Heat Gun Is Now My Friend

C

CookSDR

New member
Tried out my new heat gun today on a Fender Bullet. WOW!! Night and day difference from conventional strippers. I new it was a veneer going into it, but good practice. What would take a week or two took about a two hours at the max. Pretty sweet!

I found out when the heat gets too intense, the fullerplast starts the "snap, crackle, pop." So if you're doing a Fender, be mindful to move the heat gun and "follow the heat."

Since this one is a veneer, it's getting a new "mild" paint job.
 
Re: Heat Gun Is Now My Friend

if the paint is some unknown difficult-to-work-with polyester or some thing like that instead of a pure lacquer or polyurethane, then yeah heatgun is MUCH better than a solvent

and either heatgun or solvent are far better than sanding, unless you have a belt sander, but you gotta be careful with those. Orbital sanders are dumb for heavy removal of coats. But useful for getting at the bits left behind by a heatgun.
 
Re: Heat Gun Is Now My Friend

Wattage said:
Why not just sand?
Click to expand...

Sanding is an absolute PITA when you encounter a guitar that has a finish that's practically plexiglass.

The heat gun was definitely a handy tool when I was taking the finish off my beater guitar. I had pretty high power heat gun, and that POS body caught fire like 20 times.

It ended up looking cool like that though, so I decided to go without finish.
 
Re: Heat Gun Is Now My Friend

Wattage said:
Why not just sand?
Click to expand...

Sanding is an absolute PITA when you encounter a guitar that has a finish that's practically plexiglass.

The heat gun was definitely a handy tool when I was taking the finish off my beater guitar. I had pretty high power heat gun, and that POS body caught fire like 20 times.

It ended up looking cool like that though, so I decided to go without finish.
 
Re: Heat Gun Is Now My Friend

Hey Wattage! Sanding like they said is PITA, especially with Fenders. When I do the strat refurbs, I go to the wood which means I have to get the "fullerplast" off the guitar. Gives a Fender a brand new, livelier sound.

Trying to sand poly is ridiculously time consuming, been there on that one. The heat gun takes it off, but as mentioned, you have to be careful not to burn the wood.

When I go to remove the fullerplast, it's time consuming as well and requires elbow grease and PATIENCE ;-) I use a combination of the heat gun and a hand held blow torch. Takes me about four hours to get to the wood, but better than two weeks with a belt sander...and a WHOLE lot less mess.

Thanks for the question.

Cook
 
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