Removing a finish

Re: Removing a finish

Leave the headstock alone, I suppose. Wouldn't help or hurt anything to do so.

And what do you mean you're wetsanding the top?
 
Re: Removing a finish

Now that I have all the flat and planar curved surfaces rough-sanded, I'm switching to hand power for the top. Wet-dry sanding paper and foam blocks, going nice and slow. Tap water.

So far, I have some of the tint off, and there's a nice bright orange flame underneath. It's almost like they finished it as a flame, then went back and did the burst tint over it. It could have been a finished guitar without the tint.

For the headstock, I did take the back and sides down to bare wood.
 
Re: Removing a finish

Well, alrighty then. Have fun doing it by hand.

I fully meant to leave the face of the headstock alone. If you do your Tru Oil correctly, it'll look amazing.
 
Re: Removing a finish

I'm still not sure how I want to do the finish. Last time I used Tru-Oil, it seemed kind of thick. Does it get old if it sits around?
 
Re: Removing a finish

P1010071.jpg
 
Re: Removing a finish

Well, kids, it's not a burst anymore.

P1010074.jpg
 
Re: Removing a finish

Next step:
Take off enough of the top finish so that I can stain the flame veneer.
Or do I just finish sand it and leave it?

My stain of choice for the neck, back, sides: Min-Wax Red Mahogany.
 
Last edited:
Re: Removing a finish

If you do stain it, I would really dilute the stain. The top looks so good as it is...you don't want to lose too much of that flame with a dark stain.
 
Re: Removing a finish

So how much poly do we think is between us and that flame top now?
 
Re: Removing a finish

I was thinking no extra color on the top, red mahogany stain on the back, sides, neck.
 
Re: Removing a finish

Crap. This "red mahogany" is looking pretty brown to me. And it's bringing out scratches from earlier sanding stages.
 
Re: Removing a finish

And yet, I don't mind. I just put a layer of stain on the neck (which I think is maple), and it looks kind of red. Cool.

When I did the back, I slopped it all over the binding. Now I get to scrape it off with a razor blade. Has anyone ever heard about the Gibson factory, where they have old women who do nothing but scrape bindings with a special tool?
 
Re: Removing a finish

If someone can identify the neck wood, that would be cool. I have an epiphone with a neck just like it. (My other epiphones have necks that are positively maple.)
 
Re: Removing a finish

Looks like maple to me, but the sun is shining on my screen so I may not be seeing details that are important...
 
Re: Removing a finish

I didn't get all the finish off the sides of the headstock. Now I have to wait for it all to dry, and sand it again.

Also, the stain made it underneath the tape lines I put down, and it got on the neck and headstock bindings. Scrapey-scrapey.
 
Back
Top