Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

Beautiful Paul! Another great refin. Keep up the excellent Work!

Dang Paul. That is just incredibly beautiful. Words fail me. Show us a photo of the front of that lustre bunny!

Truly gorgeous, Paul.... Can't wait to see more pics.... Can't wait to see what you will do to MINE!

By the way, is that a reflection of a Curmudgeon in photo #3?

That's the curmudgeon's illustrious ribcage, wrapped in an Aloha shirt.

Okay, Paul, after waiting for over a week, when can we see the front of the guitar? I just had to ask....

I guess I forgot to post this one.

This is a photo from the first neck step of the clearcoating process, which in all takes four separate applications (although not four coats, I hasten to add!). The neck takes two steps, one hanging, and one resting upside-down on the headstock, in order to get the smooth clearcoat transition filling the hairline gap between the fret and the fretboard on each side of the fret. The body takes two steps also. First, the back alone is clearcoated. The next day the sides and front are done. After about three to five days' cure time, the guitar is hand-wet sanded and buffed out and waxed. The frets are levelled with a special long sanding block.

Then the hardware is refitted and wiring connected. Set-up is last, with a new set of Rickenbacker strings.

Right now, David's guitar is resting following wet-sanding and will be undergoing final steps of buffing and assembly.

Watch for more photos during this coming week.

Thanks, Paul--so you weren't deliberately trying to torment us!

Truly a lovely color; will look great when reassembled! Looking forward to seeing more!

Torment is seeing a pic of my refinned LP and now having to wait for the final buffing.

I was truly blown away by the fabulous job Paul did on the LP. He perfected matched the look of a faded burst I gave him as an example. The guitar looks like it could now be in the book "Beauty of the Burst".

I didn't get a whole lot of process pics of Jamie's guitar, but Forumites will remember a thread in which Jamie was lamenting the magenta finish of his Les Paul, and wondering whether it would be worth it to get a refin.

We had a brief meeting and he left the guitar with me, along with a picture of his "dream" Les Paul Burst.

So, I stripped the magenta back to a beautifully-figured maple top, which also had just enough spalting to be interesting.

Then, the guitar's top only was masked, shaded and tinted to match the photo. I applied some clearcoat and it will also be color sanded and buffed. He'll be picking the guitar up on Tuesday to use on a gig Wednesday. I hope he is inspired enough to channel Jimmy Page or Jeff Beck or ?

Here's a photo of the guitar as it is now, along with the photo he gave me:

It looks a bit greenish--that's color reproduction on the Web. It is, in fact, a nice, warm, amber with a reddish-brown shaded edge.

Thanks for a fun project, Jamie!

Paul, super job--again! And the new color is a huge improvement over the magenta, I might add....

I love the look and sound of Les Pauls (but not as much as Rics!).... I tried one in a music store once, and it was okay, but it just didn't have the same irresistible crazy-in-love feel to it that I get from a Ric.... Though I may still get one some day if the right one comes along....

Yep! Great work again, Paul. I'm a bit greenish myself...... with envy!! Er..... you, not the guitar!

I like the classic shape of Les Pauls, but the necks feel like stumps to me, and the pickups, for the most part, are too generic-sounding for my ears.

So I sort of split the difference and prefer to play Gretsch Jets, Melissa. Same shape as an LP, slimmer neck, and choice of either Filtertrons or single-coil DeArmonds.

Paul, the Les Paul I tried was one of the "60's-neck" models,and the neck felt very similar in diameter to some of my Rics.... But like I said, I just didn't feel the same kind of connection to the guitar when I played it, although I love the Les Paul growl!

"60s necks, huh? You are so right. I still mourn the loss of my old '63 SG Junior in a bad trade back in '77. It was a sweet-playing, perfectly-balanced guitar. I'd bought it new, too...