My guitar refinishing journal

[Keitake]

Hello,

It seems that most of my post, ever since the past few months have always been about refinishing. That is because I have been into refinishing guitars lately, and is in the process since December 27 last year? Basically, my guitar has been sanded twice and this is my final finish before clear coating. I will be posting pictures of the guitar with the original finish to the second, and then sanded down again (Because I don't like it) to the finish here.



Above is the original finish of the guitar



Blah blah blah, I decided to make a flamed maple top. Seven month after refinishing, something happened and I stripped it back and decided to make a solid finish. (And that was like last month?)



I decided on a red finish, but the finish was too bright for me. I then painted it black. And then I discovered a great finish.



I will talk more about my refinishing progress later and I hope to make a video of the process from the original finish to the flamed maple, and then to the latest one. Stay tuned!

-Keitake

 

[relinquish69]

don't forget to share the problems you encountered along the way. that way at least people will understand why people charge so much for refinishing.

 

[KrAzYSeLL]

paint remover

seriously.. after stripping off the paint off one of my ibanez body now i know why people charge so much for refinishing.. truely the paint remover is 1 fked up liquid man. i just had 1 drop of it landed on my leg and the next thing i realised was burning "sensation" and followed by a blister...

 

[faekildare]

Remember I told you about it. LOL. Just be careful when you use a paint stripper.
Also, here's a trick/tip.

If you used spray can to refinish, strip the paint with thinner and a cloth. Just wipe it all off.

If you are clearing original factory finish, just sand it all down.

 

[Keitake]

Yeah, there a a lot of things I would like to share, in fact, too many things that I have to actually simplify it up first before making a big composition of the process.

Sanding the guitar was a pain in the .... job. It took me around 4 - 6 hours to get it done. Things that I have learned are to not use coarse grits when stripping as the wood will develop scratches which are not pleasant especially when you want to have a thin or clear finish. Maybe something finer than 500 grit will do. 320 is okay but still has scratches, but you can actually fill them up by putting more lacquer on it.

I have just made a video on the sanding parts and will do more videos when I get good response (?). Here it is

Thank you guys!

 

[faekildare]

Erm... Why did you sand the guitar with the neck, hardware, electronics and strings still attached?
Where did you get the veneer?

 

[Keitake]

It was sort of a laziness thing. It was a floyd rose and I have had experience with the solder exploding while I was trying to take the pickup out in front of my face and that made me think twice before disassembling the hardwares. I bought the veneer from a pal in the states. I have thought of buying more recently, so if anyone is interested, you can send me a pm (I'm not advertising though)

 

[faekildare]

How much do they cost on the average.
Actually, you can just cut the ends of the pickup wires....

 

[ShredAddict]

one thing I like about super strats is that most of them come with flat tops which makes them very veneer friendly. thumbs up to that.

 

[KrAzYSeLL]

hey im kinda interested in the veneer how much is it?

 

[Keitake]

I think it is about $20 per set. I will try to bookmatch them if you're interested, but I don't have it right now.

By the way, about stripping the paint with thinner, I am definitely going to try it some day. I have a question. My neck still has the flamed maple with that colour and I don't think it suits the current finish right now. Do you guys think I should just leave it at that or refinish the neck to match the colour of the body? And what are the disadvantages of having an unfinished neck? I like the feeling of unfinished neck because it lets me play fast, sort of.

I am currently waiting for the finish to dry and the shipment for my buffing compound. Can't wait to see the guitar go SHINY!

 

[faekildare]

Leave it!!!

 

[fgl]

after a long lay off from guitar refinishing, I took on 3 stripping & paint jobs for kakis ...

after that I wondered why I accepted - forget the lechness in striping, sanding, priming, staining, painting etc ...

waiting to finish of my friends Fender bass then lay off again ...

 

[VidaK]

after a long lay off from guitar refinishing, I took on 3 stripping & paint jobs for kakis ...

after that I wondered why I accepted - forget the lechness in striping, sanding, priming, staining, painting etc ...

waiting to finish of my friends Fender bass then lay off again ...

same here... after spending maybe 200 hours working on my guitar it is far from perfect and still incomplete... argh...

 

[Keitake]

At first I thought after finishing the stripping part, it's all going to be easy, but I didn't know about having to sand per coat, and then remove the orange peels (very annoying) and then spray some more clear coats and remove the orange peels again. And then you have to spend more money on polishing compound, buffing compound and then wax. This is why it costs alot for painting what people might call simple colour (solid) which seems simple for laymen, but in fact, even solid colour is a pain in the fingers.

~On topic: 2 weeks for the final coat to dry before it shines now!

 

[faekildare]

Actually, you do not need to sand every coat. You can actually do with 3 dust coats (Which gives u orange peel) and continue with more wet coats.