Anne's
Epiphone Tenor Guitar Workpage
10-14

"Mr. Epi" himself
ARRIVAL
PICS
"ZENITH"
19 fret Archtop
#11420
From my buddy Martyn:
That would be 1937. 11422 and 11423 were both
Zenith Tenor Guitars so it was probably in a batch.
Heirloom Instrument
Repair as needed
to play
Refinish as needed

All bindings have
"Gassed" out and must be replaced
Finish is original , and
worn
Hardware is oxidized, recommend replating (Nickel)
Electrics are inoperable, and non original to the instrument.
It was originally
Acoustic

Other than binding and
finish, body is in VG condition, glue joints look good

Pickup and pickguard
Original
Guard needs polishing

Orig Label intact

Inlay intact,
fingerboard shows wear and worn frets

Neck angle is good, and
heel is tight to body

Buckle rash on back,
otherwise solid


Sidewalls good


No heel break on neck,
Tuners are functional but oxidized

Plane of neck is flat
Steel reinforced neck is my
guess
Will be good to relevel
when refret takes place
DISASSEMBLY


Looking at pointer
positioning

Pickup will be tested
and if bad, replaced with a modern substitute unless Anne wants this one rewound
I hope its good and just the
pots are bad

All out

I doubt cleaner will
help these work , it will be better to just replace them with
"like" pots and plug jack

Removing the binding
Easy in some places,
tedious in others.

All stripped down and
ready to discuss a plan of attack
REPAIRWORK
We have discussed it,
and will be going with Refinish, Binding, Replating and
Fretwork.
I'll start with
stripping the old finish
I will send off the metal
to ACME plating for new Nickel


We have a Walnut veneer
on the back

You can see the ply's
here and only .020" is Walnut

That light spot is where
they sanded thru the veneer at the factory
Many things can hide
under a dark fade like was on it
It is common to see a
blemish such as this even on modern instruments.
As Luthier's, hiding them
is the challenge.

Next will be the sides,
need some more stripper

The tailpiece is stress
fractured
Its too thin to
braze, I will flow some soft solder into it to make it stable
and then off to the plater.

After repair, here is
what is going on to ACME plating

A coat of sealer on the
back just to look at the grain

Getting down thru an
older refinish on the neck, and the original under that one

Starting on the sides

On to the top


Very thick finish, 3 full
strips to get it all off.
Some sort of Varnish, by
the smell.

Now for the mahogany neck


All cleaned up and ready
for binding
.040" white , to simulate
the original

I've glue the binding to
the top.
Now a riffler to take
down the high stuff

Shaving to profile, with
razor blade

all sanded smooth

a coat of sealer, and
will move to the back.
Sides will be profiled
last
FRET WORK

After pressing, starting the leveling process

Complete, now to recrown,
dress the ends, polish the wire...

...and begin the oiling process on the board
Now to mix some color for
the finishwork

My standard Mohawk finish
with aniline dye for coloration
This will be 3 colors to
make the color needed
It just looks like "brown"
in the old finish, but there are MANY colors of brown!

I'll do the back and sides
first, so I'm fine line taping for the work


A fancy tape job to keep the color out
of the interior
That is a little over
spray from the back and side work, it will not matter, I'll
scuff it off and shoot the front

The very subdued sunburst of the Epiphone, or my rendition
thereof.
I sprayed this coat with my big gun to cover alot of area
I will scuff back the overspray in the center finishing with
1200 grit.
And then respray the edges with my small gun with thinned
finish, to give a nice transition



Pulling tape and cleaning up the binding

Doing the edges

Scuffed up and ready for clear coats

Now back to the top, after spraying with the touchup gun
and getting the look I want
Shown with the first coat of clear

Now we can start to see some beauty return.
The holes will remain taped until the final coat of clear, and
then I will work the edges in.

There is "Duality"
in that picture
Epiphone made Triumph's
as well!
Now for the neck finish while the body takes on clear.
Electrics are here from
Mike Soares, so that will be installed when its time.Thanks Mike

Final wetsanding completed, ready to machine buff, and hand
polish the places the buffer cannot reach.
It's a delicate operation, buffing a guitar with an attached
neck.
Especially an Heirloom.

After buffing, 3 stages of hand compounds.
Plating from ACME arrived.

After 2 wax coats, ready to install Hardware ,and Electrics
from Mike Soares

Ill go with the square cover, trimmed to fit this application

Epoxying cover to pickup
Pick guard will be trimmed to fit


Neck buffed, ready to clean / install orig tuners



Mike had a back
bracket for the armrest that was missing, now it is properly secured
Ready to
string up for initial tests
FINAL PICS

New electrics playing sharp and crisp, thanks to Mike Soares
Strung up on GHS strings provided by www.bedfordbanjoshop.com
Tuning is DGBE
String gauges are 28-22-14-12









CASE REPAIR

First I will clean it all out and repair the case pocket

Vacuumed

Pocket top re-installed

All the old repair tape pulled
Now I will clean up these surfaces, glue the wood backing to
the sides and smooth it all up
Hinges will be steel wooled to accept new black lacquer.

Top sealed

Bottom sealed, ready for lacquer

2 coats to protect it for years to come
It's nice when a Guitar can go with its original case, that is
not common, many were completely ruined by now
I think this project turned out well, and will be able to give
some service to whomever gets to play it.
Now to get it home to Ms.Anne, and move on to the next challenge
Thanks for watching
Vinnie