Refinishing A Guitar

vel0c1ty

vel0c1ty

New member
Title says it all. My Ibanez S470 is my favorite to play out of the bunch, but it's finished in this barf-green sparkle.

I'm thinking of staining it brown then spraying clear coat on.

Anyone with experience willing to share some knowledge? Whether to scrape or sand the finish off, how to spray clearcoat well, how to make a waterslide logo flush, how to convert pickup ring mount to direct mount, how to recess electronics cover, etc.

Bedankt.

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Re: Refinishing A Guitar

You will probably find some seams under the finish. I haven’t ever stripped an S model, but Ibanez commonly used multiple piece bodies.

Green sparkles rock
 
Re: Refinishing A Guitar

vel0c1ty said:
Title says it all. My Ibanez S470 is my favorite to play out of the bunch, but it's finished in this barf-green sparkle.

I'm thinking of staining it brown then spraying clear coat on.

Anyone with experience willing to share some knowledge? Whether to scrape or sand the finish off, how to spray clearcoat well, how to make a waterslide logo flush, how to convert pickup ring mount to direct mount, how to recess electronics cover, etc.

Bedankt.

Sent from my LG-TP260 using Tapatalk
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Ibanez S series have ridiculously thick coats, just fyi

Sanding by hand is unfeasible. Heat gun and scrape works, but beware of softish woods, can be hard not to leave scars.

Chemical strippers are probably the best bet
 
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Re: Refinishing A Guitar

Adieu said:
Mahogany is harder than red alder, basswood, and some not all pine species... but that's about it. It's still one of the softest woods around.

https://www.carpetexpress.com/articles/janka_hardness.html.html

So careful with that scraper.

Speaking from experience heating and scraping a 540s sabre (early pre-prestige mij s540 w/ the "custom made" fret marker)
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I never questioned your advice but thanks its nice to know you have experience. I was just thinking it would look rather nice i sort of wished i just cleared over mine because it has a really nice grain under the paint.

Here's a mij 96 sabre i refinished 6 or so years ago.


I have done a heap of refinishing and building but here are a few just for you.









 
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Re: Refinishing A Guitar

kramersteen said:
I never questioned your advice but thanks its nice to know you have experience. I was just thinking it would look rather nice i sort of wished i just cleared over mine because it has a really nice grain under the paint.

Here's a mij 96 sabre i refinished 6 or so years ago.


I have done a heap of refinishing and building but here are a few just for you.









Click to expand...
Damn those look amazing. In your experience, is a refinish an attainable goal for an absolute beginner to woodworking like me? And will a multi-piece body look good under clearcoat?

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Re: Refinishing A Guitar

vel0c1ty said:
Damn those look amazing. In your experience, is a refinish an attainable goal for an absolute beginner to woodworking like me? And will a multi-piece body look good under clearcoat?

Sent from my LG-TP260 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

Yeah find a tutorial and give it a go its the only way to learn. I might be mistaken but I'm sure my sabre was a single piece but you're not going to know until you remove the paint. Truoil would be easy as first finish.
 
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