Gibson Les Paul Signature T refinish

Deadman

Cheers 

Today's all about prep. I steamed out what I could of the dinks. One disappeared completely, one is still there slightly but I grained filled it. It'll be under the pickguard anyway. 

Pics (pretty mundane at the moment!) are various coats of light oak stain then rubbing back with 600 grade wet and dry to raise the grain. The last pic of the top is it ready for a shellac burst/nitro lacquer coat (that's what I'm going to try first) - you can't tell from the pic but it's responding well to a wet test and the grain is really accenuated.

 

Back has been lightly grain filled twice and rubbed back. I left the sides and neck (they'll get sander sealer) as it's a pain in the arse usually to rub back. That's now ready for some stain (mahogany possibly, or I may just light oak it as well) and nitro lacquer.

Andyjr1515

The quilting on that top is stunning! Fancy Gibson covering it in white paint

SteveRobinson

There's no need to grain fill maple, it has a very tight grain.

The reason you're finding the grain filler hard to sand back is that you are leaving far too much on. You need to scrape or rub it off the surface. Even if you end up applying it twice, it's easier than sanding it off.

http://www.manchesterguitartech.co.uk/2011/05/02/grain-filling-an-ash-telecaster-body/

Deadman

Thanks for the info Steve. I'm aware of that as you enlightened me during my first Tele build I didn't actually grain fill the top, just the little dink. I thinned the ruskins with white spirit and applied two thin coats too, rubbing down in between. It's looking good now. The neck and sides aren't too grainy in any case so I should be OK with sander sealer.

@Andyjr1515 travesty innit!?

Deadman

Had a busy morning final prepping, remasking to allow for scraping and staining. This is with a few coats of sanders sealer applied. Just scraping, de-nibbing  and final coats of nitro lacquer left then I'll have to wait a good few days before the final polish (and rebuild).

simonbeckwith

Wow! Excellent work, that is stunning!

Andyjr1515

Looking brilliant!   =D>

ThePrettyDamned

Bloody hell!

breakstuff

Fantastic,looking really nice.

Deadman

Thanks gents. After a lot of teeth sucking this afternoon I've redone the top, it's not much different, just a tiny bit lighter. That's it till next weekend.

DartmoorHedgehog

Very nice.  I agree it's bizarre they've used such a good-looking bit of wood for a painted top!

cacophony

agree that they must have more maple than they know what to do with to cover something as beautiful as that. 

i'd probably strip mine and find plywood.

WezV

Tbh I think you can see why the chose that for a white burst.

White pigment minimises the figure, so you need strong figure to see any at all. But your not going to use your best maple for it. So you find some which are strongly figured, but not consistently so. You only need figure in a relatively small area. And you can accept some flaws, especially if they fall under the burst.


Personally, I think tops like this are much more in keeping with a vintage feel because of the variation from "perfection" you got when any maple was used and some just happened to be figured and matching was fairly random. Sometimes perfect, often not. which is why I reckon it would suit a bit of ageing

Deadman

cacophony said:

agree that they must have more maple than they know what to do with to cover something as beautiful as that. 

i'd probably strip mine and find plywood.

What have you got? The LPJ Andy's currently working on has a beautiful grain.

PVO_Dave

Wow! Complete transformation, looks amazing!

Deadman

Cheers Dave. I've ordered some original nickel pickup covers too. I love the sound of the classic 57's so want to keep them but not completely sold on the open coil look.

lamf68

Jesus Christ, gotta agree with everyone else. Insane original finish on that when the wood looks as good as it does. Especially when you consider you can still see that one knot or whatever it is under the original white !!!!!

the burst looks awesome mate, top job on that.

looking forward to seeing it re-assembled.

nice one man.

Deadman

Cheers mate. It is a knot. Adds character

Sarge

Bloody hell that's gorgeous! awesome skills at play here, well done!

skippy76

Looking good DM, nice job on the burst