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Completely damaged my LP-100


Pink Litmus

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Last week I decided to experiment with my Les Paul, which is about 10 years old now. I was getting a bit tired of the cherry sunburst finish and I thought it'd be a good idea to refinish it. So I did a bit of research, and when I started, I used paint stripper to remove the paint, which was completely ineffective. I moved on to a heat gun, which gave me even more problems. It damaged the veneer (I'm assuming) which forced me to completely scrape off the top and sides. The back side still has what I believe is the veneer as well. Regardless, the body is now in completely bad shape. I even chipped off a small piece of wood. I didn't even bother finishing the neck. So my question now, is it too late do anything to it? Is there anyway I could possibly add a veneer or a maple top? Should I just go to a luthier? I have no experience, but I want to learn from my mistakes. Any suggestions are appreciated!

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At this point perhaps sanding it to the best of your ability, and then use a dark solid color, (Black, dark brown?)

 

Then use something appropriate to seal it, then do all the finishing detail, and put it back together the best way possible.

 

it may not look "factory" but you'll get it going again.

 

another option that may not be worth it given the cost to replace it, is find someone who knows the ropes and have them do a refinish on it.

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The guitar new is under $300 bucks. Any value has been effectively stripped and melted away. I wouldn't put any money into it by taking it somewhere to get it refinished. I agree with kidblast. Sand it down, paint it, clear coat it and hope for the best.

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Hello and welcome here.

 

Sorry for the trouble you ran into. :( Other than nitro, poly finishes are insoluble in anything and thus have to be stripped all mechanically. There's always the risk of hurting some timber below.

 

I think it would be best to repair the chipped area at the neck pocket or have it repaired before refinishing. I agree with Kidblast's suggestion to use a solid colour, or at least a rather dark one. This would also allow for applying filler to obtain a surface as smooth as possible before finishing.

 

Doing or having it done correctly will fully restore function and may look fine, too, perhaps not as you desired initially, but flawless.

 

Good luck!

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Well, this is WHY it's good to experiment and practice on cheap guitars.

 

I wouldn't look at it as a failure, cause in a way, the guitar wasn't worth much to begin with. If you were to add up the labor cost of what you HAVE done to this point, it's still more than the cost or replacing the whole guitar.

 

As it was from the start, there is only so much "value" that could be had for a bolt-on neck LP in the first place.

 

As it sits now, there is STILL plenty to experiment with or do with it, it's just a matter of how much fun it will be to do, and how much work or effort you want to put into it, and what you might end up with.

 

You already learned ONE thing at least: stripping poly is NOT easy, or recommended when looking to re-finish a guitar.

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Would it be a good idea to place a plywood cap on top of the body?

 

Plywood? Well its your guitar you can do what you want with it, but that'll just add weight and mess up the string height.

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At this point perhaps sanding it to the best of your ability, and then use a dark solid color, (Black, dark brown?)

 

Then use something appropriate to seal it, then do all the finishing detail, and put it back together the best way possible.

 

it may not look "factory" but you'll get it going again.

 

another option that may not be worth it given the cost to replace it, is find someone who knows the ropes and have them do a refinish on it.

I have had some time to sand down the body a bit with some 80 grit sand paper, I'm gonna move on to 220 grit later on when I have the time. I'm thinking about a cherry red finish, something similar to George Harrison's "Lucy", but more of a low-end crappy replica of it. Any ideas on how to treat the wood before throwing on some paint? I'm doing my research but I wanna hear what you guys think. Plus I'm really new at this, I wanna learn from my mistakes. Pretty fun project overall, despite all the stress I went through earlier. [rolleyes]

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I'm not really sure how to answer the treatment question.

 

and no, Don't put a plywood cap on it, that is just not going to work. you don't want to change the thickness of the body at all and that's exactly what this will do, plus it does nothing of value here.

 

 

I'd just clean it up as much as you can with sanding, (and you may want to go with a finder grit as you do the finish work, ending with a good buffing with 0000 steel wool.)

 

then chose your color of choice (spray paint yes?) and for this you're going to want to try something that's not translucent (where you cannot see the underlying wood grain.)

So it's going to be a paint rather than a stain IMHO.

 

Good luck, you at least seem to have a good approach and attitude about how to move forward.

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You learned what I wish I'd learned 40 odd years ago....leave your guitars alone. I "refinished" and devalued a number of them. Went through an idiotic period when I felt all electric guitars should be jet black. If only some wise individual had stayed my hand. Am still kicking myself.

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Whenever I do something like that, I punish myself by replacing it (HNGD). Sweetwater has this model for $279. I'd probably hide what I had done in the attic, and enjoy the new one! Keep the PUPs and the tuners in a box in case something goes south on the new one.

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I dont think ide get another LP100, ive found Studios on the Guitar Center Used gear site for $180. and i see Standards between $200 and $225. all the time. Ive seen the LP100 as low as $109. on GC used section

 

I just got a 2010 Studio deluxe for $159. from GC and its the best EPI studio ive bought so far.

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Poke around on the Stewart-MacDonald site StewMac and read some of the training tips. They have some great paints as well to do your refinish vs. the Krylon can from the Home Despot!!! I think taking this as an opportunity to really practice and learn how to make a nice finish turn out is worth the time, money, & effort esp. when you have it close to be prepared to apply a leveler coating.

 

Just my thoughts.

 

Aster

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I think I would save the hardware, the neck and not spend anymore money and time on it. I don't think that you will get a satisfactory result at this point. Go buy another guitar, lay it to rest and enjoy a new toy. That's my opinion and suggestion.

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