HELP needed. Nitro Damage

[dmraco]

I am helping restore and early 90's Les Paul Classic Gold top.  The color on this thing is amazing.  It is road work and played hard.  It has the road worthy dings and checking.  I will post some pics for everyone to admire.

I am doing a full fret dress and polish, replacing the tuners (two are broke) and performing a general clean and set up.

One of the issues is there is some serious damage on the back bottom of the guitar where it was placed in a stand.  Aparently the material reacted with the nitro and did some damage.  It was then placed in the case and now even seems to have grown "hair."  I will get some photos.

I am afraid for sand because I do not want to go thru the finish.  Anyone deal with this issue?  I know I will not completely get it off since it is likely deep in the finish.  I just want to reduce its look and feel.

BTW...this is a project for some one who has been battling the bottle for many years.  He abandoned this and several others (Gibson and Ric).  We are trying to get him on the right path and hoping this will provide some incentive.

 

[AirCap]

Once the finish has softened and stuff started sticking to it - you're done for. Scrape it, don't sand it.

 

[dmraco]

here are some photos:
Front


back....the horror

 

[fdesalvo]

Looks like damage caused by rubber/latex tubing on those older-styled stands.  Newer stands use foam, which prevents this reaction.  Nice guitar.

 

[Tonar8352]

You might try a small area with some Benzine and see if that will clean the hair off with out removing the lacquer. Then let it set for a couple of weeks and try polishing it up. I doubt that it will work but nothing ventured, nothing gained.

Great patina on that guitar! What year is it? Does it say Les Paul Model or Les Paul Classic on the head stock. 92-93 will be Model later will be Classic. Those early ones are really nice guitars!

 

[dmraco]

You might try a small area with some Benzine and see if that will clean the hair off with out removing the lacquer. Then let it set for a couple of weeks and try polishing it up. I doubt that it will work but nothing ventured, nothing gained.

Great patina on that guitar! What year is it? Does it say Les Paul Model or Les Paul Classic on the head stock. 92-93 will be Model later will be Classic. Those early ones are really nice guitars!

It is a great guitar.  Slim taper neck and heavy.  The truss cover says classic.  I will have to look at the headstock.
It did try some sand paper starting at 600 and worked up to 1500.  The "hair" is gone but you can still feel the damage a bit.  But the areas you feel are actually LOWER than the finish instead of above it.  I polished and it does not look too bad.  I am a bit surprised the discoloration around the pickup did not come off when polishing.  Must be deep too. 

I love it.  I do not want to take away too much character.  It plays so nice it does not matter.

 

[DangerousR6]

Don't touch it....Leave it be, if he wants one with a shinny finish tell him to by another one...Someday it will be worth something..

If your looking for a vintage LP, do you want one that was refinished by some dude in his basement or do you want one that is original...

 

[TBurst Std]

Not sure I would or ever consider a 90s LP vintage. Not sure if I could ever say that about my 79.

 

[Glimmer]

Not sure I would or ever consider a 90s LP vintage. Not sure if I could ever say that about my 79.

“Vintage” seems to be a relative concept. For my daughter, music from the ’90s is like Bill Haley to me.

 

[DangerousR6]

Not sure I would or ever consider a 90s LP vintage. Not sure if I could ever say that about my 79.

I don't mean that a 90's is vintage now. But someday it will be Much like a 50's model is vintage to us now...

 

[mayfly]

Hey - back when Peter Green was making noise with his '59 les paul, that guitar was not even 10 years old!  Vintage is relative 

 

[DangerousR6]

Hey - back when Peter Green was making noise with his '59 les paul, that guitar was not even 10 years old!  Vintage is relative 

Well technically to be classified vintage it has to be at least 25 yrs old...

 

[ByteFrenzy]

Which means that early 90s is indeed already vintage. Sorry if this makes you feel old...  :help: :help: :help: :help:

 

[mayfly]

Not sure I would or ever consider a 90s LP vintage. Not sure if I could ever say that about my 79.

Oddly, I agree with this.  Mostly because my '79 Les Paul sucked    Good riddance !

 

[TBurst Std]

Not sure I would or ever consider a 90s LP vintage. Not sure if I could ever say that about my 79.

Oddly, I agree with this.  Mostly because my '79 Les Paul sucked    Good riddance !

Sorry to hear. Mine has served me well. Plays and sounds good.  Was my main guitar in the 80s when I was playing for a living. Then again it is odd that it doesnt weigh 10 lbs like it seems everyone else's late 70s Norlins do.

 

[DangerousR6]

Not sure I would or ever consider a 90s LP vintage. Not sure if I could ever say that about my 79.

Oddly, I agree with this.  Mostly because my '79 Les Paul sucked    Good riddance !

Sorry to hear. Mine has served me well. Plays and sounds good.  Was my main guitar in the 80s when I was playing for a living. Then again it is odd that it doesnt weigh 10 lbs like it seems everyone else's late 70s Norlins do.

I had a '76 Custom, that got stolen, and it was an awesome guitar.

 

[nullref]

Shame about your custom, nice guitar. One day I'll find a nice '77 in tobacco or cherry burst... Birth year LP.

 

[dmraco]

I finished the work in the goldie.  I had to repair a tone pot, replace all the tuners (two were broke so I did the whole set so they match).  We cleaned all the hardware and polished the frets.  I also took may polisher and ran it over the entire guitar just to give it some shine.  I did not want to remove any of it "character."

The nitro damage on the back goes down to the wood.  I cleaned it up but otherwise left it alone.

After a complete setup thins thing sings.  I would play this any day.

BTW...anyone know what causes the "GIBSON" inlay to always get like this on vintage instruments.  It must have something to do with how the nitro interacts with the inlay.

 

[rgand]

Looks great!