REFINISHING A GUITAR // Getting the Paint Off. Part 1
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- Опубліковано 28 сер 2024
- This is the first video in a series about refinishing / restoring this guitar.
I've had this guitar for many years, and I've always been curious about how to refinish it. In this video I show the process I went through to remove the old paint off the guitar - which might sound like a simple task, but trust me, it's more complicated than it first seems! Removing the finish requires a specific set of stages, and this is one of the most important things you have to do to create a high quality refinish.
I show how I use a sheet sander to remove the paint, and how I used a heat gun & scraper to remove the paint. I found that the most effective way to remove the finish is to use a paint stripper - I used EZ strip, which luckily, isn't harmful or toxic. A lot of the process requires hand sanding, which can be tedious. Using a sanding block helped.
One question I stumbled upon during this process was "should I sand through the sealer coat?" and surprisingly, I couldn't find an easy, simple answer. Some sources say that you absolutely should remove the sealer coat, so the new nitrocellulose finish can soak into the wood grain, while other sources say that you can spray nitro over poly as long as the poly is cured. In my case, the sealer coat became damaged due to the heat gun & scraper process, so I wanted to get rid of it so I can spray the new coats onto a bare wood surface.
I hope you find this video helpful!
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Real Simple
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No Repeating
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How to refinish a guitar
How to repaint a guitar
How to sand down a guitar
How to take off paint on guitar
I would NOTT reccomend the heat gun. VERY risky my first time the wood was splintering and burning everywhere and I ruined the body
That’s why you do it cautiously. There’s a pretty wide margin between the paint breaking down and the wood burning, just start slow and work up just until the paint does the thing you need it to do. After that, do not go further to speed the process, that’s why your body was ruined.
@@reneebear3641 yeah no it wasn’t, I wasn’t in a hurry when I did it and I spent hours on it. The paint kept pulling splinters out of the veneer on the top
@@junglemast3rok my bad didn’t know there was a veneer involved, yeah that’ll basically fuck you over entirely
This is the exact video I've been looking for.. Keep going, guy!
thank you for the encouragement friend! I am excited to finish this project & post the video of it!
Idk how it takes so long for some folks to sand off the paint and all, i sanded down to the sealer in 2 days total worktime, (though i am a woodworker by hobby) i dont condone the scrape method, it just adds extra work in the end, gotta sand down all the bumps and lines, just better off taking the time to sand it, if you know how to manipulate sanders, youll be just fine (a belt sander costs like $60 for a small one) makes the job way easier!
But you did great all in all man!! Working on my ESP LTD V-50, had it for the past 10+ years! Sorry for the long winded comment!! 😂
This is probably an experience thing. This was my first time removing an existing finish from a guitar. I tried a belt sander for a minute but it gave me a few deep gouges that I didn't like, so I didn't go far with that. I suppose it'd be a fast way to start removing the finish though, if it's controlled properly. I assume if I started a refinish project again now, that I'd be able to get the sanding done a lot quicker. Thanks for your comment, it's great to hear your perspective! These refinish projects are really satisfying to accomplish.
Patience and persistence are virtues and have gotten you a very nice result. Sanding is never really done, you just reach a point where you decide you've done enough. Hope you get the paint job you're looking for. IMO this body would also look great with a stained or natural finish and if you don't like it you can always still paint.
Thanks! Totally, I agree that this one would look great with a stain or natural finish. Once you uncover nice wood grain its hard to cover it up again!
@@Levisrad Yes that's true. I like painted guitars just fine but I'm a woodworker so when the wood's nice to look at I can't help wanting to see it. Cool either way. Thanks for the reply!
Refinishing drums I have found it I rough up to clear coat finish with about 80 grit sandpaper then apply paint remover and cover as you did it works much faster.
Thanks for the tip! I wish I had done that at the start. Woulda saved me many hassles haha. Thanks for checking the video out!
молодец!!!!!какой трудный и долгий процесс!!!
Let me tell you this! I have had a time from hell doing a refinish to an old Cort EVL Z4. I bought a kit from Oxford Supply to do this with! I followed the instructions to a Tee ( so I thought) turns out their idea and my idea of spraying the finish on differed slightly. It turned out that I had applied a very thick layer of paint that refused to dry, I waited two weeks before attempting to sand it. It didn't matter what grit paper I was using there always seemed to be scratching. It was a disaster. I ended up scraping the entire finish off. Talk about a waste of money! I replaced the Nitro with Dupont Perfect Match from Canadian Tire. Much better results, not perfect but much better. No long wait times before sanding and much better looking. If this is your first guitar refinish I would stay away from Nitro.
I’m sorry to hear that! I agree, after completing the spraying I felt that nitro was a real pain to work with, and kinda made me sick even though I used a resp mask. I ended up with decent results but your story is a valuable one to share. Thank you for sharing your experience here! I’ll have to try a project with that DuPont product to get some experience with it.
This is amazing! Thank you so much for this!!!!
do you have to take out the electronics if you are doing it all by hand? Im thinking of just painters taping the pickups for primer
@@cheeseburger7925 the best way to do it is to remove everything before refinishing, so you can sand better, lay the guitar body fully flat etc.
that gives a more professional result.
However, I’ve got some friends that played in punk bands, and spray-painted their guitars kind of like that, just masking off the pickups, bridge and knobs. It can work. It just depends on the kind of result you’re after.
@@Levisrad Thanks bro! Im thinking of doing cyborg camo from black ops 2 on my ibanez 7 string. and dawg you were right about that sanding.. i barely got like a small of it done (sanded paint) in an hour. i dont know how to solder. and already my neck is stuxk on because my screwdriver broke off a tip in one of the screws😤
*sealer coat* :D
What wood is the body made of?
@@OliverBurden-1019 this one is basswood
@@Levisrad Thanks
Oh yes, I've been waiting for this one!!
Hope you like it!
How do you manage to remove the string ferrules?
I pushed them out using a small screwdriver, from the opposite side of the hole. The top ones pulled off easily with just my fingers, by the back ones needed that extra push. When reinstalling I had to press hard and use a mallet to get them to seat fully.
@@Levisrad yeah i can see that might work by usinh thin screwdrivers...thanks man..i might use that method
Try a pair of pliers, the thick ones, get a decent grip on the ferrules, and gently wiggle them out
IT'S POLYESTER not Polyurethane
Polyester is a fabric
@@RabbiB0Y not at all it's a polymer
@@RabbiB0Y please don' answer when you don't know the truth... it's a polymer, i'm a luthier
@@ovniufo6777you're a ninny
Nice! Sealer coat is a bitch to remove
That sealer coat really humbled me! It’s probably the hardest part of the whole finish removal process.
So basically don’t do it.
Why not
hahaha yeah think about it seriously before you start! While it does take a lot of time, it's really rewarding to get to that end result.
@@Levisrad I’m doing it
@@AL-rh7ih yeeeessss do it! It’ll be a one of a kind guitar!
It might be worth doing on a kit guitar, because then it's basically the same process but with less effort. Or even just practicing on a spare body.
Wheres the other parts my guy?
I'm currently working on the second video! Just finished the grain fill, nitro finish coming soon!
@@Levisrad awesome. Looks great mam
wheres part 2
I have a playlist for it on my channel, check it out there!
Why on earth did you apply the paint stripper with a towel? No wonder it didn't work. There's a lot of complaining in your video too and not that much work, you're making life hard on yourself.
I've only ever painted guitars for myself and for fun, I want to make a business out of it now so I come looking at videos to see if I can learn anything new and what I found is that, I don't think I really need to learn anything else. Thank you!
haha, thanks for the feedback. I just used what I had, and made plenty of errors along the way. This was my first ever refinish, this vid just documented the journey, highlighting the roadblocks I came across along the way. For what you're looking for, Brad Angove's channel will be a far better resource than any of my videos. He is really good at guitar refinishing. Thanks for the feedback, I'll definitely consider it when making future videos. And thanks for stopping by to check this video out. Cheers
@@Levisrad dude you're fine... it's actually good to hear 'this was hard, inefficient' rather than not talking about it at all because someone is probably going to try the method that really didn't work for you
Howdy boss. Also in Calgary and doing this tonight
Awesome. Best of luck with it!
@@Levisrad appreciated! Ended up trying paint stripper first which is being left on for 2 hours as we speak