Heavily modified el cheapo Epiphone Special Plus

guitarz.blogspot.com:

We've already looked on in horror and dismay when confronted with modifications made to vintage and classic guitars. Time and again, we've said, if you're going to mess around with something choose something cheap and Chinese-made that nobody is going to lament the demise of if it all goes horribly wrong (as it so often does).

Thankfully we have no worries in this instance for here we see what was a vaguely Les Paul-style very basic bolt-on neck Epiphone Special Plus which surely has been enhanced by the modifications performed on it. This is a cheap guitar that has been vastly improved through modification. This is the type of self customization that we like to see on Guitarz.

The eBay seller describes the work carried out on the guitar:

The body was cut in half. The inside was routed to leave roughly 1/2" sides, a 1/4" top and back, and a 4" solid core running from the neck pocket to the end of the stop tail. A sound hole and control access holes were cut in the top. The body was re-glued and then routed for a middle pickup. The finish on the neck is still the factory polyurethane, but the body was stripped and refinished in nitrocellulose. The body finish is thin and a little bit coarse in some areas. An aluminum pickguard was added, along with aluminum truss rod, control cavity and jack plates. The stock pickups were pulled and replaced with a set of three handmade humbucker sized blade single coils built around exposed alnico 5 firebird magnets. One master volume knob, one master tone knob and three individual on/off switches for each of the pickups.

Currently listed on eBay with the auction due to finish later today. Bidding has been keen already, although I doubt it'll sell for big money. Bidding is at $127.50 at the time of writing.

G L Wilson

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