Refinishing extgravaganza

[antennafarm]

so i have a problem: i'm apparently addicted to refinishing.

first a trip to reranch.com and spending lots of money on nitrocellulose lacquer. because i like guitars that age with grace!

my black double bound partscaster tele? i built this out of parts, allparts double bound thin nitro finish. i never added clear but add a hummingbird-type inlay sticker to it (on the body, because it's classy!)... decided it was time to actually clear coat it because it's getting beat up WAY too quickly. BUT WHY NOT STRIP THE SIDES? so i did, it's not 100% pretty (my fault, probably). amber clear tint that, bury the rest in clear (mostly to stack up to the sticker 'depth'). it's kind of like a nice suit that's had a hell of a night.

the blonde tele body that has been sitting in a box forever? let's strip it! let's choke ourselves on the paint fumes because the finish on that thing was paint proof.. NO chemicals, even the strongest and most toxic (like, burning skin just being in the same room) didn't work. heat gun and TIME TIME TIME TIME. turned out to be a really nice one piece swamp ash body! well, now it's a nice, deep gibson-type heritage cherry red. like the most oxygenated blood you've ever had.

1975 hagstrom swede? sorry man, that crazy finish has got to go. another bomb proof finish (polyester!)... now, that gibson pelham blue top, blonde back/neck.

all drying on hooks. ran out of clear.... should be here on thursday. then spray... and then 30 days of cure. pictures when they're all up and going!

and of course i score a squier jaguar. i have Plans for it. luckily the finish stripped in under an hour with a heat, almost melted off.

soon maybe i'll graduate from spray can nitro to an actual spraygun.

help me, people. or give me guitars to refinish.

[wafl]

Why don't you just sand the bodies?

[antennafarm]

like, relic them? because that feels like cheating.

[wafl]

I mean instead of heat gun. I'm just curious if the heat gun is faster. It seems like it would take way longer trying to get the finish off that way.

[antennafarm]

it depends. when it comes to the fullerplast sealer coat that fender uses, sanding is a pain in the BALLS.

on the blonde tele body, it came off a lot easier than this jag body (i only had to brute force sand it in a few spots).... this jag, the color coat came off, but the fullerplast is EXTREMELY stubborn. luckily i'm going to be doing it in a solid color, so some scorching (some.. haha! ok a lot) isn't really too much of an issue. you heat this stuff up until it just... pops. like the eggs in ghostbusters. and then i die of some awful lung disease because plastic dust is coating my lungs.

[KaosCill8r]

Just throwing in a good method for using paint stripper. Lightly sand the paint to break the surface, then paint on your paint stipper. Apply it nice and thick. Then put the guitar body or whatever you are trying to get the paint off in a plastic bag or wrap in cling wrap so no fumes escape. Leave for about 20 minutes. It will melt the paint and really get bubbling. It will be soft enough to strip back to bare wood with a plastic scraper so no heavy scratching on the guitar body.

[Mudfuzz]

pictures would be awesome!

[antennafarm]

KaosCill8r, thanks for the tip - but this stuff was impervious to chemicals. I tried what you said partially -- sanding it first to break the surface -- but no go. They should make hazmat suits out of that stuff.

mudfuzz, will do once my other-stuff calms down a bit!!

[KaosCill8r]

Oh! Never tried stripping paint off guitars but it works great with automotive body work applications. Nitro paint is something I've never had anything to do with. Thought it might work.

[antennafarm]

nitro paint is super easy to strip. i WISH i were stripping that!

fender has been using poly for the most part for ages, and a long while ago they started using this stuff called fullerplast (plast=plastic). i'm dying early because of this stuff.

the nitro is for refinishing. i dig the way it ages (yellows, dulls, wears away, checks). not too interested in relicing BUT i love relics (like, old, aged, used instruments that show their love).

so now we're looking at the following In the Works:
black double bound tele (got it nitro black, but sanded the sides so it's natural sandwiched between black; body is beat to fuck because i never put a clear coat on it, including some kind of cringey gouges when a screwdriver slipped twice when i was reinforcing the pickguard with extra screws)
red hb tele, gibson 490r in the neck, screamin demon in the bridge (requires a little sawing and gluing so the base will fit).
hagstrom swede (now newbie pelham blue top with blonde back/neck instead of bombproof black). tv jones powertron/powertron+ pickups!
cadillac green jag. haven't started spraying this one but the nitro just came in.

refinishing is intimidating but nitro makes it "kind of" easy... it's fairly forgiving and if you follow instructions/take precautions/prep properly, it is RELATIVELY painless. reranch.com's forums are freakin gold, and in general is a very cost-effective place to get into this (although it's cheaper, i think, to get the clear elsewhere).

pictures after assembly!