How to refinish Gibson guitar. Gibson les Paul Classic 1996 nitro refinish. 

That lemon top was beautiful...

3:00 My friend, I also work with Acetone in my lab. What I've found out is, Acetone permeates through nitrile or latex gloves. You may harm your skin in the long term. We are using thick yellow latex gloves over a regular nitrile glove. This way by the time Acetone starts to permeate through thick glove, our work is done. I suggest you the same. Have a good day.

I'm not expert however....1)It seems you put in a lot of knowledge, time, effort and energy into it. 2)You certainly did a fantastic job. Your knowledge and experience certainly shows!

I think you made it look way better. More historic and proper.

It looked better before the finish. I think hiding all the flame took out the natural beauty of it. The finish on the new one is better quality but then again I don't like burst finishes.

First off great job! Looks beautiful! Now to all the negative people out there. Buy the time most Gibsons you own or can afford wont make you money while your alive. So if you play it you lose money lol come on. You buy guitars because of the look sound and how they feel. Clapton's blackie whas a partscaster Kieth Richard's puts different tele necks on Dwane Allman's Gibson was repainted so was Mark Knopfers hell the frickin frankenstrat, that guitar name says it all! Play what you want be positive I'm happy the guy getting this guitar will love it because it's what he wants. He will probably play it more now. That's awesome. Wait, maybe he'll take this guitar and make a smoker out of it like ACE did. Great work guitar looks awesome!

First blush, 'Why ?", Finish, "Oh Yeah!!!" I especially like how the last colored 'clear coat' worked with the body binding. That yellowed tint looks amazing with the finish. Amazing.

Brilliant job, that top is a killer! Not keen on the stinger though. I think I would have sanded the back of the head stock and re sprayed it.

That was an amazing video, I truly enjoyed it. I especially liked the way you scalloped the edges of the LP and applied the burst and then colour corrected/shading the entire guitar. Very well done. If you lived in Canada or even the US I would send you my LP to refinish. Great work,

Dunno man. I think you did amazing job with the refinish. But I think in the case of this guitar, she should have been left alone. I would love to see such refinish on a Les Paul destroyed by some angry teen with spray can... But this one? Was great in original state, a keeper if it plays good.

That lemon burst finish at first looked so better.

The man corrected the carving by eye! WHAT?! That is a beautiful burst too. After years of ogling Gibson Les Pauls I've decided that I hate 90% of Gibson's sunbursts, but that's a beautiful dark burst. You're a master sir.

Very impressive work. You are an artist and a gentleman. 👍

As good as the refinish lookes it lookes better with the original finish

I wish you had a repair shop here in Southern California. I'd give you tons of business, that's for sure. Keep on rock'n!!

Seeing a lot of comments saying they like the original color?! I think it looks 100% better now!

Looks and sounds great! Thank you so much for narrating in English.

Beautiful finish. Great job

WHHHHYYYYY??!?!?!?!?!?!?!!?!?!?!!?!? That dirty lemon finish is one of my favorites lol Not shitting on a dark burst/deserburst at all They all look beautiful

Dude your guitar looked amazing without touching it. not that it looks bad now but wow did that thing look crazy awesome slash Paradise City finish.

your Gibsons look a LOT better than the ones from the factory....:-) A lot better...!!!

Very professional job right here. Not something the average guitarist should attempt. In any case, good job! It looks great.

Awesome job. I prefer the original colour but if this is what the owner wanted, so be it.

I think the new color is fantastic! I am much more fond of the new look. Plus the guitar sounds great! You definitely have a lot of skill and confidence in your abilities. This is evident simply because you put this out there for everyone to see. That really says it all. I love watching people who know what their doing, when refinishing a guitar. It's always very educational. I can fix a guitar, and build a guitar. But actually finishing a guitar, that is where I have to stop, and let someone else take over. With a Les Paul you have to make sure the finishing job is in good experienced hands, such as yours! Great Job!!

i prefer the original full flame yellow, i dont like cherry bursts but thats just me, very talented though, i would have no problem letting you refinish my black 1980 les paul which had defective paint and nitro, i ended up just sanding off the nitro to make the guitar playable but man is it ugly, its got it where it counts though

Great job but preferred the original colour!

Those pickups sound amazing.

Great job, looks much better, especially near the rhythm treble switch where the flame is a bit iffy. Mine is also very sticky, it's actually painful to play in summer or for extended periods, I tried talc and rubbing with course paper but usually resort to lightly sanding it which lasts a few months

Great work but .. why would you ruin such a great guitar to begin with? The pre-historic is becoming a classic. The owner now has a generic looking LP that has less character and less value. Odd choice of donor!

Man I'm watching yours videos like I'm watching a movie !!.........next one I'll get some Popcorn !

Excellent work, you are very skilled at refinishing...very interesting to watch the entire process. Your finish looks very very close to the original Gibson 1958 to 60 Les Paul Bursts.

absolutely stunning work. If only I was as talented as you. I keep trying. You are a true Artist Dr. Nitro.

Beautiful work! That looks fantastic. We have the same amp! LOL! I also have a JCM600. 2 X 12” speakers. Great sounding amp. Great job on the guitar!

Looks so much nicer with that burst finish, very nice looking top.

Never change a winning team bro! The LP looked gorgeous as it was.

i dream about doing this myself one day, once in a while i watch this video again for inspiration.

Looks like a reissue now, great job. Tip: to get rid of the plastic-ness of the finish, you can expose the guitar to moderate sunlight to dry the paint and get rid of the plastic'y feeling. It will also fade the finish and make the guitar look x5 better.

A gorgeous piece of work... Yeah, fantastic results on that one! 👍

After reading some of these comments, I am thinking about refinishing my 2008 BFG Gold Top to '57 Gold Top Darkback just to watch the world burn.

Great job Doc! Refinished a beaten up '78 Gibson LP couple of years ago. I'm not a luthier but just a skilled craftsman so it took me over one year; I'm happy with the result. Faced the same headstock problem and came to the same stinger solution as you.

That was some real beautiful work!

Great job brother! The final product looks incredible and will age so nicely. I wish I had your knowledge, patience, skills, and talent.

well done. I would trust this guy working on my guitar

The Les Paul Classic Premium Plus is a future classic, it was made when Gibson started to do things right again. The pickups are 498r and 500t ceramic. For me refinish it shuddent been done.

Good tutorial, but I prefer the original finish look.

Wow the sunburst is super well done! Great job

I think you do great work Dr. Nitro, but the before Amber color looks WAAAAY better than the refinished color. I think is was a HUGE mistake to do the refinish.

You did a great job man! I wouldn't have chosen to refinish the guitar on the first place, but I love that finish you went with at the end.

i am surprised that the binding didnt get damaged with the acetone

Great work! If I had a guitar that needed this work, I'd be happy to leave it in your skilled hands!

I LOVE the Lemon Burst ! The refinish job is Awesome too, though.

To be more precise, it is 1996 LP Classic Premium Plus or LPCPP

I like the way it looked before? To many sunburst Les Pauls,

2:30 - I have never seen this stripping done to a guitar before. My main work horse guitar is a AAA flame top Gibson LP and I would literally cry if I saw this done to it! Amazing skill to refinish the guitar like you did in this video though. Hats off mate, well done!

It looked great at the 8:34 mark. Still, looked rather nice when complete 👍🏻👍🏻

That was a beautiful burst finish at the end. Thanks for posting.

After he took the factory finish off, he could've stopped there. That wood was GORGEOUS. Just clear it and call it good!!

Amazing refinish and attention to details . Much respect for keeping a vintage American Les Paul alive.

I agree with some of the guys here, the whole work is amazing, but I would prefer a call before painting a stinger headstock. I would be probably happier with a bit of color missing below the tuners, where it is not really visible anyway. Overall, the work is fantastic, compliments and congratulations!

The new burst look is amazing!

I preferred the original color, but your work here is fantastic. Nice job.

So great to see a new video from you. You are an absolute master of your craft!

love that deep carve

I quite liked the pattern of the damp tissues, like a type of basic Paisley pattern gone mad 🙂

You definitely have some skills.. it looks fantastic.. but I did like the first finish better because you could see more of that beautiful Flame..

Work of art! I’d love one of my guitars to have this done. Skills 👏🏼

The original finish looked great, why would someone buy it and have it refinished like that? The refinish looks absolutely stunning as well though

my god! beautiful work. Wish I had even 10% of your talent.

I do prefer the refin, but i can understand why anyone would want to get rid of the original finish on an excellent looking vintage instrument. Just buy the guitar you want and sell the one that isnt worth ruining its originality.

I don’t like the black on back of the headstock but otherwise it looks nice

I would spend so much money with this guy…I would be changing the color of my Gibsons every year lol.

I was skeptical going in but convinced by the time you had finished. Awesome job.

Wats wrong with the original finish?, i love it.

Awesome video, outstanding craftsmanship, this guitar had a Beautiful top from the beginning

Guitar refinished by Jaques Cousteau.

Amazing job Dr. Nitro!! I made my first stratocaster but i finished with tung oil, next one will have nitro finish!

Can’t imagine why you’d want to trash a classic, but to each his own.

Beautiful work and gorgeous refinish! Thanks for sharing and great playing as well!!!

Your young age and the quality of your work give me hope for the future.

I liked it before hand..

Looks better than Factory. Although I have to say I bought a 2019 LP Standard and it's excellent. I love opening the case and smelling the Nitro.

Great workmanship! But I like the 'before' look much better, haha ; )

That guitar sounds sooooo sweet!

The acetone doesn't melt the binding?

I was glad to see that you took this opportunity to recarve the top. I've seen people who have done refinishing, and skipping this esthetically pleasing detail. I have built one, and it was a lot harder than it looks in videos. You are probably a lot quicker.

that's how a Gibson Les Paul Standard 59/60 Burst is SUPPOSED to look, I keep b*tching about this to Gibson, the sides/back are way too light on their current USA factory produced 50s/60s spec Lesters, I don't even see many out of Custom Shop that look as good as what you did to this Les Paul, well done!

Dr. The operation was a success!

loved the finish before the cherry..

Beautiful quality job. The finish and sound are amazing

Holy Cow!!! Amazing job!!!

Awesome, beautiful! I could never do work like that. The only thing I’d do different is add an ABR-1 bridge. And yes, it can be done, I’ve done it many times myself.

The black back of the head without authentic serial - is very doubtful decision

You do incredible work.

Great work but...the original finished just looked better.

this is top shelf work man. looks great.

The work is amazing, not doubt about that, it's just that wasn't the guitar to do it.

Honestly, I prefer blonde/natural finishes-but your work here is so beautiful-classic, tasteful and clearly done with passion! Bravo.

Доктор, было очень приятно видеть, как вы превратили этот Les Paul в шедевр. Вы также талантливый музыкант, поэтому ваше имя должно быть Maestro Nitro. Подписался.

very very good work......the classic series i love because of neck angle.....50' and early 60s had very thick pickup rings and higher off the body.......i got my Classic Premium Plus on feel alone.......the wood is bonus.

Looked better as a Lemon Drop!! How could you do that, wow!!!