OGD: Les Paul Custom refinned & modded

[sully]

I think that "nitro breathes and helps the tone" stuff is BS.

1. I think the guitar looks awesome.
2. I don't think the Nitro thing is BS; It's always curing, so it gets thinner over time. Generally speaking, the less finish that a guitar has, the more resonant it can be. That said, I'm not crazy about lacquer in general. It's easier to shoot, imo, but it doesn't hold up well over time, not to mention the wait involved.

Sully

[zeegler]

1. I think the guitar looks awesome.
2. I don't think the Nitro thing is BS; It's always curing, so it gets thinner over time. Generally speaking, the less finish that a guitar has, the more resonant it can be. That said, I'm not crazy about lacquer in general. It's easier to shoot, imo, but it doesn't hold up well over time, not to mention the wait involved.

Sully

That's my issue with nitro. Unless you keep a guitar in a controlled environment, and barely ever touch it, nitro starts to look bad pretty quickly. The finish on my Lado which is from around 1990, looks like what you'd expect to see on a 50s or 60s Les Paul. Don't get me wrong, I'd never even consider getting it refinished, but it's certainly a contrast to my 1981 Aria Pro Cardinal with a poly finish that looks like it's a couple of months old. Dare I also mention, the Aria sounds fantastic.

[DonP]

I've stripped a couple of Aria's. I learned my lesson and never want to strip them again LOL!

[MakeAJazzNoiseHere]

1. I think the guitar looks awesome.
2. I don't think the Nitro thing is BS; It's always curing, so it gets thinner over time. Generally speaking, the less finish that a guitar has, the more resonant it can be. That said, I'm not crazy about lacquer in general. It's easier to shoot, imo, but it doesn't hold up well over time, not to mention the wait involved.

Sully

1. Thank you!
2. I'm old, and I don't have time to wait around for my tone, dude.

Let's say a guy stopped eating and started drinking coffee, and he loses 30 pounds and then dies. If I conclude that coffee leads to weight loss and then sudden death, would that be bullshit? Yep.

And in the same respect, crediting "nitro" with tone when the real key is the thinner finish is "bullshit." And it's the kind of bullshit Gibson sells every day.

Seriously I agree with you that the thinner finish allows more resonance, which is why I was pointing out how thin this is. I just mean that nitro does not inherently have a tone advantage (and between you and me I think that an example that requires 25+ years of age is reaching a bit. )

Actually I bet if you sprayed nitro this thin you'd have a super-resonant bare wood guitar in about a year.

[javert]

Jazz, that turned out great. I remember reading about the soldering incident. Speaking of that, I just put a big ding in a absolutely flawless guitar. I was putting it into one of those 5-guitar stands and the corner of the body hit the TOM bridge of another guitar. Grrr.

[MakeAJazzNoiseHere]

Oh, I made a nice gouge next to the 3-way toggle already when I was putting it together. I drop-filled it and polished it the best I can and moved on, I figure it's going to get played, it's going to get scratched, it's going to get chipped/dented etc.

The best thing about this guitar is that it's worthless from a collectability standpoint so at least the dings don't detract from the value.

[javert]

Oh, I made a nice gouge next to the 3-way toggle already when I was putting it together. I drop-filled it and polished it the best I can and moved on, I figure it's going to get played, it's going to get scratched, it's going to get chipped/dented etc.

Yeah, you're right. I just can't help it... Can you show a pic of the drop-filled region? I'm a bit curious to see how well that works.

[MakeAJazzNoiseHere]

I'd have to take one, so to be honest, there is about a zero percent chance.

It does leave a visible repair, even if you exactly match the color. You can see almost like a "ring" around the fill area, that's called a "hint line" - the finish won't melt into/blend with the existing finish. So, whether it looks better than the chip just kind of depends.

But, it's black, and for whatever reason a black guitar with a few dings or scratches or whatever doesn't bother me like it does on a nice flame or quilt-top guitar, and so it's just more enjoyable that way.

[javert]

No worries, thanks for the info.... Speaking of all this, I've been meaning to resurrect the Mark V thread as I got a new cab for it.

[CMH (OH)]

That thing looks sick, bro.

I would not worry about the "collectibility' of it one bit. Looks like one hell of a fun guitar to have. I've always wanted an LP. Maybe someday...

[MakeAJazzNoiseHere]

No worries, thanks for the info.... Speaking of all this, I've been meaning to resurrect the Mark V thread as I got a new cab for it.

Just because you asked so nice I did remember to take a pic for you.




You can see the line around the repair, there are some dust specs for size comparison. I won't say I like it or anything, but if that wasn't there I'd find something else to bitch about or look at it for 10 minutes every time it brushes against something, instead I think "Well that's out of the way" and just enjoy playing it. I mean, if I was gonna have a Les Paul Custom that I didn't play I might as well have a lacquer one!

[DonP]

I dinged my "once perfect" DK2 body the other day when some needle nose plyers slipped out of my grip onto the body by the bridge. It is a tiny little ding, but it still bugs me - I know the feeling.

When I got my first recent Les Paul - a 1996 Classic Premium Plus, I dinged it by dropping the tailpiece on the body. It was pretty small and I tried to steam it out, but ended up taking it to Dan Erlewine to drop fill because I couldn't live with the ding LOL!

[MakeAJazzNoiseHere]

Don, I have the locking bridge/tailpiece partly for that reason. The bridge so it doesn't move around when you have all the strings off to clean it (hate bumping the thumb wheels and thinking "Ah, just screwed up the action...") and the locking tail is so it doesn't fall off when I forget that it falls off when you take all the strings off.

If it weren't for that chip it would be something else, or I'd be afraid of making the first chip, so like I said, she's not perfect, but that's the idea, she gets the job done and begs for more and doesn't mind if you treat her a little rough.

[Hellbat]

Jazz, that turned out great. I remember reading about the soldering incident. Speaking of that, I just put a big ding in a absolutely flawless guitar. I was putting it into one of those 5-guitar stands and the corner of the body hit the TOM bridge of another guitar. Grrr.

I feel your pain. My previously flawless RR1T was assaulted by my Taylor case latch as the case tipped over and the latch caught it on the bevel of the lower wing. Took a perfect pinky fingernail size chunk out of the finish. I think the Taylor was jealous that I still play the RR1T more.

[MakeAJazzNoiseHere]

Play it until all the paint's gone... Then play it some more.

You ever look at Randy's Les Paul? Or his RR? Sure doesn't look like he was crying much over chips and dings.