Gimme some opinions! (burrito's project thread...)

[gunslinger_burrito]

I'm just going to turn this into a project thread, as I've been acquiring a couple project guitars.

First is this, kindly traded to me by blahquaker:


I'm going to refinish it, change the pickguard and pickups, the bridge, and maybe the neck at some point. (serious baseball bat action going on here)

I'm going with some kind of natural finish, so what do you guys think, a red tortoise pickguard, or a black one? I'm thinking either some different (and BLACK) P90s or some bladed bass humbuckers I got from sanfordandsonny. I might even do some wood burning with a different soldering iron attachment during the refinishing....

On the note of refinishing, I picked up some stripping gel (citristrip?) because I don't have a shop to work in. Is this stuff worth a damn or should I take it back and get something different? I can't really bust out the palm sander here in my apartment

thanks breaux

[ryan summit]

aint as powerful as zipstrip
not sure how it works other than on latex
what about a heat gun

[gunslinger_burrito]

Don't have a heat gun, or the extra money for one. I thought about zip strip, but since I'm not sure about where I'm going to be doing this, I wanted to avoid the super gnarly fumes if possible

[Gone Fission]

Just treat it like SY used to treat old Fender offsets and import guitars that they got for peanuts at pawnshops. Put pickups in weird places (including maybe a piezo or two), do weird wiring, and don't give a fuck-all of how it looks unless it's to add stickers and shit. Oh, and weird tunings with oddly gauged strings.

I mean, unless it's a good one that you want to push the last couple feet over the goal line.

[Achtane]

Based on my only experience with Citri-strip, if an entire container won't remove the varnish from a table I don't have much faith in it stripping a guitar.
It might, though. I don't know what it does to poly.
I favor the heat gun but if you don't wanna go that route I'd still get a more serious stripper if it's possible for you to do this outside. Like Aircraft Remover or something.
Cleanup's gonna suck either way so I'd rather have something that I know will do the job.

[trace]

Yeah I'd say heat gun. I tried to use that brutal jasco aircraft stripper (the stuff that burns your hands through three pairs of rubber gloves) on a first act project and it didn't make a dent.

[Chankgeez]

Why don't you wait to refinish it until you've got a better space to work in?

Until then you can just cover it in stickers or something.

[gunslinger_burrito]

I think I lucked out. I'm gonna go use my dad's heat gun tomorrow I think. Just have to find a decent and cheap black pickguard. I was thinking of getting one off of allparts

[Chankgeez]

There you go. Good luck.

[ryan summit]

ive seen a bunch of cheapuns on amazon,too
this is gonna be good
looky here
viewtopic.php?f=188&t=28169&start=105
behind the bridge pickup idea
yallready got a buncha space

[gunslinger_burrito]

I might do something like that. Its made out or really soft wood, so it would be easy to route out a new pickup hole.
I did heat gun off the paint, but it only went down to the primer. I tried to see if it would take some off but all it did was burn it
Should I just try and sand it and re-paint it, and if so whats an easy paint solution? I really like wood finishes but Im not sure whats a good way to get the primer off. . .

[Decibill]

I've done a lot of guitar, amp and furniture building, refinishing and repair, so I'll help in any way I can...!!

That primer is tough. It's made to bond to the wood. You can try the stripper or lacquer thinner or mineral spirits on it to see if you can wipe some of it away. If not, see if your dad, uncle, cousin or neighbor has a sander. You can try scraping the primer off too (not with a house paint scraper). If the primer is thin, razor blades will work. Regardless though, if you want to go natural, there will be a lot of sanding in your future...!!

Also, its probably safe to assume that the body is made up of two or more chunks 'o wood glued together. Depending on the wood choice and the grain match (or lack thereof), it could look like ass.

[gunslinger_burrito]

I might just go with a solid finish of some kind instead of wood. just have to decide on color and such.

[Decibill]

I might just go with a solid finish of some kind instead of wood. just have to decide on color and such.

NAH...GO FOR THE RISK....GO FOR THE GLORY THAT IS A NATURAL FINISH....!!!

[Jeff-7]

Fuck that. Sherwood Green with matching headstock bro.