Ageing a Les Paul....

GoldenEraGuitars

Before anyone says it... we’ve all heard the comments. Some of you don’t like this sort of thing. I get it, we get it. But interestingly enough, it’s the folk who don’t like aged guitar finishes that I’m looking to for a constructive critique. I was recently given this Les Paul to work on which already had plenty of dings and buckle rash. But it looked pretty fresh and had none of the detail you see here.

Feedback is always useful with this sort of thing. I’m genuinely asking for opinions (without the usual bumf that gets thrown at this sort of work please).

Does this tick the appropriate boxes for any of you if you were in the market for an aged Les Paul? Does it look on the “right” side of aged? 


https://i.imgur.com/9hElqK5.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/4GolONJ.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/4ppVK4I.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/RyiWm83.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/etqvynB.jpg

danishbacon

I'd get rid of that truss rod cover and put a plain one on stat, also some top hats. The work looks OK, definitely excessive for the age of the guitar and the appointments throw it off a bit in my opinion (wouldn't expect grovers on an LP that looks like that for example). Does look good though.

Hattigol

I'm not really a fan of relics but that looks great. 

GoldenEraGuitars

danishbacon said:

I'd get rid of that truss rod cover and put a plain one on stat, also some top hats. The work looks OK, definitely excessive for the age of the guitar and the appointments throw it off a bit in my opinion (wouldn't expect grovers on an LP that looks like that for example). Does look good though.

Thank you, these are minor details that I can pass on to the owner. I didn’t have the parts to hand to make these changes but I’ll note them for the next LP I’m given to work on.

ICBM

Since I may be one of your target group , even though I said I wouldn't comment on relics again...

Yes, I think that looks pretty good - because it's escaped the overdone fake damage which never looks right. It needs to lose the pickguard - not only because I detest them anyway, but because it looks too new in relation to the rest of it - and the 'Standard' lettering on the truss rod cover as danishbacon said. If you did that it would actually look quite like a genuine old guitar to someone not familiar with the details of Gibson hardware changes.

GoldenEraGuitars

@ICBM thank you. Yes I was very very keen not to copy the usual Les Paul missing paint ageing that is used way too much. I didn’t photograph the back because apart from checking it is all natural to the owners use. 

Ill suggest the changes to him and I’m sure he’ll agree to get some different parts bought. 

Its worth noting that any large dings were already on the finish.

p90fool

Grovers are fine, a lot of vintage Gibsons had their Klusons replaced with those. 

It looks pretty good in my opinion, better than the genuine wear on mine tbh! 

guitars4you

On the close ups that I can focus on, the ageing looks good - there is a tendency to copy some of Tom Murphy's work were he uses the 'tuning fork' wear - Probably to much - But that looks good - Regardless of all the members of the 'aged' fan club or 'aged' hate club, it is hard to get it right - I'm a fan as well

Look at Fake 58, Crazy parts and similar outlets for 'aged' replica parts if required - type into google 'vintage aged les paul parts' and you'll find a host of options

GoldenEraGuitars

@guitars4you I must admit, the TM stuff I’ve seen so far hasn’t impressed me. I was keen to stay away from that predictable style he uses. 90% of this was done by hand so I’m glad it has worked out. Tbf, the original colouring of the top helps immensely too.

Danielsguitars

I'll be ageing 2 over the next few weeks and it's ongoing too, i take a fair while to age mine and fade into colours or in the ball park, i never paint the same way as i never measure anything

I'll post up pics when they're done,  I'll probably do a side by side with a 58 to compare and show they're not all heavily worn

If your customers happy that's all that matters 

If you age something though you've got to do the fretboard or it looks wrong to me

Subtle is always best imo

IvisonGuitars

Looks great Scott! Nicely understated. For razor work it looks great, you’ve managed to get some lighter lines in which look more authentic and which I don’t generally see on TM/Gibson razor aged guitars. One thing I would suggest if you’re doing more is that you put a few dings into the finish before you start then take your lines from them, lots of the finish checking on vintage guitars emminates from the dings, not all of course, but it give that extra ‘realness’ to it

customkits said:

I'll be ageing 2 over the next few weeks and it's ongoing too, i take a fair while to age mine and fade into colours or in the ball park, i never paint the same way as i never measure anything

I'll post up pics when they're done,  I'll probably do a side by side with a 58 to compare and show they're not all heavily worn

If your customers happy that's all that matters 

If you age something though you've got to do the fretboard or it looks wrong to me

Subtle is always best imo

Darren, you often mention about ageing the Fretboard, which I would agree with to an extent but what is your take/process? Are you just darkening them or are you sanding wear/divots into them too?

I always air in the side of subtlety like Scott has here which looks far more ‘real’ IMO. It helps that I have some originals to hand to work from.

On the 50’s Gibson’s I own, the boards are beautifully smooth, almost waxy and have that lovely dark chocolate appearance which I attempt to replicated on my guitars.

Philly_Q

p90fool said:

Grovers are fine, a lot of vintage Gibsons had their Klusons replaced with those. 

Agreed, nothing wrong with looking like an older guitar which has been well used and modified to suit the owner.  Everything doesn't have to be "original".

Danielsguitars

miserneil said:

Looks great Scott! Nicely understated.

customkits said:

I'll be ageing 2 over the next few weeks and it's ongoing too, i take a fair while to age mine and fade into colours or in the ball park, i never paint the same way as i never measure anything

I'll post up pics when they're done,  I'll probably do a side by side with a 58 to compare and show they're not all heavily worn

If your customers happy that's all that matters 

If you age something though you've got to do the fretboard or it looks wrong to me

Subtle is always best imo

Darren, you often mention about ageing the Fretboard, which I would agree with to an extent but what is your take/process? Are you just darkening them or are you sanding wear/divots into them too?

It's not just darkening it, with the old burst boards it's the shrunken inlays with slight gaps etc, i don't like heavy worn boards either so I'm on the nicely kept guitar side and yes they are shiny looking to me, they're not easy to replicate quickly, I'm doing 4 boards now and i did show an example on here somewhere 

I've also got that 58 board as a reference 

fendergibson

Looks great to me. Get rid of the pickguard

Ive been considering getting an aged ‘62 Strat pickguard for a while, to go on my avri - Crazy Parts do a brilliant one but @150 Euro I’m holding out 

dazzajl

I don’t have any knowledge of vintage Gibsons, so I’m not looking for any detail accuracy. 

As a pretty object, it looks perfectly natural to me and nothing I can see of the aging looks fake or out of place. 

The ultimate acid test.... I’d certainly like to own it. 

midlifecrisis

guitar looks good but i'm even more impressed by the photography.

Hootsmon

Take it a run in Hooters car and by the time that is over it will have aged 20 years

RandallFlagg

I think it looks fantastic, great photos too, just makes you want to pick it up and plug into a small valve amp turned up loud.

I love the colour

GoldenEraGuitars

Thanks @miserneil yes I didn’t want to go crazy on such a beautiful les Paul. I think this works but I’m not exactly a Gibson expert so it was tough to judge where the line was. @customkits tbh I didn’t touch the fretboard, the guitar isn’t new so I left that part alone. It’s already been played in. Likewise with the back of the body... plenty of buckle rash already so I was happy to leave it alone.

@fendergibson haha funnily enough I like pickguards in Les Pauls but I can see why others might not.

GoldenEraGuitars

midlifecrisis said:

guitar looks good but i'm even more impressed by the photography.

Thanks still learning to use the thing! More lenses require me thinks

GoldenEraGuitars

RandallFlagg said:

I think it looks fantastic, great photos too, just makes you want to pick it up and plug into a small valve amp turned up loud.

I love the colour

Muchly appreciated. Annoyingly I didn’t get to play it through the Lonestar due to time but I’ll bet it sounds amazing. I think it’s honeyburst?