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OMG ease up on the Poly, Epi.


jfalkens

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has anyone tried dulling an epiphone?

 

 

 

Yep! I couldn't stand the shiny gloss. So I knocked some of it off with a course kitchen sponge and green soap. It's really subtle. More like a satin-like finish of an old violin. Or rather it was too subtle. The places that get a lot of 'buff' from my arm are starting too shine again. Next time I'm sanding it down.

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I have a Regal resophonic from Korea that had so much poly on it, the edges of the fretboard look like they were caulked to the spruce top. That wouldn't happen with many coats...it happens when the top is immersed in a thin pool of poly. That's fine for finishing a bartop, but awful for tonewoods.

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MY CC's paint kind of reflects the wood underneath (it's bumpy), so I think it might have a pretty light coat.

 

Sorry this pic's a little big, but you can see the wavering effect below the pups where the light reflects:

 

newguitar007.jpg

 

So, is this a bad paintjob, or is it just very light?

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Wasn't the natural finish originally offered on a Casino only *after* John and George had theirs sanded down? If this is the case, then it's clear that Epiphone were offering the natural finish to resemble J. & G.'s guitars. And George's (really John's, but they swapped) doesn't display a hint of gloss in photographs (look at his photo of the guitar in the 1987 interview he did for 'Guitar Player').

 

If I'm right about this, then you'd think that the 'standard' natural finish would be some version of satin/matte, with a high gloss appearance being offered as a custom finish.

 

Unfortunately, I like the high gloss appearance, and the sound of satin (because I'm presuming it looks pretty matte), so there's a lot of GAS that's been created for me from this thread because I never even knew satin existed before as a choice.

 

Thanks, everyone :)

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Wasn't the natural finish originally offered on a Casino only *after* John and George had theirs sanded down? If this is the case' date=' then it's clear that Epiphone were offering the natural finish to resemble J. & G.'s guitars. And George's (really John's, but they swapped) doesn't display a hint of gloss in photographs (look at his photo of the guitar in the 1987 interview he did for 'Guitar Player').[/quote']It was the J-160E that George and John mixed up... the Casinos were different - George had a Bigsby.
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It was the J-160E that George and John mixed up... the Casinos were different - George had a Bigsby.

 

Correct. They both had the Casinos sanded down and the photos of George's is in the GP interview and he talks about it. Never saw him as a Beatle play it that way or even solo at some point though I'm sure he did.

 

Harrison also still had his J160E, not sanded down, and never saw him play that again either. I'm sure he must have used it as an acoustic at some point because in the Beatles Gear book it is shown with phospher acoustic strings on it. Plus his had faded to a nice icetea burst when the photo was taken.

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I wouldn't advise doing it. It might add a nice personal touch for you' date=' but it would totaly detract from the resale value.

 

If you must, you could use some 0000 steel wool knock the gloss down, but please don't post any pics when your done.[/quote']

 

On the contrary, please post pics if you do buff it down (or if you've already done so). I think plenty people here are interested in how it would look.

 

As others have mentioned, not everyone cares about resale value. Some people collect and pass through guitars as a hobby, others have them and intend to keep them - be here now.

 

I'm planning to buff down the back of the neck on mine... the thick poly is just too sticky. But would be curious how the body would look as well... is it subtle enough to not scratch it up all over? Some people say it can look like a satin finish by just buffing it down... i'm quite curious to see this in practice.

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another plastic looking Epiphone. Nothing like a subtle coat of poly...

 

LINK

 

You know they put on too much' date=' when the poly coating is more shiny than the metal pick-up covers.[/i']

 

6656_1.JPG

 

Bliiinng! I like shiny, too. I don't care for the faded finishes. As long as it is a hard finish, it is fine with me. My Strat has a think finish thaiit is kind of shiny like that one and it's the one that reacted to a plastic coated clue metalflake glitter strap. The outgassing of the plastic softened the finsih on the guitar where it touched the finish. Under stage lighting a guitar like that one would be pretty bright, though.

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It was the J-160E that George and John mixed up... the Casinos were different - George had a Bigsby.

You're right. Thanks for the correction.

 

In terms of the J-160 E's, I remember that John gave one to one of the Bee Gees (Maurice, I think), and I seem to remember that another one was stolen, so I wonder which one he and George swapped.

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You're right. Thanks for the correction.

 

In terms of the J-160 E's' date=' I remember that John gave one to one of the Bee Gees (Maurice, I think), and I seem to remember that another one was stolen, so I wonder which one he and George swapped.[/quote']

 

I don't know about John giving one to any of the Bee Gees but he did give a J-160E (a later square-shouldered version one) in the late 70's to Bob Dylan who told his tech to "get rid of it" because it "gave bad vibes" after John was shot. McCartney also had one of the later square-shouldered versions around the time of "Ram". I have a short promo film where he and Linder were outside (probabaly at their place in Tucson) doing a song (Hey Diddle) on ukuleles and at the end he grabs the guitar from a patio chair and they walk out of camera range.

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You're right. Thanks for the correction.

 

In terms of the J-160 E's' date=' I remember that John gave one to one of the Bee Gees (Maurice, I think), and I seem to remember that another one was stolen, so I wonder which one he and George swapped.[/quote']

 

John and George got the ones they got in 1962 switched around. The one that Lennon had that was stolen was the one George had the recipt for. If you look at the photos even after John got his replacment he still had a habit of playing George's. After the sanding he played his own, but must have liked the 1962 model better for some reason.

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