Refinishing My Guitar

[Aristocat]

Hey Guys,

So I've recently had some down time and after putting it off for a year, I decided to get to work on my refinishing my Les Paul.

Here are some shots of the progress so far. I was shocked to see just how fine the wood is and how much detail there is hiding under it. I guess Gibson sprays about 8-15 coats . Just some mineral oil to clean out the wood's pores. I'm going to put some mahogany stain on the back, sides and neck tonight and let it sit for a week.

I'm going for a yellowish/amber base with light red hues toned down with some brown for an almost faux iced tea look.

I also am refinishing a J-Bass next week for my property manager: should be fun!

The last shot is in a fairly large closet that I'm converting into a spray booth (hanging tarps; putting a vent in).

 

[snowdog]

Looks like you did a nice job removing the paint, what did you use for that and did you take off the binding when you did it ?

 

[Aristocat]

I used 80 Grit Sandpaper and a lot of elbow grease . I did the back, neck and some of the sides last night and today I finished it off with a total of six hours working time.

I used a little bit of paint thinner to help expedite the process on the top and the harder to reach corners. After the paint was removed, I used a hair dryer to clean out all the crevices and some mineral oil to clean the wood. Once the wood was dry, I went from a 120 to a 220 grit to smooth out any surface scratches and flaws. I then used some more mineral oil and I'm about to go outside and stain (Red Mahogany) the back, sides and neck.

I'm debating on whether to do a hand rubbed finish or use a sprayer. I most likely will go with a sprayer but I need to buy two new ones (one detail and one main) so I can do a new burst.

 

[JackBootedThug]

i've had great results with formby's furniture refinisher. not on a guitar though.

 

[Aristocat]

i've had great results with formby's furniture refinisher. not on a guitar though.

I was thinking about Formby's but I think I'm gonna go with powered analine dye (Brown and Amber from LMI) and a Denatured Alcohol mix and painfully sand and dye sand and dye for a week or two.

I want a pure burst that looks incredible. I'll start brown then amber/yellow and keep switching off until finished (a straight week) and then seal with lacquer and sand down and repeat.

I don't know why I'm doing this haha. I should've stayed being lazy and sent it to another tech to finish.

 

[Aristocat]

Alright; I've settled!

Going for a Amber/Yellow stain as the base of the guitar with Mahogany Red back and sides with a Natural, Tung-Oiled neck. Going to stain the body then finish the whole thing with Tung-Oil.

It'll take me three weeks.

 

[Aristocat]

After a good wait (too busy) I've gotten back to finishing my Les Paul refinish.

Here are two rough photos. The first is a mock up with some poly sealer coats and the second is two final coats after I leveled with 400 wet to give a smooth surface to shoot the final coats. Crappy cell phone pics but I'm happy with the double stain that I did as it really brought out some flame in the finish that was sorely lacking. Everything is hand rubbed as I no longer have spray equipment and other than the mess on my hands, I prefer it to spraying. I have three-four more coats front to back (eight total all around) before I start sanding (800) and working my way up.

 

[Steinmetzify]

Man dude.....I think it looks great.....that flame is popping right out! Great job!

 

[Aristocat]

Man dude.....I think it looks great.....that flame is popping right out! Great job!

Thanks man! I'm incredibly happy I decided to quit being lazy (I hate refinishing guitars) and do this myself. I never knew I had that much flame under the wood until I did a amber double stain and it just popped!

I'm loving your gold top with the natural back. Looks gorgeous.

 

[Steinmetzify]

Man dude.....I think it looks great.....that flame is popping right out! Great job!

Thanks man! I'm incredibly happy I decided to quit being lazy (I hate refinishing guitars) and do this myself. I never knew I had that much flame under the wood until I did a amber double stain and it just popped!

I'm loving your gold top with the natural back. Looks gorgeous.

LOL....me too, brother. Much appreciated. Can't wait to see yours done....how much longer you think?

 

[Aristocat]

Man dude.....I think it looks great.....that flame is popping right out! Great job!

Thanks man! I'm incredibly happy I decided to quit being lazy (I hate refinishing guitars) and do this myself. I never knew I had that much flame under the wood until I did a amber double stain and it just popped!

I'm loving your gold top with the natural back. Looks gorgeous.

LOL....me too, brother. Much appreciated. Can't wait to see yours done....how much longer you think?

Probably this weekend (Sunday at best). I wet sanded the whole thing last night and currently I'm more interested in getting the top done first. The most annoying thing is scrapping the binding clear throughout and puncturing the mounting holes throughout so the solvent (water in this case) doesn't swell the wood around and cause cracks in the finish later on. I did some scrapping last night after after sanding flush. I'm hitting the back with more lacquer either tonight or tomorrow afternoon.

What about yours? Are you finished or are doing more to it?

 

[Steinmetzify]

Few more clear coats....gotta take some time in between; it's cold. Maybe end of the week.

 

[Aristocat]

Few more clear coats....gotta take some time in between; it's cold. Maybe end of the week.

Ah man you're un Utah; I'd imagine it'd be fairly cold.

I'm in NC and it's been 65-72 for the past two weeks with no humidity.

Is yours a ground up build?

 

[Steinmetzify]

Been in the 30s and 40s here for awhile. Good for boarding though! Ground up as can get, man. Excited to see how it's gonna turn out.

Where you at in NC? I've spent time in Asheville, Mooresville, Charlotte, and Myrtle Beach, although the last one might be SC?