Epiphone Beast restoration!

 I found this nice used 2001 Epi Beast explorer a few days ago and I really wanted to restore it. These guitars where made in Korea by Samick and their quality was so much different than today's Epiphones.
 Here's some info about the Beast Ex the model:
http://epiphonewiki.com/index.php?title=Explorer#Beast
 The neck is a bolt-on style but it's so comfortable to play due to the satin finish. The frets are still in a very good shape 11years ago! I 've seen brand new modern Epi explorers with a poor fret job despite the set-in neck joint...
 The E-series H-H pickups are very hot but they don't get vague through an over driven amp. They cut through the mix and they 've got punchy mids. They are ceramics and that's probably why they are hotter than the modern AlNiCo humbuckers. Also, the Beast, plugged in the exact same amp and fx, sustains longer than a modern Epi lp standard... Maybe it's the tonewoods used back then, the string through bridge and the pickups that make all the difference.
 The Epi's quality hardware was made by Jin Ho as it is written on the keys and the bridge. So, who is "Jin Ho"? It's the Wilkinson Factory!  http://www.jinhomusic.com/wilkinson/wilkinson.html
 So every part of the hardware (and maybe the pickups too) were made by Wilkinson in Korea! The bridge is a tune-o-matic one with a string though body tail (no tailpiece used here).
 The body is pretty heavy and it's painted in candy apple metallic red. But this nice finish was covered with stickers when I got the guitar... So I used a hairdryer to soften the glue and removed all the stickers. There was some glue left on the body but I wiped it while it was still hot with some wd40 and a scarf. Then I polished the body and the guitar looks like new again!
 The neck had a few dents on it and the finish had some dark spots which is normal for an 11 year old guitar. Therefore, I sanded down the neck (except the headstock and fretboard) and filled the dents with maple wood putty. Then I sprayed a few satin clear coats on the back and polished the frets. Now the neck looks and feels great.
 The guitar was finally set up with a fresh set of 0.10" strings and it's ready to rock!

Here are a few pics, enjoy!

Before:

Then:

 After: