Gold Top Les Paul start to finish

[Tonar8352]

Patrick from Davis paid me a visit and dropped this off to get dressed up as a Gold Top. The plan is to do the mahogany  natural and I will be using ReRanch "Les Paul Original Gold Top Gold" for the top.  I would question the validity of calling it that but it is what is going to be used since I will not spray metallic powder through my rig.

It was a pleasure having a Warmoth Discussion Board friend drop off the guitar since most of them come off a brown truck. I had the opportunity to play Patrick's Tele with the bender and he was fed all kinds of my guitars to try out.

Here is the raw guitar, be watching for a step by step on it.

Here is Patrick with a couple of my Warmoth builds.

 

[bagman67]

I am officially jealous on three fronts:


1. Patrick's gonna get a gold-top.


2.  It will be painted by Tonar.


3.  He got to play that sexy-ass Tele.  Possibly the prettiest I've ever laid eyes on, and y'all have seen my Quty Pie and Bete Noire axes, so that's no small praise.

 

[Cagey]

Too much fun!!

So... gold top, natural Mahogany sides and back?

 

[dmraco]

Subscribed.  This will be cool to watch. 

Patrick is that a Precision Les Paul kit??

 

[Patrick from Davis]

Yes it is a Precision Kit.  I went for the custom kit so that it had everything I wanted.  The "Baseball Bat" neck, or Junior depending on the pull down menu, the ABR bridge, and so on...  That tele is a beauty, and it is a feather.  The mesmerizing thing from playing all of those guitars was the original PAF's he had in one of his Gibsons.  It sounds off to say that, but those things are still haunting me sound wise.
Patrick

 

[dmraco]

Precision make a nice product.  I have a couple of their Jrs.  That neck is THICK!!!!

Should be killer!

 

[Patrick from Davis]

Well, you can see in the pictures, my hands are not dainty.  Tonar was mesmerized by my first finger (one of the knuckles is semi fused, yay! wait..) so I always appear to be pointing at people when playing.  I found it amusing, can't do what I used to, but I still can have fun.
Patrick

 

[dmraco]

You know what they say about guys with big hands.............






They need big gloves!!

 

[Tonar8352]

I taped off the neck so I can do a hand rubbed oil finish and I shot a couple of wash coats of filler on the rest of the body and headstock. I'll level sand and put past filler on tomorrow. The mahogany popped real nicely with the wash coat, its a nice looking piece of lumber.
Before wash coat.

After.

 

[Patrick from Davis]

Yup, very happy with the decision to go clear on the body.  This is going to be a fun thread.
Patrick

 

[fretless]

PGK's are awesome . That is a beautiful example . Nice plain top stunning back . Is it one piece ? Are you gonna do a stinger whilst you have the chance  :icon_biggrin:

:headbang1:

 

[tylereot]

Love Gold Tops, and that one's going to be a honey.
Wash coat is just a light coat of thinned lacquer, correct?
About to do the same with another chunk of 'hog.

 

[dmraco]

some inspiration.

I think a goldtop is the ONLY painted guitar I would own.  Maybe a Pelham blue model....

mine was a dark back

 

[Ddbltrbl]

I'm in! Love gold tops, but most look too faded for my taste. I'd like to have one that's close to what I would call a "Burnt Candy Apple Gold"! Any way I'm anxious to see how the ReRanch Gold works out. And, who could pass up a chance to learn from Tonar! :icon_thumright:

 

[bbl4ck]

I am officially jealous on three fronts:

3.  He got to play that sexy-ass Tele.  Possibly the prettiest I've ever laid eyes on, and y'all have seen my Quty Pie and Bete Noire axes, so that's no small praise.

I gotta tag this thread!  This will be a great project to watch...

Yes, I am definitely jealous of being able to play that tele  :icon_thumright:
That is without a doubt the sexyist tele I have seen.  I would love to rock her a bit'.
Keep the pics a rollin' Tonar!
:kewlpics: :rock-on:

 

[mayfly]

This is going to be great.  I'm currently looking at a Tonar finished Precision Les Paul kit - it's a hell of a guitar that really rings.

Congratulations!

 

[Perry Combover]

:headbang:

 

[Tonar8352]

Paste Wood filler today, I used the McFadden's neutral oil base. Its not bad to work with but no grain filling is fun.

Notice I filled along the neck glue joint on the top so it will not have a crack showing when the gold gets shot.

And now it looks a little richer than with just the clear on it.

 

[Cagey]

Paste Wood filler today, I used the McFadden's neutral oil base. Its not bad to work with but no grain filling is fun.

Have you tried this Crystalac, or seen any application of it to know how it responds?

It's supposed to be the whip. A buddy of mine bought some for a project and ended up not using it, so I'm still curious.

Notice I filled along the neck glue joint on the top so it will not have a crack showing when the gold gets shot.

Wow. This is going to turn out as good as a Korean finish, unlike some American manufacturers whose name begins with G and rhymes with "pibson" that I won't mention...

 

[Tonar8352]

Shot the gold today and it looks real good, I'll let it set over night and shoot one light coat of clear and then scrape the binding.