Hetfield Uncle Milty (Iron Cross) Les Paul Custom Replica

[CascadiaGuitarGeek]

So I needed to get a few additional parts to supplement the kit for this build. I found some gold vinyl racing stripes that looked to be about the right size that will go on after the finish is applied. I'll be replacing the stock tuners with satin gold Sperzel locking ones as per Mr. Hetfield's preferences (and mine too, now that I've used locking I don't think I can go back!). Not pictured below is the 'Custom' headstock decal that will go unnamed for now.



I think the trickiest parts of this build will be replicating the Iron Cross and pickup modifications. I decided to use a piece of black pickguard material to cut out into the cross shape. Then I will spray paint with a metallic iron, followed by a clear coat, followed by a metallic gold paint. Then I'll sand back the gold to simulate the aged metal plating look of the original.

So before EMG started releasing their pickups with metal covers, James had a set of EMG 81/60s modified to look like vintage gold PAF humbuckers. This isn't as easy as it seems, since the EMGs have an epoxied on plastic cover that is larger than the inside dimensions of a standard humbucker cover. The solution I've seen on other forums is to sand/grind back the stock covers to fit inside the humbucker covers. Then cut the heads off some pole piece screws and epoxy them into the holes in the new cover. We'll see if I can do this without wrecking the whole lot.

[zeromick]

So before EMG started releasing their pickups with metal covers, James had a set of EMG 81/60s modified to look like vintage gold PAF humbuckers. This isn't as easy as it seems, since the EMGs have an epoxied on plastic cover that is larger than the inside dimensions of a standard humbucker cover. The solution I've seen on other forums is to sand/grind back the stock covers to fit inside the humbucker covers. Then cut the heads off some pole piece screws and epoxy them into the holes in the new cover. We'll see if I can do this without wrecking the whole lot.

Hey mate, have you considered painting the EMG covers in the same way you're doing the iron cross?
some gold and clear should get you pretty close.

[CascadiaGuitarGeek]

Hey mate, have you considered painting the EMG covers in the same way you're doing the iron cross?
some gold and clear should get you pretty close.

I did give that some thought, as well as just going with a gold EMG Het Set. But I wanted this to be as close to the original as possible, without starting with an actual Les Paul.