Custom Relic Epiphone Wildkat

For guitars of the straight waisted variety (or reverse offset).
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Lost In Autumn
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Custom Relic Epiphone Wildkat

Post by Lost In Autumn » Sun Nov 21, 2021 5:25 pm

I bought this Wildkat new in 2003 and while it is one of the best playing guitars I own, the sound has been somewhat... lacking. Stock, this guitar sounded like mud. Between the home pickup covers on the p90s and the wiring harness with nearly 3 meters of wire, it was the darkest guitar I've ever owned. I swapped the covers for plastic ones, which helped a bit, redid the wiring harness, which helped a lot and even tried a set of Lindy Fralin P90s, which sounded great, but it still wasn't what I wanted, sonically. earlier the summer, I decided to try one last thing before selling it- I ordered a set of Gretsch Black Top Filtertrons from Reverb and damned if that almost didn't do the trick! It was still a tad dark, but I figured a set of 1 meg pots would solve that pretty handily. While I had it apart, I decided to freshen up the finish with some glitter. 8) I redid the harness again, this time using low capacitance shielded cable instead of the Gavitt braided wire that I'd used before, along with a quartet of CTS 1Meg pots, with a treble bleed circuit on the master volume. I also gave it a light relic for a little swagger. The photos don't do it justice.
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Unicorn Warrior
PAT. # 2.972.923
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Re: Custom Relic Epiphone Wildkat

Post by Unicorn Warrior » Tue Nov 23, 2021 5:12 am

Excellent job on that finish! What was your process?

Also, I’m glad you got the electronics sorted. Your patience with this guitar seemed to have paid off.

Now you have a truly unique Epiphone. Probably the coolest one of this model in existence 8)

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Lost In Autumn
PAT. # 2.972.923
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Posts: 886
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Location: Philadelphia
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Re: Custom Relic Epiphone Wildkat

Post by Lost In Autumn » Tue Nov 23, 2021 5:12 pm

Unicorn Warrior wrote:
Tue Nov 23, 2021 5:12 am
Excellent job on that finish! What was your process?

Also, I’m glad you got the electronics sorted. Your patience with this guitar seemed to have paid off.

Now you have a truly unique Epiphone. Probably the coolest one of this model in existence 8)
Thanks! I scuffed the original finish with 320 grit, then sprayed the glitter coat. I followed that with 16 coats of Crystalac Brite Tone instrument finish. I relic’d it with a sander, then sprayed 3 more coats of clear, then leveled sanded to 10,000 grit, followed by buffing and polishing.

I’ve chronicled much of the process on Instagram at @sparklemotionguitars

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