MIA tele refinish project

[scottish]

so i picked up this MIA tele in a trade with a forum bro. They had tried to refinish it and done a decent job, but not quite what i wanted. So i am going to refinish it.

First off, here is the body:

And here are the tools:

Paint stripper is some seriously nasty stuff, you have to use it in a well ventilated area. The mask im using wont actually give me any real protection against fumes so ventilation is important. Im doing this in my garage right next to the open door.

1st step: apply paint stripper to body. Its important that you only brush it on in ONE direction here.

1st coat of stripper is on, now we wait about 30 minutes.

As a side not, this is going to be a fairly long thread since i will need to wait at least a few more weeks before the weather gets right to begin the finishing stages

 

[scottish]

Re: MIA tele refinish project

Using a plastic scraper, i make the 1st pass. Its important to use a plastic scraper here so you have the least chance of gouging the wood. im using a putty knife shown in the tools pic

Definitely going to need another coat. So that goes on and we wait another 30 mins or so

 

[scottish]

Re: MIA tele refinish project

After the 2nd pass we are beginning to get somewhere. Ill do one more coat of stripper after this, leave it for a while, prob an hour or so and then tidy it up and be done for the day. Whatever is left, mostly primer coat i think, i will sand off once ive stripped the rest of the body.

 

[mrturtle_91]

Re: MIA tele refinish project

pretty cool...what kind of finish are you putting on it?

 

[cream123]

Re: MIA tele refinish project

yes, we must know

 

[scottish]

Re: MIA tele refinish project

Here it is after the final pass on the top, i am going to sand the rest off once im done

As for what finish is going on it....i really dont know yet. I want to wait to see how the grain looks once i get it cleaned up so i know whether i have to do a solid color or not.

If the grain is nice, i was thinking about using one of these: http://www.stewmac.com/shop/Finishi...vents/2/ColorTone_Aerosol_Guitar_Lacquer.html

 

[scottish]

Re: MIA tele refinish project

btw....if any1 has any genius ideas about how to get the paint out of the pup cavities...then id love to here it

 

[kmcguitars]

Re: MIA tele refinish project

btw....if any1 has any genius ideas about how to get the paint out of the pup cavities...then id love to here it

A dremel w/t a sanding drum will get the paint out of the P/U cavities . From the looks of you pics, The body appears to be alder? This is good cuz' alder is a closed grain wood. If it's ash? you need to grain fill. If you go with a translucent color? I always like to use sand sealer B4 I apply the tint. Doing so will save you some potential headaches ,And it appears to add more depth to your top coat.

 

[scottish]

Re: MIA tele refinish project

yeah the body is alder by the looks of things. ive built and finished a few guitars before so i figured i would make this into a sort of refinishing tutorial thread

 

[WhoFan]

Re: MIA tele refinish project

you could run a router in the electronic routs set to remove just a hair of the finnish surface in the bootom.... use a templete flush bit and make sure you are set so the bit is just removing mostly paint.... this has worked for me before on the bottoms.

or don't worry about that paint and paint over it with black sheliding paint

 

[scottish]

Re: MIA tele refinish project

i know i could just paint over it, but im def OCD about some things and stripping the body and having it look great apart from big blue cavities, would drive me crazy.

thanks for the ideas guys, between the two of them im sure i can make it happen.

Cheers

 

[scottish]

Re: MIA tele refinish project

OK. So ive stripped as much of the paint from the body using the paint stripper as i want to. Im not going to use it on the sides just because it'll be a pain in the butt basically. Next, i gave it a few rounds of acetone. this will lift any remaining paint stripper out of the wood and also help take off some of the remaining primer. So the next step is to bring out the sander

Im using 80 grit sand paper here because all i want to do is strip the remaining layers. Once that is done, ill sand it down with 220 by hand before putting the sand and sealer on.

Anyways, here is how it looks after a few rounds with the sander

you have to be real careful with the edges and curves using an electric sander otherwise you will 'unshape' them for lack of a better word. Ill need to do the cut away by hand since i cant get the sander in there

 

[WhoFan]

Re: MIA tele refinish project

ya many people have wrecked the edges sanding a finnish off..... looks like you are doing good work so far.... did you buy the whole guitar or just the body?

 

[SoundAt11]

Re: MIA tele refinish project

Looking good. I've stripped a few DIY painted guitars and it's no fun, but it is nice to see what's underneath. The worst is when some of the paint has sunk into the pores of the wood. I ran across this on a Strat body that the previous owner had spray painted Red. The only cure would be a solid color finish or using a redish-tint stain.
Anyway, good work, make sure an use plenty of protection from the fumes or splattering on your eyes or skin. Plus that stripper/paint residue is nasty stuff, I always clean it up good to make sure that any neighborhood animals aren't able to find it and eat/touch it.

 

[scottish]

Re: MIA tele refinish project

yeah, i picked up the whole guitar in the trade. the neck doesnt need refinishing so thats a plus. and yeah, the paint stripper is all cleaned up properly, i have 2 cats in the house so i dont want them stumbling across it.

anyways, prob not too much more getting done on this until next weekend. usually dont have time during the week with work and what not.

cheers

 

[scottish]

Re: MIA tele refinish project

for the paint in the cavities, i came up with an idea. i found some drill bits for masonary grinding/shaping in my tool box. no idea where they came from mind you, but im not complaining. i might secure the guitar and then give it a shot with the drill bits just so i dont have to move it to the shop i use where most of my wood working tools are.

we will see, ill prob give it a quick shot tonight and see if it looks promising

 

[dr.barlo]

Re: MIA tele refinish project

Very cool thread man.

Thanks!

B

 

[DazH]

Re: MIA tele refinish project

why not just sand down the paint on the inside & then re-paint it with shielding paint? easier & has a purpose.

Alternatively some nitromors and a toothbrush.

 

[ibanezrocks]

Re: MIA tele refinish project

What's with the circular route above (in the orientation of the picture) the neck pickup? I thought those were only on MIM bodies, or is this older?

 

[scottish]

Re: MIA tele refinish project

i honestly have no idea. im beginning to question the authenticity of this body to be honest. to start, its a 4 piece body. it has the circular route there that i havent seen on MIAs and i also havent seen the strat middle pup route on MIAs before. however, i am by no means a tele expert so i really have no clue. The neck however, is def MIA and the serial number dates it to 2004 i believe.

So im kind of at a loss.

Anyways, i tried the masonary drill bits in the cavities....didnt do a **** thing. So im just gonna hand sand them using 80 grit