Strat body: refin, replace, or deal with it?

[ratherdashing]

I have a very cool MIJ Strat. It's actually the body and neck from two different guitars. Here she be:

The neck is a 1984 62RI that's easily one of the best Fender necks I've run across. The body is a 1986 72RI that has been around the block. The finish is Vintage White that over the years has yellowed to almost a Post-It Note colour (very yellowy cream). It also appears to have sustained a fall at some point in its life; there are dings and chips on the top, and a crack that runs from the bridge pickup cavity to the bottom of the body. The crack was repaired but the finish was not.

The other interesting thing about this body is that in spite of being an MIJ with a solid colour finish, it is definitely not basswood. This is clearly evident when you look at the unfinished bit of wood in the neck pocket. Here's a photo I took while I was converting it to a four-bolt to accommodate the new neck:

I'm 95% sure that's alder. The pink-ish hue and the grain pattern are right on the money. I'm certain it's not a veneer over basswood either, because who would bother putting veneer in a neck pocket? I have no idea why Fender Japan opted to use alder for this particular body, but it looks like they did.

This guitar is a TONE MONSTER. It's easily my 2nd most played guitar, and it is my go-to whenever I want a classic Strat tone. It gets lots of use in the studio and live.

Aaaanyway, that's the back story. Here's what's happening:

I hate the finish on this guitar. Like, every day I wish it were a different colour. Depending on the light it either looks like a Twinkie or a booger. I want it to look as good as it sounds. Truth be told I almost didn't buy this when I did because I was turned off by the finish, but the tone was unbelievable and the price was insanely low for an 80's MIJ Fender.

My dilemma is that it would cost me as much to have the body refinished as it would for me to just buy a new Warmoth or USACG finished alder body. But of course with a different piece of lumber I might lose some of that magic that this guitar has. Or maybe it will be even better, given that there's a rather large crack in this one. It's a gamble, basically.

Sure, I could do the finish myself, but I really don't have anywhere to do the spraying unless I want to drive an hour each way to my mom's house. Even then, I've done refin's before and they're a huge pain in the ass and I'm not good enough at it to get the result that this guitar deserves.

So, I'll open this to the floor. Do I refinish or replace? Or should I just deal with the fact that I have a fantastic-sounding guitar that looks like expired yogurt?

 

[jtougas]

Re: Strat body: refin, replace, or deal with it?

Well, first the pics need to work so we know what we're looking at...

 

[ratherdashing]

Re: Strat body: refin, replace, or deal with it?

Images fixed.

 

[AlexR]

Re: Strat body: refin, replace, or deal with it?

Well, thats typically poly, which is a bugger to get off. Well the outer part not so much but the grain fill is nasty. I'd assume if you're going to redo, you'd want a nice paintjob (maybe something where you can see the grain, or a burst type finish)

Actually it almost looks like ash with that grain pattern, alder is quite subdued.

If you do decide to get a new body, please let me know as I'll buy that one off you.

 

[Lake Placid Blues]

Re: Strat body: refin, replace, or deal with it?

Looks like ash to me too. If you replace it with another ash body it will be difficult to finish your self. If you re-finish it by stripping it down it will be difficult. One thing you could do is fill the crack and dings and sand it smooth every where and then put a thin nitro finish over top.

 

[ItsaBass]

Re: Strat body: refin, replace, or deal with it?

Don't replace the body. If it is a great guitar, don't go swapping out huge parts of it.

Refinishing will be a P.I.T.A....but that doesn't mean that it isn't worth it.

Based on what I read from your post, I'd say to just do a cheap-o, half-assed refinish. Sand, fill, level, and resand the body as it is. Then add the paint of your choice over what is already there. All you need is a block, some sandpaper, some Bondo, some mineral spirits, and some spray paint of your choice. You're talking under $50, and about a day of your time, total hours invested.

You could also fill and prep the body, and have a student in the auto paint program at a local college spray it for you. Or take the class yourself. or just pay a pro body shop to do it (which won't be expensive).

 

[ratherdashing]

Re: Strat body: refin, replace, or deal with it?

Well, thats typically poly, which is a bugger to get off. Well the outer part not so much but the grain fill is nasty. I'd assume if you're going to redo, you'd want a nice paintjob (maybe something where you can see the grain, or a burst type finish)

Actually it almost looks like ash with that grain pattern, alder is quite subdued.

If you do decide to get a new body, please let me know as I'll buy that one off you.

Yeah, you're right: it might be ash. I hadn't considered that. I'm not totally convinced though. I have seen alder with pretty big grain, and in my experience ash tends to be much more pale.

I'd do a solid colour. Probably surf green.

Looks like ash to me too. If you replace it with another ash body it will be difficult to finish your self. If you re-finish it by stripping it down it will be difficult. One thing you could do is fill the crack and dings and sand it smooth every where and then put a thin nitro finish over top.

Don't replace the body. If it is a great guitar, don't go swapping out huge parts of it.

Refinishing will be a P.I.T.A....but that doesn't mean that it isn't worth it.

Based on what I read from your post, I'd say to just do a cheap-o, half-assed refinish. Sand, fill, level, and resand the body as it is. Then add the paint of your choice over what is already there. All you need is a block, some sandpaper, some Bondo, some mineral spirits, and some spray paint of your choice. You're talking under $50, and about a day of your time, total hours invested.

You could also fill and prep the body, and have a student in the auto paint program at a local college spray it for you. Or take the class yourself. or just pay a pro body shop to do it (which won't be expensive).

Yeah, stripping it down myself is probably a bad idea.

I like the idea of getting an auto body place to spray it for me.

 

[J E C]

Re: Strat body: refin, replace, or deal with it?

If it sounds good and has that "magic" refinish it. My money is on it being Ash.

 

[ItsaBass]

Re: Strat body: refin, replace, or deal with it?

If it looks like ash, it's probably sen wood. Aside from basswood and sen, Japanese Strats were also made of poplar (like my '94 Strat). I don't know if alder was ever used, but perhaps. The wood selection of those MIJs was inconsistent, and it was usually not listed in the guitars spec sheets.

 

[Myaccount876]

Re: Strat body: refin, replace, or deal with it?

I'd leave it as is honestly. I think the color is PERFECT from the posted pics.

 

[PoorMan]

Re: Strat body: refin, replace, or deal with it?

Looks like basswood to me. Looks too pink to be Ash. THat's not necessarily a bad thing. I had a MIJ basswood Strat that sounded incredible.

Regardless, If it sounds good, I'd have a luthier glue it back up and rock. Screw painting it, it has character.

 

[LogicallyInsane]

Re: Strat body: refin, replace, or deal with it?

If it ain't broke... dont fix it.
If ya sand it down, hell, you're liable to lose the tone you're crazy about! .. Look at SRV's guitar... that thing look like it had been run over by a steam roller, and dragged across the bottom of the ocean.. But it sure did sing!

Guitar's with character are cool.. People pay big bucks for relics with cracks and aged paint, etc..

 

[Lazarus1140]

Re: Strat body: refin, replace, or deal with it?

If it already sounds good with a thick coat of poly it'll blow your mind with a few thin coats of nitro. The magic is in the wood. Aside from the prep work required before applying finish coats the species is irrelevant. If you hate the finish redo it yourself or have it done. Buying a new body may be the path of least resistance, but call it what it is - a roll of the dice.

 

[ratherdashing]

Re: Strat body: refin, replace, or deal with it?

Looks like basswood to me. Looks too pink to be Ash. THat's not necessarily a bad thing. I had a MIJ basswood Strat that sounded incredible.

Regardless, If it sounds good, I'd have a luthier glue it back up and rock. Screw painting it, it has character.

There's no way that's basswood. Basswood has almost no visible grain, and has a yellowish color. Alder is naturally orangey-pink.

Look at the pics here. To me, the wood in my guitar looks most like alder.

Like I said ... it's already been repaired. The dings don't bother me, its the color itself.

If it already sounds good with a thick coat of poly it'll blow your mind with a few thin coats of nitro. The magic is in the wood. Aside from the prep work before appling finish coats the species is irrelevant. If you hate the finish redo it yourself or have it done. Buying a new body may be the path of least resistance, but call it what it is - a roll of the dice.

The finish is many things, but it's definitely not thick. That's pretty clear anywhere there's a chip or a ding.

 

[B2D]

Re: Strat body: refin, replace, or deal with it?

Have you considered that it might be poplar? My '95 MIM looked like that.

Speaking of my MIM, I don't know what the paint is like on that body, but the poly on my old MIM was a mothereffer to get off. using aircraft grade paint stripper brought it from a gloss to a matte. I ended up powersanding it all off, making an awful mess, and basically ruining the body. I wasn't too upset because I hadn't played the guitar for a while and I thought removing two layers of elephant hide paint might make the body sound better. It didn't.

Honestly, I don't mind the color. I like it and it has a Jimi vibe. I don't like the mint green guard with it though. Possibly swap it out for a parchment one to see if that makes the overall guitar look nicer?

And if altering the sound is your main concern, I'd have the body resprayed in a new color with as thin of a coat as possible. That's what I'd do.

 

[DreX]

Re: Strat body: refin, replace, or deal with it?

Keep the body, it's quite possibly responsible for the killer tone. A friend had some sort of balsa or ply wood Samick strat copy, and nothing has ever sounded as alive as that guitar did. The whole body resonated like crazy. Tone originates in the neck and the body. Different pickups and amplifiers can only report what they're hearing. If you give up the body, you might give up something you can never get back.

Refinishing isn't so bad. I highly recommend it in your case because a) it's not an expensive guitar to begin with b) it's already non-stock c) it's a great learning experience and a fun new hobby all by itself.

I tried removing poly with goo and with a heat gun, but ultimately I sanded it off with an orbital sander, and did the curvy parts by hand. The goo toremove poly you get from the hardware store is meant for light layers of poly, it would have taken me long time to get the poly of a guitar body. Next I tried the head gun, that basically just caramelized the finish and it was still very difficult to scrape off, so finally I sanded it. Some people warned that you risk taking off wood when you do that, but I found that sanding is still a slow enough process that you have plenty of time to recognize that you're down to wood and not to go further. And if you do take some off, it would likely be a trivial amount.

But if you're just painting it a new color, you can probably skip taking it down to the wood and just sand the poly a little to scuff it up, then primer over it, paint it sand it, paint and sand a few more times, then rub on poly and sand it, repeat a few times, then polish it to a high luster.

 

[Dahla]

Re: Strat body: refin, replace, or deal with it?

Keep the body color, but change the pickguard for different color IMO.


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[jake_xms3_punk]

Re: Strat body: refin, replace, or deal with it?

I like it! I'd leave it, but thats just me. I love surf green/ seafoam green too though! a heat gun will take that finish off pretty quickly if thats the road you wanted to go down

 

[PoorMan]

Re: Strat body: refin, replace, or deal with it?

There's no way that's basswood. Basswood has almost no visible grain, and has a yellowish color. Alder is naturally orangey-pink.

I agree Basswood usually has little grain, but not always. Check out the pics of basswod on warmoth also. They have some with a decent amount of grain.

http://www.warmoth.com/Showcase/ShowcaseItem.aspx?i=S6903&Body=2&Path=Body#.UxYNHoW3Ba4

The truth of the matter is it's often impossible to identify wood by looking at it. The same type can look very different from piece to piece.

I say, if it sounds good, who cares what it is?

 

[Lake Placid Blues]

Re: Strat body: refin, replace, or deal with it?

Unless you go with a transparent color theres no need to remove all the poly. With opaque colors just sand it down smooth and use it as the grain filler and primer for the new finish.