A Les Paul rebuild

[jestaudio]

Scored this on flea bay a few days ago as a candidate for a full rebuild and restoration, the pictures show why no one wanted it

[Phil_S]

I'm no expert. Is there a problem besides needing a paint job? Do I see a goldtop in its future?

[Mat Cortex]

Do I see a goldtop in its future?

+1 for the goldtop....with humbucker sized p90

[jestaudio]

The muppet who owned prior to me decided that sticking material then spray paint to a body was a good idea, its been loaded with filler primer to the point I reckon that its a good 1mm wider on the neck than it started out so lots of careful hand sanding.
The fret board is covered in lacquer so needs cleaning and the headstock overlay is cracked and has been poorly refinished
Colour wise I am leaning more to a dark wine red ala the traditional studio look, the top is unmatched 3 piece maple so at best a semi trans red is possible.
All suggestions welcome at this point

[jestaudio]

I little progress, stripped down and ready for finish sanding

[rp]

Damn, I really think that was the ugliest paint job I've ever seen! It's not even Punk ugly, just pure ugly.

Each his own, but for me not red wine burgundy, I hate that color on LPs. Black or Gold. Black is good as even if less than perfect it'll just look like a hard working guitar. Black w/ gold hardware

[jestaudio]

Damn, I really think that was the ugliest paint job I've ever seen! It's not even Punk ugly, just pure ugly.

Each his own, but for me not red wine burgundy, I hate that color on LPs. Black or Gold. Black is good as even if less than perfect it'll just look like a hard working guitar. Black w/ gold hardware

Its thought, to be fair if I went the black route I would just dye the wood and oil finish it, not sure about gold hardware , a bit bling for my taste lol, plus it came with burst buckers in silver

[rp]

Beat black LPs with faded gold hardware are the heart of rock & roll. Don't mean a thing if it ain't got some bling?

The reason not to do an oil finish is that you are done for if you, or someone down the road, decides to restore it back to lacquer. But then it's a cheap eBay find and the point if to have fun. Whatever you do you can not possibly make it worse than it was. Must have felt good the get those silver leaves off it!

[jestaudio]

Beat black LPs with faded gold hardware are heart of rock & roll. Don't mean a thing if it ain't got some bling?

The reason not to do an oil finish is that you are done for if you, or someone down the road, decides to restore it back to lacquer. But then it's a cheap eBay find and the point if to have fun. Whatever you do you can not possibly make it worse than it was. Must have felt good the get those silver leaves off it!

The missus said it looked like someone's curtains, she wasn't far wrong, what possessed the previous owner to wreck a decent guitar I,ll never know

[Mat Cortex]

trans black with shellac finish ( brush on)
sand and polish the finish

play it a couple hour per week and after 9 to 12 month
the finish will start to wear and will look like a well preserved vintage guitar.
if the finish is too weared after a couple of year, you don't need to sand back to bare wood before refinishing it. just brush a new coat of shellac over the old one and they fuse together. no one will notice.

shellac is a very thin finish so the guitar will be very resonant.

just my 2 cent

[Phil_S]

Everyone's taste is different. The pic is a bit out of focus, but I think the top is a decent looking piece of wood. +1 on no oil finish. I suspect color of your choice, solid, semi-transparent or stain, with overcoat of lacquer will look quite nice. As for the neck, you should do that the way you like it best. Some people like an unfinished neck. The mahogany (sapele?) rear looks nice, and maybe that gets a light stain and clear coat?

These days I think they have nitro cellulose lacquer in small spray cans, so even a DIY-er can get professional looking results.

Here: http://www.reranch.com/products.htm I realize you are on the other side of the pond. You should be able to find similar in the Eurozone.

It looks like you've got a winner there!

[Colossal]

I like where this is headed. My vote would be for a Goldtop.

[cbass]

Goldtop!

[Phil_S]

Goldtop with fire engine red sides and back! Live large!

[Gibsonman63]

Fun project. My two cents, if I may. I have had two guitars with gold hardware. If you are going to play it a lot, the gold won't stay gold for very long!