1979 Les Paul Reborn and 6hours of hard graft...

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8bit Barry

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I bought this LS60 Les Paul Reborn from Ebay a few weeks ago which was delivered last Friday. I clinched it for just ?340, but shipping and import duties it came in at around ?550, which overall was a good deal.....

I know you guys are all into your higher end spec models and flaming etc, but it's a nice sunburst, without pronounced grain, streaking...

The top is a perfect join that's almost impossible to spot unless you're in the right light.... as you can see it's more red / orange leaning into violin than your usual bright reds... the blend is nice and subtle.

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and now the not so nice bit.... It didn't attract much attention because of the condition of the back of the guitar, which looked as though it had been dropped involved in a Japanese bar brawl, but I had a good idea it wasn't as bad as the pictures suggested.

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This afternoon I spent six hours repairing the poly lacquer and turned it back into this.... Its not quite finished but I can't put any more time in today.... I'm only repairing what I classify as 'carelessness', I'm going to leave the other wear and tear.

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Its all thanks to this wonderful product -
Guitar Polish Scratch Remover - http://www.guitarscratchremover.com
You can get it on Amazon or Ebay
WARNING - If you think its going to happen in just 10mins you are sorely mistaken!! - This has taken me most of the afternoon watching films on the sofa to get it to this far. There's two bottles, one red and one blue, red is a general polish, use the blue for deeper scratches. You builds up the lacquer bit by bit, rubbing perpendicular to the scratches with the microfiber cloth they also supply.... and it takes AGES and AGES with you rubbing extremely hard. You don't need masses of solution, just apply regularly and give it loads of pressure with a single finger through the cloth.... nothing worth winning is ever easy is it.

Anyway here's some general information about the guitar...

NECK - Its a superb 50's C neck as expected, not too large, but fills the hand.

WEIGHT - its a little heavyweight, 4.2kg

SOUND - its the best sounding Tokai LP I own. It's only got the stock pickups and PCB wiring, but it's a bright and lively guitar, so its going to get the full works over the next six months. The middle position is really chiming and almost telecaster like, with a great sounding bridge. The neck pickup as always seems to lack the clarity I like in other styles of guitar, but its far better than the other 2x LP Reborns I own, which both lacked sparkle before modification.

A full restring, setup and some TLC has really bought this guitar to life, but the removal of all those ugly scratches has also added a value for my efforts.
 
Congrats on a nice guitar !! Happy new Tokai day. I actually prefer plain top. Nice work you did.

Enjoy
 
So what is in the two bottles ?
Cut polish compound in the first and wax in the second bottle ?

Are there different instructions or steps for lacquer finishes compared to poly finishes ?
 
Its like the Matrix - except theres a red bottle and a blue bottle... ;)

The red is a general polish, which they recommend you use first, then apply the blue for deeper scratches. I found I just yoyo'd between red and blue - things seemed to really work.

There's a lot more information on their website, from the link I provided above.

All I can say is that its total genius. I have restored an otherwise abused TLPReborn to superb condition. I have also removed some carelessness from two other guitars last week as a test run and the results are amazing....
 
8bit Barry said:
Its like the Matrix - except theres a red bottle and a blue bottle... ;)
LOL

I'll try & find out what I can from links on their site, thanks.
 

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