Antoria refurb advice

[Syemon]

I have a 70s lawsuit era lefty Les Paul Custom in black that I've had since 1996(£90 from A1 music in Manchester) Mahogany body and showing it's age

It came with gold hardware which was tatty in 96 so I replaced with shiny chrome. I still have the original hardware in a bag in my office somewhere but I've ordered new gold hardware to freshen it up. 

The front and back of the body are pretty good but the sides at it's widest points on both sides are dinged and a bit tatty. 

I'm not sure whether to leave as is or refinish and repaint or do something else to stop things from getting worse. Also the centre bit of the split diamond inlay raised and split and looks naff. 

Any advice is welcome

 

[Dad3353]

[Dad3353]

I had a 'Shaftsbury' version of that guitar back then (well, I say 'I'; in fact I bought it for John Mac, our 2nd guitar at the time, as he couldn't afford one himself. It ended up in my parent's attic, and goodness knows what happened to it...). I'd not recommend a paint job, prefering to let it wear its battle scars with pride, whilst keeping it from gathering more. It's possible, and relatively easy, to touch up the bouts, but it'll be difficult to match the black's lustre. Let it age gently and peacefully.

[ezbass]

Leave it as is and let it show its battle scars and age. However, part of me wants to see the top stripped à la Mick Ronson.

 

[Syemon]

Maybe a very light sanding of the problem areas, a bit of touch up and a few light coats of lacquer to keep it where it's at without going overboard. 

It's going on for 50 years old so I don't want to do too much. 

Refitting the original hardware would have been nice but I've too much on to go hunting for it at the mo. 

Would like to get a new piece for the split diamond inlay as it bugs me the way it is. 

I had a bit of a play with it before I stripped it down and it's just so easy to play and sounds great. 

It's a heavy beast though.

[Syemon]

Well I went for light sanding and lacquer approach on the edges to keep it's wear damage. 

It will need some more flatting once my wet and dry arrives and will match the sheen on the untouched front and back all being well. 

Cleaned and fed the fretboard after doing the frets and polishing. 

 

Also being lefty means used guitars are harder to find and I saw this Aria Stg 004 local to me and a deal was struck for £35. Hss with coil split toggle. The body is great apart from one ding. 

It had been unloved for a long time with black strings and frets, the action was so high you could limbo under it. The truss rod was way out as the neck had a forward bow. 

The truss was tweaked and the fretboard cleaned and the frets polished. Left the neck a couple of days to settle a bit but it needed a really good tweak to get suitable relief. 

The action was still higher than I like and the bridge setting were as low as they'd go so I shimmed the neck. 

Much better and some light work on the nut brought it all together. 

Wiring wise I shielded the cavities and wired for one master tone. 

The middle tone pot was split open and the track cut at one end. 

Refitted and wired for a neck blender pot. 

So one end it's open circuit so no loading, then by turning it slowly brings the neck pickup in circuit for more choices with all pickups on position 2 and neck blending with the bridge humbucker/split single.

Happy with it, it plays well and has an array of tones. 

The knobs are righty which is messing with my ocd and not sure whether to put a black pickguard on it. 

Hopefully the gold stuff for the Antoria will be here soon so I can finish it. 

 

The delays are costing me money with little side projects. 

 

A graphite nut has arrived for my recent Epiphone Express Sg Special 3/4 scale so I may replace the shimmed and recut original righty nut if I get bored. 

 

Edited May 8, 2022 by Syemon

[Syemon]

 

Well, more or less done apart from the knobs not being right. 

It's so nice being able to play it again. 

It just feels right in my hands. The neck is perfect for me. 

Sounds nice and fat as it always did. 

It's not the lightest guitar but one I won't part with as it was my first electric. 

Not bad for a 50 year old axe. 

 

 

Edited May 28, 2022 by Syemon

[Dad3353]

1 hour ago, Syemon said:

...Not bad for a 50 year old axe Trigger's broom. 

 

 

[Syemon]

Neck, body, pickups all as I bought it. Trigger turned up with hardware and a mop bucket. I kept the hardware until I find the original stuff and Dave3353 can have the mop bucket to make his next meal in.

[EdwardMarlowe]

Good to see another southpaw in the house! (One of us! One of us!) 

I have my old Epi LP Std hanging on the wall, this makes me think what I should do with it. It's still at the point of not being worth enough to encourage me to part with it. I'm in two minds about keeping stock, or switching the pups for some nice HB-sized P90s, and adding one of those Bigsbyesque kinda sorta trems that don't need any permanent mods.... If I do go there, I'll most likely also have it rewired for Master Tone, Master volume, and individual pickup volumes. Much more sensible than the standard arrangement, imo.... (Looking at that Antoria also makes me wonder why Gibson never played the home advantage and gave their Epiphones the "proper" headstock.... )

A black guard would look nice on the Aria, though I'd check carefully first.... might be worth looking at the feasibility of having a custom one cut, as those Stratalikes often vary just enough from a Fender/Squier part  for most of the readily available options to be an awful amount of work to not quite fit.