Finish Removal

brian · Post by **brian** » Wed Sep 14, 2005 6:27 am

What are the recommended ways to remove the paint from a guitar/bass before refinishing?

aceonbass · Post by **aceonbass** » Wed Sep 14, 2005 6:40 am

150 grit sandpaper. Use the yellow kind that doesn't hold the saw dust as much. Don't sand it any finer or the finish may not stick as well.

jingle_jangle · Post by **jingle_jangle** » Wed Sep 14, 2005 9:32 am

This depends upon whether the guitar or bass is bound.

If it's unbound, you can use a commercial paint remover. You must remove every last bit of hardware and wiring. Wear rubber gloves and follow the instructions on the can.

When it's been completely cleaned of paint and undercoat, wipe it with a rag soaked in denatured alcohol and let dry. Then sand with #150 to prep it for the next finish. Sand in the direction of the grain.

Prepping for paint is a whole other topic, depending on what type of finish you're going to put on.

If the guitar or bass is bound, you can still use stripper, but you must first mask off the binding, and you should apply the stripper a bit more carefully so it doesn't remove the tape, too. You should remask with each coat of stripper. When most of the finish has been scraped off, then you can remove the finish from the bindings and vicinity with #150 sandpaper on a hard rubber block.

brian · Post by **brian** » Wed Sep 14, 2005 3:37 pm

Thanks for the info. It is actually a 4004 I am considering refinishing, so it is unbound. I guess the only thing I have to worry about is the fret board, or maybe I'll refinish that also.

jingle_jangle · Post by **jingle_jangle** » Wed Sep 14, 2005 5:12 pm

Typically I refret a guitar whenever I refinish it. Results are much, much better and the time taken to refret is actually less time than it takes to strip a fretboard and try to get it smooth sanding against the grain, between the frets, which is generally a bad bet.

So strip the whole darned thing. Pull the frets carefully with a pair of StewMac fret pulling pliers or equivalent.

When you refret, don't hammer the frets in--press them in--it's how it's done at the factory.

See Dale's thread on building a solid body guitar which ran in early summer, for fretting and fretboard details. Or ask here. I'm doing several and can always post pictures.

soundmasterg · Post by **soundmasterg** » Wed Sep 14, 2005 11:36 pm

Speaking of pulling frets, what do you do when the frets are so low the stew-mac pliers won't get a grip on them? I'm talking about the teeny stock, and worn down frets on my brother's '83 Squier Strat. I've tried and tried, but they just won't grip the frets to pull them out and its a maple finish so I don't want to screw up the fingerboard finish.

jingle_jangle · Post by **jingle_jangle** » Thu Sep 15, 2005 3:53 am

Greg, proceed with the utmost caution on this one. Fender frets in maple necks were pulled in from the side for many years. I'm not sure when they stopped doing this, but I think yours may be one of these. If you try to pulls these the "usual" way, you'll get lots of splinters and a ruined fretboard.

Hey--it's an '83. It's a Squier. If it was me, I'd look for a replacement neck. Lots of suppliers carry them, both finished and unfinished. Keep the original for verification purposes if you like.

soundmasterg · Post by **soundmasterg** » Thu Sep 15, 2005 10:48 am

Thanks Paul. I was wondering if these might be the ones that were inserted from the side. The problem with replacing the neck with another is that my brother likes this one a lot. If I could get the frets out without messing up the fingerboard, then I could put some in myself easily enough with no too much effort or expense. I think I'll talk to a local guitar maker/repair friend and see if he can give me some firsthand advice/help on getting them out.

winston · Post by **winston** » Thu Sep 15, 2005 11:52 am

Greg,

I do all of my own work on my Strats and as Paul very rightly points out, you do need to be very careful with a maple neck. Quite often the factory applied nitro cellulose lacquer (or in later years a varnish of some sort) right over the frets when they were finishing the neck.

Here is a good site to read up on how to re-fret a maple neck. It saves me writing a book here on the subject.

http://www.fretnotguitarrepair.com/repair_pictures5.htm

winston · Post by **winston** » Thu Sep 15, 2005 12:00 pm

Oh I forgot to mention that if they are the ones that were pulled in you need to take all the same steps to free them from the board and push them out. Usually that work is performed from the topside of the neck and they are pushed towards the lower bout. I normally check that out on a fret close to the neck pickup for obvious reasons.

If you are not comfortable doing this take the neck to an experienced luthier.