I refinished my Les Paul

[8d2studios]

After thinking it over and over i decided to do my first Les Paul refinish to my heavily relic Les Paul, all the stain and faded was done by hand with NO SPRAY GUNS, the lacquered finish was done with a spray can and polished by hand too, this was a 4 days work, around 16 hours total.

Hope you like it,The flames really got enhanced and i love it and think i will do nothing more to this baby........after I'm done with the back and sides.

Sanded body, ready for staining:

First stage of staining:

Final polished top:

After i used the stripping juice i was scared because the binding started melting, so i did it quickly, after that i used 150 grit dry sanding paper, then 220 and then 320.

I grabs some old t-shirts cut little pieces of it and use it as brush. The combination of the stains was tricky and i used a piece of pine to try the colors before i got it right and use it on the paul.

i spent about 2 hours total in staining the top, let it dry over the sunday night and on monday noon started spraying the lacquer, 2 good coats every 24 hours and light sanding with 2,400 grit wet sanding paper between every 24 hours, this until thursday morning where i did the final polishing with 3200, 3800, 4000, 8000, 1200 wet sand papers and a polishing paste #4 Swirl Remover from Stewart-Macdonald on a t-shirt. :

Here is a shot of the products i used for the finish.

 

[Heywood Jablomie]

You did WHAT???!!! Refinished a classic Gibson Les Paul????? Took a guitar worth twenty-seven-thousand-dollars and reduced it to a $14.95 piece of junk???!!! Blasphemy!!!!!

Just kidding. Looks like you did a very nice job. And you now have a LP unlike any others. Unique is good. Kudos to you!

 

[MichaelE]

Very nicely done. Looks great!

 

[marnold]

Under normal circumstances I would have advised against that, but you did a really nice job. I think it looks great.

 

[Tig]

OMG, that is a beauty! Very classy and tasteful.

All the prep work and polishing after made the difference. Well done.

 

[Kazz]

Very nice....do you have any before pictures?

 

[rylanmartin]

I would be scared to death to re-finish a Les Paul....

However, I feel I have done a very professional and convincing new finish on one of my strats... I could give you a few pointers if you wanted

 

[Plank_Spanker]

VERY well done! :bravo:

 

[8d2studios]

Got some better sun light today, it makes the grain pop up.

Nico.

 

[Tone2TheBone]

Were you bored? I'm guessing the original finish shown in the pics (if the pics are your guitar) didn't do it for you. I don't get it.

 

[Brian Krashpad]

Wow. Great job.

 

[Kazz]

Got some better sun light today, it makes the grain pop up.

Nico.

WOW.

 

[8d2studios]

This is an update on my 2003 LP refinish, now its time to show the back and sides.

I need your opinions on whether to leave it as it is right now, with all that beautiful grain showing in all its porous glory, or continue applying lacquer until the mirror gloss comes out. I have to say that i like it this way, but know it will look great with high gloss too......decisions......decisions....Urrrr

Back sanded ready for staining:

Reflection of the porous back:

I did not know the back had so much going on, with all this refinish test i have learned that Gibson does not do its best to really show how beautiful its wood can be, same happened with the top, it has much more flames now.

 

[MichaelE]

Tough decision. It does look good now, but...

I like a mirror shine so I'd be laying on the lacquer. Think how beautiful it will look under that shine.

 

[Tig]

This is an update on my 2003 LP refinish, now its time to show the back and sides.

I need your opinions on whether to leave it as it is right now, with all that beautiful grain showing in all its porous glory, or continue applying lacquer until the mirror gloss comes out. I have to say that i like it this way, but know it will look great with high gloss too......decisions......decisions....Urrrr

If the stain you used is also a sealer, I'd put on a coat of satin varnish, lightly sand with dry Silicon Carbide 400 to knock off the imperfections and to provide a slightly roughened texture, then a second varnish coat followed by an extra light sanding with dry Silicon Carbide 600. Personally, I'd use a satin varnish instead of a high gloss.

That said, I have plenty of staining and varnishing with various woods on fireplace mantals, and custom mahogony doors, but not guitars. A durable finish on a stained exterior door requires 3 thin coats of spar varnish with sanding using dry Silicon Carbide 220, 400, and 600 after each respective coat, for instance.

 

[8d2studios]

If the stain you used is also a sealer, I'd put on a coat of satin varnish, lightly sand with dry Silicon Carbide 400 to knock off the imperfections and to provide a slightly roughened texture, then a second varnish coat followed by an extra light sanding with dry Silicon Carbide 600. Personally, I'd use a satin varnish instead of a high gloss.

That said, I have plenty of staining and varnishing with various woods on fireplace mantals, and custom mahogony doors, but not guitars. A durable finish on a stained exterior door requires 3 thin coats of spar varnish with sanding using dry Silicon Carbide 220, 400, and 600 after each respective coat, for instance.

Great advice man, thanks a lot.:AOK: :master:

 

[8d2studios]

Thank a lot.

I did 2 more coats on her yesterday, still far from glossy the back is becoming more beautiful with every coat.

 

[peachhead]

I dunno if I would have had the guts to do it, but it does look really nice!

 

[8d2studios]

New image:

 

[bigG]

Absolutely gorgeous, 8d! Man, that's a real work of art! :master:

 

[8d2studios]

Here is one that shows almost the exact color of the back and sides, i try to make it a really fade red mahogany finish.

 

[8d2studios]

Absolutely gorgeous, 8d! Man, that's a real work of art! :master:

Thank you BigG:beer:

 

[deeaa]

Yep it sure looks much better now, excellent job!

 

[mrmudcat]

Looking good brother

 

[pes_laul]

You did an excellent job dude :AOK:

 

[msteeln]

This is essentially what I'd do to every relic'd guitar out there!

That said, a friend just came back from Japan with a relic'd Edwards Les Paul that look's pretty sweet because it was done smartly (one ding and a disstressed finish) and look's real. Plus it sounds like a very good vintage LP with the light weight and Bareknuckle's in it. But I'd still prefer it as new.

 

[8d2studios]

Another new image.

Thank you all for the great compliments.

 

[Robert]

Sweet looking axe, dude! Can I have it?

 

[otaypanky]

Lookin' Good

 

[8d2studios]

Here is the back of the headstock with the serial applied by hand and first hand of varnish.