is it possible to remove stain from a guitar body?

[man-in-moon]

since i have gotten things squared away. i ordered a body off of ebay to start a project. the guy stained the flame top red and did not do a good job at that. i was wondering how hard it is to remove stain? i am not a fan of red so the color has to go.

[MetalManiac]

Re: is it possible to remove stain from a guitar body?

varirable speed random orbital sander. Sand like a human and not a gorilla.

[man-in-moon]

Re: is it possible to remove stain from a guitar body?

i was afraid of that. i may took on too much with this project. i do not have a sander so i guess i will have to break out the sanding block and take my time. i have no idea how thick the maple cap is and he said he stained it about 2 years ago.

[astrozombie]

Re: is it possible to remove stain from a guitar body?

sounds like something id pay my tech to do bro. just sayin.

[Lucid_Lunatic]

Re: is it possible to remove stain from a guitar body?

i was afraid of that. i may took on too much with this project. i do not have a sander so i guess i will have to break out the sanding block and take my time. i have no idea how thick the maple cap is and he said he stained it about 2 years ago.

I still have that Dewalt sander you traded me around 3 years ago and haven't used it yet. I'll trade it to ya for something.

[man-in-moon]

Re: is it possible to remove stain from a guitar body?

If the flame ends up being a veneer I will just have it finished in a solid color. Hopefully I will have it here in a few days so I know for sure what I am working with. One thing that might make it easier is its a flat top body.

[MojoMonster]

Re: is it possible to remove stain from a guitar body?

If the flame ends up being a veneer I will just have it finished in a solid color. Hopefully I will have it here in a few days so I know for sure what I am working with. One thing that might make it easier is its a flat top body.

Hand sanding will take a little more time, but should be completely doable.
Especially on a flat top since staining doesn't go that far down into the wood.
You should be able to tell if the top is a veneer by looking in the pickup cavities.
The flame will show thru into the maple routes.

MM

[man-in-moon]

Re: is it possible to remove stain from a guitar body?

the body just got here. the top is solid flame and from what i can tell the stan did not go far down in the top. so hopefully it will not be too bad. if the guy had done it any other color than the red he picked. it is so dark that it covers a lot of the grain. he tried to do the natural binding like is PRS guitars. which does not look bad there are just some spots where the stain got through.

[MojoMonster]

Re: is it possible to remove stain from a guitar body?

the body just got here. the top is solid flame and from what i can tell the stan did not go far down in the top. so hopefully it will not be too bad. if the guy had done it any other color than the red he picked. it is so dark that it covers a lot of the grain. he tried to do the natural binding like is PRS guitars. which does not look bad there are just some spots where the stain got through.

From what I understand it might be possible to bleach out any light residue after you're done sanding if you feel like you can't go any deeper.

If you plan on restaining, you could just go with a darker color and/or do something like a "double step" stain.

MM