well there hasn't been any progress on the hollowbody but i recently purchased a mann les paul a copy gibson from a local pawn shop for 50 dollars so too keep you PG'ers happy for the moment i'll post some pics.
http://i143.photobucket.com/albums/r148/mi.../Image016-1.jpg
http://i143.photobucket.com/albums/r148/mi...sg/Image020.jpg
the guitar is from the 70's it has a lot of of problems. Theres a tuner missing, the nut is broken, the frets are worn, the paints cracked, the binding is cracked, the pickup ring is broken, theres saddles missing in the bridge, theres stickers all over it, the neck pickup volume doesnt stop spinning. the neck is made of mahogany and the body is plywood which is a bit of a bummer but it has a dimarzio pickup in the bridge which makes me happy. this is mainly a project to learn from. so far i learned that the finish is very thick and the bridge and tailpiece anchors are a bitch to take out.
http://i143.photobucket.com/albums/r148/mi...sg/bodyneck.jpg
http://i143.photobucket.com/albums/r148/mickeysg/body2.jpg
ive sanded off the finish off the neck and filled in the old tuner screw holes on the back of the headstock. all the stickers took me around 2 or 3 hours of peeling and rubbing off with alcohol to completely take off the residue. the guitar is now completely disassembled. the new finish will hopefully either be a yellow to red to black burst or a light to dark red. if that doesnt work out then i'll just gp with a very glossy black.