A Guitar And Gear Support Forum

About a year or two ago I posted about a no-name LP style guitar that I picked up at a garage sale (I think I paid $35). It had a homemade striped paint job and a cut up headstock and when I got it home I found out the neck was warped and couldn't be straightened with the truss rod. The electronics were all cheap and uninspiring.

I found a replacement neck on ebay that fit perfect. However there were some frets in need of leveling and I kind of hated the way the guitar looked so it has just sat in the corner. About two weeks ago I decided to try to take advantage of the last good weather and do a quick strip and paint. I figured I had a few days to get it painted before the weather got too cold. Here's a pic of the paint job when I got it and the new neck.

I worked on stripping the old thick paint off with a heat gun. Under the paint it looked like this had a flame veneer originally although it was sanded through in spots. Not in the best shape underneath the paint - lots of small nicks etc. Got it pretty smooth and tried to fill in what I could. I realized that I needed more time to work on the body than I had available to me so I had to decide to either stop and pick this up in the spring or embrace the imperfections and move on. Since I was looking at this as more of a learning experience (never painted a guitar before) I decided to just get to painting.

After I stripped sanded the body I took a wood rasp and carved in a belly cut (never did this before either).

Nice project you have going there. I will love to see the finished product. That top looks pretty good under all that paint. I remember once I was building a Telecaster (I still have it) and I wanted to have a belly cut for comfort. The body was a really nice piece of ash. I went to a friend's cabinet shop full of nice wood working tools. He had a big band saw and he recommended I use it to accomplish the cut. I've had much experience with large band saws and agreed that was the best way to get it done quickly. I was worried because it needed to be done in one shot just by eye and if it wasn't right it could result in wasting the body. I grabbed up some scrap pieces and gave it a couple of tries to get the feel. Then I took the body and made the cut. It took just a few seconds. It came out just right. I also out a shoulder cut on it too but that was not as intimidating for some reason. I played that guitar a lot and used it to record solos on some of my songs. I probably should play it more but I am so fond of the shorter scale LPs. Maybe one day I will see about getting a short scale Tele neck for that one and my Tonebender Tele.

I picked up a bicycle maintenace rack and a pop up painting tent on mac bid for really cheap. These are great for painting guitars. First thing was to get some primer on it.
Once the primer dried I could really see the imperfections in the body - but I didn't have time to do more body work because the weather was about to get cold. Plus I was more interested in trying my hand at painting.

tonebender wrote: ↑Sun Dec 01, 2024 6:28 pm Nice project you have going there. I will love to see the finished product. That top looks pretty good under all that paint. I remember once I was building a Telecaster (I still have it) and I wanted to have a belly cut for comfort. The body was a really nice piece of ash. I went to a friend's cabinet shop full of nice wood working tools. He had a big band saw and he recommended I use it to accomplish the cut. I've had much experience with large band saws and agreed that was the best way to get it done quickly. I was worried because it needed to be done in one shot just by eye and if it wasn't right it could result in wasting the body. I grabbed up some scrap pieces and gave it a couple of tries to get the feel. Then I took the body and made the cut. It took just a few seconds. It came out just right. I also out a shoulder cut on it too but that was not as intimidating for some reason. I played that guitar a lot and used it to record solos on some of my songs. I probably should play it more but I am so fond of the shorter scale LPs. Maybe one day I will see about getting a short scale Tele neck for that one and my Tonebender Tele.

I think I would have been intimidated to use a band saw LOL. The hand sinto saw worked ok but it did take a little time until I got the hang of using it. It didn't turn out perfect but I'm pretty happy with it. I have a barncaster tele that I'm thinking of putting a gibson scale conversion neck on it. I'm finding myself avoiding playing it and my fender strat in lieu of shorter scaled necks.

Put a few coats of gloss black on it.
Once the paint was dry I hit with a few coats of clear coat. The clear coat did not go on well and I got some cracking/crazing. I let it dry for like a week then did some wet sanding and polishing. It looks better but only until you get within 3 feet of it. LOL.

I then attached the neck and did a fret level with a crown and polish. After that I rounded the edges of the fretboard binding which made the neck feel a lot nicer.

I have to say that original striped paint was actually a much better-done job than I was expecting. Still not something I would play on stage, though.

What kind of paint are you using for the black?

I painted a build once with some luthier paint from StewMac that is water-based. I figured it would be easier when it came to clean up during the process and it was. I used black and it is really nice and black, however under a black light it appears a vivid blue. I walked it in a bar to show someone one night and there was black lights in the place. When I opened the case I could not believe my eyes, I thought something had happened until I realized it was the black lights making it appear blue. I guess it is just a characteristic of that type paint.

"The clear coat did not go on well and I got some cracking/crazing"
Sounds like the enamel-lacquer thing where they don't mix. A lot of clear is lacquer and a lot of spray paint doesn't tell you what kind of paint it really is, hidden in the fine print.

glasshand wrote: ↑Mon Dec 02, 2024 7:35 am I have to say that original striped paint was actually a much better-done job than I was expecting. Still not something I would play on stage, though.

What kind of paint are you using for the black?

I couldn't stand the look of the original stripes - the back of the guitar had a bunch of runs too. I just used some Rust-oleum gloss black and a rust-oleum 2X gloss clear. Probably not the best choice - next time I do this I'm going to go with something different - like duplicolor.

I put a red racing stripe on it and installed the neck and strung it up to see how it's playing and do a setup. I dig the stripe LOL. The action is a bit too low buy suprisingly doesn't fret out or buzz anywhere - successful fret level. The neck feels good from the edge rounding and smoothing the fret ends. I dig the belly cut - more LP's should have them LOL.
Unfortunately I'm under the weather so the set up may be delayed a day or so. Once that's done I have a few things in mind including: a Guyker Les Trem, a graphtec nut, possibly locking tuners.

I also have to figure out what I want to do for pickups, electronics, pots and knobs. Thinking I'm just going to go with some cheap pickups - maybe GM 57's or possibly the Fleor Alnico that are supposed to be a JB/Jazz clone. Wondering if red pickups would look good. Dragonfire screamers come in red. Will probably go with black. Any recommendations for cheap pickups is much appreciated.

Tiga wrote: ↑Mon Dec 02, 2024 5:04 pm I just used some Rust-oleum gloss black and a rust-oleum 2X gloss clear. Probably not the best choice - next time I do this I'm going to go with something different - like duplicolor.

You can get a decent finish with rattlecans (I painted my SX with them, although I can't remember whether it was Krylon or Rustoleum), but in my experience it takes forever for the finish to really harden.

I always used Preval sprayers for my painting. I liked them much better than rattle cans but rattle cans are better than they used to be.

Ordered a new Tusq nut last night along with a white switch washer plate. I want to see how that would look in lieu of the black one.

Still doing some work on this one - installing a wiring harness now. This one doesn't seem half bad - full size alpha pots and a decent switch for under $20.

Guyker locking tuning machines just showed up today. Hopefully I can get these in in the next day or so.

Happy New Year! Started putting the new tuners in - I've never tried their tuners before but they seem decent. Let's hope they work. Nice that they matched the existing holes.

Guyker locking tuning machines.

Beware, i have read there are fakes of these. I don't remember if it was on Amazon.

Wow - fakes of even the cheap tuners. That's crazy. I did buy these on Amazon but it was from the Guyker store. Good news is they seem very good. Nice and smooth with no slop and the locking works well. I've used cheap lockers before and the high e and be would slip. Can't beat them for $28.

I'm about 97% finished with the guitar. I seem to have misplaced the truss rod cover and the strap buttons so as soon as they turn up I'll have it completely finished LOL. Beats me how I've lost them but if they don't turn up soon I guess I'll have to replace them.

So to recap this was a garage sale find - some unknown brand les paul knock off with a amateur paint job and a hacked up headstock. The neck was warped and could not be straightened and it made the guitar unplayable.

Quick list of what was done:

New neck on ebay which fit perfectly - completed a fret level, crown, polish, fret end dressing and rounded binding edges. Replaced the nut with a graphtech. New Guyker locking tuners.

Stripped the paint off the body - did some gouge and dent filling and sanded. Did not spend enough time on this step but was rushing due to the weather changing. Carved a belly cut on the back. Primed and painted the body black and finished with a clear coat. The clear coat did not go on well. I think rushing was a big part of it. Sanded and polished the body which helped things alot but still not great. Looks fine at 5 feet away LOL.

Installed new electronics including a wiring harness from Dopro. Surprised by the quality for this harness considering it was under $20. Ran a ground wire to the tailpiece stud. Installed some very cheap import pickups. And the good news..........everything works! Since it was late when I finished I only plugged into the nearby Blackstar Fly - sounded pretty good.

A quick set up and it plays really well. Better than it should actually. My main learning takeaway is to give yourself the allotted time needed to do proper body prep and paint. Although I would prefer a fatter neck this one is acceptable. I wish the frets were a little bigger. My goal is to learn how to refret this winter - if I get some rudimentary skills I think this one would be a good candidate for a refret with larger wire.

Fun learning experience. Here are some pics of the final product. Thanks all!

Great job! You did a great job with the graphic design elements.

The pickups match it perfectly

Finding matching pickups wasn't easy - so many different shades of red being used out there.

Here's somebody working on a LP pickup swap.