HOW TO CONVERT AN EPIPHONE FLYING V TO 1950S SPEC PART TWO
The first part of this Flying V upgrade project ended with the body ready for spraying and the post holes plugged. But before donning the breathing mask, there are a few things I need to do. The first is to refret the guitar using wire that’s close to 1959 spec. Original frets on a 1958 Flying V would have been thinner, but the gauge chosen by our guitar’s owner is still a lot skinnier than Epiphone’s jumbo wire.
What follows is a very straightforward fret installation, followed by end dressing, levelling, then crowning and polishing. I decide to string the guitar up and test it, but in order to do so, I first have to locate and drill the bridge post holes. I jack the bridge up on some wood blocks to approximate the correct action and the strings are brought up to pitch.
Prior to starting this project, I noticed that some of the saddles were adjusted to their extremes in order to set the intonation, so by slightly altering the position of the post holes, I’m able to establish a better starting position for the bridge. I use a tiny drop of Super Glue to fix the old nut temporarily, then put
