Bob Marsh Posted April 10, 2011 Share Posted April 10, 2011 Here's one for you Epiphone fans...This old beauty came into the shop some weeks ago from a regular client - It was his Grandad's guitar and though well used and well worn it remains a piece of Epiphone history. When we received it there were no knobs, switches or plates, the tailpiece was beginning to split and the 3 pound pick up was in a box that the owner brought in. Still, the old gal was in fair shape and he wanted her restored to playing condition (Not necessarily exactly historically correct, but as close as we could come) The pickup was shot so it was sent to Lindy Fralin Pickups for refurbishing. Next order of business was to fabricate some parts that were missing. I looked up some photos in vintage books of similar Zephyrs and found that this pickup system was called a "Mastervoicer". I found a photo of what the control knobs and plates looked like and a search on the web did not turn up any available true replacements so I went to work with CorelDraw, our Epilog Laser, some maple and Corian. After redrawing the plates and knobs using the photo as a pattern I engraved, cut out, inked and buffed the control plates using white Corian. The knobs were a bit more work - I cut several layers of curly maple with the shaft holes in them, a top piece out of Corian without the hole, stacked and glued them, then proceeded to handshape them with a file and sand them smooth. When all sanding was done Bob Rigaud sprayed the knobs with a bit of antique white lacquer followed with clear with a touch of yellow tinting added for a vintage look - Plates were also coated with the clear/yellow lacquer. The result, while not authentic is a pretty good facsimile - We're toying with the idea of making some plates out of anodized or painted aluminum - If that happens I'll post some pics. This is about as far as we've gotten - When the pickup comes back from LF and the tailpiece comes back from the repair/plating shop and there's more visible progress I'll post some pics - Hopefully we'll put another one back in service! Bob B Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tweed2 Posted April 10, 2011 Share Posted April 10, 2011 Beautiful and creative work. Are you going to try something similar with the tuner knobs? They look like a challenge, too. Please keep us updated with pictures. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bob Marsh Posted April 10, 2011 Author Share Posted April 10, 2011 Tuners are a bit more difficult - We could probably recreate the knobs themselves, but with 2 tuners missing - and they're real oddbals - they have the Epiphone "E" cast into the tuner housings - we're in a tight spot. We have feelers out all over the place for a couple replacements - so far no good. It may come to the point where we replace all of the originals and put the old ones in the case for historic purposes - Hate to do it but those old style tuners are scarce as dragon's tears. If anybody on the forum has ANY, one 2, a set? I'd love to hear from them. Thanks for the interest and I'll keep the thread updated as progress continues. B Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pete c Posted April 10, 2011 Share Posted April 10, 2011 cant wait to see more of this project. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steve_d Posted April 10, 2011 Share Posted April 10, 2011 Bob, That's quite a piece of history there and the restoration progress seems to be coming along well. I have a soft spot for vintage guitars and she's a beauty. Keep us posted! Steve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RaSTuS Posted April 10, 2011 Share Posted April 10, 2011 Tremendous restoration job there, great to see life being breathed back into the old girl, not sure I'd have the patience to be so historically accurate, terrific stuff Bob. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RobinTheHood Posted April 10, 2011 Share Posted April 10, 2011 Awesome job on those knobs! That guitar is going to be a beauty when it is finished...not that it already isnt. Also, +1 on using CorelDraw. By far my favorite vector program. I've noticed that it is very poplular when it comes to fabrication and vinyl applications. The only time I use Adobe Illustrator is when I trace bitmaps (far superior to Corel) or when a piece is going to print and the company uses Abobe. I'll also use Adobe Photoshop for any four color process work going to print as the color profiles are more accurate than Corel. But aside from those few things, Corel is my go-to program. Corel is very underrated in my opinion. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brianh Posted April 10, 2011 Share Posted April 10, 2011 Thanks for posting this Bob, what a beauty. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crust Posted April 10, 2011 Share Posted April 10, 2011 cool guitar Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
animalfarm Posted April 11, 2011 Share Posted April 11, 2011 Oh, yeah...... If possible, go heavy on any step-by-step pics you can, not often a Truly Vintage Git comes along!!!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bob Marsh Posted April 11, 2011 Author Share Posted April 11, 2011 Thanks to all for the interest and kind words! Hi RTH - CorelDraw has been MY go to since version 1.0 which came on one 5-1/4" diskette almost 25 years ago and I agree it's the cat's a$$.I also agree that process work is usually best handled in Photoshop, but Photopaint is making great strides (Not to mention the price of the Corel Suite is not as high as the Adobe package) All things being equal doing graphics processes on a computer beats the heck out of cutting Amberlith ( Something that if I NEVER do again, it will be too soon) As to Illustrator - great program but lacking in some areas - Doing spot color separations in Illustrator is either: Do it manually, or not at all.....But still a great program and I enjoy using it frequently. Nice to find a fellow Vectorman on the forum! Cheers! B Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrw1960 Posted April 11, 2011 Share Posted April 11, 2011 A big standing ovation to you and the others for restoring that piece of Epiphone history! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crust Posted April 12, 2011 Share Posted April 12, 2011 similar to this ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bob Marsh Posted April 12, 2011 Author Share Posted April 12, 2011 That's just crazy Crust! Sure looks really similar - the pickups and headstock and body are dead ringers - the control knobs are in a slightly different location tho...Thanks for the blast from the past - Jimmy wasn't much on complicated chords, was he? I wonder if this is where Richie Havens got his unique style of playing? Thanks agin! B Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crust Posted April 12, 2011 Share Posted April 12, 2011 Hi Bob, I do like that "wine" tune, a real old traditional tune. I have that in one of my old song books (Americas favorite ballads, by Pete Seeger). I play it in standard tuning. I was looking on YOUTUBE for a version and came across that clip. I remembered hearing that as a kid and always liked the story and melody. I wonder what tuning he is using to strum too ? If I knew, I'd retune and try to play along. lol. When I saw the guitar in the clip, I thought the guitar looked a little familiar and that you'd dig it. Now I want an Epiphone Wildcat Royale Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Supersonic Posted April 12, 2011 Share Posted April 12, 2011 That is so cool. I can't wait to see more pics. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elias Graves Posted April 13, 2011 Share Posted April 13, 2011 Nice work. Love the attention to detail. EG Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matthewk Posted April 13, 2011 Share Posted April 13, 2011 Superb work! In looking around I found a photo gallery of another 1941 Zephyr - hope it's useful: http://www.robwesley.com/guitars/listings/Epiphone%20Zephyr%20Blonde%201941/ Here are just a few of the photos - maybe useful for a pickguard reference: It has open-back tuners but I think these are the ones referred to above, on a 1944 Zephyr: or Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bob Marsh Posted April 19, 2011 Author Share Posted April 19, 2011 Thanks for the great link Matthew - Lots of great photos there, and all useful AND interesting - I'm going to check the serial # on the headstock of the one we have - be interesting to see how far apart the guitars are. Thanks again! B Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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