Strip the finish?

[Bird]

This guitar has a weird finish that Ibanez calls "gravure" (a printing process I believe). Anyhoo, it's more like a thin coat of plastic or something. Playing it unplugged it has a very dead *plink* sound. The Miracle Man/Trilogy pups I had in it sounded good, except the next wasn't so great. Kind of flat and hollow sounding. The impression you get is that your sound is all pickup, the guitar seems to work against the tone. Something I blame entirely on the guitar.  Would stripping this cr@p finish off help 'warm' up the sound of this thing :?:  Since I sold the pups that were in it I could make this one a summer project.

[Philly Q]

I guess the gravure finish in this case is what Fender called Foto Flame - I think it's a thin "film" stuck on the guitar's top to fake the look of flamed maple.

Stripping it ought to liven up the tone a little, but if it's really bad you probably just have a duff piece of timber.  And without the finish you'll have an ugly duff piece of timber.

[WezV]

probably just worth flogging the body on ebay .  stripping is a lot of work and there are no garantees it will improve anything

[badgermark]

I'm thinking of stripping the finish on my Gibson SG Special, is this an easy job or should it be done by someone who knows what their doing?

[Transcend]

well im thinking of stripping down my ibanez rocket roll because the finish is black.....i hate black guitars plus the guitar is dented to hell.


what would i use to fill all this in

and is there anything i should use for stripping it or shall i just go at it with sandpaper?

[Philly Q]

The SG Special has a nitrocellulose finish which will strip quite easily with Nitromors - messy job though.  And be careful around the headstock if you don't want to lose the Gibson logo.

Not sure about the Ibanez - it probably has some kind of poly finish which is a lot harder to remove.  It might be easier to fill the dents and scratches then spray over the existing paintwork.

Wez and Feline will probably have much better suggestions than I do.

[_tom_]

well im thinking of stripping down my ibanez rocket roll because the finish is black.....i hate black guitars plus the guitar is dented to hell.


what would i use to fill all this in

and is there anything i should use for stripping it or shall i just go at it with sandpaper?

I used a heat gun + cabinet scr@per or whatever they're called, worked a treat :D

[WezV]

heat guns are ok but i see lots of guitars that have been stripped that way and need a solid finish to cover up the burn marks!!!  If you are going to do a solid finish you only really need to scuff sand the body with finishing paper so the new paint has something to stick too - not worth the effort of stripping completely

Dents is a guitar can be steamed out.  You can put a small wet peice of cloth over the dent and then hold a soldering iron onto it to steam it - try to keep it as localised as possible.  This works best when the wood fibres havnt actually torn and obviously you need to let the wood dry again before finishing

if using chemical strippers then do it outside and make sure the stripper is fully neutrilised before you continue - - but be warned - strippers wont touch most finishes except for the nitrocellulose ones!!!

[Transcend]

heat guns are ok but i see lots of guitars that have been stripped that way and need a solid finish to cover up the burn marks!!!  If you are going to do a solid finish you only really need to scuff sand the body with finishing paper so the new paint has something to stick too - not worth the effort of stripping completely

Dents is a guitar can be steamed out.  You can put a small wet peice of cloth over the dent and then hold a soldering iron onto it to steam it - try to keep it as localised as possible.  This works best when the wood fibres havnt actually torn and obviously you need to let the wood dry again before finishing

if using chemical strippers then do it outside and make sure the stripper is fully neutrilised before you continue - - but be warned - strippers wont touch most finishes except for the nitrocellulose ones!!!

yeah some of the dints are bad really bad where the wood is torn.... ill look into it.... im just thinking of either stripping it down and depending on the wood grain staining it but then again ive always wanted a snow white flying v,,,,,...... if i was just to paint other wouldnt that deaden the tone a bit?????? and what would i use to coat it to keep it all shiny and protected???

[WezV]

Dont be drawn into this whole finish thing.  Its true that some guitars sound much better without a finish, if you ever get to try an unfinished acoustic its a bloody revelation!!!  and it does make a small difference os some solid guitars as well,  a bit more differnce to semi's like 335's.  


But adding a bit more finish wont make much tonal difference and the tonal effect that is there will just as likely be positive as it will negative.

thin finishes are certainly better but its one of them things that you need supermans ears to hear- especially on most factory produced guitars!!

generally people say it sounds more resonant acoustically but this rarely translates across to the ampflified sound.

[Transcend]

Dont be drawn into this whole finish thing.  Its true that some guitars sound much better without a finish, if you ever get to try an unfinished acoustic its a bloody revelation!!!  and it does make a small difference os some solid guitars as well,  a bit more differnce to semi's like 335's.  


But adding a bit more finish wont make much tonal difference and the tonal effect that is there will just as likely be positive as it will negative.

thin finishes are certainly better but its one of them things that you need supermans ears to hear- especially on most factory produced guitars!!

generally people say it sounds more resonant acoustically but this rarely translates across to the ampflified sound.

ah thats cool then, what kind of paint/clear coat/laquer would you reccomend

[WezV]

depends, if you are going over an old finish you can get good results with car paint- but always check the compatability in a discreet area first.  You also need to keep it down to about 3 coats a day other wise it will never harden properly

for a quicker finish i like to use rustins plastic coating because you can apply a coat every 15 minutes and its a chemcial cure so will harden off just fine.  It also takes a spirit bases stain quite well.  Buut rustins is less likely to be compatable with your old finish so may require a complet strip down of the guitar.  because you can pile the stuff on i have had good results doing this with a brush in the past and then sanding most of it back so its completely flat.

I really prefer nitrocellulose but its less forgiving for a beginner and needs at least a  few months to cure

[Transcend]

ah my brother does car respraying so that will be the easiest and free-est option for me :P

how many coats would you say it would need?

[Bird]

I think it'll be easier if I just go with a lower output pup for the neck position on the RT. Thanks for the info. It may come in handy for future Warmoth projects.    :)

[Transcend]

I think it'll be easier if I just go with a lower output pup for the neck position on the RT. Thanks for the info. It may come in handy for future Warmoth projects.    :)

oh yeah sorry for hijacking your thread  :)