My SG Project

So I got this SG from Craigslist. Personally I hate Les Pauls and SG's. Their neck just doesn't work with me at all. Their tone is fine, but I can't get over their necks. Anyways I'm working on refinishing it because some guy tried to but failed. So, and Carl can vouch for this, I'm a curious SOB and usually end up tackling something in my spare time (that I should be spending hours and hours practicing). So here are some pics of my progress as of 10/28/09.

I'm gonna do multiple posts for each stage to avoid confusion.


This post is Day 1: Receiving the guitar.

Day 2: Removing the Paint

On this stage, I chose to use a heat gun instead of paint stripper or sanding down. The heat gun is a much faster method, however, I made a beginner's mistake and left the gun on spots for too long. When using the gun you have to constantly keep it moving. The spots are noticeable to the naked eye with no finish on the body, but by adding an extra coat or two they should be no more recognizable than the grain of the wood.

After all the paint is removed, I sanded the body to 220 grit. After everything was flush and smooth, I took naptha and washed the body completely. By using naptha, the sawdust is completely removed and it raises the grain of the wood so that the grain filler will be soaked in completely.

During this step, the guitar fell onto the floor. The neck broke from the body so I had to re-attach the neck pieces. I used wood glue and clamps to press the two pieces together and you can see in the picture that the crack is visible at this stage... but wait til the later stages as it will disappear completely :)

you gonna do an epic paint job too?

Hmm pics aren't attaching

Day 2 Pictures:

Day 1 Pictures:

Day 3: Applying Grain Filler

On step 3, the body has been sanded to 220 grit and has been washed so that the grains are ready to accept the grain filler.

I chose black grain filler as it would be the most visible through several coats of red paint (which will be needed due to the burn spots). Most people see the iconic Gibson SG as Cherry Red with a Black Pickguard and that is what I'm striving to accomplish.

To apply the grain filler, a brush and a scraper is needed. You dip the brush in the filler and apply to 6 inch sections at a time. After applying, take the scraper and press hard against the body, forcing the filler into the wood. Let dry for about 5 minutes and then wipe as much off as you can with a cloth. What you can't wipe off will be sanded off and the longer it is on the wood, the harder it is to sand.

You continue to apply the grain filler with this process until the entire body has been completed. On this step, sanding to 320 grit is the goal.

I did not use the filler on the neck because Gibson has two very noticeable joints on the neck. The grain filler would concentrate on these points and make them even more obvious than they already are.

Day 4: Sealing the Body

The next step is to seal the wood so that no paint will soak into the grains. This step is easiest as you can coat the body and neck with the sanding sealer and sand it down.

I could finally work with the neck on this step so I used the heat gun to remove all the paint and sand it to 220 grit. The crack is completely gone and all that is visible are the joints from where Gibson joins the wood together.

After spraying the sealer, I sanded to 320 grit and made sure all imperfections were gone. This means leveling the edges (no sharp edges), leveling the body, making sure no part of the grain is sticking up.

This is the last time that you can make the surface level, after this point its applying the actual coats of paint.

Also with this step, even though above I said you can spray the sealer on, you want to make sure that you sand it down so that it doesn't make the guitar much thicker than it originally was with no sealer at all. So sand as close to the body as you can. With each coat of sealer, paint, and clear coat the guitar will get heavier and heavier, remember this!

Day 5:

I've applied 2 coats of Cherry Red on the neck and the body. I then sanded with 320 grit til it was super smooth. After waiting 4 days, I applied my first coat of Clear Gloss Lacquer. At this point, I'm up to my 4th coat, so I will begin wet sanding with 400 grit paper this weekend. You have to give the paint a couple of days to harden so no sand throughs occur.

There are no front shots of the clear because I'm doing them separate. I have no place to hang the body so it's difficult to flip back and forth. One tip, use wax paper not aluminum foil. Apparently lacquer and foil have bad properties together and the foil will rip the paint off the body. (This happened and I had to re-paint, hence the major delays).

Day 6:

These pictures are after the 4th coat of Clear Lacquer. I can begin wet sanding with 400 grit this weekend to start working on leveling and getting a mirror finish.

In the kitchen guitar re-finishing. I love it.

It's looking really nice, and I hope it comes out awesome in the end! :D

Wow. I agree it's looking great so far! Can't wait to see it finished.

This looks awesome man, my friend tried building a guitar for his school project - he should have learnt off of you.