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I am rebuilding a 1933 L-00 that looks like someone smashed the back of over someone's head. The body has to be repainted and I bought a new white pickguard. Notice in the enclosed picture the area where the old one came up - it is partially dyed black, but not all of it.

A friend gave me a piece of yummy Italian Firestripe. You can see through it at the color of what's below in the second shot - even the grain of the wood. Looking on the internet, you can see that some of the originals were put on over a sunburst, and some are the same color all over underneath.

I am thinking of bleaching the dye in the are of the pick guard to even it out. I am wondering WWGD - what would Gibson do?

Any body have an opinion of how to handle this? - that was an unneeded question.

Ed

https://www.flickr.com/photos/ruby1638/ ... 308304085/

;

On Gibsons, the pickguards were never placed over the sunburst. The pickguards were always glued on the bare wood, and the sunburst was sprayed on top of them.
The black Gibsons had clear lacquer on the firestripe or white pickguards. The pickguards were masked before the black lacquer was applied, then the mask was removed to spray the clear lacquer.
Instead of refinishing the whole guitar, I would just touch up the areas with missing finish. Black is really easy to match color.
I do like the firestripe on black Gibsons, but white is correct for the early L-00's. Firestripe on the black L-0's (bound top and back) did not happen until around 1938.
To answer your original question, it is going to be difficult to remove the black from the bare wood under the guard. A combination of stripper, sanding, scraping and bleach would be my approach.

_________________
John

Jack and John

thanks for the answers.

Here is what I am basing my question on - there are many images of these guitars of Google and here is a typical one with a black finish:

http://www.vintageandrare.com/product/G ... lack-33586\\

This one shows a very light color under the guard. I was able to get the black off mine with a combination of bleach and a little lacquer thinner, but you can see the wood grain through the new guard. It looks much more like this example when it is laid on a white card. Would it have been dyed or painted under this guard?

Also, there are many sunburst guitars that show the pattern of the sunburst under the guard - or Jihn, are you saying the sunburst if OVER the guard:

http://www.garysguitars.com/catalog/1939-gibson-l-00

http://forum.gibson.com/index.php?/topi ... -00-today/ showing several in this thread.

I also saw a black one that had a small area of black under (over?) the guard along the edge at the rim - looked super

John - I had to put a new back on it, repair a sizable hole in the side, and repair several major cracks in the top, as well as taking off a replacement belly bridge - there is very little original black to save, although I am leaving the neck - wonderful patina.

The box has a very nice "thump" to it - can't wait to get the neck on it and get it strung up.

Thanks

Ed

No. If you look at those closely, you will see the spruce grain in the clear sections of the guard.

Like I said, the sunburst is sprayed, and it is sprayed over the pickguard. The pickguards were glued to the bare wood, and all the finishing (including the sunburst) was done on top of that.

_________________
John

....

It won't look the same. Most over-finish pickguards are applied with pressure-sensitive adhesive (self-stick), and it is very difficult to do that without showing some bubbles or milkiness in the transparent areas of a firestripe guard.
As far as buffing goes, it is not that difficult if the pickguard is relatively thin (~ 0.025") and is beveled and rounded on the edges. IMHO, those are the ingredients for the best looking guards, no matter whether they are installed under or over the finish.

_________________
John