The right guitar but not the right look?
Here’s a replica of a 1959 Gibson Les Paul Standard that was brought into the shop for a complete refinish. My customer was looking to match a burst from “The Beauty of the Bursts” book. A great read if you haven’t already. So he picked out the one he wanted and I got started!
With further inspection the inlays didn’t have the correct fit to the routs. We decided to go with a new fretboard and do them correctly. Once our new piece of Brazilian rosewood arrived the board was thickness sanded to the correct size, fret slots cut, new Dave Johnson inlays were installed. After inlaying, fretting, and binding I’m now ready to reassemble with hot hide glue.
After the reassembling is complete we continued with the preparation for new finish. The old finish was removed leaving the guitar pure and ready for it’s new look.
The grain filler was custom mixed for this back and neck to have the look of the burst he had picked out. With the correct cherry on the back and neck we started the burst on the top being as close to the look of the “Brockburst” that he had picked out. Once completed ambered top coats were applied and set aside to harden.
After a few weeks of hardening the finish was then ready to wet sand and buff. The finish that I use reacts exactly as the old nitro did on Gibson’s guitars. Some times the finish will even start to check while I’m wet sanding and buffing!
CF. Restorations 