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Thread: My beautiful G&L Got a Major Ding

  1. #1
    Forum Member ch willie's Avatar
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    My beautiful G&L Got a Major Ding

    My Les Paul got out of my hands, and it hit my JB-5, leaving about a nickel-sized piece out of the finish and in a tiny area, the wood too. I've thought about taking diff colored paints and creating a small, unique design, but I don't trust my skills in pulling it off. So I've got to find a Luthier because it makes me sick every time I look at it.

    I'm so bummed, I'm not even going to post a pic. Out of all my guitars and basses, it has the most beautiful finish.
    Last edited by ch willie; 07-03-2021 at 10:22 AM.
    If we'd known we were going to be the Beatles, we'd have tried harder.--George Harrison

  2. #2
    Forum Member FrankJohnson's Avatar
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    Re: My beautiful G&L Got a Major Ding

    Quote Originally Posted by ch willie View Post
    My Les Paul got out of my hands, and it hit my JB-5, leaving about a nickel-sized piece out of the finish and in a tiny area, the wood to. I've thought about taking diff colored paints and creating a small, unique design, but I don't trust my skills in pulling it off. So I've got to find a Luthier because it makes me sick every time I look at it.

    I'm so bummed, I'm not even going to post a pic. Out of all my guitars and basses, it has the most beautiful finish.
    Sorry man - it happens to all of us, from time to time.

    I refer to the first one as the "Adams Effect"
    (The first cut is the deepest)

    how bad? pic?
    Kenny Belmont
    >:^{I)>

  3. #3
    Forum Member DanTheBluesMan's Avatar
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    Re: My beautiful G&L Got a Major Ding

    unless it was something like it split the body in half, took off a horn from a body bout, I wouldn't worry about it. Battle scars. Poop happens. Sometimes the repair is worse than the defect.

    I once had a car that I bought brand new. In the course of my duties, it got some overspray from a sealer job I was at. When the stuff was cleaned off, there were very slight variations in the finish of the hood. Rather than leave well enough alone, I got the hood refinished at an allegedly very reputable body shop. The color match was perfect but the finish was brittle AF. Bugs and bird poop could chip that finish, never mind rocks. It bothered me so much that I only kept the car to the end of its payments and traded it in. I could have driven that car for another 20 years but no, I had to try to 'fix' it.
    "Live and learn and flip the burns"

  4. #4
    Forum Member ch willie's Avatar
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    Re: My beautiful G&L Got a Major Ding

    I don't get upset about the honest ding here and there, but this takes away my enjoyment.

    I put the red spot there from a little touchup pen. It's a very light thing, and the refinishers will sand it off.

    I've decided to send it back to G&L if they'll do it. I don't mind paying if they've got the exact match of paint. I know it'll never be perfect again, but I'd always hate this.

    If we'd known we were going to be the Beatles, we'd have tried harder.--George Harrison

  5. #5
    Forum Member Don's Avatar
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    Re: My beautiful G&L Got a Major Ding


  6. #6
    Forum Member DanTheBluesMan's Avatar
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    Re: My beautiful G&L Got a Major Ding

    if that had been the bottom edge, it'd be one thing. I don't blame you for wanting to fix that. That's a little more than a ding, even a major one.

    If you feel comfortable reassembling it, just send the body back. It'll save a lot on shipping. Unless you want them to set it up again, I don't remember how you liked it when it arrived. For some reason, shipping bodies seems a lot less stressful than a big huge box with a case. For one thing, people won't know it's a guitar (which I think sometimes make it a target.)
    "Live and learn and flip the burns"

  7. #7
    Forum Member phantomman's Avatar
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    Re: My beautiful G&L Got a Major Ding

    Break out the belt sander and turn it into a "relic".

    "When injustice becomes law then rebellion becomes duty."

  8. #8
    Forum Member ch willie's Avatar
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    Re: My beautiful G&L Got a Major Ding

    Rog, that'd make me even sicker about it. I spent a lot of money on that bass, and it's the prettiest one in my collection. I chose the finish and plastic config, and I've dreamt of having one that color since I saw a Tele like that a decade ago. Anyway, I'm whining. I shouldn't have trusted the strap I trusted. Stupid of me. No excuse.
    If we'd known we were going to be the Beatles, we'd have tried harder.--George Harrison

  9. #9
    Forum Member Offshore Angler's Avatar
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    Re: My beautiful G&L Got a Major Ding

    Might be time to do a burst. Red is about the most impossible color to match there is. I'd just stick a Band Aid on it and keep playing.

    You race 'em, you wreck 'em.
    "No harmonic knowledge, no sense of time, a ghastly tone, unskilled vibrato, and so on. Chuck is one of the worst guitar players I know" -Gravity Jim

  10. #10
    Forum Member DanTheBluesMan's Avatar
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    Re: My beautiful G&L Got a Major Ding

    I think they would refinish it rather than try to match it
    "Live and learn and flip the burns"

  11. #11
    Forum Member ch willie's Avatar
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    Re: My beautiful G&L Got a Major Ding

    Quote Originally Posted by DanTheBluesMan View Post
    I think they would refinish it rather than try to match it
    A luthier for prominent Nashville players messaged my friend that he'd have to refinish the whole thing. So I'm going to do something not to hide the ding so much as to make it work with the bass in some way. I don't need to do it today. I have forever or at least until Death eats my a**.
    If we'd known we were going to be the Beatles, we'd have tried harder.--George Harrison

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