NotJeffBeck
New member
- Joined
- Mar 31, 2019
- Messages
- 24
My brand new 2019 Les Paul Traditional is one of the transparent cherry ones. I haven't bought a brand-new Gibson in many years. I understand all new USA Gibsons are finished in nitrocellulose lacquer. I've been around that stuff most of my life, I know what it looks like, what it smells like and how thin it is - you have to put on more than a dozen coats to get a reasonable coating.
THIS new Les Paul has me scratching my head. For one thing, the lacquer seems to be put on really thick - thick enough to have high and low waves in it. If I look at the back at a low angle towards a light so I can see how flat it is (isn't) - the back has at least 12 stripes or ridges that look like the polishing wheel dug deep with every pass. The butt end of the guitar, the shoulder and the top of the headstock too, all show waves in the finish. If Gibson uses lacquer the way I understand lacquer, that must have taken 30 or 40 coats to get it that thick -- not likely, right? They don't spend that kind of time on a Traditional.
So what's going on with this finish? Even my dear old 56 Special was flat everywhere without wavy ridges in the finish.
Is yours like that? Does it bother you too?
On another note, the smell. We all know what nitro lacquer smells like: nail polish. This finish smells like Play-Doh or some kind of cheap gift store scented candle, nothing at all like nail polish. That's not lacquer the way I know lacquer. Can anybody bring me up to date on what Gibson is using to account for the incredibly thick film depth of their lacquer - if that's what it even is - and this decidedly un-lacquer-like scent?
THIS new Les Paul has me scratching my head. For one thing, the lacquer seems to be put on really thick - thick enough to have high and low waves in it. If I look at the back at a low angle towards a light so I can see how flat it is (isn't) - the back has at least 12 stripes or ridges that look like the polishing wheel dug deep with every pass. The butt end of the guitar, the shoulder and the top of the headstock too, all show waves in the finish. If Gibson uses lacquer the way I understand lacquer, that must have taken 30 or 40 coats to get it that thick -- not likely, right? They don't spend that kind of time on a Traditional.
So what's going on with this finish? Even my dear old 56 Special was flat everywhere without wavy ridges in the finish.
Is yours like that? Does it bother you too?
On another note, the smell. We all know what nitro lacquer smells like: nail polish. This finish smells like Play-Doh or some kind of cheap gift store scented candle, nothing at all like nail polish. That's not lacquer the way I know lacquer. Can anybody bring me up to date on what Gibson is using to account for the incredibly thick film depth of their lacquer - if that's what it even is - and this decidedly un-lacquer-like scent?