Les Paul Studio project - FINISHED! (kinda)

Longtallronnie

Picked this up in a trade with impmann today:

And now it looks like this...

Need to fit the reflector knobs when they arrive, tinker with the wiring and set up but otherwise it's finished. Overall I'm happy with it but there are a few areas where I could have got the finish better tbh. Not too bad for a first serious attempt though.

Fretwired

What are you planning to do?

JookyChap

That looks nice, gold bits apart - seems a shame to abuse it.

(I've always wanted to say that to someone else )

Longtallronnie

Strip the back and sides which will then be tru oiled. I might keep it as a black top but if it looks like a two piece maple cap I'll be tempted to see what the grain is like underneath. If it stays black I might try exposing a little bit of the cap round the top edge to accentuate the faux binding but that depends on how tricky it is. I'll use the back to try some different techniques. 

The gold hardware will be changed to nickel or chrome, black reflector knobs and I might cut down the pickup switch. A friend did it to his Epi LP and I really like it, doesn't get caught half as much as the full size ones. 

The pickups and electrics will get an overhaul at some point but I'm mainly concentrating on cosmetics first. 

I've only played it through guitar rig so far but it plays and sounds lovely. I don't know if it's the pups or the ebony board but it's got this really punky attack to it that's got me blasting out pretty vacant! 

\m/

Longtallronnie

@jookychap It will be abused with the utmost respect and care! It actually looks nicer in the flesh but it needs some bare wood on it. And probably a Bigsby.

JookyChap

Longtallronnie said:

@jookychap It will be abused with the utmost respect and care! It actually looks nicer in the flesh but it needs some bare wood on it. And probably a Bigsby.

Sounds good to me

randomhandclaps

JookyChap said:

That looks nice, gold bits apart - seems a shame to abuse it.

(I've always wanted to say that to someone else )

That's made me do one of those laughs that turn into a coughing fit and has your wife looking at you with that 'you are a complete idiot' face!
)

 

I have a Custom and a Standard but I've always wanted to pick up a Studio to 'customise' - I will watch with interest.

Adam_MD

Great idea. I turned a tremonti SE into a blacktop last year and it looked lovely. Looking forward to seeing it progress.

Longtallronnie

Been thinking re swapping the gold hardware, I wonder how easy it would be to try removing the gold plating? I'm assuming it's nickel underneath? 

The only part I'd be concerned about is the tuners due to moving parts, plastic peg heads etc. 

 Brasso? Wire wool? Smurf blood?

Adam_MD

I used brasso on some strat hardware and the nickel underneath had a lovely colour. Looked a little warmer silver than chrome. The brasso cut through really easily but small fiddly bits were a faff and I never did get it all off. If you're going for a worn in look the little bits of gold peeking out from round the tuners made it looked nicely aged. It depends how crisp you want the nickel hardware to be. Either way it'll look pretty cool definitely better than full on gold hardware.

Longtallronnie

The guitar's nearly 20 years old so not looking for a pristine finish and I haven't got bags of money to throw into this so might give it a go. I've read about some chemical solutions which I imagine would be good for parts with hard to reach nooks and crannies but I'm guessing the plastic tuning keys might object!

I'd rather spend any spare money on new electrics or possibly some new pickups. I think the current ones are 498T/490R going by the dc resistances. I'll wait til I've gigged it a bit but I'm expecting it to struggle with clean sounds. We'll see...

impmann

When I used it with my punk band, it truly had that snarly Les Paul Custom attack - and it barks really well for playing old school punk stuff (poss even better than my LP Special) but alas too heavy for my poor busted back. Shame, the rest of my band loved it!

Don't feel too sorry for the finish - its had 20years of hard gigging (not by me - I got it as is, save for the strap locks) and it really needs someone to either restore it, or carry on the good work done so far. I certainly am not fazed by the idea of the finish coming off - I reckon it'll look ace!

Keep us posted, Ronnie. 

Longtallronnie

Well hopefully I'll give it a new look while keeping some of its character. Can't wait to get started on it but unfortunately I'll have to. Off to Gibraltar for a week tomorrow for work, oop north the following week and Royal Sovereign the week after that. 

Should have some time to get stuck in after that though.

Longtallronnie

Had a spare half hour earlier so made a start.

http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g232/malarkymusic/14531029-8D13-4B41-834C-4705AAB8C2D9-24401-0000195620257276_zps6193391e.jpg

This is going to take longer than I thought! I used a whole 50ml bottle of acetone on that patch so I'll be ordering a bigger bottle off amazon next week. I think I wasted a fair bit though tbh just getting the knack. 

Longtallronnie

Had more luck today using Bartoline TX10 paint stripper. Looks like a one piece body so far. Unfortunately I've run out of time until next weekend but hopefully have the back and sides done next week. I could do with a full day to get stuck in but that's the joy of parenting for you!

http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g232/malarkymusic/IMAG0747.jpg

GuitarMonkey

When are you planning to take the covers off? Won't the paint stripper dissolve the plastic?

Longtallronnie

It might do lol, I was a bit eager to get started but will strip all the hardware, covers etc next week.

thermionic

I was going to say that, I assumed Longtallronnie had left them on for some strange reason... acetone will eat those covers for breakfast.

Longtallronnie

I had. I'm strange!

impmann

Ooooh. No going back now! Good to see some good wood there.

Longtallronnie

Definitely committed now lol! After this week I'm home for a few weeks so hopefully I can get stuck in. Stripping the finish has been harder than I thought but too late to back out now!