Help with refinishing a guitar?

Bones

Oh and BTW, work in an area with plenty of fresh air ventilation and use a good respirator at ALL times. If you are working indoors and spraying nitro you need to be aware of sparks (i.e. from electrical fans, etc.) and fire hazard as well. Spraying lacquer indoors is non-trival. BE CAREFUL! Better to do that outside under a patio roof or tarp or something like that.

asura

Thanks for all the advice and input everyone!

Im not too concerned with changing the sound too much- and everything I've read about people getting a thinner finish has been positive on the sound so I thought that would be a plus. Overall I like the look and feel of the matte/satin (same?) finish, so I'm interested in what it would take to get it there!

I do plan on getting another guitar someday but even then I never plan to sell this guitar so resale value and stuff doesn't bother me.

If anyone here has refinished their guitars I would like to know their experience with it

Thanks everyone!

jonpowl

I stumbled upon the American School of Lutherie in Portland, OR and it looks like they offer one and two week courses in building various types of guitars. I did not investigate how much time they devote to finishing, etc. as I am not that interested in guitar building or refinishing, but if certainly appears promising. I recently had an old Fender P Bass body refinished in sunburst nitro for around $400. Before there are any unkind thoughts, I must say the 1966 P Bass had been refinished badly before I bought it in the 70s. (It is for sale if there are any collectors out there.)

nicksansone

I've refinished a few guitars of this kind with French polish and it was very cheap and in no way "ruined" the guitar at all, but certainly removed some overtone ringing and brought out a better tone. It was a great experience and if you are interested I can send some pictures. I did it all by hand as I didn't have any power tools at the time for the sanding. It was alot of fun and I learned alot as well.

Jazzaferri

Using a softer more flexible finish will certainly affect the response of the vibration nodes in a guitar. If you are going to take the time to French polish, then there is no expensive equipment to buy.
.

I don't know enough to predict how a softer finish will affect the sound.

crookedpinky

I started stripping a Dell Arte Pigalle by hand. Got fed up with the slow progress so used a hand held belt sander. Oh dear, but at least I now have a very relic'ed looking guitar. My recent attempt was restricted to sandpaper and then cabinet scraping with a Stanley blade taking great care to stay with the grain, not introduce any dips or gouges - I filed the ends of each blade so they wouldn't dig in. It took a while but gave a very smooth flat finish. I then used a system called Wudtone - which gives a very light finish. Great for me because it self levels and dries off quickly. I didn't want a high gloss finish but something more than matt or satin. Refinishing is not for the fainthearted or those in a hurry.

AndrewUlle

Maybe you could practice first on a $35 thrift-store guitar.

Jazzaferri

Heat gun may be able to soften the finish enough that a sharp paint scraper with rounded corners used gently will get most of it off. Will have to be sharpened often. Then a cabinet scraper to finish. Depends on the finish though.

Bones

I would not use heat as it could also soften the glue joints if ur not careful.

mandocat

This discussion reminds me of Frank Wakefield, the great bluegrass player, who scraped the finish off his vintage Gibson mandolin, sprayed it with red paint and put it in the oven to dry?! Seems crazy but apparently came out sounding great.