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Board index » Instrument Restoration and Repair

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Chris Pile
PostPosted: Tue Jun 08, 2021 4:49 pm 
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City: Wichita
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Had a plywood body Epiphone Les Paul laying around doing nothing, so I decided to make it fretless. Had planned to inlay some maple or honey tupelo veneer in the slots. Pulled the frets, and surprise! They were notched and the neck had wood binding on the fingerboard. Very nicely done, too.

Instead of using veneer, I used baking soda and CA in the slots, packing it down well with a 6" scale. Did two applications, then sanded the board level. Another surprise - the fingerboard had been dyed black, and underneath was an attractive piece of something... it had no odor when sanding. Hit it with Howard Feed'N'Wax and it darkened right up to a beautiful satin sheen.

New strings and action set very low at both ends... Makes all the right rowr-rowr noises, but I think I need to up the string gauge from 10's to 12's. Might help the sustain above the 10th fret, and besides - no more string bending required.

Some photos of the finished fingerboard.

https://i.imgur.com/S1RRYm4.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/uD0G3pu.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/FbP4YO9.jpg

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Hesh
PostPosted: Fri Jun 11, 2021 4:08 am 
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Looks great Chris, very cool!


These users thanked the author Hesh for the post: Chris Pile (Fri Jun 11, 2021 7:37 am)
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Conor_Searl
PostPosted: Fri Jun 11, 2021 11:28 am 
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So after all these years you're finally fed up with all those intervals playing out of tune? beehive

Looks super cool!


These users thanked the author Conor_Searl for the post: Hesh (Sat Jun 12, 2021 10:25 am)
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Chris Pile
PostPosted: Fri Jun 11, 2021 1:53 pm 
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One of my clients has popped for it, saying he wanted to explore microtonal music....

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Hesh
PostPosted: Sat Jun 12, 2021 10:26 am 
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Conor_Searl wrote:
So after all these years you're finally fed up with all those intervals playing out of tune? beehive

Looks super cool!


:D laughing6-hehe
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Conor_Searl
PostPosted: Mon Jun 14, 2021 11:53 am 
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Koa
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Chris Pile wrote:
One of my clients has popped for it, saying he wanted to explore microtonal music....


Microtonal music! I'm an expert in that...

There's no mistakes if you do everything on purpose. Right?

I get it though. I remember reading an interview with Steve Kimock, where he talks about his fretless guitars, and the reasoning behind them. Makes sense, but man that's some next level stuff...


These users thanked the author Conor_Searl for the post: Chris Pile (Mon Jun 14, 2021 3:21 pm)
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Chris Pile
PostPosted: Mon Jun 14, 2021 3:22 pm 
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Quote:
Makes sense, but man that's some next level stuff...


My client is a next level player, for sure. If anyone can make it work, Sterling can.

Here he is playing a semi-hollow I built for him in 1993.
I called the guitar the Indigo Spirit.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R7c3QNGW4lA

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bionta
PostPosted: Mon Jun 14, 2021 7:26 pm 
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Oh yeah. That guy is the real deal for sure. And that guitar sounds beautiful. What’s the looped back patch cord doing?


These users thanked the author bionta for the post: Chris Pile (Mon Jun 14, 2021 11:14 pm)
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Conor_Searl
PostPosted: Mon Jun 14, 2021 7:27 pm 
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Koa
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Location: Cowichan Valley, BC, Canada
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State: British Columbia
Zip/Postal Code: V9L 2E5
Country: Canada
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Chris Pile wrote:
Quote:
Makes sense, but man that's some next level stuff...


My client is a next level player, for sure. If anyone can make it work, Sterling can.

Here he is playing a semi-hollow I built for him in 1993.
I called the guitar the Indigo Spirit.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R7c3QNGW4lA


Wow!
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Chris Pile
PostPosted: Mon Jun 14, 2021 11:14 pm 
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Joined: Sun Mar 06, 2011 12:04 am
Posts: 5823
First name: Chris
Last Name: Pile
City: Wichita
State: Kansas
Country: Good old US of A
Focus: Repair
Status: Professional
Quote:
Oh yeah. That guy is the real deal for sure. And that guitar sounds beautiful. What’s the looped back patch cord doing?


Part of his Roland guitar synth pickup rig... (don't ask me more. Not my department).

Interesting detail about the guitar neck - there is NO string taper. The string spacing is exactly the same at the bridge as it is at the nut. The neck is 2 5/16" wide from top to bottom. No one can play it except Sterling.

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