Wow, what a great guitar.  And a fantastic example of a great guitar at that!  It’s seen some action though, and needs a little TLC to bring it back to life.

The frets are a little worn up at the paying end so that’ll need sorting out for a start.

In preparation for a fret dress, off with the strings and out with the nut. It’s had a really nice bone one fitted at some point so that’ll be going back.

Next, make sure the neck is completely flat.

Then tape it up to protect it while I work.

With that done start the levelling off.  The beam is a calibrated flat surface once I’ve got down to the lowest point I know all the fret tops must now be level, with no more notches.

I put black marker pen on the fret tops so I can see all the low, worn areas.  This is probably about half way along the process, you can still see some deep notches.

And that’s just about done.

That’s actually the easy part. The time consuming part is re-crowning the frets.  Each one now has a flat top that needs to be rounded off again.

The one on the left has been done and I’m working on the middle one.  You can see just how flat the tops to the right are.

Once the frets are level and the right shape again each one needs to be polished with 4 grades of micromesh cloth.

Looking good….

While the strings are off I like to give things a good clean.  This one’s been well kept so didn’t really need it, but why wouldn’t you?

Likewise a spot of lemon oil never goes amiss.

Since I flattened out the neck out to dress it, there may well be a slight adjustment needed now it’s back under tension.

It did need a slight tweek.

Then the action at the 12th fret.  The bridge height screws always get disturbed during the process so it’s always going to need re-setting.

Since it had to come up by quite a bit, I like to take the pressure off the thumb wheels by levering up the bridge.  You can sometimes wind them down, but never up under pressure.

The action back at the 1st fret was fine.  Whoever fitted that bone nut did a good job.  All it needs now is a check of the intonation.

and, of course, a quick check of the pickup heights.

While it was on the bench I did notice a couple of other minor problems.  The pickup switch had been spun round so I put it back and tightened up the locking ring.

The bottom strap button was loose with a rather bent screw so I plugged the hole, re-drilled it and put in a new screw.

And there it is, ready to Rock and Roll again.  I definitely need one of these in my life!

A word or 2 from the owner:

“I took my prized Gibson Les Paul to George as the frets were a little uneven and causing buzzing on some notes. He recommended a fret dress/levelling in addition to a full set up. I got my guitar back today and I am blown away by how well it plays now. George has done a fantastic job. The frets look/feel as good as new and the set up is perfect! I’m really pleased with the result and highly recommend Guitar George for all your guitar maintenance and repairs. In addition to the top notch service George is also a really nice, friendly guy!”