Official Luthiers Forum!

So I was a huge Leslie West fan back in the day. This prompted me to buy a '59 Les Paul Junior that had a red/brown stain finish. Of course, I wanted the cream color that Leslie played so I had a friend of mine who painted cars (don't say it) paint it for me. It actually turned out spectacularly well. He didn't remove all the stain from the grain, and that came through the paint to show the grain. At first there was just a hint of graing, now 40 years on, it's more dominant. I don't like it as much as the subtle effect but it's still very unusual.

The problem, if you hadn't guessed from the stain coming through is that he used lacquer. It's become very brittle and I've damaged it in several locations, one large area near the bridge through an act of supreme stupidity. I have the paint chips and have been gluing them back in place, but could use some tips on how to do that, as well as what to do to protect the paint from further damage. I figure a clear coat, but what type of paint? As a painter I pretty much suck, so I'll probably hand it off but want to know what's required.

Thanks in advance for any tips.

If the lacquer is brittle and flaking there isn't much you can do and "Gluing down chips will have made any proper repair of those spots physically impossible......

IMO it's live with it or strip and re-finish. My only repair option would be to re-wet the lacquer with solvents and re-flow it but that will definitely pull more stain from the wood into the finish...... and will not work anywhere you have glued down a chip.

_________________
Brian

You never know what you are capable of until you actually try.

https://www.howardguitarsdelaware.com/

Yeah, I kind of realized that halfway through. The glue thing that is. Not properly thought through. As you undoubtedly have guessed, I'm not a luthier by any means. I won't even discuss the stupidity that caused it. Thanks for the reply. Close enough for R&R will probably have to do.