Anyone own a sanded down/natural LP?

[LSGoCards7]

Does anyone own a sanded down or a natural LP? I've always wanted one, but besides Jeff Beck's and Paul Kossoff's I've never seen one. If you do own one, how does it sound? Does anything improve with no paint on the top? Thanks!

[thin sissy]

Did Mick Ronson laquer his Les Paul's top or was it just bare wood?

[DMB70]

Allison Robertson of the Donnas has a late 60's custom with a natural top, it can be seen in their video for Take It Off.

[woody-89]

Ronson's was just oiled or waxed as I understand it, rather than relaquered..

[Buzz]

Originally Posted by LSGoCards7

Does anyone own a sanded down or a natural LP? I've always wanted one, but besides Jeff Beck's and Paul Kossoff's I've never seen one. If you do own one, how does it sound? Does anything improve with no paint on the top? Thanks!

Before I got my paint booth in operation last August, I had an R7 an R7 I retopped and a replica that had
no finish on them for about 5 - 10 months. Since my booth was a long way from ready I put all the pårts on them and played them allmost daily. Now that I have finished them I think I'm qualified to state my opinion about this, and I think the difference is very subtile, about as much as you get from removing covers off the pickups.

While they were in that raw wood state I allways had to be careful not to get
anything on them that would cause stains or evan too much skin oil. There
are some finishes that would look like raw wood without leaving it exposed
to the elements. I don't shop for low gloss or flat lacquer but I know I have
seen them advertised, so I say if you try it just spray 2 or 3 light coats of
low gloss lacquer.

Here's two of them before and after:





The finish I used was nitrocellulose, since there are various degrees of thickness and hardness this may sound more transparent than a factory Gibson finish. I've also had
chances to play my Strats with and without finish, once again it depends on the actual finish
your comparing it to. A soft thick finish will dampen the tone, a hard medium finish will
sound about the same as raw wood.

You will not see as much flame on a raw wood guitar, thats for sure.

Finishes from rattle cans are not the same as that of a compressed air system, the cans have much more solvents making the end product not as hard. You can also get a gloss nitro lac. finish to look dull allmost as if raw wood by using micromesh, don't use steel wool on a 2 or 3 coat finish as this would remove the finish and end up with raw spots.

I think those players like Beck, Ronson, and Kossoff that had sometimes used a stripped Les Paul were after good tone, so this was just one way they were in pursuit, doesn't mean it made a dramatic difference. I've found the tone is in the wood, the neck in
particular. You can't switch around necks and bodies on a Les Paul as you can a Strat but if
you have a bunch of Strats, switch around the necks and you find the tone follows the neck.
The pickups would be the next biggest factor in the tone, than the finish and hardware.

[pepejara]

Thanks, Buzz, a lot of good info in your post!!

[LSGoCards7]

Thanks for the great info, sweet guitars too! I've always wanted one just because they look cool, IMO. Of course I would probably do it to a plain top so I don't "waste" an awesome flame top.

[rockabilly69]

Buzz,

I totally agree with you about the neck wood influencing the tone. I had a 70's Tele that I had swapped three necks into. And yes it sounded TOTALLY different with each neck. Before I swapped necks, I had tried quite a few different pickups to get the tone I was looking for and could never find it. But when I swapped necks the tone was right there.