guitar build, finish advice needed

[WezV]

if you go with tru-oil you won't need danish at all, but yeah see how it goes and if you want to wax it after.

[juansolo]

This thread has suddenly become rather relevant to me, so I thought I'd post some progress.



My Baja came a bit of a cropper at the weekend. To the extent that it ended up with 3 large (one inch square sort of size) chunks of poly smashed off the back and sides in addition to various dings, dents and scratches. It was quite a mess to be honest so I started looking into rebodying/refinishing it. Both options were looking expensive, which for a guitar that I got for very little, seemed a little too much.

Anyhow today I decided to bite the bullet and see just how hard poly is to remove... Using a hairdryer and the tools photographed (I'm doing this as cheaply as possible after all), it took less than an hour to strip the whole thing. No danger of burning it with the hairdryer and it was hot enough to soften the poly for to get the big poker underneath. When soft enough it separates surprisingly easily, to the extent that we managed to get the back off in one piece. Brilliant!



More impressive is the sheer density of the stuff. Yup, that really is 1/2lb of finish.



So we've just done a bit of sanding today to get the sealant off, but it looks like this might be up for oil finishing. This is the body as of today. It's 4 piece ash and in all honesty, on a Tele, it doesn't look bad (just wiped down with white spirit here). Still a lot of sanding to do as I haven't even touched the sides yet. More of that tomorrow.

[Philly Q]

Bloody hell, I'm amazed by the sight of that huge chunk of paint off the back! :o

When I had a Baja Tele it did feel like the paint was very thick (same with another blonde USA Tele, come to think of it), but I wouldn't expect it to peel off in one piece.

The stripped body looks very good, OK you can see the joins but I've seen just as bad on natural-finish Strats and Teles, Fender (unllike Warmoth) really don't make much effort at all to match the grain patterns nicely.

[juansolo]

Finish was nigh on 1mm thick. It is almost like a dipped plastic coating rather than paint. Which certainly helped in it's removal.

If it'd been anything but a Tele, the joins would have bothered me. As it is, it doesn't at all.

[Ian Price]

Holy cow!

Bad thoughts from me now. I've always thought that the finish on my Baja was way too thick. A few recent dings confirmed this for me.

Has removing all of that finish had an impact on the neck pocket? Just wondering if there are any gaps that weren't there before.

[Ian Price]

The body looks much better now!

[juansolo]

Holy cow!

Bad thoughts from me now. I've always thought that the finish on my Baja was way too thick. A few recent dings confirmed this for me.

Has removing all of that finish had an impact on the neck pocket? Just wondering if there are any gaps that weren't there before.

Neck pocket is just fine, there was no finish in there and we're being extra carful when sanding around it. There is going to be a LOT of sanding required...

I wouldn't have ever undertaken this had it not got badly damaged though. I just got to the stage where I thought 'bugger it, if I f**k this up I'll just buy a new body'. As it stands, if I can get it looking decent again for not very much, I'll be a very happy chappy.

[Ian Price]

To be honest I don't think I'll be attempting this. Certainly not soon anyway! It does look much better than how it left the factory - will be keeping a keen eye on this one.

[Philly Q]

The thought of losing half a pound just by removing the finish is very appealing..... "the poly diet".

I wonder if those semi-opaque blonde finishes are particularly thick?  When I dismantled my American Ash Tele (which was too bloody heavy in the first place!) and found big chunks of finish flaking off under the bridge, it was hugely thick, I'd say even more than 1mm.  But I don't think the finish on my other Fenders of similar vintage is anything like as thick as that.

[Ian Price]

I was thinking about this again today. Agreed that the thought of losing that much weight is quite appealing! My Baja has taken a fair few whacks in its time and although it has dents and chips I still don't think the wood has actually been damaged.

[juansolo]

Considering the beating mine's had, I'm surprised that not much of it at all has made it through to the wood. Indeed just the odd bits where it was filled in Mexico are now showing (thankfully on the back). There's a little bit of a scratch that's going to show under the controls, but it's not too bad. The dings on the edges are there if you look for them. But I think they'll be barely visible by the time it's done.

Otherwise, current state of play as of today is that the coarse sanding is done and it's down to nice bare wood all round. It's been a surprising amount of effort even though there was relatively little residue on the body.

Tomorrow I'm planning on getting it to 400 grit and hopefully the tru-oil will turn up for the first coat to go on Sunday.

[gwEm]

it already looks alot better  :D 8)

[juansolo]

Sanded to 400 and ready for oil. Sadly it didn't turn up today, so it looks like that'll be Monday. Providing everything turns up, this might be done by Wednesday!

[Ian Price]

That pic link doesn't seem to be working!

I'm giving this some more thought now. Keen to see the results!

[juansolo]

Probably just my server, it's sat under my table and hosted over the flakiest ADSL link known to man. It usually sorts itself out within 5 mins or so when it throws a wobbler (which is quite often).

It's taken a lot of sanding effort to this point, the main to get the residue off the wood, but I think it's going to be worthwhile. Certainly if you're as lucky when it's come to getting the poly off. I reckon the whole endeavour will end up costing around £30 or so. Used to love woodwork when I was at school, I'm finding it all perversely enjoyable.