This Guitar Collection Is Begging for a Red L-5CES

**icr** · 06-10-2026, 07:01 PM

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**Stringswinger** · 06-10-2026, 07:04 PM

Kiuller deal on a bespoke guitar. May she inspire your playing for many years to come!

**icr** · 06-10-2026, 07:07 PM

Spacer to make the fingerrest parallel with the strings rather than parallel with the tops of the pickup surrounds.

Strings (green) and fingerrest (red) parallel. This really improves playability as I need to anchor my fingers of the picking hand.

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**icr** · 06-15-2026, 07:18 PM

I was able to get the finish to re-adhere on the neck. Retarder did not work, as the lacquer is pretty thick.

What did work was lacquer thinner. Took about 2 hours of work. Dabbing the thinner to keep it wet. What happened it had to practically turn it to jello at which point it did buckle and become wavy. It did all stick down, however.

Now I'm sanding and adding some layers of clear to fill any valleys.

**icr** · 06-15-2026, 07:18 PM

I'll post all the pictures of the process once it is finished. Because I'm using lacquer, this will take some time; no hurry here.

**Bob_Ross** · 06-16-2026, 12:06 AM

Originally Posted by icr

2000s ES335

Does your 335 have gold hardware, or is it just weird lighting in that photo?

**icr** · 06-16-2026, 06:00 PM

Originally Posted by Bob_Ross

Does your 335 have gold hardware, or is it just weird lighting in that photo?

Good question. The lighting makes it look that way, it has Nickel hardware.

Only the Howard Roberts and the ES-175 are gold (and now L5 too).

In the way back is a 1976 Les Paul Custom. Its not really red, more maroon, but it also has nickel hardware instead of the usual gold seen on most Les Paul Customs.

**icr** · 06-23-2026, 10:03 AM

I suspect there may be other ways to repair this but this is how I did it.

I applied lacquer thinner to the affected area. This caused it to soften and wrinkle. I dabbed out all the bubbles that came to the surface. Then I applied a few coats of clear, sanded and polished.

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**icr** · 06-23-2026, 10:05 AM

The whole process took about a week.

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**icr** · 06-23-2026, 10:11 AM

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**icr** · 06-23-2026, 10:20 AM

The last picture shows how it looked before I started. Tying the strap around the neck (rather than having a strap button at the base of the neck) caused the damage. So next item of work is to install a strap button!

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**icr** · 06-23-2026, 10:33 AM

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**icr** · 06-23-2026, 10:50 AM

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**vinnyv1k** · 06-23-2026, 02:14 PM

Very impressive lacquer repair !

**icr** · 06-23-2026, 07:42 PM

I saw this post in response to a YouTube video of an L5CES. Interesting in that it seems to describe a flaw similar to what was evident in my guitar. Maybe there are more out there from this era with this clearcoat issue?

6 years ago
About 4yrs ago, I bought this exact guitar model [L5 CES] as a 2nd from MusiciansFriend for half price, it was a crazy deal! Used to be able to score some mega deals on MF but not so much these days. The only flaw she had was was a couple spots of clear coat peeling/flaking around the fingerboard binding, which is normal for that era custom shop nitro clear (especially with black finish, I've noticed). Less plasticizers in the formula, as it should be, and it'll flake. No big deal to me! She's meant to be played.

**Chezdeluxe** · 06-23-2026, 10:22 PM

My 1934 L5 Hutch Reissue built 2005 issued 2008 has the same issue on the treble side of the fingerboard in two separate areas adjacent to the binding.

I stabilised it to prevent further flaking by applying some Nitro Cellulose nail polish to the spots. Not the prettiest touchup but it worked.

**icr** · 06-24-2026, 07:09 AM

I was doing some research on L5 CES and most of what I found ends with the 1990s. I'm not really interested in expensive 'vintage' guitars. In fact, even the "Norlin" era is too 'old' for me. I'm interested in 2000s onward. Case in point; this guitar which is a 2003 model (at this writing the information from Wayback machine about my guitar is 22 years old.) Crazy that a 23 year old guitar is not considered "Vintage."

I went to the Wayback machine and copied some information that I will share here (this is 2004 but should apply to my 2003 guitar):

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**icr** · 06-24-2026, 07:11 AM

The spec. sheet indicates my guitar has '57 Classic Humbucker.

I found the 2004 'vintage' specs for that:

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**icr** · 06-24-2026, 07:14 AM

This is the "Color Chart" for my guitar (Wine Red):

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**2bornot2bop** · 06-24-2026, 02:05 PM

In my experience, the best L5CES I had was a 1998 model. That guitar bested a 2005, and 2011 model.

It had the smoke!

**icr** · 06-30-2026, 05:07 PM

Strap button installation:

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**icr** · 06-30-2026, 05:11 PM

Examining the guitar:

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**icr** · 06-30-2026, 05:13 PM

Cleaning the fingerboard and polishing the frets:

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**icr** · 06-30-2026, 05:15 PM

Polishing the body:

The sequence I used was, Compound, Polish, 3M Hand Glaze then Gibson Wax.

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