R6 Jaeger Make Over

[El Camino]

I prefer Goltops with black darkback, best color combination, anyway it's your guitar.

 

[Revolver1]

I didn't realise they did them with a black back? Not that I'm an expert or anything, I'd just thought the really dark brown ones looked blackish in certain light situations.

So did they do a black back in 56?

 

[jb_abides]

I didn't realise they did them with a black back? Not that I'm an expert or anything, I'd just thought the really dark brown ones looked blackish in certain light situations.

So did they do a black back in 56?

I surmise he's referring to more opaque and very dark brown ones.

 

[Wilko]

Subliminal IanimilbuS said:

That is the Ozzy version dot. Silkscreen Les Paul Model position is nice. Sometimes those got a little too close to the Gibson logo and those look spatially odd to me.



Wilko, would you please do me a huge favour and measure the distance from the L in the word MODEL to the underside of the Gibson Logo?

If you could it would be greatly appreciated.

Sorry, I sold the guitar a few years ago. Here's a better pic:

 

[Revolver1]

Ahhhh, that's a shame.

Must have been a tough call to part with that one, It had a great back story and looked like the business.

Big thanks for the good pictures, I really do appreciate it. I guess we should be able to get pretty close with this. ?????

 

[Revolver1]

Getting ever closer to the end.... I can't believe how far its come, time has flown by.

" Logo and binding now ambered. Serial# re-stamped.

Now on to the clear coats. As few as possible but as many as needed. This process will take a few days (over the weekend)!

Nitro was expensive in the fifties, but workers were cheap. It was important that the coating should be a thin one! Today it's vice versa, workers are expensive and Gibson's Nitro is cheap (my nitro is expensive)!

So it's cheaper for Gibson to spray a thicker coat these days. The plastisizer makes it easier to spray and the thicker coat avoids the risk of buffing through it.

Thin coating requires more skill to avoid hand sanding through to the wood and this is more labour intensive and therefore more expensive to produce. That's why this guitar's in my workshop, I'll be doing this the old way. "

 

[DrewB]

Homina homina!

 

[MarcB]

Yum. ?

 

[Cliff Gress]

Back color looks very rich.

 

[renderit]

I never cared for darkbacks.

But that chocolate caramel thang you got goin' on there has me salivating!

 

[Revolver1]

??? I'm ecstatic about this dark back finish, it looks like candy. Florian tells me it looks even better in person which I could only imagine.

I know the following pictures are all part of the process but I don't mind admitting, it almost kills me to see it like this!!!!

If you look really closely you can see the pits in the wood grain (the dark spots that haven't gone white) which really shows off how thin the coat is. I now understand what Florian was saying about the extreme care that must be taken not to sand through to the wood.

" Here I'm sanding carefully by hand the Nitro Cellulose lacquer, keeping it nice and superthin! "

 

[Subliminal lanimilbuS]

Makes you appreciate how much work went into the finish back in the pre catalyst and plasticizer days. Think of how many hours of work someone like Semie Moseley must have put in. Even worse the poor guys that did the finish on those old grand piano's.

 

[Blue97FXSTC]

Why hide the S/N?
I often see this done in for sale ads as well.
Never understood.

Fantastic thread, Revolver.
Thanks for sharing your journey.

 

[Revolver1]

Thanks Blue97FXSTC.

I'm not totally sure about the serial number to be honest, I guess it's so no one can put it on a fake. Florian sent me a picture of the full serial number but advised If I was going to post it I should only post the partially covered one.

 

[Revolver1]

I wasn't expecting a Super Sunday update but here we are.

" This is the final clear coat. The coating is super thin, like some originals have. You can literally feel the grain. "

 

[Revolver1]

Slight change to plan, I've decided against having it aged.

Also Florian asked if I wanted his vintage patina done to the finish but I've decided against that as well. I think I'd like it looking as is, like a brand new guitar back in 56.

This guitar is going to get used, it'll be showing signs of wear soon enough and all done by me.

 

[Walnut's Nutwalls]

This guitar is going to get used, it'll be showing signs of wear soon enough and all done by me.

Excellent choice! And that guitar is looking superb!

 

[ourmaninthenorth]

I try not to interfere with the bill payers choices, but I'm over the moon you're not having The Argonaut aged, may all the battle scars be your own, they mean more.

Oh and that neck colour, eye -bloody-wateringly gorgeous.

Almost home....

 

[Revolver1]

Hey thanks guys.

Your not going to believe it but I've done a complete 360 here going over and over it in my head to make the right choice.

I'm not against aging but at the same time I've not been really massively into it. And when I'm looking at the pictures of that beautiful finish I'm asking myself if I really want to do the aging thing to it.

I've been talking it over with Florian all morning and he says the checking of the finish is what will really take the guitar to the next level sound wise and he highly recommends it. Having talked it over he recommends a light aging, nothing over the top and still keep it very tasteful.

So that's my full 360, I've run the full gamut of emotions today I can tell you....

I'm going to take Florians advice he says it really will make all the difference. ??

 

[zakkrhoads]

Here showing the Dark Back Aniline Dye pore filler application completed.

Really very happy with how this came out with tonnes of character.

I sent Florian a picture as a guide and it really is spot on. We had quite a bit of discussion about it because the image I had was a studio shot and the lighting was quite dark in places so it made the back look almost black in places but when it was lit up the colour would change to a deep brown.

Also another bit I love, on the photo near the top of the neck there was a lighter patch that looked like the grain hadn't taken the dye like the rest of the neck. I wasn't actually expecting it but as you can see Florian tried to capture this lighter patch.

I think it's turned out even better, it looks to me like a shard of Sun light has hit the back of the neck and faded it. I think it's great and looks really unique with bags of character.

Thanks for sharing such a cool process! One thing I didn’t get is the lighter color on the neck… is it the way the wood absorbed the paint? Could Florian have painted it as dark as the back?