Dismantled

Removed all the hardware. Most parts look to have been gold-plated except the trapeze tailpiece and bridge. Even the studs and bushings for the bridge were gold-plated (or possibly brass). I don't think the bridge and tailpiece have been replaced since the time that my uncle owned it. Maybe Ventura just didn't have those two pieces in gold-plated versions when they built it?

Here's the wiring harness. Cheap components except for the output jack - it's actually a Switchcraft so definitely not original. Even the wire to it is different that the rest of the harness. Probably was replaced when the pickups were switched out.

Shots of the headstock without the tuners. A big chip came off the upper left hole while removing the bushings. Glued it back in but I may need to touch it up later if the bushing for the new tuner doesn't cover it up.

Peering into the pickup cavities. Looks like a 3-layer laminated top. Note the high-tech shim under the neck tenon...appears to be a piece of binding.

Neck detached. It's looking rather naked now.

Close-up of the neck pocket. Note the center block does not touch the top except in the bridge area. Maybe that's why the body seems so resonant?

Profile of the neck tenon. They could have made the tenon taller/wider and neck pocket deeper and just made this a set-neck like a real Gibson. But that probably would have required more build time than they were allowed when cranking out these copies.