# El Degas Les Paul restomod thread



## Scotty (Jan 30, 2013)

I recently picked up a pair of El Degas Les Pauls. One I’m just going to reassemble and see if I can make it work/play and turn it out for a couple bucks or trade for something. 

The other (black custom) will be the basis of this thread. I’m going to fix it up the best I can and give it to my son. I’m not too experienced in guitar tinkering, more like kamikaze lutherie and I hope some of you good folks could offer some advice. The first thing I’m going to do is take the guitar to my tech and get his opinion on whether this is worth my efforts. Not in terms of value, but whether the bones of it are solid enough. Aesthetically it’s rough but the body and neck are mahogany and the paint and binding are all good and intact. The frets have very minimal wear, but I don’t trust my eye on the neck.

In the meantime, I’m going to start researching this thing. Does anyone know what years El Degas produced les Paul’s with the pre lawsuit, open book headstock? I’m thinking early 70’s.

Also, I have an old Duncan Distortion bridge pickup I’d like to use. Does anyone know if I can buy gold covers for it?

I’d also like to keep the original bridge and tailpiece if there’s a way of replating them at reasonable cost. Does anyone know of any such services? If not, replacement it will have to be.

Thanks in advance


----------



## greco (Jul 15, 2007)

Scotty said:


> Also, I have an old Duncan Distortion bridge pickup I’d like to use. Does anyone know if I can buy gold covers for it?


Congrats on getting these guitars!

The covers for (some of ) the Seymour Duncan pickups were proprietary in the past. Just a warning. Yes, I did learn that the hard way....LOL

I'd be happy to do any of the electronics for you, my friend.

Good Luck on getting these guitars "restomodded".


----------



## bzrkrage (Mar 20, 2011)

Awesome!
So, the “keeper” is on the left or right? (Please say left, good locker there!)


Sent from my other brain.


----------



## Scotty (Jan 30, 2013)

greco said:


> Congrats on getting these guitars!
> 
> The covers for (some of ) the Seymour Duncan pickups were proprietary in the past. Just a warning. Yes, I did learn that the hard way....LOL
> 
> ...


Awesome Dave, I certainly appreciate your offer. You are going to have to set up a drive thru lane soon! 

My first impression on this thing is that it is one of the early era MIJ instruments where quality was mediocre at best and I’m assuming all electronics are automatically junk and pickups are likely un-waxed, microphonic junk. Perhaps I should actually try them first.


----------



## Scotty (Jan 30, 2013)

bzrkrage said:


> Awesome!
> So, the “keeper” is on the left or right? (Please say left, good locker there!)
> 
> 
> Sent from my other brain.


Yes, left. Appearance wise, everything looks decent or has enough potential. Once finished the only detractor will be the custom headstock inlay. It’s poorly executed. The quality of the abalone is nicer than my elitist though. Very bright, clear and colourful.


----------



## greco (Jul 15, 2007)

Scotty said:


> You are going to have to set up a drive thru lane soon!



I actually wish that I had more guitar electronics work to do on a regular basis.


----------



## Scotty (Jan 30, 2013)

greco said:


> I actually wish that I had more guitar electronics work to do on a regular basis.


I have 3 or 4 for you to mess with!


----------



## jayoldschool (Sep 12, 2013)

Been looking forward to this thread!


----------



## Tone Chaser (Mar 2, 2014)

Until recently, I had two that were bone stock.

They were awesome tone wise with a fuzz and a analog type of delay pedal, through a loud and proud clean amp, like my Sunn Solarus.

Cleans were pretty good as well.

I always wanted to tinker with pots and pickups out of curiosity, but I am glad that I didn’t. 

Why make it a Gibson clone when most likely already own a Gibson?

I have looked at the pickups that came with those guitars, as supplied by the factory and questioned how they could sound that good for what they are, by design. I am not even certain that they are humbucker in reality.

Hey, it’s your guitar and your choice. Have fun with them. I played them less and less as the years passed and only kept one example from this era.


----------



## Scotty (Jan 30, 2013)

Tone Chaser said:


> Until recently, I had two that were bone stock.
> 
> They were awesome tone wise with a fuzz and a analog type of delay pedal, through a loud and proud clean amp, like my Sunn Solarus.
> 
> ...


I actually don't own a Gibson. The closest I have is an elitist LP. I know what you're saying, I'll probably have 300+ dollars invested into this. A smarter person might throw another 2-300 hundred bucks on top and buy a used Gibby studio or an elitist and have a much better guitar in the end. But the purpose of this is to resurrect an old, cool looking guitar and learn some skills along the way. I'm going to give this to my son when it's done. If it doesn't turn out to be a decent player, I'll gut it, put the original guts in it and throw it on the jij or keep it as a wall hanger. I'll use the parts on some other projects I'm sure. Nothing ventured, nothing gained and nothing learned. It's not about the value of the guitar for me. It's about recycling, learning new skills, and doing something nice for my Son.


----------



## greco (Jul 15, 2007)

Scotty said:


> ....and doing something nice for my Son.


Are you interested in any new sons that are older than you? 
I come with a potted plant.


----------



## Scotty (Jan 30, 2013)

greco said:


> Are you interested in any new sons that are older than you?
> I come with a potted plant.


Lol..

What kind of plant?


----------



## Tone Chaser (Mar 2, 2014)

Scotty, it’s all cool and I don’t want to sway your opinion one way or another. I understand you have a good grasp of guitar economics.

Just trying to reinforce how good these guitars can be if set up well.

Every time one came out of the case, it was an a absolute pleasure to noodle on. In this case, absence did make the heart fonder. One had a nice fat neck, that I have never experienced since, and the other had the more common slim neck, very detailed, and quite the looker.

It is hard to keep everything, but it is good to experience everything. Learning is good


----------



## Scotty (Jan 30, 2013)

Tone Chaser said:


> Scotty, it’s all cool and I don’t want to sway your opinion one way or another. I understand you have a good grasp of guitar economics.
> 
> Just trying to reinforce how good these guitars can be if set up well.
> 
> ...


I certainly didn't look at your post as negative and enjoyed your contributions


----------



## Guest (Feb 17, 2018)

I heard somewhere that early El D's came with Maxon pups.
I'm not sure, but IIRC, they're rebranded Ibanez super 58's and 70's.


----------



## tvrfan2003 (Aug 28, 2011)

I got my white El Degas Custom clone in 1975 when I turned 15, still have that guitar.....as noted in above thread the fretboard wood is amazing as are the inlays.....the white has yellowed much as it should have ironically.......sounded pretty good with stock electrics but has been upgraded over the years a few times.....can't bear to get rid of it even though its sharing the house with real ones now.......better made than most of the newer clones in my opinion


----------



## oheare (Jun 18, 2012)

Scotty said:


> ... But the purpose of this is to resurrect an old, cool looking guitar and learn some skills along the way. I'm going to give this to my son when it's done. If it doesn't turn out to be a decent player, I'll gut it, put the original guts in it and throw it on the jij or keep it as a wall hanger. I'll use the parts on some other projects I'm sure. Nothing ventured, nothing gained and nothing learned. It's not about the value of the guitar for me. It's about recycling, learning new skills, and doing something nice for my Son.


I love this attitude! "I'm going to spend a few bucks learning stuff. If it doesn't work, I'll still have learned stuff."


----------



## nnieman (Jun 19, 2013)

I’m definitely following along!

I don’t there’s any reasonably priced way to get the bridge & tailpiece replated.

Your options are use them as is (maybe a light polishing) or replace them.

A close up photo would help. 
I’d love to see the headstock too 
Nathan


----------



## Scotty (Jan 30, 2013)

I dug into these a little bit tonight. 

The good; 
Plain Jane has a straight neck and good frets. Pretty sure I can make a play decently. ( electronics aside)

The bad;
The custom's neck has issues. Lots of issues (oh Surprise, surprise) 

1) Neck appears to have a back bow, unloaded without strings, even with zero tension on the truss rod. 

2) it has high frets all over the board. 
24 inch straight edge rocks, roughly centre of the front board. Giving appearances of having a back bow. Machine square rocks over three frets here and there. Not sure if the frets are loose and high, or what the story is. 

3) frets are already very low. Average of anywhere from 0.025 to .035. I have not looked it up but I suspect this is too low for levelling already. 

One more test before I make this thing a wall hanger Will be to laser cut a straight edge. One side will be 24.750" scale and the other side will be 25.500 and scale. If the fingerboard appears straight, I may consider learning how to do a re-fret. 

I had an inkling that the custom needed an awful lot of work. But, again this is about learning experience. 

In the end it might be about firewood LOL


----------



## Guest (Feb 21, 2018)

Being a bolt on, you can salvage the body and get a different neck?


----------



## Scotty (Jan 30, 2013)

nnieman said:


> I’m definitely following along!
> 
> I don’t there’s any reasonably priced way to get the bridge & tailpiece replated.
> 
> ...


Thanks for following along. I'll get some more photos. Here's a couple for now. I think these are beyond bringing back. Pitting is pretty bad though photos don't show it well. Not so worried about the pick ups because they will be replaced and likely too will the tuners be.












laristotle said:


> Being a bolt on, you can salvage the body and get a different neck?


Yes, I'm sure I could. Working away at this problem...looks like there are some loose frets. Looking into how to solve that. Not sure if tapping with a dead blow is going to make them hold for long.

Not going to do two to much does this until I can check that the fingerboard is flat first. I also have not checked the neck under tension. 

A few days or a week of humidification might also change things (???)


----------



## Greg Ellis (Oct 1, 2007)

Scotty said:


> 1) Neck appears to have a back bow, unloaded without strings, even with zero tension on the truss rod.


Isn't that fairly normal?

Adding string tension will pull the headstock forward, potentially resolving this?


----------



## Scotty (Jan 30, 2013)

Greg Ellis said:


> Isn't that fairly normal?
> 
> Adding string tension will pull the headstock forward, potentially resolving this?


 To be honest, I don't know the answer to that. My assumption has always been that the neck would be manufactured dead straight. Then the string tension would put a bit of a forward bow in the neck. The truss rod would counteract then the bow to the desired relief?


----------



## Greg Ellis (Oct 1, 2007)

Maybe a nice warm environment and some moisture and string tension would be a good test. $5 each for strings. And just give it some time, see how they respond before you spend any more.


----------



## Scotty (Jan 30, 2013)

Here's some pics of Plain Jane.
I really haven't had any time to mess with these guitars


----------



## Scotty (Jan 30, 2013)




----------



## knight_yyz (Mar 14, 2015)

I would try something a luthier once mentioned to me. I brought him my epiphone black beauty. The neck had a slight warp. He mentioned it would probably straighten out under the correct humidity. He suggested putting the guitar in a room at 40-50 percent humidity for about a month and bring the guitar back to him. Surprisingly it was perfect after the humidity correction


----------



## Scotty (Jan 30, 2013)

Finally had some time for one of these guitars this weekend. They've been sitting in 36 to 40% humidity the last few weeks. I reassembled plain Jane and I am very surprised at how well it cleaned up. I strung it up and got it to play OK. Could use a much better set up I'm sure. Nothing works on it electronically. Dave's going to give me a hand this week fixing that up.

This one was headed for Kijiji, however, if I find a set of pick ups before I take it over, I might just fix this one up for my son. Have all new pots, caps and parts to throw into it. Frets are mint. Aside from a few dents, the finish is in very good shape.

Haven't touched the custom yet.


----------



## RBlakeney (Mar 12, 2017)

You should get some of these.
The Tone Emporium Guitar Pickups

I have used them for a couple ones I have built and for the 79 bucks a set they are fantastic. If you wanted them covered you could just use the covers from the ones you have.

They are also 4 wire so you can split them if you want. Would give your son lots of different tones.


----------



## Scotty (Jan 30, 2013)

RBlakeney said:


> You should get some of these.
> The Tone Emporium Guitar Pickups
> 
> I have used them for a couple ones I have built and for the 79 bucks a set they are fantastic. If you wanted them covered you could just use the covers from the ones you have.
> ...


 Excellent, thank you for posting that 

seems like quite the deal


----------



## RBlakeney (Mar 12, 2017)

Scotty said:


> Excellent, thank you for posting that
> 
> seems like quite the deal


The "sales" are always there I think. Usually they are around 99 so even if you don't get them for the 79 you aren't breaking the bank.


----------



## Greg Ellis (Oct 1, 2007)

Looks like the Tone Emporium has a decent assortment of pots and jacks and switches and caps and stuff too. Cool!


----------



## Scotty (Jan 30, 2013)

Update;

After receiving some wonderful assistance with the wiring on these guitars from Greco, everything is functional. Plain Jane has low output pick ups in the custom or a little hotter than normal at a little over nine ohms. That and they're heavy as hell in comparison. The only thing needed to get both working was a switch on the custom.

So until I receive a nut for the custom I'll be in limbo as to how those pick up sound.

But you wanna know something? Plain Jane is a Ton O fun.
The bridge pick up sucks but I quite like the neck pick up. It's almost like a P90. Bright and clear not muddy though the tone darkens it down.

I'm totally surprised that I actually liked it. Surprised that this guitar doesn't suck as much as I thought it would LOL


----------

