Epiphone SG ding

I just bought this sweet Epiphone SG 400 on eBay, and though it was very well packed it somehow suffered a nasty ding!!! This is one I'm not planning on selling; I'll need to do some cosmetic work... I had considered doing something along the lines of what I've seen online (pics included, not my original work) so this shouldn't interfere. I had toyed with the idea of leaving the body as is, but the destroyed finish has sealed its fate. It's right in a spot that really irritates the underside of your arm too... about perfectly awful. But, it still sounds awesome with actual Gibson Burstbucker Pro pickups installed, and no neck / peg head issues, which is what I worried about in shipping!!

I'm not sure what USPS was up to, but this poor guitar didn't like it. The damage is over an inch long and there are cracked pieces underneath the dent just waiting to flake off... (heavy sigh). Hard to get good pics of it in my dim basement... the flash overpowers everything and it just glows red.

Victorian / Western Les Paul... woodburning and setting a neck.

Well... I've been working on this guitar. It's definitely going in the direction of the Gretsch Roundup. I've done some significant woodburning on the top and back of the guitar; lots to do still, but it's coming along. I'll be tooling some leather for those plastic pieces on the top, and doing some fun leather pieces as trim on the sides of the guitar. I actually found some western-themed leather belts at the thrift store, so I may cheat and just use those on the sides.

Nobody seems to get excited about a bolt-on neck, so I decided to try converting this to a set neck. I carved and routed out a small cavity in the neck that would match a maple piece glued (and screwed) onto the neck that extends through the neck pocket into the body cavity. This is glued in with hide glue, just in case there are issues and it needs to be taken apart, as many guitars end up having that need. It still looks fairly rough, but I'll address the cosmetics later.