This customer wanted his Epiphone Les Paul Headstock customised to a Norlin era style Gibson Les Paul headstock.
The 1st thing to do was remove the existing Epiphone headstock veneer. This was done using a steam iron to soften the glue and then gently levering it off with a scraper.
Then the tuner holes were plugged with dowel and the point of no return then came where the sides of the existing headstock were cut off and new pieces of mahogany were glued onto each side, clamped up and left to set overnight.
You can see the outline of the Gibson headstock drawn onto the timber, ready for cutting out.
The cutting out was done with a jigsaw and the final shaping was completed by hand using my trusty rasp and a sanding block.
As it turned out, I had to cut off the top of the headstock and add another piece of mahogany across the top to give a bit more length.
This was then rubbed down, ready to take the new veneer.
Meanwhile, the back of the headstock had to be reshaped to add a much bigger volute, the Norlin style neck having a bit of a “ski slope” of a volute. I don’t show the detail of the volute build up here but it was done using a Bondo type product which was then shaped by hand using the rasp and a final skim of fine wood filler was added to fill any small pores on the surface. This was then sanded down and painted.
The Gibson veneer was then glued onto the front of the headstock and overlacquered with a clear coat.
Finally, a Gibson truss rod cover was fitted, the nut replaced and that’s the job finished.
Those of you with eagle eyes will notice the little horns on each side of the headstock, at the ends of the volute have been removed.
This was a subsequent request from the customer and I think i agree with him because my concern was they would get kn ocked off in time.
