| I stripped all the hardware off the guitar. Y0ou can see how faded the colour has gone in places. |
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| And the back is pretty dinged! |
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| I take the random orbit sander and get started. 60 grit paper removes the lacquer pretty quickly - you have to keep moving to stop the lacquer melting and sticking to the abrasive. |
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| As I remove the lacquer from the top a nice maple top is revealed - result! |
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| The Studio models were taken from the Les Paul Standard line before the binding is added - in the pickup cavity the letters "LPST" are clearly visible. |
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| A cabinet scraper is handy for cleaning the curved areas of lacquer. |
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| With the old lacquer removed I used my "floating router jig" to cut a rebate for the binding around the body. |
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| There is a small amount either side of the neck that needs to be trimmed by hand - I cut this with a chisel and gouges. The binding is then glued on with thin superglue and scraped flush. |
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| After a final sanding its spray time! |
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| I give the guitar a coat of clear nitro to seal the surface. The colour of the timber is now revealed! |
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| The top has a nice slip-matched top - no crazy figure, but handsome all the same. |
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| The back of the guitar gets a coat of cherry red lacquer (left over from my Burst build). |
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| The top - first I spray a lemon yellow tinted coat of lacquer. Then I spray a "halo" of light blue around the edges - this turns the top green. |
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| Next I start tinting the sunburst with a mix of cherry red and brown. |
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| I then do a final stronger outline around the edges. |
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| It's amazing how much it changes with the light. |
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| I leave it dry overnight before I do the final coats. |
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| The whole guitar gets a wet sand with 1200
grit wet and dry and mucho squirts of water. This eliminates any
"step" where the binding is masked. I then scrape the top face of
the binding freehand, using a fresh utility knife blade. I mix up some amber tinted Nitro using orange, red and black stains. Then three coats are sprayed over the whole guitar - I add retarder to this final coat to ensure it flows out smoothly. This means a smoother finish and less buffing later. |
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| I pretty pleased with the result - a beautiful honeyburst! |
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| The back is beautiful in cherry red - I left areas of the neck slightly light to simulate wear. |
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| Now I need to wait a few weeks for the finish to cure before I can fit the new hardware. |
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| While the lacquer cures I made a pair of conversion pins to allow me to fit an early style ABR1 bridge instead of the later style fitted. Ten minutes on the lathe... |
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| ......And we two replacement posts! |
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| With the lacquer suitably cured I wet sand the whole guitar using 1000 grit wet and dry paper. Then lightly buff out the finish using G10 compound - just enough to bring a shine, not so much it is too glossy. I wanted a slightly VOS look. |
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| Then it's time to refit all the hardware - do take special care not to damage all the good work you have done when assembling your guitar. Make sure you have plenty of soft material under it and ensure it is clear of anything that will scratch the lacquer. |
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| Looking good! I chose the later "top hat" style knobs and took one of the pickup covers off to give it a subtly different look. The metal hardware all got a session in my aging tub to remove the "new" shine and give it a pleasant patina. |
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| The finished work! She now is happy to hang next to the Les Phil in her shiny new paint job! |
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