Fitting the upgrades!

Well after turning up for work this morning and discovering I should have been on leave I decided to make good use of the unexpected time off and get some bits fitted!

After carefully removing the stock pickups I unsoldered the old components ready for the upgrades.  Here are the capacitors and push pull pots in the wiring jig ready for soldering.

And an hour later, all fitted nice and snug in the wiring cavity.

I then got to work on levelling the frets.  First of all, using a straight edge sat on identical blocks I adjusted the truss rod until the neck was dead straight.

Then using ink on the frets to highlight high/low spots I carefully levelled the frets with an oil stone.

If you look closely you can see how uneven some of the frets were, so it's no wonder I was getting string rattle around this part of the fret board.

Once level I used a modified triangular file and needle file to re-profile, or 'dress' the frets. The frets were then gone over with fine abrasive paper to remove the tool marks and then finally buffed to a smooth polish with wire wool.

Lily was home from school so we got on with carving the name into the headstock.  Using a paper template and the engraving tool she made a wobbly start...

Because the wood kept throwing the tool off line I ended up helping her to finish it.  And hey presto the Lils Paul is born!

Tomorrow we'll get a coat of Shellac over it to protect the wood and remove the surface scratches, then we can get it re-strung, set up and finally finished!

Upgrades!

Okay it's been a while since I last posted, joys of real life getting in the way unfortunately.

After a bit of research I've ordered some parts...

Pickups - I've gone for the Wilkinson Hot PAF's.  They are based on the same design as originally made by the Gibson Guitar Company, are cost effective and have good reviews.  I got this as pair from Vanson Guitars Ebay store as they offered the 4 wire version which allows for coil splitting.

Tone Capacitors - I've gone for Sprague Orange Drop 0.22 bought from Amazon.  They were chosen after reading reviews and advice on the My Les Paul forum

Push Pull Pots - Again bought off Amazon,  I got these so I could take advantage of the split coil wiring option included with the Wilkinson Hot PAF's

And lastly I've also ordered some strap locks because as I know from experience there is nothing worse than your precious guitar dropping to the floor because the straps come off!

I got these from Craigs Music Ebay store along with a plain black strap, and bless them, they didn't have the colour locks I ordered and because I accepted the alternative I got a free leather pick holder keyring!

I'll get the bits fitted as soon as they get here and while the guitar is stripped down I'll also get the frets levels and dressed.