Let's hear it for the Les Paul Studio!

Love the LP Studio! Used to have a wine red chrome one... Sweet!

senseitp1 said:

Thank you sir. I did not think that Gibson installed Tone Pros on Studios of any year. Does it look like the intonation screws are proper? By that I mean in the front near the rear pickup? I've never seen a tunomatic type bridge like that. The screws were always in the rear towards the tailpiece. Looks kinda strange to me, but that's the way it was when I bought the guitar. I think the strap locks are Dunlop from what the catalog pictures look like. If anyone can add to this, please chime in. Thanks again

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Yes, the bridge is correct that way even though the Nashville it replaces has the screws facing the rear of the guitar. It almost looks like an ABR1.

I just picked up a 60s Tribute and it is a great playing and sounding guitar.

id love a LPStudio...still dont have a LP...but i found a loose soder joint on my 87 Ibanez destroyer...so that goes to the recording studio for my new album on Monday...

Hi, Nice looking axe. The back looks like a nice solid hunk of wood. Enjoy

RonH said:

I just picked up a 60s Tribute and it is a great playing and sounding guitar.

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senseitp1 said:

Hi, Nice looking axe. The back looks like a nice solid hunk of wood. Enjoy

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Thanks! I was really glad this particular guitar was the one that sounded and played the best to me since I loved the back on it. So far I just changed the knobs and put in some elbow grease time using Virtuoso Cleaner and Polish. I think it looks great. I love the neck since I like that unfinished feel. I like it as much as the 2004 Standard I used to own. It is great having another LP in the house and is a nice addition to my Frank Hartung Embrace which can be seen here.....

Frank Hartung Redwood Embrace

My Studio Tribute 60s Darkback:

I have two 90's Studios and I love them, one has an ebony board and the other has rosewood. The 490R / 498T pickup combination is as good as anything Gibson fit to Standards.
I don't like the snobbery surrounding these quality workhorse axes; if you believe everything you read, the Studio is lighter and thinner than a standard, has dot position markers and lower quality hardware and pickups.... Well mine have none of these features, they are Standards without binding, end of chat!

I have an '02 studio which is a great guitar. But the body is slightly thinner.

My new Les Paul Studio Faded (in addition to my Studio premium featured on post 83)

Here's a 2007 Les Paul Studio:

It weighs in at 7lbs 6oz and has a very sweet sound. I broke my long-standing rule about buying without trying and bought it used off eBay. When it arrived the clear coat was pretty badly flogged and damaged by sweat. There were actually fabric prints in the finish. I was able to buff out all of that and the guitar looks and plays marvelously.

Bob

Just finished repainting my Studio. Came out pretty nice.

8.8 lbs
'06 weight relieved with 57 classic and classic + pickups.
Everything else is Gibson factory.

My 60's Studio Tribute, posted before, but I love this guitar.





As you can see it's been chopped around a lot, but I ended up with a "signature" Les Paul for less than £1,000.

what-the-heck said:

Just finished repainting my Studio. Came out pretty nice.

8.8 lbs
'06 weight relieved with 57 classic and classic + pickups.
Everything else is Gibson factory.

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I broke my Studio and need to repaint it.

I'd love to hear more about your paints and technique.

what-the-heck said:

Just finished repainting my Studio. Came out pretty nice.

8.8 lbs
'06 weight relieved with 57 classic and classic + pickups.
Everything else is Gibson factory.

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Great job!!! I love the repainted Studio, PRS style fake binding look. I still think Gibson should start producing these.

Doh!!! Double post!!!

D'Mule said:

I broke my Studio and need to repaint it.

I'd love to hear more about your paints and technique.

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Ohhh man, hope you have a lot of spare time!! You're going to need it.


It took a while to get this thing to what I would consider a factory standard.
I can see why Gibson charges what they do for those flame and paint jobs.


As far as materials, it's all re-ranch materials.
Being my first paint job on a guitar (I've sprayed lacquer on automotive and industrial applications) I wanted to eliminate any variables from incompatible materials so tried to keep it all under one roof. Have to say I wasn't a big fan of the primer. But everything else was great.

It started life as a worn brown studio. I stripped it all down by block sanding with 220 grit first, then worked my way up to 320 grit.

Once all stripped.
Sprayed a light coat of clear to seal the wood pores and then came the grain filler.

Used the reranch grain filler with some TransTint dark red Mahogany to color the filler. At first, I tried it without the TransTint but the grain was too light. The only place I used the un-tinted grain filler was on the binding and top. After several applications of grain filler with an old credit card to squeegee the excess I sanded with 320 grit. Did one more application of the grain filler and sand. I then shot the sealer on there and sanded everything with 400 grit.

I masked the fine lines with pin-striping tape. It tends to hold a better line than masking tape. It won't saturate like masking tape because it's vinyl. It also conforms to tighter radiuses better because of it's flexibility which was important in the tight curves on the sides and for the stinger. Then used regular tape past the pin striping tape to mask the larger areas.



Once the top and faux binding were masked I stained the back with the TransTint red Mahogany. After several applications I found I had better consistency by wiping the whole tinted area with denatured alcohol to take off any excess stain. It had a tendency to even it all out rather nicely.




Even with the pin-striping tape there were a couple of small spots where the tint got through on the binding as the TransTint is so thin (plus it's thinned with alcohol). They were easily sanded down to bare maple and came out perfect. I think it's important to do the tinting first because the paint is easier to mask and won't leak thru but the tinting is much more difficult to control. Also helps not to saturate the edges near the pin-striping tape.

Once the back and binding were clean. it was time for the top.

Once again pin-striping tape was used to mask the binding and the primer was was shot on the top. I used Naptha and compressed air to clean the guitar and make sure there was no lint or residue. Skip the tack cloths they have wax on them and sometimes react with the nitro. I used a clean micro fiber towel and the sprayed the guitar with compressed air right before I was ready to shoot it.
I figured I'd spray the top pretty close to flat so I laid it on a clean table with thin plastic drop cloth material you get from home depot on the table and the something keeping the neck at an angle and shoot the color coat from the top. make sure the primer lays down nice an flat.

After the top was primed it was time for the green. same cleaning process
Once each coat is dry I wet sanded in between color coats with 500 grit. I applied about five or six coats of color overall. Before the last color coat dries you have to lift the tape carefully or else it MAY tear the color coat. If you have to wait a day between color coats you have to remove the tape and re-tape the next day. I personally don't let the color dry with the tape on there. I've been burned before doing that. After a few days of drying I wet sand the color coat with 500 then 600 grit making sure you are careful not to sand through the color or the edges.

Then it was time for clear.

I use a hook on the bottom strap button screw holefor this and hung it from the ceiling upside down so the body of the guitar was at shoulder level. It was easier to apply the clear evenly like this. Clean with naptha and blow off with compressed air once again.

The clear took way more cans than I expected. (6!!) I wanted a really deep wet look and I really wanted to make sure I didnt sand or buff thru the clear. I also didn't want any "potholes" from any areas where the grain filler sunk in (Mahogany is really bad for this). As another variable, there's a fine line between spraying too far away waisting clear, and too close, so that it can run easily. Neither is ideal. I only applied three or four coats of clear per day and chose to remove the masking tape from the neck every time. Once it sat overnight, I wet sanded in between clear coats. Some people won't do this but I find, for me, it makes it easier to wet sand and can reduce your chances of sanding thru your clear coat.

Took about a week and a half to get all the clear on there. Mind you, after all this it may not seem like I have other things to do with my life but I really do, so this was not full time obviously : )
Plus, as I mentioned, I underestimated how many cans of clear I needed and had to order more.


then came the really painful part : (
letting it dry......


After a month and I think that was cutting it close. In hindsight I think if I did it again would let it dry longer as the finish was still somewhat "soft" in my opinion.

I started to wet sand with micro mesh sanding pads from 1500 to 12,000 grit and soapy water. Those micro mesh pads are well worth it as they really cut down on the buffing.



Once the clear was pretty flat, and by the time you got to 12,000 grit it was already somewhat polished, It was time for the foam pads and the 3M Finesse it.

I used the stew mac foam pads


These were really nice to work with, just the right contours for the tight areas. The hourglass one was really nice on the neck.

Finished it off with 3m imperial hand glaze and voila.



If that was painful to read you can imagine how painful it was to actually do the work. Hopefully this will help you or someone else thru the process.

I'm not sure I would do this again. The results were satisfying but the labor involved in getting quality results especially for the first time was pretty overwhelming.

Start to finish 2.5 month's : ( It's not what I do for a living so did it in my spare time, but still..........

Bravo for dedication and results!

Bob