AV65 overspray removal?

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Mechanical Birds
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AV65 overspray removal?

Post by Mechanical Birds » Wed Jun 05, 2019 3:59 pm

I have a Thin Skin AV65 Jazzmaster that’s almost perfect, aside from the tinted lacquer covering the binding. It’s not as bad as the MIJ 66 reissue I had (legit couldn’t even tell there was binding on it) but it’s still pretty bad. From the front it’s not as noticeable, which is probably typical, but looking from the top or bottom it’s really glaring. I’ve been using scotch rite pads to give my neck’s a more matte feel for a few years now, but trying to isolate pressure on such a small area is really hard so I think I’m gonna have to go another way.

Is there a MIJ minimally invasive way of going about this? I reached out to Mike&Mike for the first time in years assuming this problem can’t be isolated to my single guitar but the reply I got was from someone I’ve never spoken to and told me I’d just have to get the whole neck stripped and refinished, which, what no fuck that that’s ridiculous.

Razor blade? Keep going with the pads? That method is great if you need a big area done but don’t have to take a whole lot off, like the entire back of the neck, but trying to isolate the necessary pressure in such a small area is really uncomfortable, takes an insane amount of time to cover any ground whatsoever and is hard to not scrape parts that you don’t want to scrape. I thought about just emailing Fender to see if I could take it to a dealer and get it fixed but they don’t seem to have the best track record with stuff like this as far as I’ve read so I’ve hesitated so far. It’s annoying the hell out of me that I can’t just get this done in 10 minutes, like it seems like it should be one of the easier parts of maintenance.

Thanks in advance!

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Steadyriot.
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Re: AV65 overspray removal?

Post by Steadyriot. » Thu Jun 06, 2019 1:56 am

You won't get it done in 10 minutes.
Personally I'd scrape it down if it was bugging me. Take a new razor blade and put a slight burr on it then go to town slowly and steadily.
It's tricky and risky tho' so it's up to you to decide if it's worth it.
Sanding would get you nowhere and probably scratch the binding.
Paint stripper and acetone will probably make a mess.
IMO scraping the binding is the easiest and safest way.
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Re: AV65 overspray removal?

Post by Debaser » Thu Jun 06, 2019 7:26 am

I think it's more trouble than it's worth, but scraping is a good idea. However, you'll need a steady hand, just like scraping binding the first time. Being a slightly curved edge, I can't see it looking very good at some point along the length. Your eye will notice, perhaps worse than the initial overspray line.

I'm thinking a jig could isolate sanding where it needs to be. First, mask off where you want to stop sanding with lacquer-safe tape. The jig would need to hold the neck steady and an edge would also need to be aligned with the entire binding edge. Use a small, squared piece of wood as a sanding block. Attach a narrow strip of self-sticking sanding paper at the proper distance from the edge of the block, so it stops at the binding edge you're trying to create. The sanding block engages the aligned edge on the jig to keep it straight along the entire length of the fretboard.

Just a untested idea. Sounds like a lot of work (it is), but that's all I see happening to do what you're asking. One slip up, then you might as well just sand it all off and --- refinish it.

If you're successful, progressively sand the binding, then remove the tape and blend the line and polish it up with micro mesh.
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Embenny
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Re: AV65 overspray removal?

Post by Embenny » Thu Jun 06, 2019 8:34 am

I don't see how this could end well.

Finish has a certain thickness to it. You want to eliminate finish over the edges and leave it on the rest of the neck. That would leave a step deformity from binding to wood, if you ever got it off selectively and correctly, which would not only look weird but also feel weird.

In necks with a tinted finish and clean binding, I've seen the binding installed after finishing with the tints, then a clear coat over everything sometimes.

If you ask me, the only way to get it looking right would be to strip the whole neck and refinish in clear. You could mask the binding for any tinted coats.

All of it is a lot of trouble for a minor problem. I suspect any of the solutions you could try would leave you with a worse-looking result, short of a refinish, which is a lot of labour and/or cost.
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Re: AV65 overspray removal?

Post by NICQ » Thu Jun 06, 2019 10:50 am

I did that with a 70eur neck from china off ebay - had binding and looked terrible with yellow tint.. I took a palm sander and sanded the binding part on the edge off until the whole binding was white. It has to be an even surface so I sanded the whole back of the neck carefully by hand - especially the part where the transition where the binding began and then put a clearcoat on it - looks great now. But it was a cheap neck and I just risked it because I didn't care if I ruined it. I never ever would do that to a Fender neck - maybe strip the whole finish and then reapply clear.. you have to be careful with any lacquer residue etc. With that cheap neck I didn't care and it worked.. guess it was poly or acryl or something..

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Re: AV65 overspray removal?

Post by Mechanical Birds » Fri Jun 14, 2019 3:34 pm

Shit, I thought the guy from MMGB was just being a pud and figured there was a common easy way of doing this, but I guess not. Sucks!

It’s not as ridiculous on top as the bottom, and it looks pretty bad. I had one of the MIJ JM66B Jazzmasters and its overspray was offensive enough to turn me off completely, and that had previously been my dream guitar, or I thought it was. It’s hard to have the same reaction with the AV65 just because of how good it feels and looks - it’s a beautiful instrument.

I have a 1966 Jaguar with block and binding and the differences in the binding are pretty striking. It’s a lot thicker on the original one and pretty stark white, no overspray at all, the black dots are significantly bigger, etc. seems weird to me when companies do ‘reissues’ the differences always end up, to me, seeming like they’re done on purpose to keep shitheads from trying to pass off something new for something old. If I’m wrong on that I’ve really gotta wonder if the people at Fender Japan were basing everything off of black and white photos because those differences are noticing each immediately. The AV65 guitars are great, great guitars. Much closer to the real thing than any AVRI62 version I’ve ever played. When doing a side by side with an original and an AV65 you still notice the differences pretty easily. Weird as hell to look at a ~55 year old guitar with a much, much darker neck tint than the new one, but also with binding that is significantly whiter/more noticeable than the guitar that left the assembly line no more than 2 years ago.

None of this matters at this point, just kind of rambling like I always do when I’m ON a topic, ya know? Thanks for the advice at any rate though because without it I was pretty close to fucking up my guitar in a major way. The small spot (pretty much the entire underside at the first fret) where I tried sanding definitely feels rough and sticks out with the rest of the white line running down the neck being a pretty dark amber. Thanks for keeping me from doing something hugely regrettable and stupid, everyone. Much appreciated :)

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Re: AV65 overspray removal?

Post by Mechanical Birds » Fri Jun 14, 2019 3:37 pm

Just sitting here thinking about the common observation that the AV65 guitars’ necks were really, uncharacteristically pretty much white when compared to not only the vintage ones, but most Fender guitars in general. Mines not as white as the AV65 Jaguar I had a few years back, but it’s still pretty white, which makes it even more annoying that they took it easy on the tint in the exact opposite way to what most would find preferable. Like they straight up taped the whole neck off except the binding and just dunked it in a bucket of amber lacquer haha

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