Gibson SG Special Faded Damaged Finish

[Ernesto]

So a while back I bought a Gibson SG Special Faded from a friend for roughly 100 bucks. According to my friend the guitar was given to him by a cousin who obviously abused it a bit cause the fretboard was pretty dry and the finish looks damaged (I guess).

I'd like to know if there's a way to make the finish look closer to it's original condition. Other than that, the guitar plays and sounds great.

Any help will be greatly appreciated!

See pictures:

 

[cerebral gasket]

That finish looks awesome. I have a worn brown SG Special Faded just like it.

 

[pancake81]

$100, your laughing. Nothing some fret board conditioner and polish can’t bring back to life

 

[ydrive]

Nice! Wish I had a friend who'd sale me a worn brown SG for a $100. Just try buffing it out with something like Meguiar's Ultimate compound first. Personally, I like the worn look. Here's the finish on my new 2017 Special T:

Toni's custom "Old Boy":

 

[Col Mustard]

Welcome to ETSG! I think you got a great price on a fine instrument.

Start with the concept that the Gibson SG special faded is one of the
best Gibsons ever made. This is the workingman's Gibson, no fancy gloss
finish, no diddly inlays or unnecessary binding.... but this guitar's got all
the rawk and kerang, and you can make great music with yours.

Spend your money getting the guitar set up perfectly by the best luthier you
can afford. (NOT the sales guys at GC). I mean find out where all the local pros
go for service to their instruments. Then take your new used SG in and have it
set up and completely checked over. It will cost you almost as much as you paid
for the guitar, but will be very worth it IMHO.

Ask the luthier about the finish. Refinishing the instrument would be laborious
and unnecessarily expensive IMHO, but you should discuss it with someone who
knows how.

The faded special is intended to look a little bit like an old one... and it does.
In that sense, you shouldn't fuss too much over it, or try to make it into something
that it's not. What you bought was a player... a guitar that can make great music.
Not a fancy showpiece, but a working piece of equipment.

The reason that the faded specials were sold for smaller money was because Gibson
didn't spend a lot of employee time and effort on the finish. They put the thinner
and softer faded finish on, and sold these for about $500 less than a Standard.

Having said all that, I will answer your original question.
If you are really serious about refinishing the instrument then strip it, and
stain it the color you like, and apply tung oil. That's easy and can be done
at home.

I don't know what all that white stuff is in the pores of your guitar,
it might be a buffing compound someone used, trying to make a faded guitar
into a glossy one. Or it might just be the thin lacquer reacting to time
or heat. Formby's Furniture refinisher might dissolve it, along with the rest
of the finish. Or you might be able to sand the surface down below that.

I wouldn't do this, even so. I'd play it as it is. What I do to the finish of my
faded SG is use Howard's Feed n Wax. Wipe it on, wipe off the excess, and
polish it with a cotton bandana.

 

[Ernesto]

Nice! Wish I had a friend who'd sale me a worn brown SG for a $100. Just try buffing it out with something like Meguiar's Ultimate compound first. Personally, I like the worn look. Here's the finish on my new 2017 Special T:
View attachment 29974
Toni's custom "Old Boy":
View attachment 29975

Love that new shinny finish!!

 

[Ernesto]

Thanks for your input. I'm glad you mentioned the white dots cause that's exactly what's been bothering me. I'm not interested in refinishing the guitar, just make it look a bit better.

I'll try some of your suggestions with the Formby's Furniture refinisher and wax and see how that goes.

Thanks again!

 

[DrBGood]

ERNESTO ! 100 bucks ? You thief !

Looks like the body needs a good scrub. It might have been waxed with car wax or something and the wood pores filled with residue. I would try to rub a small spot on the back with a toothbrush, see if the whitish stuff comes off. If not, try a little hand soap and warm water.

 

[flatrockmobile]

Mine looks exactly the same as the OP's. Love it and wouldn't change a thing about the finish.
Mine is an '04 and is much heavier than my other SG

 

[rotorhead]

So a while back I bought a Gibson SG Special Faded from a friend for roughly 100 bucks. According to my friend the guitar was given to him by a cousin who obviously abused it a bit cause the fretboard was pretty dry and the finish looks damaged (I guess).

I'd like to know if there's a way to make the finish look closer to it's original condition. Other than that, the guitar plays and sounds great.

Any help will be greatly appreciated!

See pictures:
View attachment 29971 View attachment 29972 View attachment 29973

Would you believe some people, many in fact, pay hundreds and hundreds of dollars extra for that worn look on much more expensive models?

You picked up a gold mine for $100 :)

 

[shreddy bender]

Looks like it needs a bath. That's all. No grain filler means open pores for dust and buffing compound to gather.

Doesn't look any worse than mine.

 

[jtees4]

Score! I'm not saying to do this, but it worked for me. I have owned three or four faded SG's over the years. I bought a brown one that looked like yours. I was oiling the fretboard (lemon oil) and a bit dripped on the finish. I wiped it and it looked great. I decided to do the whole body, I did not soak it but I just worked a little bit into the finish. It looked totally brown and shiny when I was done. Eventually the shine went away, but the finish still looked like it should PLUS the guitar did not feel oily at all.

 

[shreddy bender]

I did that on mine the last time I oiled my finger board. I used mineral oil as that's what I already had from making stuff from soap stone.

 

[Daniel.S]

Just give it a wipe down with some water on a CLEAN microfibre and see how dirty the cloth gets. No point putting wax on a dirty surface.

 

[AngelDeVille]

Looks perfect to me.

Oil the fretboard and play the damn thing.

Buy the epiphone guitar polish and put a gibson sticker on it and wipe it down.

 

[Semla]

Looks like polish or something that is stuck in the open pores. I know how to make it look like that because I did that to one of my brown faded once. It was impossible to remove. Luckily, it was easier to REPLACE. I used black shoe polish and wiped my guitar with it. It stained the pores black which looks like a standard with walnut pore filler.

 

[Biddlin]

About $25 for the pair, use the cleaner (a double app or more) then finish off with the polish.
Pics of the whole guitar would be lovely, too.

 

[Matti Malinen]

So a while back I bought a Gibson SG Special Faded from a friend for roughly 100 bucks. According to my friend the guitar was given to him by a cousin who obviously abused it a bit cause the fretboard was pretty dry and the finish looks damaged (I guess).

I'd like to know if there's a way to make the finish look closer to it's original condition. Other than that, the guitar plays and sounds great.

Any help will be greatly appreciated!

See pictures:
View attachment 29971 View attachment 29972 View attachment 29973

I had same kind of problem, when i tried to polish my guitar with car wax. I asked local master luthier for help and he recommended trying a window cleaner. It really worked on my guitar.

 

[Cenulab]

I have a 2013 SGJ that was getting nice an shiny where my arm was rubbing on it, so I decided to buff the whole body out. I used a mild rubbing compound, and I tested a small area first, waiting a couple of days to make sure I would not be left with residue in the pores (which is what yours looks like to me). Unfortunately, a few days after polishing the whole guitar I found that I DID have residue in the pores! It just took a while to dry enough to show up.

I tried all sorts of things to clean it, but nothing worked. Finally, I thought, "What sticks to wax?.......Wax!"

So, I used some black wax (actually, a shoe cream) on the whole body and then buffed it by hand. I really like the results! Gives it a bit more of a vintage vibe. Here's a close up, where you can really see the grain, and a front view, which shows how subtle the over-all effect is:

 

[laza616]

100 bucks for the best SG? Well , congrats