JET JS300 Strat Guitar Demo and How to Relic a Poly Finish
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- Опубліковано 8 гру 2022
- The ultimate HOW TO relic a poly finish guitar tutorial - using the amazing Jet JS300 Strat guitar. Polyurethane finish guitars are hard to relic, but here's how to do it properly.
Full relic process PLUS full guitar demo.
#guitartutorial #Stratocaster #guitar
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the best relic i have ever seen on a poly strat, so u just basically used sand papers, amazing, im gonna try it myself
Thanks. Yes, foam backed wet and dry pads work best, wet of course. The dinks, do by pressing in a sharp metal tool, then softening it a bit with more gentle sanding. Looks A1.
This was a good relic indeed. I'll follow the same process for mine
this is by far the best video I've seen on doing a relic job
Thanks. It's a therapeutic process and fun
That looks absolutely superb ,you’ve done a great job
Thanks. Love this guitar.
That's pretty cool Pete!!! Great video walkthrough
Thanks dude
Before putting the screws back into the wood put a few drops of thin CA glue into the holes and leave to dry overnight. The glue reinforces the threads in the wood.
Wow, looks great! I really enjoyed this video. Learned a lot. I wanna give this a try on my Squier telecaster! Thanks! 😃🎸 Subscribed!
Great look and sound ! Very nicely done!
A great low price guitar
Great job man.
Thanks my friend
A couple of capos makes removing the neck with strings on a wee bit easier . nice vid 🙂
Great tip. Thanks
Nice one! Looks good and thanks for the tips.
Welcome. A full modification video is coming so subscribe to get a notification when it does
That looks amazing, I love the look of the color with the poly taken off. Perfect amount of relic, some people go way over board
Soooo much better. A joy to play every day
You absolutely want to keep the guitar untouched under the pic guard. Sunlight is the biggest factor in fading paint. The job will look more realistic if the paint is untouched under the plastic.
Yeah, but to the trained eye it's obviously not a true relic. So many giveaways. It looks much better flattened and DIY relic'd to my eyes and to the touch/feel. But it's so much easier to blitz the whole body in one go with it dismantled. YMMV.
Great job! looks and sounds superb for the money thanks.
Thnx. A great budget guitar indeed
Wow, awesome job!
Thanks. It's so much better now.
I really appreciate this video. That strat looks and sounds so good. Do you have any experience or advice on refinishing acoustic guitars? My J45 copy came with a bad finish on the (Adirondack) top, but the back and sides are heavily glossed. I was thinking of giving the whole thing a satin finish and enhancing the scratches around the soundhole as well just giving it an all around road worn look if i can, but i don't wanna down-grade the tone in the process. I might just take it to a professional, but I'd love to do it myself if i can.
Beautiful work! 👍
Thanks man. This guitar has quickly become a regular feature on my recordings.
good job man! thank you
Cheers dude
Great job! I recently purchased the JS400 in the faded yellow. I’m going to relic it eventually as the glossy poly annoys me too. I plan on sanding the logo of the headstock too as it’s a total eye sore! Other then that the guitars a dream to play!
Both good ideas. The decal sucks for sure
Great effect and im goona try the same thing. Do you put on some transparent coat of lacquer afterwards?
@@ruiwang6861 no, there's no need to. It would look wrong if you do that after relicing.
Scuffing with a piece of rough burlap sack works good on areas where your arm/hands' comes in contact with the body for a natural relic wear look.
Nice tip. Thnx
Excellent video!! Can you do this without removing the pickguard ? What exactly do you use? Thanks a lot, subbed!!!
Yes totally, but it's a lot easier just to unscrew it so you can get underneath, otherwise you'll have a lot of difficulty wet/dry sanding upto the pickguard and bridge. Use 400 grit wet and dry, or fine sanding pads. Easy.
@@PetesGuitarUniverse thanks a lot!!!
Hello. Thanks for the video. The guitar looks beautiful! I was looking to relic my own poly finished bacchus strat as well. After you finished the relic job, didn’t you re-finish it with anything?
Thanks. No, I left it sanded back to the paint. I prefer a matte finish. Don't like glossy finishes personally. You could refin with nitro, but I haven't bothered with this one
Man thank you so much for this video. Followed everything you said in this video and I couldn’t be happier with the outcome!
Looks ace just curious is the guitar body sticky at all to touch after taking that shiny layer off?
No. Not at all. That's the only exact reason I prefer the matte finish when sanded. It feels smooth and worn in. It's the glossy finishes that are sticky generally
looking good i need to do this to but on squier first.
Sure it will look great once done how you like it
That’s a great video Pete, really useful. A lot of relic tutorials say you can’t do it with a poly finish, but happy for you to prove them all wrong!
I have a Squier Tele Classic vibe 50’s (in poly purple!) which I just picked up and am thinking of relic’ing using your method.
Have you used it on a Squier? I’ve read different manufacturers place the paint at different levels in the finish, just wondering if it would work?
Thanks. It is 100% possible, just not the same process as a nitro finish relic
@@PetesGuitarUniversein your video you’re using foam backed sanding pads? Where did you get them?
@@oldwulf6629 a local hardware store, but I also bought some on eBay for cheaper. Really the best product for this type of relicing
That's cheaper than buying the already relicked guitar from jet and saving $300 and you gave the experience of doing it yourself. Thanks for sharing.
Good point. And thanks. I've fully rewired this to Fender USA spec and replaced the neck now. It's a beauty
Im trying replicate this with a black yamaha pacifica. I ended up getting some nice wear on a few corners, but when sanding the rest of the guitar, it gives it a very scratchy matte look, not a nice smooth matte. Any suggestions on how I can smooth it out a bit more?
Definitely. The key is to use wet and dry paper, about 400 grit, or even 800. Wet sand it in nice even circular motions. Keep wiping it off with a damp cloth. You'll quickly see it start to achieve the look you're after. Good luck!
Quick question: your description say’s polyurethane but in the video you mention that it’s polyester. Which one is it? I want to do this to my polyurethane and this is the only video I’ve found that is helpful so far. So I’d like to know if it’s polyurethane or not. Thanks!!
They're very similar, just a polymer different. They both behave similarly when put through this process. One is more shell like. Both need removing in the same way as demonstrated here
@@PetesGuitarUniverse good to know! I have an American Strat and I’ve always hated the glossy coat and when it does take damage it looks terrible. Do you have any videos of painting over a say sunburst and then sanding to reveal the sunburst through the new color? Like white over sunburst for example. Would love to see you do something like that if you haven’t already. Again thanks for the knowledge, appreciate it.
Great video, thank you so much. After you remove the poly, what is the best way and/or best substance to use to clean the body?
Just a damp cloth with tap water. Maybe a tiny drop of washing up liquid, just as a slight degreaser. You can either respray with nitro or leave it bare.
@@PetesGuitarUniverse Thank you for taking the time to respond. I'm gonna give this a try on a telecaster body.
I used 800 grit and went through the poly pretty quickly and got that great matte/satin finish. Scratches were visible so I repeated with 1200 grit, still visible so went to 2,000 and sanding scratches are still visible. Any recommendations to combat at this point? Thanks!
@@alstrummer2446 what pattern are you using? Needs to be a circular random pattern so there's no uniformity. You also need to clean the pad very very often so there's build up that can gouge deeply. Maybe this happened at the start and you're struggling to get them out now
@@PetesGuitarUniverse Hi Pete. I definitely used a circular and random pattern but maybe I didn't clean often enough. I'm going to give it another run through and see how it looks. Not sure if there is any type of polish that I can try now that the poly has been removed. Overall I am very please with how it looks. The scratches probably would not be visible to most unless they examined the guitar.
I'll tell you what I did to my Fender MiM to relic it.....TRASH IT....throw it around, stomp on it, beat it with a hammer, and of course play it a lot and carry it around everywhere with as little as care as possible.....that was 20 years ago, it's still rocking and looking like something I would certainly call 'heavy relic's xD
Ha ha.. I've done that method in the past too. Has a certain charm.
😂
I bought the very same guitar last week but in black, the neck alone is worth the cost of the guitar. My only gripe and its a personal thing is the mirror like poly finish (polyurethane) ? anywhooo the plan is to flatten the black down, fit locking tuners and see how i get on from there. They look like a tremendous guitar to use as a mod platform. Very enjoyable video 👍
Great choice. The tuners are actually really good too. Flattening the black will be a good move. I have yet to find a strat that sounds better than this JS300. And I have 2 vintage Fender strats, a Suhr. Weird, but true. The neck is Awesome. Perfect really.
@@PetesGuitarUniverse Im only changing the tuners as i have some knocking around. Proof were it needed that they are worth the money is they usually sell out within a week or so. Im glad you took the trem block out and noted that it was a big ole unit so thats not something i need to consider. I have a Strat Ultra with compound radius neck and i swear this Jet feels better.
Hi I’m considering relic my strat after I figured I couldn’t really make it “looks vintage” after playing it for a few yrs bc of its poly finish😅. This vid rly helps. Did you relic the metal and plastic parts and the neck as well?
Yes, I used ferric chloride on the metal parts, which takes the sheen off them. You have to lightly wet/dry the parts first to allow the FC to bite into it. Less is more. The neck I've left alone because it is already super smooth on this guitar. But you can lightly sand the back of the neck and even the fretboard if you want a worn out look. They still play just as well. If not with better feel.
@@PetesGuitarUniverse thank you so much!
Great work! Less is definitely more with relic jobs it seems
Thanks. The relic on this has improved it's feel and playability so much. Well worth it.
Hi friend. Wich saddles are that? Thanks
Vi rage style pressed saddles as standard. Same as Fender. Less sustain than modern block saddles, but the strat tone comes from being like that, with short note decay. Good luck.
Do you take the polly off completely? And do u put a diffesnt finish on
I do take the poly off completely yes, but I don't respray with nitro. You could do that, but I don't usually. I have in the past though.
At 13:30, how exactly did you apply those “dinks and scratches?” The extra relicing that you did made it 1000x even better, so I want to be sure I can do those details too, before starting my project. Thanks!
Good question. I used a stake knife. Not glamorous, I know. But over the years I've found a strong knife gives the best control, so you can press firmly into the paint and remove it without obvious sharp thin lines. You can also slide the blade over the edges of the body where you want to remove extra paint, as if it's been dinked against things over the years! Works well.
@@PetesGuitarUniverse Cool! Do you use the point? Or maybe push the blade sideways across the spot?
@@JoeWall157 yes, kind of the edge leading into the point. Apply steady pressure, don't stab. Just looking to crush the paint so it comes away. You'll get the hang of it after a few tries. Start on the back of the guitar first!
@@PetesGuitarUniverse Awesome, thanks so much!! Seriously this is so helpful for me.
So I'll just scrape away the paint in those areas I want, after sanding off the top clear layer?
@@JoeWall157 yes. Exactly. Less is more. You can always add more, but think about where the guitar would naturally get knocked over the years. You can't go wrong.
👍👍
Whats the slow calm song when showcasing the final result?
Just one of my original ambient recordings
@@PetesGuitarUniverse You should upload its really relaxing and pleasant
Nice video Pete! Shame you discarded the flame maple neck though (because the holes were in the wrong place). I've had a lot of success with re-plugging holes like that in Tele necks and then re-drilling. It's pretty easy. I think I used off-the-shelf hard wood dowels, drilled out the existing holes to the size of the dowels, fitted the dowels (with wood glue) and then measured and drilled new holes. Simples!
Funnily enough, that's exactly what I've done. It now has a different neck with a rosewood fretboard. Works a deam.
Great job. I’ve got a too red colored guitar. I wanna knock down the color a bit. This might be the way.
Yes, wet sanding with pads will flatten it off nicely. Good luck.
Wear patterns look very natural.
Is it made of a solid piece of wood or a multilayer plywood?
Almost all Strats are made of 5, 3 or 2 pieces, as you go up the price scale. Sometimes, rarely, strat bodies are 1 piece, but very rarely. I have not removed enough paint on this JS300 to be able to say how many pieces the body is for sure, but my guess would be 3. Which is a pretty good standard for budget guitars. It's base wood, so a standard 'tone wood' at this price range.
@@PetesGuitarUniverse Thx for the answer!
Heavy bottom thin top slinky is all you need on a Strat
I prefer heavier strings as they feel for stable under my fingertips. I've been playing over 30 years so I also have the hand muscles to cope with them
@@PetesGuitarUniverse wow a dude that actually responds to comments ! Cudos brother
Could you have put a nitro finish on it after all the sanding? I thought it might be cool if a nitro finish was able to stick, you could use the heat gun/upside down compressed air cannister to apply some finish checking, and then continue heavy sanding to get to the wood and very light sanding elsewhere... I don't know enough to know if that would work. I was thinking of trying that finish-checking process on my Martin D-42... just kidd'n 😆😆
Yes, that would definitely work, if you're keen on that checking nitro finish
hear me out...i am only about 3 min into the video...but i have been wanting to take off my poly on my ultra, and spray nitro on it. down sides? worth possibly damaging a $2100 guitar? it is the mocha finish and i love it, but i want it to show age throughout the years.
Do it. Poly is a horrible finish. You CAN wet send back to base coat and re fin in nitro. It WILL work. I've done it lots of times. Good luck
Thanks for the response. YOU JUST MADE MY DAY! I will surely take some pics or MAYBE get a video of the process and send you the final product! I would like to ask one more question. NO ONE seems to have a video of a refret on a maple neck with cuts/small chips in it. Which was caused from cutting off the clear that was left from fender when clearing. Sure they did polish the tops of the frets, but when there is a hill of clear and you feel as if you are just going over a soft hill, that is where i like to bitch bc I spent $2100 on my guitar which should have been beyond perfect. I feel I have a good reason to be pissed beings i had to cut, with a knife, on my 8 month old guitar, in order to actually feel my frets. And in the process learned lol. So i have a few mess ups, and small chips. I plan to pull the frets and refret it, and my question is, should i sand off the clear and respray the fret side, or if it is not messing with my playing, just pull, refret? I am truly sorry for how long this was but i have had no luck with anyone reaching back to me on my issue at hand. Appreciate your time and knowledge! . @@PetesGuitarUniverse
@@chappie2dope247 to do what you are planning to a pro level requires specialist tools and some experience. It's completely possible, of course, so if you have those skills then I maintain no guitar player should ever settle for anything less than a perfectly set up and playable instrument. Go for it and learn along the way. If you have good practical skills, perfecting your own guitar is the most satisfying thing. With frets removed there are specialist fretboard radius scrapers / sanding blocks that make this an easy job.
Very helpful 👍 Not being a "Guitar Snob" lol, but the only thing I don't like (based on pics an vids as not getting mine til Thurs or Fri) is the Jet logo on the headstock! looks a bit ugly to me, need to look at it first but may well have a go at that when I relic the body!
Totally agree. I have removed the logo from the headstock and reprofiled the headstock to a more classic shape. Looks way better
@@PetesGuitarUniverse Sweet. Did u do a vid of it Pete? or does it appear in any other of your vids?
@@mikealman9259 it's a recent thing. No video as yet. Wasn't sure a re-shaping of the headstock would get much positive feedback. But it's just for my own preferences / tastes.
@@PetesGuitarUniverse I guess it's a more "specialised" thing, and u do (from what little I've seen) a great job in walking through a good Relic, I've decided to play mine in for a bit to make sure there's nothing majorly wrong before tackling the relic etc, appreciate your content matey 😉👍🎸
@@mikealman9259 good move. I'm sure it'll be worth doing. The results make it far better
This looks like polyurethane to me. Not polyester. Just by the way it reacts to sanding. I’ve sanded polyester before and it’s hellish. Took me forever to even get through the finish anywhere. Polyurethane is a bit softer than Polyester, so you’ll more easily go through on corners, like you did here.
Polyester and polyurethane finishes are very similar. Polyester just has more solid matter in the formula (about 95% of it's composition). Whereas polyurethane is about 65% solid material. Polyester is more thick, durable and shell-like. Whereas polyurethane is less resistant to knocks bumps and scrapes etc. Neither of them age like nitrocellulose. But of the two, polyurethane, thanks to its slightly softer formula, will age more kindly in respect to a guitarist's point of view, where feel (and looks, to some degree) is important. Wet sanding this JS300 was long and intensive work, but well worth it. The footage is sped up and shows just a few highlights, in the context of keeping it interesting while also refraining from showing the whole story, to allow for the big reveal at the end. The finish on this Jet JS300 is definitely 'poly', but having sought a definitive answer as to whether it is polyester or polyurethane, there seems to be little info out there. Perhaps one of Pete's Guitar Universe channel subscribers can offer an answer if any of you guys know with certainty?
@@PetesGuitarUniverse I have sanded both, and polyester… Well, ain’t sanding that again. Extremely tough, even with a machine. Almost better to try to chip it off. Urethane on the other hand is quite a bit easier to sand. Not as easy as Acrylic or Nitro, but sort of mid way difficulty.
Anyways, it did end up looking quite nice.
Just wanted to clearify if someone had a poly guitar and wanted to do the same relicing, it might be tougher depending on if it’s polyester or Urethane.
@@Ari_Calamari yeah, that's cool. I've done both before, too (see my other vids on channel). I would (and will) still happily tackle a polyester wet sanding relic job again, it just needs a bit more time and effort. But still comes out very similar in the end due to the removal of 95% to 100% of the clearcoat. I actually aim to leave a very very thin layer of matte / satin finish on top of the paint (except where it's 'worn' through to the bare wood, obvs), as this gives it a little protection for the years of playing ahead.
Gooood job! Think this is the way relicing my HB shell pink)
Good luck. Sure it will work out
@@PetesGuitarUniverse Thanks! What tool did you use for making cracks or spots? Thanks)
@@Answer3i a sharp knife. It's a very accurate method. Long side strokes and point presses for 'dents' / dinks
@@PetesGuitarUniverse thanks!
its either this or using it for a few years o.O ...I don't get this trend but i enjoyed the video :D
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Relic'ing is a kind of artwork. The only way to achieve this level of finish is after about 60 years of neglect and abuse. I'd rather have the relic finish NOW, not decades later, and I'd rather do it with love and care, not abuse. So would all the other owners of relic guitars. Everyone's different. Nothing is right or wrong.
@@PetesGuitarUniverse Can't deny that i love the matt finish better than polished shiny thing :) I might even do that too if i ever save enough money to get my first guitar :( even thou i'm 35 my finances suck more than most people might imagine so it might take 1-2 years of saving... anyway, thanks for the awesome video, gives me something to drool over in the meantime, bookmarked :D
@@HexuTV you're welcome my friend. The Jet JS300 is a very affordable high quality instrument. And yes, it's so much better matte
Taking the neck off without removing strings - apply a capo. Reduced the chance of strings popping off the tuners
Yep. Good tip.
All you gotta do is play like SRV to relic it lol
But I want to play a relic looking guitar now, not in many many years time. Feels better to play when worn in properly too.
@@PetesGuitarUniverse I just think it takes the fun out of it. To each their own
@@codythedoggo7671 nah, it's fun to relic a poly finish guitar. Poly doesn't wear like nitro through aging, not nicely. So it's the only way.
All the Plastics look too new compared to the Body.
Yes, I agree. I have since done a lot more relicing to this guitar, including a full rewire, plastics and new neck. It's now and absolute killer
You might as well go all the way and age the hardware, fretboard, pick guard and plastic. Why go through all that effort to save a $5 set of strings?
Update video incoming. A lot has changed.
@@PetesGuitarUniverse Coolness!
Not sure it looks naturally aged to be honest
@@billyhenry27 thanks for sharing your opinion.
do you want to know how to relice ANY guitar. You play the hell out it. Relic finish should be earned, not made or bought.
I'd rather do it this way. With care, love and attention. I don't want to wait for 60 years of playing 'abuse' before I can enjoy my instrument. Guess you just don't get relic'ing like the rest of us do. It's like artwork. Everyone's different.
How to ruin a guitar.
Relicing a guitar is silly. Beat it up for some fake street cred. Does nothing to improve playability.
No, they just look nicer, THAT'S ALL. Some people like that look more, it's all subjective
Its subjective isn't it. some guitar players would love to own an old '59 or '62 strat but can't afford those prices. I guess the guitarist back in the day played/gigged the paint of their one and only guitar and got that look naturally rather than fake it people mod their guitars all the time so is that any different. the important part is to stick with one guitar and play and learn throughout you lifespan of that guitar.
It looks cooler
Ah yes, people aren’t allowed to like different looks. Thanks taste police officer!
Watching a video about relicing a guitar, when you think the whole idea of it is silly… 🧐 now Thats Silly… 🤷🏻♂️
Great job on the guitar. Im just learning about this Brand today and reviews are good and they are insanely low in price. I only wish they made just ONE JS300 with the rose wood fingerboard. But I love the color and may buy one as Im sure they will eventually do a JS300 in Rosewood and just buy another and switch the necks.
There's a really nice shell pink js300. Limited edition I think. They're unbeatable for the price
@@PetesGuitarUniverse Hmm....I don't see it on the Jet website. Im in Canada and there's only one dealer here and they also don't show a pink JS300. I will keep my eyes on the website for new colors etc.
@@shadeshadyshade254 here you go jgwindows.com/jet-limited-edition-js300-shell-pink-rosewood-fingerboard.html