My Peter Green LP

[thewizardofaz]

I've been working on making a PG guitar for a few months, off and on as I found time. I started with a Les Paul Faded that I had reshot to a darkburst (the one in my avatar) and now to the peter green config. I had the Vintage Guitar full sized picture for my primary front model. A lot of pics that were floating around from NAMM a couple years ago and some nice guys sent me some also. So, here's the

Flickr: TheWizardofAz's Photostream


Comments welcome, negative or positive. I don't care which.

[shotgunlew]

WOW!

[Lampens]

Wow, that's some detailed relicing. How did you make the headstock crack and what looks like the paint sort of bubbling, like it had water damage on the front side of the headstock?

[thewizardofaz]

The crack is done with a scribing tool and the line treated to make it appear to be an actual crack. The original headstock repair was pretty crude. Little if anything was done to repair the finish issues, they pretty much just glued it back together. I can't see the "bubble" you're referring to though. To create the illusion that the headstock of this faded LP had the holly wood under the paint, I had to paint the headstock white first, then repaint it black. I purposely did a crappy job to give it that look. Sorry the pics of the headstock are blurry.

[johnbeloe]

Originally Posted by thewizardofaz

I've been working on making a PG guitar for a few months, off and on as I found time. I started with a Les Paul Faded that I had reshot to a darkburst (the one in my avatar) and now to the peter green config. I had the Vintage Guitar full sized picture for my primary front model. A lot of pics that were floating around from NAMM a couple years ago and some nice guys sent me some also. So, here's the

Flickr: TheWizardofAz's Photostream


Comments welcome, negative or positive. I don't care which.

wow...looks incredible. It would be great if you could give us an insight into how you did the relicing!!

[thewizardofaz]

I have various techniques, depending on what part it is. The areas where the lacquer are worn off, in particular all the rounded over edges on the back, were done with sandpaper to a point where the lacquer is almost gone. I then take a rag saturated with lacquer thinner and wipe these edges with the rag, which drastically thins out and removes lacquer, creating a natural looking wear area. The treble side arm wear in particular is done this way. That trademark patch on the back, the big area, was done by first drawing on the guitar the basic shape I wanted it to be, then again wiping with lacquer thinner to remove the finish almost to the lines previously drawn. Then I took some wood carving tools and finished shaping the edges. The now open area on the back I then lightly sanded, and wire brush to get that worn wood look. The darker area of the back in that open area is red mahogany stain, lightly applied to the shape you see. The gouges and nicks are all done with various pointed tools. The checking lines were done with a new, thin exacto blade that would kind of bend as I moved it. On the front I wiped the check marks with amber die/alchohol solution to emphasize the lines. On the back I used a mahogany/alcohol solution. On the front I did the arm wear marks on the lower bass bout and on the treble side by the bridge pickup using scrapers and small carving tools. Lightly sand to make the transition from bare wood to lacquer feel like naturally worn finish. I then used light brown dye/alcohol to darken these areas and also then took graphite and wiped it back and forth into the wood to make it look like it's the dirt and sweat of years. Also on the wear areas especially, I used light olive oil and rubbed it into the areas to darken as if it were skin oil from hands and fingers and such. Any bare wood area I did this to. Once I got the front and back surfaces all done, I shot satin finish lacquer very, very lightly to seal those areas in.

[thewizardofaz]

Some other things I didn't mention are: For the neck pickup, I have already flipped the magnet and the pickup is installed in the ring so the screws are facing the bridge. You also have to take into consideration that I started with an LP Honeyburst Fade guitar that I'd already turned into a darkburst. That burst was perfect and necessary, because the original PG guitar had a real nice burst before it faded out. This already existing burst gave me the ability to have the finish have those traces of a faded finish there. I would have had to do that anyway, to get the proper effect. Then I removed the burst, leaving the faintest of traces of it, just like a real burst would have done if faded out. Most people don't realize that to relic a guitar, any guitar, properly you have to start out with a like new finish, just as in real life. If you notice, the area where the pickup surrounds were, and where the selector switch goes, that they have the dominant burst color as if it had never seen sun, just like an original. I did the back to look as close as I could get it to the current Peter Green guitar. It is a wreck back there. I wouldn't have to use any grain filler, because that step had already been done when I converted the guitar from a faded honeyburst to the darkburst. This guitar has gone through several significant changes, from an almost no finish faded honey burst, to a dark burst with a complete lacquer finish, to the Peter Green look. I've also got a set of Sperzl tuners, just like those on the PG guitar now.

[johnbeloe]

wow thanks!!

[GooCart]

This is really great and something I been thinking of for years since I'm a big Gary Moore fan. Did you achieve the fading with some kind of UV light or how did you do it?

[thewizardofaz]

The fading is in the process now. I lay it in the Arizona sun. The red burst I removed with light sanding. It was very thin anyway, so it didn't take much.

[GooCart]

OK, I think you got a lead in sun hours compared with Sweden....

[thewizardofaz]

Yes indeed. Those days where you get almost no sun would drive me, literally, mad. I lived in Germany for 12 years, and the lack of sun in the winter did cause me great problems. If you guys look in the rest of my Flickr, you can see what the sun did to my LP G0 Historic Darkburst. It's faded quite nicely.

[mojofilter]

WOW!!! MOST EXCELLANT POST!!! Really admire your work,and appreciate all of the photos THANX!!!!

[GeeJay]

Nice work.... Thanks for the info and pics.