Refinish My Standard Faded??

[gaelkuo]

Hi all,

I am new to here and its' my first post... I have some question about my les paul standard faded and hope you guys here could help me.

I am a Slash fan since i was 17...it's 15 years ago...wow. I bought my first Yamaha guitar and start to learn some at that time.. I learned it by myself..i didn't have a teacher and the informations of guitar learning is much much less than now. Tabs books are imported and very expensive...( I live in Taiwan). ...so i stopped playing after 2 years later.

Occasionally I found we can get any tabs we want from internet, and there are so many lessons on Youtube, we even can download backing tracks from some website..it's encourage me a lot and I bought my first Gibson les paul about 2 months ago. I improved a lot and learned much more in 2 months.

It's a Standard Faded (Honey Burst)with 50's neck. And really plays and sounds great. Especially it costs much less than a standard. I love the touch feeling of the neck and the back won't get scratches easily. But I am thinking about a plan and want to make the top more glossy...

I know that many owners here use Virtuoso products to polish the nitro finish and make it not so " Faded". But my plan is : To refinish the top by myself.

I would like to sand a little Nitro off. Than put a VERY THIN poly lacquer spray on the top than polish it to glossy. ( I used to use this way to refinish my several custom billiard pool cues, all done by my hands and I did it great. Durable and glossy like a glass).

Anyone here did this kind of job before or any suggestions?

By the way, i 've read some articles here and talk about how to remove the knobs on the top.....do you know is there any glue inside the knobs. Could I just press these back after i finish my job?...I haven't tried to remove these because i am worry about to break it.

Thanks~~~~~

 

[FLICKOFLASH]

Hi all,

I am new to here and its' my first post... I have some question about my les paul standard faded and hope you guys here could help me.

I am a Slash fan since i was 17...it's 15 years ago...wow. I bought my first Yamaha guitar and start to learn some at that time.. I learned it by myself..i didn't have a teacher and the informations of guitar learning is much much less than now. Tabs books are imported and very expensive...( I live in Taiwan). ...so i stopped playing after 2 years later.

Occasionally I found we can get any tabs we want from internet, and there are so many lessons on Youtube, we even can download backing tracks from some website..it's encourage me a lot and I bought my first Gibson les paul about 2 months ago. I improved a lot and learned much more in 2 months.

It's a Standard Faded (Honey Burst)with 50's neck. And really plays and sounds great. Especially it costs much less than a standard. I love the touch feeling of the neck and the back won't get scratches easily. But I am thinking about a plan and want to make the top more glossy...

I know that many owners here use Virtuoso products to polish the nitro finish and make it not so " Faded". But my plan is : To refinish the top by myself.

I would like to sand a little Nitro off. Than put a VERY THIN poly lacquer spray on the top than polish it to glossy. ( I used to use this way to refinish my several custom billiard pool cues, all done by my hands and I did it great. Durable and glossy like a glass).

Anyone here did this kind of job before or any suggestions?

By the way, i 've read some articles here and talk about how to remove the knobs on the top.....do you know is there any glue inside the knobs. Could I just press these back after i finish my job?...I haven't tried to remove these because i am worry about to break it.

Thanks~~~~~

No glue ,use a large spoon & pad the guitar top just jack the knob around slowly . They press right back on

 

[FLICKOFLASH]

nitro finish is the desired finished over poly

 

[sumphead]

pics? I'd bet if you wanted to you could make the original shine like glass.

R-

 

[gaelkuo]

Sorry...I am new to here and Could any one tell me how to post a picture ? I click " INSERT IMAGE" but seems must use URL....? Couldn't I upload pics directly from my computer?

Yes...I am confident that I could make it shine like glass, if my paul is in ebony color, i could make it like a mirror. But just after I find out something that I am not sure now.

Guess what i used to polish me refinished pool cues?? TOOTHPASTE!! After sanding with #1200 sand papers, I use cotton towel which is slightly wet to rub the cue with toothpaste. I did about 10 of my cues and other peoples were all amazing about that.

What I worry about are:

1. I don't want to sand all nitro off from the top. so i don;t know what will happen when I spray poly to cover on the nitro. cuz these are two different lacquer and don't want to see any bad chemical changes on my lovely paul..

2. If for some reason i have to sell this baby in the future, is this kind of "MOD" will devaluate it a lot?

 

[gaelkuo]

nitro finish is the desired finished over poly

Thanks ~

I just read an article about NITROCELLULOSE on EBAY..I agree with some of his opinions...check this out:

eBay Guides - Myths about Nitrocellulose finish for electric guitars

 

[kspeed]

You're from Taiwan? Awesome - I just spent a couple weeks there in March and found a cool little music shop in Shilin. What area of Taiwan are you from?

 

[Keithers]

The only thing I would NOT recommend is using poly over Nitro.

 

[gaelkuo]

You're from Taiwan? Awesome - I just spent a couple weeks there in March and found a cool little music shop in Shilin. What area of Taiwan are you from?

I live in Taipei city...And Shilin is not very far from my home. Seems you had a great time in this island~

 

[dennistruckdriver]

Hi all,

I am new to here and its' my first post... I have some question about my les paul standard faded and hope you guys here could help me.

I am a Slash fan since i was 17...it's 15 years ago...wow. I bought my first Yamaha guitar and start to learn some at that time.. I learned it by myself..i didn't have a teacher and the informations of guitar learning is much much less than now. Tabs books are imported and very expensive...( I live in Taiwan). ...so i stopped playing after 2 years later.

Occasionally I found we can get any tabs we want from internet, and there are so many lessons on Youtube, we even can download backing tracks from some website..it's encourage me a lot and I bought my first Gibson les paul about 2 months ago. I improved a lot and learned much more in 2 months.

It's a Standard Faded (Honey Burst)with 50's neck. And really plays and sounds great. Especially it costs much less than a standard. I love the touch feeling of the neck and the back won't get scratches easily. But I am thinking about a plan and want to make the top more glossy...

I know that many owners here use Virtuoso products to polish the nitro finish and make it not so " Faded". But my plan is : To refinish the top by myself.

I would like to sand a little Nitro off. Than put a VERY THIN poly lacquer spray on the top than polish it to glossy. ( I used to use this way to refinish my several custom billiard pool cues, all done by my hands and I did it great. Durable and glossy like a glass).

Anyone here did this kind of job before or any suggestions?

By the way, i 've read some articles here and talk about how to remove the knobs on the top.....do you know is there any glue inside the knobs. Could I just press these back after i finish my job?...I haven't tried to remove these because i am worry about to break it.

Thanks~~~~~

I recommend leaving it as is, but if you insist, then be very careful! You could do more harm than good.

 

[dennistruckdriver]

Sorry...I am new to here and Could any one tell me how to post a picture ? I click " INSERT IMAGE" but seems must use URL....? Couldn't I upload pics directly from my computer?

Yes...I am confident that I could make it shine like glass, if my paul is in ebony color, i could make it like a mirror. But just after I find out something that I am not sure now.

Guess what i used to polish me refinished pool cues?? TOOTHPASTE!! After sanding with #1200 sand papers, I use cotton towel which is slightly wet to rub the cue with toothpaste. I did about 10 of my cues and other peoples were all amazing about that.

What I worry about are:

1. I don't want to sand all nitro off from the top. so i don;t know what will happen when I spray poly to cover on the nitro. cuz these are two different lacquer and don't want to see any bad chemical changes on my lovely paul..

2. If for some reason i have to sell this baby in the future, is this kind of "MOD" will devaluate it a lot?

Check out Photobucket.com . Load your photos, then, click on the line which begins with to copy, then paste into your post here.
At least, that is what I do....

 

[dennistruckdriver]

Sorry...I am new to here and Could any one tell me how to post a picture ? I click " INSERT IMAGE" but seems must use URL....? Couldn't I upload pics directly from my computer?

Yes...I am confident that I could make it shine like glass, if my paul is in ebony color, i could make it like a mirror. But just after I find out something that I am not sure now.

Guess what i used to polish me refinished pool cues?? TOOTHPASTE!! After sanding with #1200 sand papers, I use cotton towel which is slightly wet to rub the cue with toothpaste. I did about 10 of my cues and other peoples were all amazing about that.

What I worry about are:

1. I don't want to sand all nitro off from the top. so i don;t know what will happen when I spray poly to cover on the nitro. cuz these are two different lacquer and don't want to see any bad chemical changes on my lovely paul..

2. If for some reason i have to sell this baby in the future, is this kind of "MOD" will devaluate it a lot?

....like this.....

 

[gaelkuo]

Check out Photobucket.com . Load your photos, then, click on the line which begins with to copy, then paste into your post here.
At least, that is what I do....[/QUOTE]
Thanks~~here is my Les paul Standard Faded(Honey Burst).

PS: The black one in the last pic is a copy...sounds and plays not bad. But I 've sold it just after I got my faded.

[IMG][IMG]http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn271/gaelkuo/IMG_0749.jpg[/IMG]

[/IMG]

 

[sumphead]

If you want gloss, then polish the top. Never shoot poly over nitro lacquer. Nitro will continue to gas out for years ruining your poly. No myth about that period. Just polish it, andything else and you WILL devalue that guitar, imo of course.

hth,
R-

 

[gaelkuo]

If you want gloss, then polish the top. Never shoot poly over nitro lacquer. Nitro will continue to gas out for years ruining your poly. No myth about that period. Just polish it, andything else and you WILL devalue that guitar, imo of course.

hth,
R-

Thanks for the suggestion..but i already done...check some pics from link below...if some day my finish ruined..i think i will just refinish it again~

http://www.mylespaul.com/forums/gibson-les-pauls/9685-virtuoso-faded-i-got-another-way.html