Bare Knuckle Pickups Forum
At The Back => Time Out => Topic started by: sambo on March 12, 2006, 09:20:47 PM
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ok the subject isnt qutie as exotic as the title suggests- its talking about my melody maker- as some of you may know i really wanna customise it in some way and my latest plot is to strip it down to the reveal the natural beauty of the lush mahogany...
never considered this before but the *REALLY* thin coat of cr@ppy ronseal or whatever it was that Gibson must have used on it has started to wear off in certain places... im starting to see little areas of AMAZING, lush, orangey/browny/red grain underneath the black gloss and its oh so tempting to just whip out the ol' sander....
what do we think? my super-distressed BKP-92 matches perfectly with the black of the MM at the moment but i think it would match with the true orangey kinda colour of the wood as well....
ill try and post some pics of the tiny areas that are being revealed soon but the quality will be cr@p and the real beauty wont be conveyed wel at all...
so in the mean time, in theory- strip or dont strip?
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Strip it, its gotta look better than that cr@ppy ronseal finish :lol:
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Have a word with Ron2e or Feline about stripping.
Sanding is not the way to go about it unless you want a reshaped guitar.
I assume with it being a set neck that you will also be stripping the neck, which means being doubly careful.
Rob...
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mm indeed the neck shall be stripped as well.... so what do you do if you dont sand then???
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use it, abuse it, let the red shine thru - ronseal finish sounds pretty nice to me anyways. finishes that come off are the best!
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Theres chemical strippers, and heat stripping.
My ibanez / antoria SG was ftripped using nitromors (spelling ?) but it was a bolt on neck so I didn't have to worry about the neck joint.
Theres (or there used to be) two versions of nitromors one you removed with water and the other you removed with meths (wood alcohol to you US people, I don't mean crystal).
If it's still available I would suggest the meths version as water can cause the grain to raise (so I'm told).
Once again theres a couple of luthers with sheds of experience, who will be able to point you in a reasionable direction.
Rob...
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Yes, certainly Nitromors for stripping, just make sure you clean off the residue properly afterwards. Sanding is a no-no unless nothing else works. After the Nitromors I use thinners and steel wool with lots of mopping with kitchen towel. Before you start though, what year is it? It's not advisable to mess with a vintage guitar as it really hits the value. Having said that, and if you want to go ahead, the best finish in my opinion is what you describe as "the *REALLY* thin coat of cr@ppy ronseal ", or nitrocellulose lacquer as it is more commonly known and which Gibson still use! Taking the point that yours is finished in a solid colour I would suggest , if the grain is as good as you say, stripping back to the wood, use a dark (Rosewood or Walnut) thixotropic pore filler, red stain, then clear lacquer on top. This gives the stunning 60's Cherry Red finish with the grain showing through. If you need any further info on this, drop me an email.
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Yes, certainly Nitromors for stripping, just make sure you clean off the residue properly afterwards. Sanding is a no-no unless nothing else works. After the Nitromors I use thinners and steel wool with lots of mopping with kitchen towel. Before you start though, what year is it? It's not advisable to mess with a vintage guitar as it really hits the value. Having said that, and if you want to go ahead, the best finish in my opinion is what you describe as "the *REALLY* thin coat of cr@ppy ronseal ", or nitrocellulose lacquer as it is more commonly known and which Gibson still use! Taking the point that yours is finished in a solid colour I would suggest , if the grain is as good as you say, stripping back to the wood, use a dark (Rosewood or Walnut) thixotropic pore filler, red stain, then clear lacquer on top. This gives the stunning 60's Cherry Red finish with the grain showing through. If you need any further info on this, drop me an email.
what if.... more and more starts to wear.... then i have the cash for the jobby of stripping+re-finishing we discussed AGES ago.... is it still effective? i.e... what if nearly all the black finish has gone but some still remains? or what happens to the slightly exposed parts when you strip the finish? anything?
BTW, its a new melody maker, 2001/02 i think... not a vintage so im ok there.... plus ive already replaced the pickup which would probably hit the value anyway...
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yes, but by the time you grow up it WILL be vintage!
the finish on those guitars is weird, i imagine it looks kinda cool worn. why don't you put up a picture?
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So Ronseal is actually nitrocellulose paint...? :lol:
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Not that I wanna argue with R/2e, who I'm sure knows more about finishing guitars than I do, but I've successfully sanded back a guitar without reshaping it. I used an orbital sander to get the stuff of the flat areas on the front and back of the body and did the rest by hand. I did the neck entirely by hand. I used 80 grit sandpaper, then 180, then 320.
It did take ages though. Nine hours of constant sanding, to be precise, to get through a huge build-up of epoxy. So this isn't necessarily a recommendation; I'm just saying it can be done without any damage if you're patient. I would estimate your guitar to be do-able in less time though.
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cool thanks mark...
haha yeah Rich... :lol: :lol: :lol:
and Blue ill get a pic up A.S.A.P... but i have absolutely shitee camera so it wont come out too well... but yeah it looks cool....
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I would say that only strip it if you really really want it stripped because, although it is not vintage now, it will be one day-just be sure before you strip it.I would also take on board what Ron says- he knows his onions. Thats me done.
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yer i see what yuor saying mr.beatle....
but then in however many years time.... when its vintage... the finish will be ridiculously worn anyway....
i think...
i dunno
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Eew!
I'm not keen on Nitromors - not because it's not gopod but it can be messy and get on your hands etc
I tend to use a heat gun and cabinet scr@pers myself.
And I agree that sanding needent do damage or reshape- depends on the skill and patience etc of the person sanding
However I feel that having a COMPLETE plan of action from strip to reseal / finish is needed and fully implimented rather than just going at it haphazardly
I don't like guitars being semi-stripped and played with the intention of putting a new finish on at aa later datre as the wood gets very dirty and contaminated with stuff that may stop a futeure finish from sticking.
See my previous thoughts on WD40 for more on that subject
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Damn Jon..
I was just gonna suggest sealing it with WD40!
It also works great as a string lubricant on on maple fingerboards :twisted:
PLEASE DO NOT FOLLOW ANY OF THE FALSE ADVICE IN THIS POST
If you are still reading this... go on give WD40 a try.... :twisted: :twisted:
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Damn Jon..
If you are still reading this... go on give WD40 a try.... :twisted: :twisted:
Ok - will try it on your Vandenberg first.......
(Dont make me have to hurt you)
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OOH... I forgot about that....
PDT_036 PDT_043
Jon, I'm gonna have some quiet time now..
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I'm not keen on Nitromors - not because it's not gopod but it can be messy and get on your hands etc
Jonathan, it's what rubber gloves were invented for!! (Well apart from the drug searches........).
Like everything else heat can be a bit of a mixed bag. I stripped a Jazzmaster not that long ago starting with heat (as Nitromors wouldn't touch the top coat) and the heat turned the underlying paint into the consistency of chewing gum which was all but impossible to remove. Fortunately Nitromors came to the rescue once the top coat had been breached.
Sanding - yes you're right, it needn't cause problems if done with skill and care. Unfortunately that's the whatsit in the woodpile and the reason I only use it as a last resort (even then, having extreme difficulty removing the finish from a Korean LP copy with figured top, I managed to sand through the veneer that was the figured top so it became a solid colour in the end!)
Incidentally, the advice from the experts on the Musical Instrument Maker's Forum (www.mimf.com) is generally don't sand unless you have to.