Members WRGKMC Posted January 17, 2023 Members Share Posted January 17, 2023 Thought I'd throw this one in too. I bought a Gibson LP 40th Anniversary Model new back in 1991. A few years after buying it I was doing some electronics repair cleaning pots and the nozzel on the can was twisted and overshot the amp chassis. Wouldn't you know it shot onto the Headstock of that beautiful Paul and caused moon craters all over the headstock. The Contact cleaner had denatured Alcohol in it and it instantly melts the Lacquer finish. I didn't even notice it for a few days. I tried buffing it out using polishing compound and all but never got rid of it completely. I was afraid of removing too much and destroying the LP logo which was under the finish. I had always planned on fixing that with an overspray and finally got around to fixing it a few weeks ago. I figured it won't be too long before this will get handed down to one of my son who plays and want to restore its value which has more than doubled in 22 years. I removed the hardware, prepped it, taped everything off and gave it a few coats. My plan was to build it up, sand it smooth then give it a high gloss topcoat, buff out the flaws wax it etc. All was going great till I did the sanding. After a week's drying the new finish just peeled off taking the gold spaghetti logo with it. Man was I pissed. I hate doing finishing to begin with. Its really and artform unto itself, and if you don't do it all the time, the smallest mistake can lead to disastrous results. I determined the problem was the temp and possibly the lacquer I used. I had a half can left over from another job and I did the job in the basement. Its dry don there so Moisture wasnt a big issue, but it was much cooler being air conditioned which extended dry time between coats. The directions said 15 minutes between light coats and I gave it 2 Hrs or more between medium coats. One of the coats was still soft and sanding caused the finish to simply peel. As a fix, I found a place that sells a decent replica of the label. It may be slightly off sized, I really couldn't tell without having the old one there. It looked spot on to me so I proceeded in doing the Decal and overspray. It wouldn't be bad looking without it but I'm glad I used it. I got it all done, let it dry 2 weeks then put the guitar back together figuring job finished. Looked great again, and it played as good as it ever did. Put it on a stand in the studio for a few weeks then decided to restring it. To my horror, I saw the finish had cracked where I had torqued down the tuners. That LP model uses Hybrid Tuners that look like the old Klusion type with Pearloid buttons except they also have 10mm threaded bushings much like most modern tuners do. For some reason these caused the finish to crack at each tuner extending out a millimeter or two in all directions. I thought to myself will this figgin nightmare ever end. So once again I had to pull the tuners off, and start over again. I sanded out the cracks top coated it again, the let it dry 2 weeks again. In the process I discovered the cause of the cracking. In the prepping process I had been using a wad of paper towel in each open tuner pressed down to make a slight depression. This insured the finish came up to the hole but didn't coat the hole inside narrowing the hole requiring it to be removed installing tuners. What happened was the paper ntowel got a little saturated and upon removal I had some paper towel sticking to the inside. When I installed the tuners it pulled on the finish stretching it towards the holes and eventually cracking the finish. What I did was take a file and remove all the overspray into the holes which seemed to do the trick. The tuners still compressed down on the finish but at least it didnt pull it twards the holes so no cracking. (Lacquer is a resin that can remain semi fluid for many months before it dries into a hard crust. Its why you want to avoid putting a freshly lacquered guitar on a guitar stand because dents can appear where it sits). I'm still debating on doing a fret job. It still has some meat on the frets so its not critical right now. Gound gibson necks are the toughest to do too. Luckily, I recently got myself some needed fret tools. I got a fret bender and made myself a new fret press. I bought a set of cowls and the mount and fitted them to a screw type wood clamp. Best you can do without a drill press and I'm likely going to try it out on a spare Tele neck I have. Anyway, Here's the after shot. Looks good enough to me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators daddymack Posted January 17, 2023 Moderators Share Posted January 17, 2023 well at least they spelled it right.... The tuner holes...there are silicone rubber cones you can buy that work perfectly for that type of application, rather than stuffing paper towel in the holes. https://hightempmasking.com/products/160-piece-plug-kit-1-16-to-1-high-temp-silicone-rubber-powder-coating-paint?variant=25849776775¤cy=USD&utm_medium=product_sync&utm_source=google&utm_content=sag_organic&utm_campaign=sag_organic&utm_campaign=gs-2018-09-11&utm_source=google&utm_medium=smart_campaign&gclid=Cj0KCQiAq5meBhCyARIsAJrtdr4cNtnr8bvBcSDes7fMLgL1jY0O_kMM0xAm5wDn5vJT6yje0exbFZcaAmVQEALw_wcB Lacquer is a very tricky finish to work with, as you now know. I think the final outcome looks okay, but you will have to disclose the re-fin if you sell it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members WRGKMC Posted January 27, 2023 Author Members Share Posted January 27, 2023 Thanks for that link. Those look like a good option. Yes, I would notify a buyer if I was to sell it but that one is eventually going to be inherited by my son. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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