I commented about this guitar in another thread and a user thought it was worth posting. 

I bought this standard new in ‘96. The official color was “Honeyburst” which I thought was the coolest thing ever. I played full time for several years and this guitar got played a lot. 

One summer in the early 00s I had a weekly gig at a bar by the ocean.  They had these huge windows behind the stage they would open up in the good weather. It was great having the summer air blowing while you play but I sweat a lot when I play and the guitar just felt sticky. After a particularly hot gig I got really pissed. I just kept getting gummed up.  The next morning I took a razor and a 3M pad to the back of the neck and took a bunch of the finish off. 

I used a utility blade (out of the blade holder), held it at about a 60 degree angle dragged it from the heel to the headstock over and over. It took several passes and I didn’t scrape much as I got close to the binding. After all that scraping, there were lines each pass of the blade went. To even that out I used a 3M pad and knocked the finish down a little more. The 3M pad was easier to use by the binding as well. It’s felt great ever since! 

I had anecdotally heard that Gibson used different amounts of plasticizers in their nitro mix at different times. The finish is definitely “harder” than it was. It seemed to feel more fully cured towards the end of the 00s. So, ten+ years. 


So I sweat a lot and apparently I always have my arm in the same place because that spot has worn through most of the finish. What’s interesting is, once it started to wear through it also started to check. The checking flaked off so once it started it wore though pretty quick. 

The headstock started checking right away. The clear coat was already checking around the logo when I bought it new. I played a lot of Les Pauls and this one sounded the best so that never bothered me. 

The guitar has also faded, which I didn’t expect. I have included a pic from ‘99 and you can see it’s much darker. Some of that is the lighting but it’s definitely faded. 

How my ‘96 Les Paul has aged (and why I to a razor to the back of the neck)