I have had this made in China Saga Gladiator Les Paul copy for a few years now, it is made from nice wood and it always sounded nice but I have never really liked the way it felt. It is a '59 copy so the neck was a bit beefy for my taste and the super thick glossy poly finish made it feel too plastic. Since I missed the Warmoth boat for the Les Pauls I decided to try and make this one more to my liking. So I thinned the neck a bit , contoured the heel, and gave my tummy a bit of room to grow. It had a very dark stain on the back so I was very happy to find a very nice mahogany underneath with a little red mahogany stain and some tru oil it is now the best looking thing about the guitar. Its not the fanciest flame top but it is a solid 3/4 inch maple cap not a veneer, but it looked like a candy apple so I thinned the finish as much as I could then tried to give a more satin look. Here are some progress pics, I forgot to take a pic before I got started but it looked like a Les Paul.
Then after a little stain and oil
I was going to strip all the finish off the head stock and the sides but I just did not want to deal with any more of the dust so I wimped out and left it like that.
Here is the face after thinning and dulling, don't get me wrong I like a good looking nitro gloss but this one just looked too cheap so I knocked it back a bit.
It is all back together and feels so good it went from the closet to being my favorite guitar. The contoured heel and tummy cut really make it very comfortable and tru oil neck feels so much better than ultra thick poly. It may be in my head but acoustically it seems to sound better, more resonant and fuller, electrically I am pretty sure there is no real difference, but it always had a good plugged in sound.
Then after a little stain and oil
I was going to strip all the finish off the head stock and the sides but I just did not want to deal with any more of the dust so I wimped out and left it like that.
Here is the face after thinning and dulling, don't get me wrong I like a good looking nitro gloss but this one just looked too cheap so I knocked it back a bit.
It is all back together and feels so good it went from the closet to being my favorite guitar. The contoured heel and tummy cut really make it very comfortable and tru oil neck feels so much better than ultra thick poly. It may be in my head but acoustically it seems to sound better, more resonant and fuller, electrically I am pretty sure there is no real difference, but it always had a good plugged in sound.
