I was living in the football dorm at the University of Kentucky when I met a guy who had a 1958 Les Paul Junior. He didn’t know what it was and offered to let me have it (kind of) for $100. I don’t know where or who he got it from but unfortunately someone thought it was cooler to spray painted the whole guitar metal flake sky blue (except the front of the head stock). They didn’t even do a good job of painting. It looked hideous and that is being kind.
My grandfather was a plumber by trade but his hobby was woodworking. He was actually known as a master craftsman for his woodworking. I took it to him to see if he knew some way to remove the paint. He scratched his head and finally said yes but it was going to take time. He was kind of upset someone had done this to the guitar. After a couple weeks he called me and told me it was ready. When I picked it up I was floored, it looked perfect. He even was able keep the serial # in tack (they were stamped on with paint). Below is a close example of what it looked like after it was stripped of the sky blue paint. It played ok and had a one dimensional tone. But it was better than not having a guitar to play.
A couple weeks after having it back, the guy I thought I had bought it from showed up. He demanded I give it back to him. He claimed I ripped him off because he didn’t know what it was when I bought it from him. Long story short he gave me my $100 bucks back and took the guitar. He didn’t even consider how much time my grandfather spent removing the paint. Later I found out he sold it to a guitar store in town.
I went to the store where the guitar was sold. I told the owner the story but he had already sold it to someone else. We got talking and he said why don’t I work for him in the store. He said I could check out all the used guitars coming in and play in the store when it wasn’t busy. I accepted his offered and worked in the store when my classes permitted. I did pickup another great guitar from the store, 72 SG.