Finished! Gibson 2013 LPJ Refinish

Andyjr1515

Hi, again

One of the projects that was stacking up while I was finishing the Alembic-esque Bass refinish was another refinish, this time for a Gibson 2013 LPJ .

It belongs to the m/c of one of the regular open mic pub sessions and he has been talking to me for sometime about what he would like to do with it.  He has a LOT of guitars (30+ I think) and, even against those (including some to really drool over) he likes the LPJ to play and also its sound but not really the way it looks.

It's one of the satin-finish semi-trans white ones:

What he wanted was to strip it down and see what's under there, bind it - either real or faux - and turn it into something visually 'a bit more special'.

My first task was the normal task of trying to persuade him that selling it and getting one of the bargain 2016 versions around would be a much simpler solution but no, he wants to "see what I can do with it".

A decent period passed for him to change his mind while I was doing the Alembic but at the last open mic he still passed it across to me.

Here we go again....

Andyjr1515

The first thing I did was have a really good look at it.  For all their faults, Gibson don't tend try to hide 'shockers' under the paint, especially semi-trans ones, but they are, of course, built to a budget.  With semi-trans, you can get a pretty good idea of the grain patterns and any major fills, blemishes or colour mismatches with what you can see through the paint, at the edges and in the chambers.

The finish appeared to be very light indeed - you can never tell...sometimes there is a solid trans base coat, but certainly there didn't appear to be anything under the top coat at the back:

The top maple was an even 5mm all round, thickening as you would expect in the horn cutouts.

The back was clearly a 3-part with obvious colour mismatch:

The top figuring looked quite interesting, although there seemed to be a dark patch just forward of the neck volume (you can see that in the pic at the beginning of the thread...looks like a dirty smudge):

Nothing, however, appeared to be a showstopper.

Andyjr1515

So yesterday, after talking through with Chris the owner, I started the strip-down and sanding.

This was the most straightforward finish stripping I've EVER done.  I think, for the body at least, it was just one application of self-priming paint.

After a ridiculously short time (compared with all of my other strips), this is how the top was looking:

(Just spotted it says LPJ, by the way, so perhaps it's a Junior special rather than a Studio?)  Nice grain; definitely a dark patch and pretty sure that is the wood, not a stain or burn; quite a light area where the bookmatch joins

The back, also no surprises:

Next post, which is after the discussion with Chris of what he wants to try ref the finished look, and how I will try to get close to that, will bring the project pretty much up to date

ThePrettyDamned

It looked like it was an lpj - I've tried a few in that finish.

Some were really, really good guitars - and not a huge outlay.

Quite like how that one looks. Certainly more interesting than others I've seen!

Andyjr1515

ThePrettyDamned said:

It looked like it was an lpj - I've tried a few in that finish.

Some were really, really good guitars - and not a huge outlay.

Quite like how that one looks. Certainly more interesting than others I've seen!

I didn't think any of the lpj's were carved top...or have I got that completely wrong

usedtobe

Definitely.
http://www.gibson.com/Products/Electric-Guitars/Les-Paul/Gibson-USA/LPJ.aspx

Andyjr1515

usedtobe said:

Definitely.
http://www.gibson.com/Products/Electric-Guitars/Les-Paul/Gibson-USA/LPJ.aspx

Yup.  That looks like it's the one.  I'll change the heading  )

DONE!

usedtobe

I think a lot of people, on first seeing LPJ, in adverts on the net, would assume junior. I know I did when they first came out. I think they're a sort of more basic studio/faded jobby. And there's nothing wrong with that, imho.
Looking awesome, anyway, fella! Watching with interest!!!

impmann

I'm liking the top on that...

Andyjr1515

Talking to Chris, the owner, we are going to go a the traditional '58ish look.  Something like this (obviously without the flame):

or this:

Maybe aged and dirtied a little or maybe not.

Main challenge, of course is that it will need binding.  I've made a bit of progress using the Stewmac binding fitment for the Dremel:

They are not perfect - especially with a carved top - and can't reach the neck joins, but do a reasonable job, with care, for the bulk:

For the neck joints, it's back to traditional skills:

I've got some plain ivory on order but, in the meantime, have been checking the squareness and fit with some ivoroid I had in my spares box.  For plastic binding, I pre-bend the tight bits, having softened the plastic in hot water.  I think it's going to be a decent fit:

DartmoorHedgehog

Cool - that's going to look much better than the thin white.  My Melody Maker Special is a similarly thin satin yellow, but that somehow looks much better than white (it's less translucent, which probably helps).

Neil

So interesting, looking forward to more.

The wood looks pretty nice and with it being bound it will no doubt look brilliant.

Must be lovely to have such skills.

Deadman

Jeez. Such skill. Looking forward to seeing this finished for sure.

Andyjr1515

Deadman;1128598" said:

Jeez. Such skill. Looking forward to seeing this finished for sure.

Actually, when you see it finished you may have to revise the comment about such skill )

WezV

i think most would have gone for faux binding.    I have used that binding tool and personally find it useless for anything other than the smallest of areas

so yeah, impressed at this stage

are you crazy enough to re-fret just to bind the neck

Andyjr1515

WezV said:

are you crazy enough to re-fret just to bind the neck

No ) I'm crazy....but I'm not THAT crazy

breakstuff

I've got a 2013 LPJ Goldtop which I've heavily modded including faux binding so I'll be following this with interest.

Great work so far @Andyjr1515

usedtobe

http://i.imgur.com/0bGVrpbl.jpg
Like this!!!

Andyjr1515

The binding came through promptly from Rothko and Frost and so the binding for real has started.  

I spent a lot of time making sure that there was no twist between the lower horn rout and the rest of the body - any twist will result in a gap somewhere! 

Even though the binding is very flexible, I pre-formed the lower horn area to put less strain on the glass-reinforced fixing tape:

 

For the tip, I wasn't taking any chances...acoustic spool clamps come in useful for the oddest of jobs!

I've got this far and will leave it to fully harden before finishing it off:

eSully

Fantastic work @Andyjr1515. I've favorited the thread. Looking forward to seeing the end product. It looks 100 times better than with trans white already, I think it would look lovely as a natural finish too, the Burst should be fantastic.

Andyjr1515

Thanks for the encouraging feedback, folks 

Binding is all done.  

To be absolutely sure everything has fully set, I won't remove the tape until the morning. Then it's a bit of scraping and sanding - then staining begins.  I'm looking forward to that....I think I have a combination that looks just right for what Chris is after