'Tired' LP Studio refin - Finished

Deadman

Edited title as I'm starting to like this guitar and feel bad for referring to it as 'SCABBY'     

This is a 2001 Gibson LP Studio. I only got it recently and although I love the way it plays and the frets are in great nick, rosewood board has some lovely grain in it etc, the ebony finish was very beat up, with what appeared to be marker pen writing on the back. Even the old punk in me just couldn't live with it. I also couldn't abide the normal lifting of the headstock lacquer from this era so it also had to go.

I started stripping it last week and fully intended to do a goldtop until I saw the maple cap. Warning  this is pic heavy as progress has been rapid, but I'm almost at the stage of final nitro lacquer as I write.

Edit: I completely forgot the grain filling stage on the back for anyone who’s wondering or thinking of undertaking anything similar. I used Rustins mahogany thinned with mahogany stain and wiped on with a rag. Twice. Easy stuff.




Paint stripper applied.....

That maple cap looked good to me.

The back is 5-piece! This is after around 4 coats of dark brown mahogany stain. I took advice off a good mate of mine who is the biggest LP nut I know and he said "do a dark back to hide those joins Mick"! I also had to tint the sanding sealer for that to happen. 

It was a good shout. Although still visible, it looks OK. I also masked for faux binding.

It's not hard to do better than Gibson did here! This was after completely removing the old finish, a coat of adhesion promoter and a coat of black primer.

Then on with a few light coats of nitro black, followed by new waterslides (I got these from Crox guitars for anyone who's wondering. I've used them before and although they were £12 a pop they are worth it in my opinion).

After sanding sealer/flatting ready for masking and the exciting bit.

I decided to use anything I had already in my private stash. Out came the yellow stain to tint more sanding sealer for the base colour:

I stopped at 3 light coats:

Burst time. I mixed red mahogany and dark brown mahogany stain together and held it up to the light. I was going for a heritage cherry look and was happy with the result:



This is how it looks right now. Lacquer next. I'll post some final pics up when it's complete. I've obviously got all black plastics and speed knobs and will be sticking with them just to get away from cream for a change. I'd forgotten how much I like restoring the finish on Gibsons. They're a joy to work on compared to Fenders!

roberty

Wow that looks great. What an improvement

lysander

Splendid. I love a plain maple cap.

WBT2079

That looks lovely, amazing job

Deadman

Thank you. I’m not looking forward to the long wait before final polishing, I’m always impatient to get done! I think this might be a keeper but we’ll see how it goes 

TTony

That’s a beautiful top - congrats on uncovering it, and not covering it back up again!

Corvus

Great stuff DM..! beautiful colour mix in the burst, good rescue with that nice top too.

Deadman

@TTony it was one of those moments. No doubt you can imagine! Surely Gibson used their crappiest wood, there’d be 4 uneven joins, it’s an ebony so understandable etc etc. They’ve done me proud. 

An old carpenter friend of mine said to me 30 years ago. NEVER paint over beautiful wood grain. It’s stuck with me. I couldn’t ever do it.

Deadman

Ah, the master is here. Cheers Bill @Corvus. ;

Corvus

Woa, steady!! Wish I had even a tenth of your experience dude.

longjaw

Looks amazing!

Andyjr1515

Lovely!

PeteC

What a great job youve done on that.   I think the “plain” maple cap looks excellent.   

Deadman

Thank you for your kind words, everyone. Conscious that I don’t want to keep bumping this so I won’t post anymore until it’s all done and post the obligatory pics. Just felt the need to say cheers to you. It might be a few weeks away; the worst part is waiting for that essential curing to take place before final polishing as most of you will well know. I don’t mind all the positive vibes though. It’s great. Thanks again!

Deadman

Actually, can I get some opinions on faux binding please? I like the ‘honest’ look of the exposed maple given that this is a Studio so may well leave it at is.

But! What would it look like with a (good quality 2-pack) cream paint applied? Only this time by actually extending on to the top by 2mm to emulate the depth of binding. 

Granted, essentially if done well it would look like a standard body. But is it a step too far? I know it’s my guitar etc and I just love messing about and experimenting to be honest. Am I just being silly?

TTony

Deadman said:

 I know it’s my guitar etc and I just love messing about and experimenting to be honest. Am I just being silly?

Yes.

It looks just-about-perfect to me, as-is and I can't see how more paint would improve it.

Natural beauty  vs the falseness of make-up?

Devil#20

Deadman said:

Actually, can I get some opinions on faux binding please? I like the ‘honest’ look of the exposed maple given that this is a Studio so may well leave it at is.

But! What would it look like with a (good quality 2-pack) cream paint applied? Only this time by actually extending on to the top by 2mm to emulate the depth of binding. 

Granted, essentially if done well it would look like a standard body. But is it a step too far? I know it’s my guitar etc and I just love messing about and experimenting to be honest. Am I just being silly?

No it doesn't sound silly but it does sound difficult. If you could do it then that would make it tres cooler IMO but it looks great as it is. I wish I could do stuff like this. 

DartmoorHedgehog

I vote for just plain exposed maple - I actually think that looks better than real plastic binding.

Jonathangus

TTony said:

Deadman said:

 I know it’s my guitar etc and I just love messing about and experimenting to be honest. Am I just being silly?

Yes.

It looks just-about-perfect to me, as-is and I can't see how more paint would improve it.

Natural beauty  vs the falseness of make-up?

This.  Looks fantastic just as it is.  With that plain top, I think it's a case of less is more.

Deadman

Lads. Thank you. That’ll do for me, everything you’ve said has already gone through my head. Also it’d look crap if I ever knocked it and some of the cream chipped off.

I’ll experiment another time, just not on this one. 

I knew I could rely on you lot. Cheers!

AK99

Late to the fold, but that's a cracking looking thing. Hard to believe they'd choose to spray black over such a fine piece of maple.

Good call on the faux-binding. Agonised for a long term whether I'd dare attempt scrape the edge of an Eggle Berlin to give it the look of the faux-binding option that some of them came out of the factory with. Looks more 'natural' to me than cream - and besides, just means you have something that's even more unique.

Great job