Headstock Overlay Replacement

[-CB-]

folks...

This overlay is for the birds.

Choices are:

1. Sand it smooth, lacquer it, decal it, and clear coat it

2. Inlay a MOP logo - I've never done those

3. Replace the overlay with a pre-inliad one

#3 sounds the most appealing, but... how to get the old overlay off... just heat it and use a wide knife to get in there and separate it?

[GregP]

The overlay looks better than the truss rod cover.

[marksound]

Here's how one guy does his. Resto/conversion on a beat up SG:

http://www.freewebs.com/stmoritzguitars/re...sinprogress.htm

[-CB-]

The truss rod cover was made to match the body....

You can see I made two... and distressed one (top) and left one alone. I used the distressed one since it has the ridges and bumps like the BFG, and the light edges... similarly.

Lou shows his inlay on the website. I suppose I can do that, just thought a lift and reglue of a whole veneer would be easier, and offer some choice, as you can buy those veneers with lots of different inlays in them.

More suggestions?

[Daniel Sorbera]

Honestly I can't stand those BFG things, but w/e floats your boat.

If you want the headstock to match the body I'd get the old one off and glue on an overlay of flame maple and stain it either black or blue.

[-CB-]

No not match the body. Its just that they put "black stain" all over the silkscreen, and it just.... it just doesn't do me well. My initial feeling was it sand it all off, make it smooth, redecal, and clearcoat. And I might just do that. But fo the trouble of it all, thought an inlay might be nice.

So, how to remove the overlay? Hot air from a hair drier and get in there with the parting knife?

As for the BFG.... I bought it specifically to modify, both in finish and in electronics. I've posted the circuit here, and fwiw, here's the cavity (although in a sloppy "test phase", the pots have been changed, and the soldering is clean and neat now).

I would never pay the $969 that the online and big box folks ask for them. Better to deal with a small dealer who sells them at reasonable profit (well well under $799). For that sort of price, it was worth it to me, and the results are unique viaually, and very special in terms of tone. The tone is really the saving grace of this instrument, as it has a lot of tone to offer, with some minor upgrades to the basic foundation of the excellent pickup combination, along with its "thinline" hollow body. I dont think I could buy one, and keep it "stock" even at "the right price", its just begging for redemption.