Lousy picture but here's what I started with. An Epiphone AJ15. I found it layin on the curb with someone's trash. The headstock was broken off (but reattached with some of that plumbers pipe strap stuff and wood screws) and the bridge had been ripped off. When I tossed it in the truck I was asking myself just why I picked it up.

You can see where the pipe strap was attached. Wonder how that worked for them?

In short, what my pal TerryM had done was take an old full-size acoustic guitar and cut it down to about half it's thickness, add a solid block through the center, electric guitar pickups and some pretty elaborate electronics and make a very sweet looking (and I'm sure great sounding) semi-hollow body, telecaster-like electric guitar for one of his gigging buddies. Thankfully, mine still had a solid neck joint. His neck joint had to be completely redone. My very modest luthier skills wouldn't have been able to over come that issue. My goal was to add a center block and basic Fender Telecaster pickups and electronics. These are the three pieces I ended up with. The center piece was discarded, the back re-used.

I decided that I should probably see if I could re-attach the headstock before I got too carried away with the project. You can see where the pipe strap was attached. I keep mentioning this because I can't believe someone would try this. Anyway...this is the first gluing. There were several splints (or splines?) added to make it secure and it seems to be holding nicely.

It needed a new shape for the headstock. I've always kinda liked Epiphone guitars as a decent middle-of-the-road brand, but have never been too fond of their headstock shape. To much wood sticking out at the top. Here's the first rough-in of the shape. Copied from a Gibson SG, but rounded out a little in the center.

Here's the first priming of the headstock after the repair. I was happy with it. The purists would cringe, but I added some strips of fiberglass mesh w/resin for strength. The large wood screw holes looked like they had removed a lot of wood and I was a little scared of it.

This is the first fitting of the center block. I decided to use a piece of 2x6 cedar for the main block. It was planed to a thickness of 1 1/8". I wanted to use something more dense for the part that the bridge would screw into so I used a piece of 3/4" 9 ply birch plywood. This photo shows just a piece of standard 3/4" plywood going part way. This was later discarded in favor of the full length piece of birch.

I'm gluing the kerfing to later re-attach the back. This photo shows the original piece of plywood. I was originally going to do it this way and leave the soundhole but later decided to clear out and re-do those braces so I could run the birch ply all the way to the neck joint. I later routed out an area to give the appearance of a soundhole. This, I hoped, would give the appearance of depth, but also avoid a feedback problem. It ended up working out very well on both counts.

I can't believe I didn't take any pictures of the back gluing process. That was the most stressfull time of all. I had every type and size of clamp I could find on it.
The original back binding was destroyed in an earlier process. If I had it to do over, I would be careful to save it so I could reuse it. As it was, I decided to glue the back on, fill, sand and stain the edge, use no back binding and be happy. Well.....it looked like crap...so I decided to paint the back a semi gloss black and paint on a back "binding". This is the first stage of the process. Notice the string through holes. I did that to be a little like a traditional Tele, but also thought it wouldn't hurt to have that string tension helping to hold the back on. Remember....the luthier skill level?

Apparently, I forgot all about the camera as I was nearing the end. That's usually my problem...I get in a hurry. Anyway..I'll give the Reader's Digest version of what went on. '
The pickguards....There was some damage to the top from the bridge removal. I filled it, sanded it and shellaced it, but didn't like the way it looked. So...I decided to make mirror image pickguards to hide it. I used a smoked acrylic which came from a cracked sun visor off a CaseIH sprayer. My granddaughter says the pickguards look like puppy dog ears.
The controls.....Just basic Telecaster stuff. Hardware and electronic items were purchased from Guitarfetish.com. Neck pickup is from a MIM tele and bridge pu is a GFS. Slightly hotter than stock, but not a screamer. Basic 3-way switch plus volume and tone.
The finish......I sanded off as much of the poly as I felt safe in doing. I didn't want to get through the top laminate layer. I sprayed about 5 coats of Zinssers Bull-Eye Amber Shellac. (I love this stuff) Then misted on about the same number of coats of Deft Satin Lacquer. The top turned out just the sheen and feel that I was looking for.
This pic shows the tele bridge cover.

Here's the top without the bridge cover. I like the looks of it better with it on, but you can't do any palm muting...so I usually take it off when I actually play it.

With the satin black finish and no logo, it looked a little plain so I painted on a little "binding".

Here's a view of the back. I painted it with a semi-gloss black enamel then misted on the Deft lacquer. Notice the two strap buttons. I put the one on the back first, but the guitar hung kinda funny, so I put one on the side. It hangs better. I didn't figure the extra button would matter much. The upper and lower screws were left from the back attachment process. I filled and sanded the holes prior to painting but they still kinda showed on the black so I thought "what the heck" and put the screws back in.

Here's a full view of the back. The tuners are an Asian version of the Kluson style. I wasn't gonna spend the dough for the real thing until I found out how it all came together.

I was happy with the way the colors all looked together. The paint for the lower binding was a DuPont Nason Creme Beige. After hitting it with the shellac, it matched the original color very nicely. The satin Deft kinda evened up the sheen between all the colors. I sanded and buffed the back of the neck for a little extra smoothness.

Just another view. The banjo style armrest was just to be different. I stole this idea from yet another internet buddy, Jeff (Fabgear). It's nice to have creative friends. The pics aren't the clearest. My digital camera is a dinosaur (2 pixel) but it's all I got.
So how does it play and sound?
The action is excellent. Had just a little fret buzz up near the nut so I shimmed it a little. This will do until I make (or have made) a new bone nut. Again...I wasn't going to get carried away until I found out if it actually worked. The bridge is one of those Wilkinson ones with the beveled brass saddles for better intonation. Strings are Dean Markley nickel 10-46s. Plugged in it sounds just like you would expect a Tele to sound, but unplugged it's easily loud enough for just foolin around. I'm gonna swap the .046 E and .036 A strings for something a little lighter (.042 &.032?) as it's just maybe a little "bass heavy" for my taste.
My longtime, best guitar-playing buddy plays in an original folk-country-bluegrass trio and just fell in love with the thing. He offered me a 10 year old American Strat even up in trade. I'm sure the strat is worth more, but if I want a Strat I can buy one off the rack.
This project was a blast to do...a little nerve-wracking at times...but totally enjoyable.
Again...many thanks to TerryM for the inspiration.

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