Author Topic: Bones' guitar damage and restoration  (Read 4777 times)

This is a 1997 Gibson Les Paul Studio. I got it for my 16th birthday (8 years ago), and I loving love it.



16 year old me


I brought it with me when I got stationed in North Dakota 10 months ago. I didn't realize how dry the winters here are. I picked it up to play one day and the paint started chipping off.



I could let it keep looking like stuff, or I could fix it. Here comes the heat gun, scraper, and sandpaper.











The hardware is not installed, but just sitting on top.


The wood underneath turned out to be a mahogany body and maple top. I think it looks great. It still needs some stripping and sanding, but I think it's an okay start. I'm still not sure if I want color it or just leave it natural.

Either way, I'll continue to post updates here.
« Last Edit: January 28, 2014, 09:01:45 AM by Bones4 »

Keep it like that! (maybe put some transparent laquer on it to protect the wood). It looks awesome!

My god its beautiful. If I were you, I would just put some stain or wood preserver on it. Damn.

Either put laquer on top or paint it dark blue.

Some sort of sealant/coating will be on it whether or not color is added.

hnnngg





guitar looks nice doe.

Woah slap some high gloss on that stuff.

woah holy stuff
keep it like that dude

That pic of you makes you look so innocent. you had no idea that in 6 years you would recreate the titanic. Or were you already building it back then?
funny, I was born in 97. I kinda like d the black a bit better but the wood looks really good.

Natural finish looks awesome imo.

That pic of you makes you look so innocent. you had no idea that in 6 years you would recreate the titanic. Or were you already building it back then?

He had a version of the Titanic in 2007 I think.

Wow, I could never strip the paint of my Strat, I wouldn't be able to stomach it.

You saved all of the shielding paint inside the routing right?
« Last Edit: January 28, 2014, 01:45:09 PM by dorkdotdan »

If you're planning on painting the guitar, at least paint it a dark colour so it has a nice contrast with the black and gold hardware

If I were you, I'd just put polyurethane on it. It'll look a little darker, shiny and very smooth

If I were you, I'd just put polyurethane on it. It'll look a little darker, shiny and very smooth
Lacquer is not very expensive though, and it ages a lot better than poly.

I don't believe any of that "nitro sounds better" stuff, but poly looks worse over time than nitro because poly only shows scratches, not any natural paint wear from your arms.

The only con of nitro is that it gets loving everywhere when you try to apply it.

Always judge a guitar by its sound and playability over its appearance. (As long as the sound of this guitar wasn't damaged as well, in your case)