward the bridge, or uphill, toward the neck. I forgot to take a pic when I was disassembling (dumber).

Guess this isn’t going back together tonight...

Many thanks

 

[Blind Dog Melonhead]

On a positive note, I did my first coat of Meguiar’s swirl remover, and boy does she ever shine up pretty