is it safe to sand off a guitar's finish?

[ItsaBass]

Re: is it safe to sand off a guitar's finish?

I just "relicked" the **** out of the back of my Esquire last night. I had come straight from working to practice, and forgot that I had a belt buckle on until halfway through practice. Ooops. Felt like a dummy. But stuff like that is how it happens.

Seriously, man. This Esquire is starting to get beat up, and although it is my number one gigging guitar, I haven't even played it that much. I've owned it for years, but only stared seriously playing it fewer than six months ago, because that is when I started playing guitar again. Just get a nitrocellulose paint job and PLAY the damned thing...a lot. Like I said, it'll be beat up with in a year or two, and will look like a guitar Fender would charge $2,000 extra for within 5 years...EASILY. That is not long to wait, and you will have a guitar that is worn in exactly to your playing.

I have one relic (on layaway at this time), and I feel like a serious dummy because it was relicked. But the simple fact is that it is one of the finest Strat-type guitars made, and it is the only line of guitars the company (G&L) has ever made with a lacquer finish; there is no other way to get a lacquer-covered factory G&L. And the first thing I am going to do when I get it is to try to make it look as shiny and new as possible.

Doing your own relicking is another thing. Why **** up a nice guitar just to make a fashion statement and create a fantasy history for your guitar?

 

[El Supremo]

Re: is it safe to sand off a guitar's finish?

I'd say just play often and hard. Gig a lot. Don't use a guitar stand, nor a guitar case, but the cheapest gigbag you can find. Never polish the finish or wipe off the hardware. Make shure the guitar spends as much time as possible in rooms filled with smokers.
From experience, this will get you the desired natural effect within 2 years or less.

 

[crusty philtrum]

Re: is it safe to sand off a guitar's finish?

There has to be something weird about seeing someone in their twenties with a guitar that looks like it has at least thirty years of hard use on it.

Guitars sound at their best without any finish, but we have to compromise to protect them from the elements, otherwise they will sound different from day to day and will not last too long before things become problematic (warped and twisted necks, cracks in the body etc.)

 

[St_Genesius]

Re: is it safe to sand off a guitar's finish?

After only about 9 months of daily play, there's a spot on my LP where the gold paint is oxidizing from contact with my forearm.

I don't feel the need to fake wear, but honest signs of use like that don't bother me.