Grimshaw Park - Part #2

After removing most of the lacquer and paint using a heat gun, 80 grit sandpaper was used to roughly level out the back and sides of the guitar. The top is a bit of a tricky spot, in that it is made of plywood and in some areas the top laminate is wearing away to reveal the darker laminate underneath.

The neck has had the frets removed and fretboard has been roughly leveled out to remove the wear of 45 years of playing. The old pickup routs are far to big to allow a modern humbucker and ring to fit in, so either a new pickup ring will be made or the gap filled in.

Next will be the fine sanding, working down to a 400 grit paper for a smooth finish.

Stay tuned for more!

Hello, I'm Joel with Figjam Custom Guitars.

The other day I had a customer come in with an old Grimshaw Park GS30 (Les Paul copy) that they wanted refurbished. New frets, fretboard re-radius, new pickups, tune-o-matic bridge, new electronics and a wine red paint job are in order.

On taking the guitar apart I noticed quite a few things.

• The headstock had been broken (an incident with a "fan") and repaired with glue and 4 screws. The job was done quite well so I won't be re-breaking and gluing it, just covering over the screws and join so they can't be seen.
• Under the neck plate lurked another screw smack in the middle, the owner not knowing why this was done.
• The body is solid with a plywood arched top - there are 3-4 wood blocks on the centre of the guitar to help curve the plywood.
• The neck pocket is terrible - I'll need to make a wood shim to help keep the pocket tight
• The neck angle is huge, around 15 degrees I estimate!

With the guitar apart, it's on to stripping the paint off. I'll be using a heat gun and paint scrappers followed by sanding.

Stay tuned for more!