I´ve red about using Wood Filler on guitars and that it kills tone and sustain. If so did they use Wood Filler in the same way back in the 1950´s like they do nowdays both on the USA and CS made? I got a 2005 Les Paul Standard Faded and it should have less Wood Filler than a regular LP Standard. It´s one of the best sounding LP´s i´ve had and i´ve had a few.
Wood Filler
- Thread starter Mats A
- Start date
Wood filler? Or grain filler?
The only way to get a shiny, smooth, glossy finish on mahogany is to use grain filler. Whether it's layer upon layer of clear, or if it has a color in it (like Gibson has been doing since making a red mahogany back), you gotta fill them little holes.
The only way to get a shiny, smooth, glossy finish on mahogany is to use grain filler. Whether it's layer upon layer of clear, or if it has a color in it (like Gibson has been doing since making a red mahogany back), you gotta fill them little holes.
Re: Grain Filler
http://www.theguitarcolumn.com/2012/05/les-paul-standard-faded-best-sounding.html
I red it some time ago so i got the wrong word. I ment grain filler. I red about it here.
http://www.theguitarcolumn.com/2012/05/les-paul-standard-faded-best-sounding.html
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Re: Grain Filler
Despite the fact that Mr. Corsa complains about grain filler, he has to use it to make his guitars smooth. So, I don't really understand... It's kinda circular logic, isn't it? Even if he's just using a few more coats of his nitrocellulose and sanding it back, it really is the same thing. So, he's using a little fast talk to try and convince everyone that the faded finishes made his UN-faded, refinished guitars better than other more expensive Gibson made guitars.
The article does say wood filler, but that's not accurate. It's always been grain filler.
Wood filler is usually a thick, paste or putty used to fill divots, dents or faults. It's opaque and is usually used under paint or a more opaque finish.
Grain filler is usually a smoother, transparent product that is mashed into the grain of porous woods to make the surface smoother. Both are usually sanded back, but the grain or pore filler is usually only left in the pores of the wood. A lot of the times, a dark stain or colorant is added to pore filler when used with mahogany.
I will absolutely disagree with his statement that Maple is not a tone wood. That's just plain wrong. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tonewood
So, to do what I should have done and answered your question to begin with (sorry about that), Yes, they still use pore or grain filler in the same fashion they did in the 50's. They still add colorant to it to highlight the pores a little bit. I'm sure the chemical makeup of the products they use may have changed (just like the nitrocellulose finishes have changed a great deal). The governmental powers that be have mandated certain changes to protect the health of the workers applying it, and the environment in general.
Hope that answers your question. Again, sorry I didn't really answer it before.
Despite the fact that Mr. Corsa complains about grain filler, he has to use it to make his guitars smooth. So, I don't really understand... It's kinda circular logic, isn't it? Even if he's just using a few more coats of his nitrocellulose and sanding it back, it really is the same thing. So, he's using a little fast talk to try and convince everyone that the faded finishes made his UN-faded, refinished guitars better than other more expensive Gibson made guitars.
The article does say wood filler, but that's not accurate. It's always been grain filler.
Wood filler is usually a thick, paste or putty used to fill divots, dents or faults. It's opaque and is usually used under paint or a more opaque finish.
Grain filler is usually a smoother, transparent product that is mashed into the grain of porous woods to make the surface smoother. Both are usually sanded back, but the grain or pore filler is usually only left in the pores of the wood. A lot of the times, a dark stain or colorant is added to pore filler when used with mahogany.
I will absolutely disagree with his statement that Maple is not a tone wood. That's just plain wrong. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tonewood
So, to do what I should have done and answered your question to begin with (sorry about that), Yes, they still use pore or grain filler in the same fashion they did in the 50's. They still add colorant to it to highlight the pores a little bit. I'm sure the chemical makeup of the products they use may have changed (just like the nitrocellulose finishes have changed a great deal). The governmental powers that be have mandated certain changes to protect the health of the workers applying it, and the environment in general.
Hope that answers your question. Again, sorry I didn't really answer it before.
Hotshot
Member
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- Jul 25, 2017
- Messages
- 282
On the line of things effecting Tone, I’d say this is the least thing on the priority list. Those 59s had them, and you pay for having it in dollars. That’s why Gibson charges less for not smooth guitars. On my LP refinish I paid $40 for a solvent based pre stained grain filler.
Pickups and Strings matter. A Nut and a Tailpiece matter, but the wood finishing on a solid body electric wood be micronic if any. It’s like when I hear nitro lets a guitar breath....really? No it doesn’t. Nitro is plastic. We use Pre Cat nitro on guitars to be a little less brittle. Post Cat Nitro you see on very high end custom furniture cures VERY hard and is amazing. But for an instrument it’s too brittle and will crack.
At the end of the day your historic 50s LPs are wood-aniline stain-coloured solvent filler-and 14 coats of pre cat nitrocellouslose laquer.
Hope that hat sheds some light. I attached a pic of my samples befor my Refin. That’s mahogany.
Pickups and Strings matter. A Nut and a Tailpiece matter, but the wood finishing on a solid body electric wood be micronic if any. It’s like when I hear nitro lets a guitar breath....really? No it doesn’t. Nitro is plastic. We use Pre Cat nitro on guitars to be a little less brittle. Post Cat Nitro you see on very high end custom furniture cures VERY hard and is amazing. But for an instrument it’s too brittle and will crack.
At the end of the day your historic 50s LPs are wood-aniline stain-coloured solvent filler-and 14 coats of pre cat nitrocellouslose laquer.
Hope that hat sheds some light. I attached a pic of my samples befor my Refin. That’s mahogany.
Big Al
Well-known member
- Joined
- Apr 24, 2002
- Messages
- 14,541
Hotshot is correct.
I remember the Faded Les Pauls. They were cheap. They looked cheap. I always said they looked like they were finished by 5th Graders with crayons! They were a remarkable deal. New, just over a grand. Remarkable deal doesn't mean remarkable guitar.
Now Corsa bought a bunch, cheap, modified the snot out of them, marketed the piss out of them, [bullshit hyperbole], to justify his substantial upcharge and make$$$. Now they are gone and Larry makes his own but interestingly NOT incorporating the cheap cost cutting methods he touted so highly when modifying Fadeds. In fact using traditional build he had claimed robbed tone.
Which leaves the op, Mats. IT ISN'T THE SAME GUITAR!!!!
YOU HAVE A STANDARD! WITH A "FADED" SUNBURST FINISH COLOR! Jeeze, your guitar IS grain filled. It IS glossy lacquer. Your post does not compute.
I remember the Faded Les Pauls. They were cheap. They looked cheap. I always said they looked like they were finished by 5th Graders with crayons! They were a remarkable deal. New, just over a grand. Remarkable deal doesn't mean remarkable guitar.
Now Corsa bought a bunch, cheap, modified the snot out of them, marketed the piss out of them, [bullshit hyperbole], to justify his substantial upcharge and make$$$. Now they are gone and Larry makes his own but interestingly NOT incorporating the cheap cost cutting methods he touted so highly when modifying Fadeds. In fact using traditional build he had claimed robbed tone.
Which leaves the op, Mats. IT ISN'T THE SAME GUITAR!!!!
YOU HAVE A STANDARD! WITH A "FADED" SUNBURST FINISH COLOR! Jeeze, your guitar IS grain filled. It IS glossy lacquer. Your post does not compute.
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