Dixiethedog
Experienced
I am terrible at starting projects and then becoming distracted and forgetting them.
Ages and ages ago (years), I bought a very cheap (as they were at the time) Gibson LP Studio. I did not want it or need it, but the price was so good that I thought why not as I had some spare cash.
The Studio was finished in a wine-red colour (color for you Americans), and if you looked at it hard enough you could see some interesting wood markings under the paint. I was not keen on it to play as it felt almost sticky. So when my wife was out/not looking I used her nail varnish remover to strip the nitro finish from the guitar. And then sidelined it for a while. I restarted it with an experiment with some "yellow" guitar paint (nitro) and again sidelined it for another day.
This pic is NOT my guitar but it gives an idea of the starting point. Having said that, this example guitar is ten times nicer than what I started out with. But it is the same wine red.
I was in the loft last week and spotted it and decided that I should really try to finish it. I sat it in the corner of the sitting room, by the television and just stared at it whilst mindless rubbish played on the TV. The more I looked at it the more I started to like it. So a plan has been hatched.
On Saturday, I decided to sand the rear down again and grain-fill it. I mixed some grain filler with a little wood dye and painted it onto the guitar. As I did this a friend turned up some work stopped, the kettle went on and time passed by. When I returned to the guitar, the grain filler had dried hard and was stupidly thick and needed to be sanded off again! I did some sanding yesterday but ran out of good sandpaper so just quit. I will be buying some "materials" today.
Once I resand and refill (if needed) the rear/neck of the guitar it will be sprayed in a really cool nitro lacquer that has no plasticizers in it and ages in a way Tom Murphy would be amazed at. If anybody is interested in lacquer, check this link out. If you go to about the 7-minute mark you will see some cool examples. I am going to try a 60-40 mix as I have bought the normal nitro and the relic for experiment purposes.
I have some Tim Shaw pups from an older LP that I will use. I am going to invest in some new CTS pots etc for the wiring which will done in a 50s style. I am going to buy an aged ABR-1 conversion from Faber and some new aged Klusons from here;
http://www.fake58.co.uk/Page 23's.htm
I am not sure if I will go with the shrunken ones, but I would prefer something aged.
LP Studios have the Gibson in some sort of gold decal which looks rubbish, so I inlayed an early 70's Gibson MOP replacement. I did this without doing any damage to the Les Paul model script so I am happy. I now have also fitted a genuine Gary Moore model truss rod cover which came from an old guitar from my past. I'd like it to have a bit of a "Greeny" influence but not because of Mr. Hammett, but simply because I like old-looking yellow guitars!
And here she is. Or it is. LOL. It is a guitar, not a female.
And before I forget, the reason I have called the thread "Project 600" is because I think that with the new parts needed, the refinish and whatever else it needs I should be able to do it for less than £600 all in, which includes the purchase price of the guitar. Bargain!
I have recently upgraded my laptop but have more pictures (I think?) on an old hard drive so may add some if anybody is interested. But I will add more to this as I start the refinish. Whether it is good or bad!
Ages and ages ago (years), I bought a very cheap (as they were at the time) Gibson LP Studio. I did not want it or need it, but the price was so good that I thought why not as I had some spare cash.
The Studio was finished in a wine-red colour (color for you Americans), and if you looked at it hard enough you could see some interesting wood markings under the paint. I was not keen on it to play as it felt almost sticky. So when my wife was out/not looking I used her nail varnish remover to strip the nitro finish from the guitar. And then sidelined it for a while. I restarted it with an experiment with some "yellow" guitar paint (nitro) and again sidelined it for another day.
This pic is NOT my guitar but it gives an idea of the starting point. Having said that, this example guitar is ten times nicer than what I started out with. But it is the same wine red.
I was in the loft last week and spotted it and decided that I should really try to finish it. I sat it in the corner of the sitting room, by the television and just stared at it whilst mindless rubbish played on the TV. The more I looked at it the more I started to like it. So a plan has been hatched.
On Saturday, I decided to sand the rear down again and grain-fill it. I mixed some grain filler with a little wood dye and painted it onto the guitar. As I did this a friend turned up some work stopped, the kettle went on and time passed by. When I returned to the guitar, the grain filler had dried hard and was stupidly thick and needed to be sanded off again! I did some sanding yesterday but ran out of good sandpaper so just quit. I will be buying some "materials" today.
Once I resand and refill (if needed) the rear/neck of the guitar it will be sprayed in a really cool nitro lacquer that has no plasticizers in it and ages in a way Tom Murphy would be amazed at. If anybody is interested in lacquer, check this link out. If you go to about the 7-minute mark you will see some cool examples. I am going to try a 60-40 mix as I have bought the normal nitro and the relic for experiment purposes.
I have some Tim Shaw pups from an older LP that I will use. I am going to invest in some new CTS pots etc for the wiring which will done in a 50s style. I am going to buy an aged ABR-1 conversion from Faber and some new aged Klusons from here;
http://www.fake58.co.uk/Page 23's.htm
I am not sure if I will go with the shrunken ones, but I would prefer something aged.
LP Studios have the Gibson in some sort of gold decal which looks rubbish, so I inlayed an early 70's Gibson MOP replacement. I did this without doing any damage to the Les Paul model script so I am happy. I now have also fitted a genuine Gary Moore model truss rod cover which came from an old guitar from my past. I'd like it to have a bit of a "Greeny" influence but not because of Mr. Hammett, but simply because I like old-looking yellow guitars!
And here she is. Or it is. LOL. It is a guitar, not a female.
And before I forget, the reason I have called the thread "Project 600" is because I think that with the new parts needed, the refinish and whatever else it needs I should be able to do it for less than £600 all in, which includes the purchase price of the guitar. Bargain!
I have recently upgraded my laptop but have more pictures (I think?) on an old hard drive so may add some if anybody is interested. But I will add more to this as I start the refinish. Whether it is good or bad!
Having said that, I normally work with 2k materials (very hard-wearing paint that will be on your car) and not nitro. Yesterday was t-shirt weather here, yet today I walked the dog with a jacket on and can feel a difference in temperature. I am aware that you can get what would be described as "blooming" in the finish with nitro paint, but I am not sure if that is caused by humidity or the change in temperature.
