This Les Paul looked very different when we were finished with it.
This late 60’s Les Paul Deluxe has had lots of work done to it over the years. Its original P90 or mini-humbucker pickups were removed and replaced with full size humbuckers, it has had mini toggle switches installed and removed, and its original gold top was refinished as a burgundy shaded burst. The current owner discovered that a hairline crack had appeared in the top, extending from below the tailpiece all the way into the neck pickup cavity. He asked us to repair the crack and refinish it to it’s original goldtop color.
These two small holes between the control knobs probably once housed coil tap, phase, or series/parallel switches. They’ve been filled, but are still completely visible.
The body crack is barely visible – running through the tailpiece and bridge post holes and continuing all the way into the neck pickup cavity. To make the repair really look right, we knew we’d have to refinish the top. First, we completely strip away the old finish.
This close look at the pickup routs shows the original P90 routs, widened to fit full size humbuckers and (if you look closely) some remaining patches of the gold finish it once had. We opted to stay with the current humbucker pickup arrangement but to restore the gold finish. The one electronic alteration we made was to wax-pot and cover the pickups.
Here’s a better look at the body crack after repair.
The refinish begins with sealer and white primer coats.
Then that distinctive Gibson gold-top. Here we peel away tape that kept the gold paint off the edge binding.
After amber top-coats and some light relic touches, it’s starting to look the part again.
Once the work is complete, there’s no evidence of the body crack or switch holes anymore. It’s just another great looking Gibson Les Paul Gold-top.
Do you sell, or know where i can purchase Gibson Gold Top paint?
Thank you,
Grant Dittmer
Hanover Park, Illinois
Grant, I think I may have written to you this week already, but I suggest the Goldtop Gold from Guitar Reranch.
I’d like to suggest that Les Paul Deluxe’s from this period had standard size humbuckers. I don’t believe the mini humbuckers arrived until the Gibson Les Paul Standard guitar arrived.
Beautiful job guys!!! I am looking ot buy a LP with P90s, but am afraid to do the routing in case I ever want to go back. Do you recommend humbucker replacements that fit a P90 rout?
Generally, one would go the rout of a mini-humbucker – as this guitar probably had originally. It gets housed in a modified P-90 cover that serves as a pickup ring. This way, you don’t have to expand the pickup rout to get hum-cancelling. Take a look at Jason Lollar’s great explanation of the difference between mini-humbuckers and the Gibson Firebird style pickup.
I have a small chip on the face of my Gibson Les Paul Studio 2013 (wine colored). The chip is about the size of an eraser on a pencil. I goes through to the wood. Any ballpark idea of cost on fixing it?
Loren, sorry to just be seeing your question! We’re better about checking email than website comments if you’d like to write us at info@chicagofretworks.com. Drop-fills usually start at around $85 and airbrushed touch-up starts around $110. We can definitely make it look great again!
Hi, what kind of glue did you use for the hairline crack (looks like epoxy) and how did you get thick glue deep into such a fine crack? Btw, nice restoration job.
David,
Thanks and sorry for the slow answer. It’s hard to remember (looks like we did this in 2010) but I think we might have widened the crack slightly and inlaid a thin strip of maple into the split. We might have used Titebond or epoxy for that but I think that may be dried superglue in the photo above which we might have used to fill some tiny gaps in the surface.