Gold Top Paint

     This step takes a lot of time but is definitely worth it if you take your time to get it right. The trademark gold paint that is used on the real Les Paul's is arguably impossible to find because Gibson owns the rights to it and they have never put it up for sale. There are companies that make a gold guitar paint that is close but still not the same. Therefore, I spoke to a guy that helped me come up with my own custom concoction of paint to use. This is now my trade secret which I can only say involves a mixture of gold flake mica powder and polyoxide. I spent weeks to come up with what I think is the perfect gold. It can be applied either by brush or by a spray gun. Each method reveals a different design. I used a Craftsman air compressor with my Husky spray gun to apply the paint. The way to spray paint is to always apply thin coats and wait 1 to 2 hours for it to dry in between.

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Staining

      The next step in this invigorating project would be to stain the sides and back of the guitar body. To do this I used a mixture of a coffee paste and a red wine liquid. You can adjust the intensity of the colors my adjusting the ratio of coffee to red. I used a 1:2 ratio and carefully applied the stain with a 2" wide sponge brush from Home Depot. I recommend applying thin coats and waiting 2 - 5 hours between coats to let it thoroughly dry. Some tips on having a good result would be 1.) Always keep your area clean and away from any possible dust. 2.) Never sand in between coats of stain, only between coats of paint.

    Stain and paint are very different. Stain is what to use if you wish to enhance the color of the wood and still have the wood grain visible. This is referred to as being translucent. Paint is used to cover something up such as the grain on the wood. It can transform the material being used and make it look like metal instead of wood.

Preperation for Paint

     Now that mostly everything is cut and shaped it requires one last look over. I recommend fitting all the parts. I fitted the pickups one last time and saw that it was too tight. I spent some time to sand out the hole to make it snug. To prepare for paint I sanded with 600 grit sand paper and made it buttery smooth. Then I got a can of Sanding Sealer which is used to fill in all the pores from the wood to make an even surface. The process of applying and sanding should be done 3 or 4 times or until smooth. About a minute before the paint or stain is applied you should take a microfiber cloth and wipe the surface from any dust or particles that could obstruct your paint job.

Positioning the Neck

      

     The next step in this rigorous project is to sand and position the neck of the guitar. The neck is the only part of this guitar that I bought pre-made and I recommend everyone to do the same. I say this because in order to make a neck is requires many more tools which are rare and expensive. Plus it would be near impossible to get the fret bars as perfect as a machine would. It was only $90 and I believe it was the best route to go.

      To place the neck in the body you must carve out a 5 degree angle. This is a rare case where everything must be calculated on an angle because of the arc in the wood (this is a signature of all Les Paul’s). In a real Les Paul they use industrial strength glue to attach the neck. However, I bolted on the neck with a metal plate and used glue to make sure there is no chance if it separating.

    

Drilling

     The next step in building your dream guitar would be to drill all the holes (about 18). It was extremely difficult to drill these holes perfectly straight by hand so I used a small version of a drill press. However, the guitar is not flat so I had nothing to rest the unit on. Therefore, I made a small contraption to lay an adjustable 1"x 2" across the guitar so I can rest the press on it. You really have to think ahead about what needs to be drilled because there is no going back once the final paint is applied. Out of all, the hardest one to drill was a 1ft. 1/4" hole on a specific angle going right through the middle of the guitar! I'm not going to lie, this actually gave me nightmares because one flinch and the project would be destroyed since there would be a bursting hole on the top. Thankfully I did it. This hole is where the wires from all sections of the guitar will be running through to reach the volume and tone knobs at the other end.

Routing

To make the necessary holes and spaces for all of the parts to go, such as the pickups, a router is needed. To use a router for carving something other than the edges of your wood you would need to make a template. I did this by carefully measuring the distances from the 12th fret to the front of where I want each pickup to go. This took a long time because I had to do a few test cuts to make sure I was in the right spot. The part that was most tedious would definitely have to be routing out multiple layers within the hole for electronics to rest on. Then there is the thin 1/4" thick cut to lay the plate to cover the parts. This had a magnanimous amount of risk involved but somehow it worked.