carefully stripping vintage refins

[øøøøøøø]

Considering sending my old strat to Danocaster for a refin.

Neck and body have been refinned already, repro decal.

I wonder whether pencil markings might be somewhere under there on the body, and on the neck I KNOW they're on the butt end. I want to save that.

To tell the truth, I'm a little scared to go stripping a guitar. I want to avoid doing harm most of all. Dan doesn't have time to strip guitars right now. I'm not sure I want to undertake this right now; I might have to build up some courage.

I'm seeking the advice of restorers here... I can see a few possible ways forward.

1) use acetone or lacquer thinner and very slowly, painstakingly remove the existing lacquer
2) use a gentle stripper like Citristrip and just try to avoid the areas I want to protect
3) something else, add your own.

Any thoughts?

[Telliot]

There are people here who are much more qualified on this subject than me, but I would do a gentle stripper and let it do its thing. Nitro should come off fairly easily, but you definitely may have a harder time with poly and need to be patient, doing several passes. Any pencil marks or stamps underneath should be safe unless you start sanding in that area. Out of curiosity, why do you want to refin the neck?

[øøøøøøø]

Out of curiosity, why do you want to refin the neck?

I don't like the feel of the later lacquer that's on there (doesn't feel 'right' like a 50s or 60s Fender), the headstock decal is a repro and I might be able to get a better repro, and it needs a refret anyway.

[Ursa Minor]

Not sure if it's whats your asking, but Citristrip won't erase pencil marks. I've uncovered a few on refin'd bodies in the past just by isolating the specific areas.


It will eat right through any nitro in a hurry. I doubt you could use Citristrip to uncover layer by layer - maybe if you dilute it. I would wet sand in that case - especially if you have potential original finish underneath.

[øøøøøøø]

I'm pretty positive at this point that there's no original finish underneath, contrary to what I was told when I bought it, so it's really potential pencil marks I'd want to uncover and protect.

[Ursa Minor]

This was done with Citristrip. Pretty thick old spray can black removed. Didn't touch the pencil mark at all.
I just scraped the mushy old paint away with a credit card.

[mgeek]

Stop mincing around and strip the finish the way our forefathers back in the 70s would have done it: 60 grit paper epoxied to a nice round stone.

[PorkyPrimeCut]

Stop mincing around and strip the finish the way our forefathers back in the 70s would have done it: 60 grit paper epoxied to a nice round stone.

Epoxied to a nice round stone? Tsshh!! You were lucky!!

My forefathers had to nail a piece of 10 grit paper to their tongues & lick t'finish off.

[MattK]

Ah used t'ave to roll m'self in epoxy - original mind you, none of this five minute stuff - and roll m'self down in t'sand at t'beach. Then our da would throw t'Jazzmaster at us. IF WE WERE LOOCKY.

[mothershipzeta]

Beach! Luxury! There were a hundr'd and fifty of us, living inside a can of epoxy, in the middle of the road!

[jmac]

I like this thread.

[Bothand Nether]

Please, more of these master tips & tricks.
What type of stone should I be using for my 60 grit sanding stone?
The granite here is not useable, it is crumbly and smells like clumped kittylitter.
Oh, wait.

[howdo3313]

I'm in a similar spot currently. Looking to raise the date in the pickup route without affecting the pencil lead.
Citristrip and Nirtomors(UK) aren't available in Canada though.
And I am unsure about what's available up here that will do the trick.

[Bad Monkey]

Beach! Luxury! There were a hundr'd and fifty of us, living inside a can of epoxy, in the middle of the road!

you had a whole can? jeeez, we thought we had it made when we got the lid.

[StevenO]

I'm in a similar spot currently. Looking to raise the date in the pickup route without affecting the pencil lead.
Citristrip and Nirtomors(UK) aren't available in Canada though.
And I am unsure about what's available up here that will do the trick.

Not sure if EZ Strip affects pencil marks, but it does a good job at removing paint!