Refinishing Guitars Thread: Useful links, tips, guidance.

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Molly
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Refinishing Guitars Thread: Useful links, tips, guidance.

Post by Molly »

I reckon anybody with a little patience and $50 can refinish their guitar to a professional standard. With that in mind, I thought it wouldn't hurt to have a single thread where we can share useful tips, videos etc. Here are a couple I highly recommend:








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Re: Refinishing Guitars Thread: Useful links, tips, guidance.

Post by AiRdAd »

your pencil rubber trick is a great one Molly - that helped me heaps!!! :-)
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Re: Refinishing Guitars Thread: Useful links, tips, guidance.

Post by robthemac »

Don't you need fancy spraying equipment and masks and all that?
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Re: Refinishing Guitars Thread: Useful links, tips, guidance.

Post by kdawg2a »

Get GrantB to do it?
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Re: Refinishing Guitars Thread: Useful links, tips, guidance.

Post by codedog »

Molly, that surf green colour you had mixed into a spray can... was that a custom mix or stock colour from a catalog somewhere? I have once called Spraystore, after your recommendation, and they flatly told me they could only do colours that are in various colour catalogs.

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Re: Refinishing Guitars Thread: Useful links, tips, guidance.

Post by jeremyb »

robthemac wrote:Don't you need fancy spraying equipment and masks and all that?
You should wear a respirator, its nasty toxic stuff, likely why they moved to using poly finishes ;)
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Re: Refinishing Guitars Thread: Useful links, tips, guidance.

Post by Molly »

codedog wrote:Molly, that surf green colour you had mixed into a spray can... was that a custom mix or stock colour from a catalog somewhere? I have once called Spraystore, after your recommendation, and they flatly told me they could only do colours that are in various colour catalogs.
I took in a Resene colour chart. What I've discovered is that looking at one swatch in isolation is no use. You can swear blind that you've found the exact colour you're looking for then you see it relative to others and it's miles out. So, I called at a Resene store and got a sheet of green tints. I picked out the closest to surf green I could (from memory - I didn't have a guitar of that colour to hand). I too found that Spray store can only usually tint to the codes on their own swatches so I found the closest one and had a chat with the lady who was going to mix the paint. I showed her the swatch and my Resene chart example. She set about mixing her swatch such that it was as close as she could get it to what I wanted. It used to be that I could just give them the DuPont code but that doesn't seem possible anymore. I think there's so much variation anyway, especially when a guitar is old and the colour faded, you're as well to just find one you like that they can mix easily. Trying to get two anoraks to agree what is and it's the correct vintage shade of anything is impossible.
jeremyb wrote:
robthemac wrote:Don't you need fancy spraying equipment and masks and all that?
You should wear a respirator, its nasty toxic stuff, likely why they moved to using poly finishes ;)
I now spray the paint in my greenhouse. Lots of light. Nice and warm. Good ventilation. And I wear a 3M N95 mask (when I remember...). It is indeed toxic and explosive stuff.

What I love about nitro is how one coat melts into the previous one. And you can just about carve it. Get a low light over the guitar and you can gently sand-out any orange peel. Once it's flat it's easy to work it up to a mirror shine if that's what you're after. If you're patient you'll wait three weeks for it to stop gassing-off before doing that as it'll continue to dry and shrink in; undoing some of your careful sanding and polishing. Just wait a few weeks then do it.

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Re: Refinishing Guitars Thread: Useful links, tips, guidance.

Post by Zaulkin »

Oh god yes, I need this thread.

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Re: Refinishing Guitars Thread: Useful links, tips, guidance.

Post by Kev77 »

On a different tangent, I’m slowly use a rag to add on very thin coats of the matte Oil based poly. Originally thought I’d seal and stain. The ash completely resisted any stains etc. so i ended up sanding lots, burning, wire brush, filling and white shellac. but this is taking really well.

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Re: Refinishing Guitars Thread: Useful links, tips, guidance.

Post by Jay »

Kev77 wrote:On a different tangent, I’m slowly use a rag to add on very thin coats of the matte Oil based poly. Originally thought I’d seal and stain. The ash completely resisted any stains etc. so i ended up sanding lots, burning, wire brush, filling and white shellac. but this is taking really well.

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How did you burn it?
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Re: Refinishing Guitars Thread: Useful links, tips, guidance.

Post by Kev77 »

I was planning on using a heat gun/ or blow torch. But no one I know had one. I got a Bunsen burner and hot handed it. I wish I’d gone a bit harder. But I’d already sealed it with white shellac and was concerned about the shellac bubbling or worse.
After the burning/ charcoaling I got a really fine wire brush and went ham.
Then wood grain filler, and more sanding and sanding.
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Re: Refinishing Guitars Thread: Useful links, tips, guidance.

Post by Molly »

Been working on that surf green Strat body. Just thought I'd post a couple of pics.

First, I plugged the holes with wax polish. Water can cause problems / cracking / swelling around the holes during the sanding process so it's a good idea to try to keep the water out.
b - wax.JPG
b - wax.JPG (35.3 KiB) Viewed 3941 times
This is how it looked after the last coat of paint from the aerosol.
c - spray.JPG
c - spray.JPG (38 KiB) Viewed 3941 times
I first sanded-out the orange peel with 1200 went and dry.
d - 1200.JPG
d - 1200.JPG (37.64 KiB) Viewed 3941 times
More pics to follow in a minute.

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Re: Refinishing Guitars Thread: Useful links, tips, guidance.

Post by Molly »

This is how it looked after sanding with 2000 wet and dry.
e - 2000.JPG
e - 2000.JPG (49.04 KiB) Viewed 3940 times
The 5000 Trizact pad.
f - 5000 Trizact.JPG
f - 5000 Trizact.JPG (42.38 KiB) Viewed 3940 times
Then a good polish for a mirror shine.
g - polish.JPG
g - polish.JPG (45.47 KiB) Viewed 3940 times
It's far from finished but getting there.

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Re: Refinishing Guitars Thread: Useful links, tips, guidance.

Post by kdawg2a »

Looks good Molly.
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Re: Refinishing Guitars Thread: Useful links, tips, guidance.

Post by AiRdAd »

Looks great. Were you happy with colour in the end?
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