Refinishing my Jazzmaster

[FuseG4]

It has begun!
I'm gonna strip the finish off my existing body and attempt to refinish it in basically Ibanez Jewel blue, but a little more purple so I'll be finding some acrylic lacquer for the Hyundai color I'm using to paint match. I'll be finding a competition stripe decal at some point.
But yes step one which i can do while I source that, is get the poly off my Squier.
Either my heat gun sucks (looks thirty years old) or my technique is garbage cuz the heat gun is scorching the wood before the finish is soft enough to lift. So I'm going old school elbow grease like I did with my last refin several years ago. Here's my progress after about two hours, first trying the heat gun as you can see the effect thereof.

 

[FuseG4]

Re: Refinishing my Jazzmaster

Glad I'm not doing a translucent finish lol

 

[ICTGoober]

Re: Refinishing my Jazzmaster

Sometimes that heat gun thing does not work, but it really should. Good luck, and keep us informed!

 

[FuseG4]

Re: Refinishing my Jazzmaster


**** Sanding lol no this is actually going faster than I thought

 

[Silence Kid]

Re: Refinishing my Jazzmaster

My VM Jazzmaster is beat; meaning to strip it down & Seafoam/tort it. Good job so far.

 

[YeRedHouseOverYonder]

Re: Refinishing my Jazzmaster

Yikes. I'm by no means a pro, but what worked for me was constantly moving the heat gun around and not letting it sit around too long. I didn't scorch my jazz bass too bad, but some spots were darker because I lingered too long around a location. It also helped me that my bass was heavy gigged, so imperfections on the poly finish made the process easier. Good luck, it's looking good so far.

Sent from my LG-H931 using Tapatalk

 

[Ayrton]

Re: Refinishing my Jazzmaster

Fender polyester is the toughest finish I ever dealt with. I will never do another.

Easier to buy an unfinished body.

 

[FuseG4]

Re: Refinishing my Jazzmaster

Fender polyester is the toughest finish I ever dealt with. I will never do another.

Easier to buy an unfinished body.

yeah I know what you mean now. This stuff is ON THERE.
And yeah an unfinished body would have been great but this isn't so bad except the sides.
Almost done, mostly just the edges left around the neck pocket and upper horns, but it's cooling off outside and I'm gonna call it a day.

Looking as well for someone who will do me Acrylic Lacquer in the hyundai 3u/y3u, in spray cans.

 

[Dave Locher]

Re: Refinishing my Jazzmaster

yeah I know what you mean now. This stuff is ON THERE.
And yeah an unfinished body would have been great but this isn't so bad except the sides.
Almost done, mostly just the edges left around the neck pocket and upper horns, but it's cooling off outside and I'm gonna call it a day.

Looking as well for someone who will do me Acrylic Lacquer in the hyundai 3u/y3u, in spray cans.
I see lots of unidentified automotive paint for hyundai y3u in rattlecans, this is "acrylic enamel" which is a bit different and harder to sand, correct?

You probably will not find lacquer in that exact color, at least not with that color code. Try House of Kolor for something close.
The Hyundai paint is surely an enamel of some sort. Regular acrylic enamel in spray cans tends to be a bit soft and/or dull for a guitar body and you can't really buff it. If you are trying to use spray cans you will need to find an auto paint supply shop that can put the real auto paint into a spray can for you. They should be able to put a hardener in it if you ask, which will give it a very limited shelf life once it is mixed but which will make the paint harder and glossier as well as buffable.
But try HoK first. They have beautiful colors.

 

[FuseG4]

Re: Refinishing my Jazzmaster

You probably will not find lacquer in that exact color, at least not with that color code. Try House of Kolor for something close.
The Hyundai paint is surely an enamel of some sort. Regular acrylic enamel in spray cans tends to be a bit soft and/or dull for a guitar body and you can't really buff it. If you are trying to use spray cans you will need to find an auto paint supply shop that can put the real auto paint into a spray can for you. They should be able to put a hardener in it if you ask, which will give it a very limited shelf life once it is mixed but which will make the paint harder and glossier as well as buffable.
But try HoK first. They have beautiful colors.

wow yes they have some great colors and oriental blue is like what i'm after but yeah I'm looking at auto paint suppliers, some claim to be able to color match of their in house paint samples and do acrylic lacquer not enamel, and in spray cans.

If I want a durable, glassy top coat that will not yellow, will urethane be good?
Or should I do nitro, which should be able to stick to the acrylic lacquer?

 

[Silence Kid]

Re: Refinishing my Jazzmaster

I refinished a guitar using Duplicolor metallic and clearcoat, hardened well and buffed shiny. Still fine ten years later. Available in a lot of car shades.

 

[StoRMiE]

Re: Refinishing my Jazzmaster

If you intend to use acrylic lacquer I would get the dimensions of the decal and just paint it white and mask off your stripe like you had been considering originally, I don't think a vinyl decal would get along with it very well and it would probably lift and damage your clear. The results would probably be better should you decide to paint it white first anyway. Hope it comes out well, looking forward to seeing it when you're done sir.

I personally would vote against using nitrocellulose, it's incredibly toxic to the point that it is no longer used in the automotive industry, it yellows extremely fast compared to other finishes, and chips and cracks easily.

Also grab a mask if you're going to spray, a disposable NIOSH approved 3M respirator is about $20. A reusable one and filters if you plan to do more eventually. Even if it's cans it's not worth the lung damage.

 

[Ayrton]

Re: Refinishing my Jazzmaster

I always recommend this channel for DIY painting

https://m.youtube.com/channel/UCl5TLlEtAHzMUsXyEmbmw-w

 

[FuseG4]

Re: Refinishing my Jazzmaster

Yes thankfully I have a respirator mask and am using it for the sanding process as well

 

[Dave Locher]

Re: Refinishing my Jazzmaster

They will still mix lacquer in Utah? Here in Missouri the auto paint shops won't do itbat all, although I can still but acrylic lacquer in spray cans at Lowe's.
I have never used Duplicolor on a guitar but I have sprayed car parts with it and it does go on very nice, but that was the small cans they used to sell. Never sprayed the newer stuff.

 

[FuseG4]

Re: Refinishing my Jazzmaster

They will still mix lacquer in Utah? Here in Missouri the auto paint shops won't do itbat all, although I can still but acrylic lacquer in spray cans at Lowe's.
I have never used Duplicolor on a guitar but I have sprayed car parts with it and it does go on very nice, but that was the small cans they used to sell. Never sprayed the newer stuff.

no not locally I've had to look online for places that'll ship

Duplicolor has Indigo Blue Pearl VW paint and it's the same purplish blue I want, may roll with that for convenience sake. I once owned a 2004 Jetta in that color actually I can't believe I didn't think of how well it matched what I'm trying to do!

 

[StoRMiE]

Re: Refinishing my Jazzmaster

Dimensions for your stripe are uh

center stripe: 1/2″ or 12.7mm
thin stripes: 1/4″ or 6.35mm
spacing: 1/8″ or 3.18mm between stripes

 

[FuseG4]

Re: Refinishing my Jazzmaster

Dimensions for your stripe are uh

center stripe: 1/2″ or 12.7mm
thin stripes: 1/4″ or 6.35mm
spacing: 1/8″ or 3.18mm between stripes

you rock thanks I was gonna ask about this!

 

[FuseG4]

Re: Refinishing my Jazzmaster

in the mean time, I might try to steam out some tiny dents and do something with glue and toothpicks where the pickguard screw blew into the cavity
I think it's gonna be next weekend before I set up to start the sanding sealer/filler, this week looks a little busy with regular work and it's raining and a little chilly today

 

[FuseG4]

Re: Refinishing my Jazzmaster

Got the screw holes that blew out fixed up with toothpicks and glue,
Also got filler/sander, primer, tarp, and made a handle to mount the guitar to whilst spraying it