Thread: Re-Finishing a Gibson LP BFG with Tiger Maple Top.

Originally Posted by Last

I've got the 1st coat of Arm-R-Seal on the backside & have ordered the Transtint in Honey Amber. It's my first try at any tint whatsoever. Thankfully I've got a couple of practice pieces of Maple.



Really glad to see that Black Finish that Gibson had put on it gone.

Wow no knots!! I'm always wary of buying solid colour guitars, often 50% of them can be bog.
Definitely not a figured top....doesn't even seem to be book-matched. I hate those bloody vintage look guitars, if I wanted my guitar all smashed up I'd do it myself...I've seen some go for up to $15,000
Seems like a good move to refinish, its a great way to learn some luthiery tricks too...gonna update the electrics while your at it?

The P90 in the neck is great for my style of playing which is Blues/Rockabilly/Jazz. The Alnico 3 magnet in the Humbucker @ the Bridge is also a nice balanced choice in my opinion anyway. So, I'm not changing any of the electronics.

The electronics are really quite unique to this guitar as well. It has the Kill Switch where the Rhythm/Treble Toggle usually is & the pick-up slector is also a toggle switch where the Volume & Tone Controls are.

I didn't originally care too much for this set up in the beginning but have grown to like it quite a bit.

There are a couple of knots in the Mahogany, two very tiny ones on the back, (one is just lright of center) the other is on the back of the neck towards the Nut.

The main reason for starting my finish work was to get ahead a little bit as it takes so long between coats of Arm-R-Seal before you can reapply it. I'll still do a final coat of the 'whole' guitar once it's Maple Top has been stained.

Originally Posted by Last

I'm not totally new to refinishing these guitars though this will be my first attempt @ staining anything on purpose to get a more vintage look to it.

Here's a picture of a recently finished Vintage Mahogany Gibson LP.



It started out as a worn brown stain with very little to no sanding done by Gibson. It looked pretty bad when I got it. I have a before picture around here somewhere. I'll try to find it.

Every time I look at this picture, I remember what the guitar looked like before you started. Talk about a diamond in the rough! You turned a sows ear into a purse of gold. That mahogany simply glows!

Here are a couple of pre-finish pictures. I'm sorry I did not get better ones. But it gives you an idea how different it was pre-finish.

Finally finished my refinish & have started a 2nd one.

Here's a picture & a link to the online album.



Not too bad for my first one, though I've done a Vintage Mahogany before this one. Love working with the maple top!

Link to album.

http://picasaweb.google.com/lastl98/...Ebay#slideshow