2004 Gibson LP Standard Strong Iced Tea

year of production: 2004
model: Gibson LP Standard
factory finish: Dirty Lime (refin)

new finish: Strong Iced Tea
style of new finish: Aged
scope of work: top carve correction; top refinish

I got a relatively new Gibson guitar for a top refinish. The factory Unburst finish was lifeless here: the colors were bland, begging for something with some spunk. The owner asked me for a burst with very delicate and not too deep shading of the sides.

I started the work by removing the paint. At the same time, I pluged the holes after the ABR-style bridge to install a real ABR bridge. I also improved the carve of the top.

I applied a sealer, next the colors, and then a clear coats. I always use 100% nitro, I don’t help myself with other paints. When the nitro hardened, I evened out the orange peel and polished the whole thing to high gloss.

The owner of the instrument also asked me to replace the Grover tuners with vintage style Klusons – i.e. ones with a bushings. To make the whole thing look correct, we also replaced the bushings with historically correct ones with a “step” edge.

This guitar had protruding inlays on several frets. I managed to peel them off without damaging them, but I was very surprised. It looked as if the inlays in this guitar had been glued upside down! The inlay surface with a profiled radius was glued to the fingerboard, and the flat surface was placed on top – that’s why the inlays stuck out above the fingerboard. In addition, each of the inlays had longitudinal recesses. WTF?

I glued the pulled out inlays and leveled them with sanding. I did the same sanding with the remaining markers to get rid of the recesses. Now it looks as it should have looked from the beginning. Strange thing.