NOTE! This is by no means a "how-to" article - I am a complete rookie to refinishing...
I only post the story here in hopes that others may learn from my mistakes! For the REAL DEAL, I whole heartedly recommend the Reranch website for the good info and right products.

AUGUST, 2001

During the BS session after doing some custom wiring on a friend's Strats, he revealed he owned what he thought was a mid-sixties Epiphone Casino, genuine Kalamazoo-USA-built. He said got it as an empty shell (sans ALL hardware) from a local music store's "going out of business" sale 'way back in the seventies, and assembled it to suit his purposes.  Even though he described it as unbelievably ugly in its current condition, I asked him to bring it with him next time he came by.

*****

Over the next couple of weeks, I became obsessed with that Casino, still sight unseen. I remember the Casino a bandmate had back in the late sixties, which I had used many times. It had, to my memory, the best feeling neck I had ever played. Plus, Casinos have that Beatles vibe - Hey, I have George's RIC 12 string model, and a cheezy-but-neat copy of Paul's bass, wouldn't LENNON'S CASINO model be a nice addition? Yeah, yeah, yeah! And, if I did the "Revolution"-period un-finished thang to it, a lot of the battle scars might just add character! I e-mailed my friend and offered to trade a Les Paul Special for it, but he graciously declined to even consider any trade until I had actually seen the guitar.

SEPTEMBER, 2001

The CASINO arrives! He wasn't kidding, it looks horrible - an over-all well-worn, kinda beat-up condition, and ancient scotch-type packing tape over the f-holes which reveal a disgusting looking stuffing of white cotton - yuk! It has a broken tone pot, an unmatched assortment of knobs, and little of the binding around the neck is missing.  It has several badly worn frets. There's a "Santana" sticker on the lower bout ("horn") that gives me a bad feeling... The body has been modified to accept a pair of Gibson humbuckers and the finish, which came from Gibson/Epiphone as cherry, has been "adjusted" to a walnut-like brown, but I'm not sure I would call it a refinish.

He had hoped to get a BB King thang going with this guitar, but found even with the humbuckers it was just too feedback prone.  He made many attempts to eliminate this problem, such as stuffing the guitar with an assortment of paper towels, rags and cotton and taping off the f-holes, but none of these attempts were successful enough to allow him to actually use the guitar on stage. Instead, he kept it all these years as a "living room beater."   But I still see much potential. I ask him to leave it, originally to see if I can't clean it up and address the feedback problem for him... but the wheels were turning...

I take the Casino COMPLETELY apart. Pull all of the stuffing out of it, too. I checked a web site for Epiphone serial number dating, and found that this Casino is either a '66 or a '69. With some additional research, I find that the cherry finish wasn't made available on the Casino until 1969, which is also their last year of USA production. So my BEST GUESS is that this is indeed a 1969 model. OK, so it was built three or four years later - but still the built in the same factory and to the same specs- - that's close enough to Lennon's for me!

I come up with a guitar that my friend is willing and happy to trade for the Casino....and it's MINE! Oh boy!

The way I see it, this project has THREE BIG PROBLEMS to solve:
1. How to patch the holes from the humbuckers;
2. How to mount the correct pickups (Gibson P90's);
3. How to repair and prepare the entire guitar for the refinish to natural maple...

I've ordered a new set of chrome Grover machines for it - that's what Lennon's had (although his were gold, I just prefer the chrome) - a new chrome bridge and pickup covers. In my parts box, I already have a set of Gibson P90's and some retro-looking knobs that are close enough to "correct" to suit me. I think that the "flat-style" refinish I have in mind will "forgive" a lot of it - I can SEE this project happening... Coooooool!

*****

All the replacement parts that I have ordered for the project are here. I still haven't totally worked out a way to mount my Gibson P90's. If all else fails, I COULD buy a new set of "Casino replacement" pickups from WD products - (but they're probably made "off-shore") or Seymour Duncan Antiquities (for twice the price or so? I can't find anyone who stocks them online).  I believe I'll take a little trip to the local craft store and wander around, hoping for some inspiration. I have an idea in mind: Maybe I can trick up an "extra" baseplate with ears out of some light sheet metal and fasten it to the bottom of the P90's.  I have also experimented with modifying a plastic dogear cover to mount UNDER the pup, like a cradle, with its edges filed smaller to nestled inside the chrome top cover. We'll see... The humbuckers that were on it actually look pretty darn good. They're mid-seventies "pat. number decal" models, I could probably get semi-big bucks for them on eBay... but I think I'll just let 'em sit here for a while (who knows what my next project might need?).

I peeled the Santana sticker off the Casino's treble-side "horn" to reveal a spot larger than an inch square where the entire top layer of maple ply has been gouged away - it's in a spot where, my first guess is, in some previous life, its owner used to strum enthusiastically with his pick more towards the middle of the guitar and kept hitting the top in this spot, where it was unprotected by the pickguard. BIG yukkiness to content with.  I've been thinking of all the easy ways to patch this - like, none I know! - and I'm considering that the easiest thing to do might be to just paste a "peace sign" sticker back over it! I'll have to see what it looks like once ALL the finish is off and the guitar is cleaned up. Maybe it won't be that noticeable.

*****

Hit the hardware store for some finish remover and steel wool, stripped all the finish. THE BAD NEWS: Now I find that there are THREE large spots on the face of the guitar where the top layer of maple ply (veneer?) is completely gone. I believe now that this was done in a previous refinish, and not by some cowboy player...  Both of the raised contours of the "horns" have bad spots, and the other big area is near the bass-side "f" hole. Can I live with it? Pretty ugly.  Dang...

What if I went ahead and removed the ENTIRE top ply of maple on the face of the guitar? It'd be a chore - and who knows what the next layer looks like? It's tempting, though, because it will give me an entirely new  "face."  What I CAN see of the next layer looks pretty good... Some deep and serious consideration will be done.

Meantime, I need to address the size of the pup holes. I'm a-thinnin' I'll use a dremil tool to remove the wood added to the corners of the holes for the humbucker mounting screws, so there's room in the holes length-wise for the P90's again. Then, use a file to straighten the non-factory routed edge and glue in a patch  - the holes are just too wide to be covered completely by the P90's cover. Only about an eighth to a quarter of an inch will show... I might just use some softer wood to do this, instead of the maple stock I bought - it would be way easier to work with...

I tried the local craft stores, looking for some thin sheet metal that I could fabricate some pickup mounts out of, but nobody had anything close to what I wanted. Took a chance on an Internet hobby store that deals with R/C cars and airplanes, they had some brass sheets listed, I think I can work with it - but it's hard to tell without actually touching the stuff if I'll be able to manipulate it the way I want to.  We'll see when it gets here.

I was e-talking about this project to a guitar maker (Sherman Tate) I've had some good info-exchanges  with in Washington, and he offered to send me down some paper-thin maple veneer. He thought I could re-skin the whole top - ugh! - but I'm a-thinnin' I jes' might be able to "patch" the holes in the top ply. Hmmmm?!?!

I've sanded the neck 'way down, not just to get out a nasty ding it had, but also to bring it more in line with my "hand's memory" of the neck silhouette on the Casino from my youth. I sure made a lot of mahogany sawdust! And, I was able to give myself a pretty smooth edge to work with for patching the pickup holes, using small files and an exacto knife.

The brass arrived - it's WAY too thin for this project, but perhaps I will try and order a thicker piece - it's so tough figure out what I need without touching it! 

Sherman's veneer arrived, and, hey, I think it's something I can work with. Now I need to get in there and really clean all the old finish off - there are still light "freckles'" here and there of the original cherry finish. I think to address the bad spots on the top, first I'll see if I can patch the uglies with Sherm's veneer, and if that's still too ugly, THEN I''ll consider stripping the entire top layer.

NOVEMBER, 2001

I have some e-mails out, trying to locate some Seymour Duncan Antiquities P90's (which I have seen on their web page) that appear to have the necessary "ears" for the Casino's "top-mount" pickup scheme. I did sell the humbuckers that were on the Casino for $200, so if  I could get some Antiquities for that price, I wouldn't feel too bad about it. I just do NOT want to have to load "off-shore" pups -  heck, if I do that, I might as well have bought a MIK Casino to start with! It'd have been a lot cheaper... And a lot less work!

I FINALLY have a line and some more info on the Seymour Duncan Antiquities - they sound like exactly what I am looking for, and have the mystical "dogears" to mount to the top of the Casino. I can get them for about $85 each from Black Rose Customs, a shop in Oregon I found cruising eBay. They sell lots of pieces-parts, and are a Seymour Duncan authorized dealer. Considering I sold the humbuckers that the Casinio came with for $100 each, this seems like a good deal, and it solves ONE of THE THREE PROBLEMS.

Now, if I can just work out what to do about the ugly holes in the top veneer...

While I'm waiting for the Duncans, I do a little fret leveling and dressing. I am able to get it pretty good, but, boy, there's not much fret-meat left. If this quickie fret job doesn't get it, on top of everything else I'll probably have to have it re-fretted. Rats!

DECEMBER 2001

The Seymour Duncan Antiquities have arrived! They mount up just great on the Casino, but the chrome covers I purchased from WD Products have a different spacing for the pole pieces (too narrow a spread) , and won't fit over the Antiquities. OK, I have an old cover off a Kalamazoo-built Epiphone, but it has a THIRD different pole piece spacing - too wide - and doesn't fit, either. The black covers included with the pups would be OK, but the cover for the neck pup is too tall, and the strings would rest on it. Man, NOTHING comes easy on this axe!

Since it seems like I have all the parts, I decide to go ahead and do a trial assembly, just to see where I'm at. There's more mischief afoot - the chrome tune-o-matic bridge I bought has bigger posts, which don't fit the existing holes... Never mind, I'll just use the old gold one for now. I re-build the wiring harness, replacing the broken pot, and install it in the guitar. I wire up and mount the pickups, without covers for now. I install the new Grover gears, put the tailpiece back on and string it up. After a few problems with the pickup selector switch (bent contacts) we're all up and running!

As I'm playing it, I realize that the pickups are wired out of phase. It is NOT POSSIBLE that I've wired them wrong, as they are the classic braided-shield two-conductor type. I will have to either rewire the coil leads or open up and reverse the magnets on one of these best-you-can-get vintage big-buck pickups from Seymour Duncan, which even came with a HAND-SIGNED by Seymour hisself certificate! Sheesh! NOTHING comes easy with this guitar!

Player's NOTES: The guitar is light and LIVE - you could almost mic it and play it acoustic. As it lays on my workbench, across the room from a practice amp at a low volume, I hear a distinct musical droning - it's doing the "A" string feedback intro from "I Feel Fine" - man, how did they ever play these things at volume on stage?!? Although I thought I had taken a lot of wood off the neck, I still have quite a way to go to make it match my hand's memory of the Casino I played in the sixties. But I think it's gonna be just fine...

As I had hoped, once the hardware was back on it, the "scars" don't seem to draw the eye as much. I think I will try the veneer patches, and If they don't go, I'll just leave it UGLY. You can see the gaps around the pickups I'll have to fill, and notice the "fishing" strings from the output jack and tone control!

So, my new chores:
Enlarge the pole piece holes in the WD Chrome covers to fit the Antiquities;
Turn the neck into more mahogany sawdust;
Fill in the holes around the pickups;
Try the veneer patches...
CROSS MY FINGERS AND SHOOT A FLAT/CLEAR COAT...!

Page two: Winter break, and some time to work on it!