Steps to refinishing a guitar

[Xandeeno]

I'm looking to completely remake a squier, so I want to repaint the body to a tobacco burst.
The steps I currently have in my head are:
1. Sand down the the wood
2. Apply sanding sealer (with a nitro aerosol)
3. Mask the inside of the guitar and do the black edges. (With a nitro aerosol)
4. Mask the outside and do the tobacco middle. (With a nitro aerosol)

Obviously I'll need to let it dry in between and add more coats to make it smooth, but are those to correct steps?
Cheers

 

[Chistopher]

Re: Steps to refinishing a guitar

The sanding and sealer is right, but steps 3 and 4 are incorrect. The way a burst finish is traditionally done is by painting the entire guitar the color that is one the inside, and than painting the outside ring on top of it. There's no easy way to do a burst finish, it's all done by eyeballing it. If you did it how you described it, their would be no gradient between tobacco and black.

The nature of burst finishes is also what led to the infamous "clownburst" finish. The person who painted the finish didn't give a smooth enough transition across the colors.

 

[ICTGoober]

Re: Steps to refinishing a guitar

Don't sand the wood - strip it with a chemical stripper. It's already BEEN sanded at the factory. Use Scotchbrite if you have to get the stubborn bits off. As for the burst.... NO masking, it's applied in stages to blend together. Good luck.

 

[AlexR]

Re: Steps to refinishing a guitar

 

[PS412]

Re: Steps to refinishing a guitar

There are videos on you tube of guys staining a burst finish on. Not sure if it works well or not never tried it.

 

[Xandeeno]

Re: Steps to refinishing a guitar

Great thanks for all the help, I'd only sand to get the laquer off but is that still not a good idea?

 

[ICTGoober]

Re: Steps to refinishing a guitar

Great thanks for all the help, I'd only sand to get the laquer off but is that still not a good idea?

STRIP IT with chemicals, man. The wood is already sanded, doesn't NEED to be sanded any more. That is the great STOOPIDITY of DIY guitar mods - believing that everything must be sanded. It comes sanded from the factory - don't touch the wood. You can't put it back on once it's sanded off.

 

[medic24]

Re: Steps to refinishing a guitar

STOP. Save yourself a lot of time and frustration, just hit yourself in the face with a heavy object now. You are heading down the road to addiction, guitar modding and refinishing is evil.
Save yourself now, stick to whiskey and women.

 

[Xandeeno]

Re: Steps to refinishing a guitar

I just don't think I'd be able to get hold of chemicals, it is a eurethane finish so should I use a heat gun?

 

[ICTGoober]

Re: Steps to refinishing a guitar

I just don't think I'd be able to get hold of chemicals, it is a eurethane finish so should I use a heat gun?

Ace Hardware, True Value, Home Depot, Lowe's, Menard's..... Don't have ANY of these near you?

Heat guns don't always work.... depends on the wood and the urethane. I've seen some that peeled off like a potato chip, and others where the wood blackened underneath before the finish popped off in little shards.

 

[GuitarDoc]

Re: Steps to refinishing a guitar

I've tried a heat gun on several different guitars/finishes with NO success. Polyurethane is extremely difficult to remove. There are many different kinds of stripper and anything other than one specifically designated for polyurethane will not work any better than water. Unfortunately, part of stripping poly requires some scraping which can scratch the wood. And/or there may be small spots of poly left after stripping which will need to be removed by sanding.

In any case, sanding will either be required or a good thing! After sanding with 320 grit, there may be some bare wood exposed. Wipe with a cloth dampened with water to raise the grain. After 12-24 hours very lightly sand again. Then coat with multiple coats of sanding sealer. Lightly sand with 400-600 grit after every 3rd coat of sealer. Then you can begin the painting as in the video above.

If you are going to be finishing in lacquer, do not skip any steps. Do not rush the prep steps. Do not finish sanding the sealer with less than 600 grit. Lacquer shrinks considerably and when cured, will show every tiny scratch or sanding mark.

 

[Xandeeno]

Re: Steps to refinishing a guitar

Yeah no shops near me on a tiny island I'll try what you say GuitarDoc, thanks everyone

 

[tabeck5]

Re: Steps to refinishing a guitar

Keep in mind that sunburst finishes take a great deal of experience to get right and that the wood used in Squier guitars (which is adequate as far as sonic characteristics are concerned) are not chosen for their appearance, hence the bold colors that hide the grain. Having said that, it will be a good experience if you think you might do some guitar finishing in the future. If you want to get pretty good results the first time, I highly suggest checking out the guitar re-ranch, they have some great products and they have pretty detailed instructions to go along with them, you can get very serviceable results the first time.

 

[Xandeeno]

Re: Steps to refinishing a guitar

Yeah, it's a bit of a practise but if it goes horribly wrong I'll take it off and just go with either the tobacco or the black. Thanks for all the replies