Diy vos advice

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Need a little help on doing my own vos job, stripping the clear coat, relicing ect. I came across "the painted player guitar co" on reverb/ebay , and I read on hear members wouldnt go near them and instead to give it ago , so seeing as though I can't afford a gibson custom pearly gates or page #2 whats the best away to do it on a l.p. traditional? Any help advice is muchly appreciated

This is totally your call, but I'm going to say something that I wish someone told me. Just buy a historic reissue bc nothing you do will be enough; unless you have the real thing. I had a Traditional and put R9 parts on, changed wiring, pups, abr bridge. I even filled the Nashville bridge holes with maple and drilled new studs for the abr. I was thinking about refinishing it too. USA gibsons are incredible guitars themselves, but the historics are just something different. If you're into the old bursts, then refinishing it isn't going to make it closer to the real thing. The historics aren't the real thing either, but they are the closest thing you can get without spending $200k.

if you still want to refinish it, it's going to cost a lot of time. You can take some 0000 steel wool to dull the finish and give it a VOS look. Or are you trying to get that faded sunburst look?

Thanks for the reply!.. I'd love a 58 re issue of some sort just can't afford one ... all im really looking to do is take the clear coat off.. or atleast dull it down a bit... maybe some wear patches on it.. ciggy burns ect. It's tobacco burst greco eg600.
Thanks again for the reply

If you wanna do a VOS finish, your best bet is to take steel wool or scotch brite pads to the finish and create that dull look. Wear marks and relic stuff is an art in its self and I would practice first on another guitar. Once you commit, there's not going back or redos. Idk how Greco painted or what type of paint they use, but if it's a cherry sunburst then the clear coat is the color too. To make that translucent cherry burst, they use dyes in the clear coat so you can see the wood grain under it. So you can't just take off the clear coat bc you'll be stripping the entire thing to the wood. If it's polyurethane, you won't get that worn look like lacquer, it will look unnatural. I have seen some ppl do it though to poly and it came out good, but I'm sure it wasn't their first time doing it either.

Tips: go online and print out some pics of old bursts that you like with wear patterns you want on yours. This gives you a reference point so you're not just randomly making marks. Grab a pencil and some tape and start small and slow. Don't rush it, the slower you relic, the better the results will be. Start on the back until your conformtable enough to hit the top. Good luck!!

make a long sleeved t shirt and pants out of sand paper ! and play like angus young for a week.
job done la.

If you can't afford it now, save up and get it used, but in great condition. It'll be worth it trust me.