1997 LP Studio headstock repair and refinish (lots of pics)

[charmcitysaints]

This is a 1997 Gibson Les Paul Studio that was giving to me in the condition that you see in these first couple of pics. Broken headstock, Cracks in the body, oxidized hardware, rusted frets.. here is my progress thus far..

















Now.. lets get to work.. cleaning the frets and fret board...







here is a shot of the horrible nut slots..


the cleaned and conditioned fretboard on the left.. old dry dirty on the right..

[charmcitysaints]

close up of the break..




















Testing the strength of the bond!! (don't try this at home kids..)


Starting to strip off the nitro..


more pics to come soon!!

[HCB 06]

Starting to Look good so far!

[charmcitysaints]

Thanks! Here are some more pics..



This was a bad splintered piece on the back.. glued it back down with some titebond 3


Mahogany and Maple! Why would you want to cover this up??




Here is a pic of the cracks around the control cavity and output jack..






Making some progress!

[LPGeoff]

Awesome!

What are you using to strip the paint/nitro?

[charmcitysaints]

Just plain 'ole 100% Acetone and elbow grease.. it took a lot longer than if i used some other form of stripper.. but to me, i figured this was the least invasive and would do the least damage to the wood...

[macklanders]

That is some beautiful wood!

[TKOjams]

Nice job so far, can't wait to see more of the progress.
Have you desiced on the new finish yet??

[LPGeoff]

Originally Posted by charmcitysaints

Just plain 'ole 100% Acetone and elbow grease.. it took a lot longer than if i used some other form of stripper.. but to me, i figured this was the least invasive and would do the least damage to the wood...

Great idea. I bet it did take a lot of elbow grease but it's really coming off nicely.

How are you gonna finish it?

[LiveOak]

Damn, that's a nice maple cap underneath that old black nitro. Looking good, keep the pics coming!

[charmcitysaints]

Thanks everyone!

I really dig Pete Townshend.. so i was thinking of the color scheme of his #5.. i really dig that wine red/ creme scheme.. i am changing out all the hardware anyway (this came with gold hardware.. not much of a gold hardware guy)..

something like this, minis the 5, 3 pickups, extra toggles.. i hope i can get the cracks to fade and blend enough that i can keep the back, sides and neck the natural mahogany..



here are a few more pics..








So.. here is one dilemma that i am having.. maybe you guys and give me your input.. as you can see in the last pic, the fiberboard veneer has creased from the headstock break.. should i leave it alone? I was thinking about replacing it with something like this decals. But i don't want it to look fake, or goofy. I thought i could get a veneer from stewmac and just silkscreen the logo and the lp back onto the guitar. I even have an email into gibson to see what they would charge to re-screen it.. what do you guys think?

[JBranch]

Wow, that thing has been abused.

The wood underneath that finish looks great though, nice figuring on that maple cap! If it were me, I'd have to have some finish to show that off.

[LazyPaisley]

this makes me want to buy a broken studio, and i know everyone else said it, but that wood looks great

[jworle01]

Should be able to sand down the damaged area of the headstock veneer since it is just a fiber one with leveling block. Then re-clear it. Lookin good mate!

[jrnic]

Should be able to sand down the damaged area of the headstock veneer since it is just a fiber one with leveling block. Then re-clear it. Lookin good mate!

I agree. Just wet sand with fine sandpaper in the area of the crease and then when it is all smoothed out, re-clear coat it and it should look fine.

[charmcitysaints]

Originally Posted by jrnic

I agree. Just wet sand with fine sandpaper in the area of the crease and then when it is all smoothed out, re-clear coat it and it should look fine.

Should be able to sand down the damaged area of the headstock veneer since it is just a fiber one with leveling block. Then re-clear it. Lookin good mate!

Cool.. i'll give it shot.. i ordered a transfer and a veneer.. i got the transfer in the mail today.. i have to say.. i wont be using it.. the les paul is to close to the gibson logo and they both look small... i will wait to see what the veneer looks like when it comes.. and i may order one of those nos veneers from here: headstock decals . but i will give your suggestion a try first..

[CARNAGE222]

Looking great so far. Are you going to leave a natural binding?

[RAHAZ]

This looks promising. Any update?

[charmcitysaints]

Yeah, i want to leave the back and sides.. so the strip of maple on the sides would give it the natural binding look.. i plan on staining the wood but i hope it doesn't bleed into the "binding". I am going to hit the back with some clear before i stain the top in hopes that it will offset any bleeding.

Haven't had any time to mess with the guitar since the last pics.. i need to order some stain and clear. i also need to refill the grain on the back/neck & sides.. but i have some other projects i need to finish up before i get into refinishing.

I will post some pics when i get into it..

[CARNAGE222]

Cool. I can't wait for some updates.

[MikeGates]

Really nice progress, I'll throw in another thumbs up for the wood, amazing what you find under those painted Gibsons, some are winners and some are just meant to be painted over. I think this LP with be happy showing off the wood it has been hiding for 13 years.

[decoy205]

Originally Posted by charmcitysaints

So.. here is one dilemma that i am having.. maybe you guys and give me your input.. as you can see in the last pic, the fiberboard veneer has creased from the headstock break.. should i leave it alone? I was thinking about replacing it with something like this decals. But i don't want it to look fake, or goofy. I thought i could get a veneer from stewmac and just silkscreen the logo and the lp back onto the guitar. I even have an email into gibson to see what they would charge to re-screen it.. what do you guys think?

I say leave it. Most of it will be covered up by the TR cover and the tuners
and it will add character and you'll know you did a good job with the repair. Although if you're going for a more perfect look you'll have to fix it.

[scaremy]

i would wet sand it lightly and careful not to sand the scripting to even out any texture then maybe stain it with some black if its uneven then clearcoat it.

[charmcitysaints]

thanks for the kind words guys.. still haven't had any time to mess with this.. i did get my stain and nitro clear. Still need to get some grain filler though.. i hope to get to this soon.. i'll keep you posted..

[essguitarman]

I can't wait to see this finished!

[CARNAGE222]

Hey charm, any updates? I'm looking forward to seeing how this one turns out.

[charmcitysaints]

Not really much progress on this project. I did grain fill the back and sides with a walnut stain and it looks nice! I steamed out most of the damaged spots, the cracks around the input jack are still visible but it doesn't seem like much i can do about it.. I am not planning on selling the guitar (it was giving to me for free by a good friend) so it is fine for me...I have to get the pics online.. however, i know why they painted the guitar now... if you go back and look at the maple cap you will see an off color splotch starting at the tone knob (neck pick up tone knob) up to past where the post on the stopbar would be. when i hit it with the stain that spot did not take the stain well at all. Much much lighter in the splotch spot then what was on the guitar. i debated for a couple of days on if i was going to keep it like that or not.. decided not to leave it. So, i am going to have to paint the top. I am going to make it into a Goldtop!

I'll try to get the newer pics online.

[charmcitysaints]

I guess it's not a walnut grain filler.. it's just a dark brown..





you can see a thin line where the break was in this pic

[charmcitysaints]

broke down and painted a faux binding..


after a few coats of the bronze








can't wait to clear coat and polish!

[wavemagnet]

Beautiful work!