The Guitar Refinishing and Restoration Forum

[Cody Paul]

Other things I found at Home Depot. I wondering if anyone else has used these and how well they'd work.

The front of the guitar where I spilled the thinner doesn't look too bad. I don't think it went through the clear to the color coat. So I was wondering, if I spray it with clear lacquer will it blend together again and be ok?


That actually looks like he's wiping it off not on..

[Cody Paul]

I think I'm starting to get the hang of it and came up with a system. Instead of putting thinner on a stripping pad and then going over the guitar, after using the stripper a few times I take a rag and get a little thinner on it and wipe over the guitar a few times firmly and then use a dry stripping pad over that. Worked really well and came out feeling really smooth. May just have to sand it in a few places like where the neck meets the body. And with the dry pad I could get right up to where I masked it off. Messed up the edge of the tape a little but no thinner under it to mess up the top.

Any ideas on how to clean the black out of the control cavity?
"Carefully"? Gee thanks guys...

[Cody Paul]

Alright, sanding sanding sanding and you're caught up to where I'm at now. Using 150 grit at the moment (which is also where I started.) I think its looking good, the kids keep coming to see how its going and my wife is no longer fussing at me "You RUINED it!" May pull this off yet. The top of the headstocks a pain though.

Trying hard to get it right. "It's easier to take an hour to fix it rather than a lifetime to live with the mistake."


What do you think of a Green guitar?

[Cody Paul]

Couldn't leave it at 13 posts...

Set the guitar down and apparently there was a wet spot. Was thinking about adding a little stain to make the mapel stand out more from the back. If the back comes out close to this though don't think I'll need to. I tried wetting small areas while sanding but it never looked this dark when I did.

[Structo]

Set your photo size to 800x600 in photobucket.

Be sure to always sand with the grain or you will end up with cross grain scratches that are difficult to get rid of.

When you want to see what the true color of the wood will look like with a clear coat, wipe it with some naphtha on a cloth.
It will darken it.

Water will raise the grain which isn't necessarily a bad thing.
When sanding or machining, wood fibers get broken.
When these get wet with water they raise above the surrounding wood.
So after it is dry, you block sand with the grain with 220-320.

This is called whiskering the wood.
If you are going to dye or stain the body with a water based stain, you need to raise and sand the grain at least a couple times before staining it.
Then the stain won't raise the grain.
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Tom



ReRanch 101 Finishing Tutorial
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Guitar Amp Repair

[Travst]

You might want to slow down a bit and go into old threads to take a look at pics of stripping, etc. Fast is fine, but quality is better. I suspect some of the old hands aren't watching this thread closely because of all the pic-posting discussion. I hope others will keep an eye on this and offer tips.
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John
I need more practice, not more gear.

[Cody Paul]

Thanks Structo, the advice is appreciated.

Travst, I do appreciate the response and the spirit in which it was given. I do get a bit impatient and want to hurry, but its not as fast as you think. I've had this for a couple months. I'm only just now posting and trying to catch up to where I'm at today. Waited so I could post pics with the posts. Have to have a seperate account somewhere to link pictures to.

Is it too many pictures? I thought peole liked pictures so they could see what your talking about. Sorry if I overdid it.

[Travst]

Nope, pics are good. The more detail, the better.
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John
I need more practice, not more gear.

[Vince]

Pics are fine... It's the choices of stripper and finishing supplies that have me scratching my head. Lacquer thinner ,rags and patience could have gotten you to the point you are without sanding.

The only thing that should touch a Gibson is lacquer if you want to retain any value at all. IMO and all that stuff....
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[Cody Paul]

The only finishing supplies I've used so far are the lacquer thinner and the Klean Strip. The pictures of the others are just stuff I saw and was wondering about. Right now I'm planning on using tru-oil on the back and clearcoat on the front. Have to fix holes and the peghead first. Looked at this method and asked Sully of Sullys Guitar Garage and he seemed to like it as well so going to try it: http://reranch.com/reranch/viewtopic.php?t=36266

Resized the pictures, or some of them anyway. Some don't want to change foe some reason. Hopefully that will help.

[Cody Paul]

Between work and being sick haven't done much lately.

I found some maple plugs with some endgrain on them. I haven't glued this in yet but it fits tight. Thought I'd use titebond. Hide glue would probably be better but can't see buying it just for 2 holes. I'll have to file or sand down another to fit the second hole. Do not want to enlarge the hole so it'll fit. Would be easier but seems counter productive.
Ummmm, how do I do a transparent black on this so it'll blend in. As much as possible anyway.



Everything I did to the headstock just made it look worse to me so stripped it off and sanded down to 320. Should've done the whole headstock but didn't want to lose the Les Paul script. The question now is do I need to stain it black or will clearcoating over it make it dark enough to blend in? Will clearcoating the entire headstock make it all melt together and blend in?



When stripping the back found a gash on the neck. It doesn't look like a break but it is discolored a little on the sides. Was wondering how to fix it or if it would just sand down. Looks a little deep for that though. Thought about using some super glue and dust from sanding to fill it. Should match anyway.

[Cody Paul]

Obtained some maple plugs and carved a few down to fit the holes. First one was pretty close to the right size. Just took a bit of sanding to make it fit in. Smaller one wasn't as easy. The holes aren't completely round and my carving even less so. Hard to hold onto those little things. Especially when trying to sand them. They fit tight though.

Debating on what to use to glue them in. Hide glue is $10 at Stew Mac ( http://www.stewmac.com/shop/Glues,_adhesives/Wood_glue/Franklin_Liquid_Hide_Glue.html ) but I can get Titebond for $3 at home depot. For something as small as this is there an advantage of one over the other? Also since they don't fit perfectly how do I fill the small gaps?

[Cody Paul]

Well, I sprayed some clearcoat on the headstock. Guess I answered a few of my own questions, but of course ran into some problems.

1. Did not blacken the headstock before spraying. The clearcoat made it nice and black on its own. Not quite there yet but hopefully more coats will help. Looks nice and black from about 5 feet away though.

2. Clearcoating the entire headstock is blending in, sort of. Helps the scratches on the headstock, but what I stripped is considerably lower. So there's a very noticable line present. Expected that though. Sprayed a coat waited several hours and sprayed a second coat then let dry overnight. Masked off just below the line and repeated that same process today. See if I can build it up over the next week then sand it all level.

The problems: It was clear and hot when I sprayed the second coat, but got a very definite white color on it. I forgot to lightly mist the first few coats (as I read somewhere on this site) so thought I might have sprayed it too heavy. About two hours later a heavy storm came in so maybe the humidity was too high. Definitley somthing to watch for from now on. After letting it dry overnight the white was gone however. Sometimes you just get lucky I guess.

After spraying:




and the next day:

[Vince]

The main problem you have is that there is too great of a difference on the level that you stripped and the part you didn't touch. You need to get them closer to the same level before proceeding or you will never get them to the same level without telling. It will also take you forever and allot of clear to bring them close. Just my .02
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[Cody Paul]