MIM Player refinish

Talk about modding or building your own guitar from scratch.
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MrJagsquire
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MIM Player refinish

Post by MrJagsquire » Sun May 30, 2021 10:48 am

Continuing on from my previous upgrades including the mid boost mods I did on this one:

viewtopic.php?f=8&t=119040

I'm now stripping the paint off the body ready to refinish it in Candy Apple Red. I used a heat gun and scraper, which took about an hour today. I got a few burn marks on the wood, but it's not going to be a see through finish, so not a big issue. Turns out the body is 4 pieces, one of the joins will have to be filled as the heat gun has lifted out whatever filler they must have used (join just above the trem).

Pretty thick paint (as expected):
Image

I've left the thimbles in for now as the paint came up clean around them, so I'll just mask them up when I spray. I will tidy up the top horn routing as I had to remove some material a while ago to fit the 3 way toggle switch and it could do with a little bit more taking out anyway as the switch catches on the side of the wood, so doesn't sit vertically and has a slight slant. I've sanded the front and edges with P180 and P320:

Image

The back, which hasn't been sanded yet:
Image

I wasn't going to do this just yet as I've just finished spraying a Strat I put together from a bare body, but the Jaguar slipped out of my gig bag coming in the house last week and landed on a hard floor, which took a big chunk of paint off. Figured I might as well get started on it, since the weather is good over here right now and I wanted to strip this outside.

This is the Strat I've just done:

Image

This was grain filled, 2 coats of shellac sanding sealer, 3-4 coats of 'faded' Sonic blue (I added Olympic white to it) and 5-6 coats of Dartfords clear nitro which has minimal plastisers in it, so it will craze eventually.

I'm going to follow a similar process for this Jaguar, but will use a gold base coat under the red tinted clear, then final coats of clear on top.

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d-rock
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Re: MIM Player refinish

Post by d-rock » Mon May 31, 2021 12:07 pm

Cool project. I'm very surprised this body doesn't have a thin veneer over the 4 piece body. I thought most modern Fenders had veneers.

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MrJagsquire
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Re: MIM Player refinish

Post by MrJagsquire » Mon May 31, 2021 2:46 pm

I didn't know that, so I guess it's lucky that this one doesn't. It would be hard to hide the edge of the veneer though with the shape of a Jaguar? I could understand something with binding like a Tele Custom, but it never entered my head that it might be veneered.

I got the rest of it sanded down today with P320 and filled a couple of small nicks, so I can start with shellac coats tomorrow.

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N0_Camping4U
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Re: MIM Player refinish

Post by N0_Camping4U » Mon May 31, 2021 3:18 pm

Super cool. I've always wanted to get into refinishing. I see some folks do some fabulous work. Just feel like I'm going to screw up a good body.
"I've been waiting for you, Obi-Wan. We meet again, at last. The circle is now complete. When I left you, I was but the learner, now I am the master."

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MrJagsquire
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Re: MIM Player refinish

Post by MrJagsquire » Tue Jun 01, 2021 1:28 pm

N0_Camping4U wrote:
Mon May 31, 2021 3:18 pm
Super cool. I've always wanted to get into refinishing. I see some folks do some fabulous work. Just feel like I'm going to screw up a good body.
Thanks. I don't know that I do fabulous work; my last Strat spray job had a few mistakes, but I did learn a bit from it, so I hope this one will be a bit better for it.

I painted the first coat of shellac on it today as it's a very hot day in the UK, so it's dried nicely. Will probably due a second coat tomorrow, then I can rub down and start spraying the nitro coats later in the week. :)

It's darkened up quite a bit and looks quite a nice colour, so I could understand someone doing a shellac finish on an Alder body, but maybe one with fewer pieces (4) than this one:

Image

From the back, with a few scorch marks. :whistle:
Image

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ChrisDesign
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Re: MIM Player refinish

Post by ChrisDesign » Tue Jun 01, 2021 5:18 pm

d-rock wrote:
Mon May 31, 2021 12:07 pm
Cool project. I'm very surprised this body doesn't have a thin veneer over the 4 piece body. I thought most modern Fenders had veneers.
I’ve never heard of a fender having a veneer…
"I own a '66 Jaguar. That's the guitar I polish, and baby - I refuse to let anyone touch it when I jump into the crowd." - Kurt Cobain

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d-rock
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Re: MIM Player refinish

Post by d-rock » Wed Jun 02, 2021 1:39 am

ChrisDesign wrote:
Tue Jun 01, 2021 5:18 pm
d-rock wrote:
Mon May 31, 2021 12:07 pm
Cool project. I'm very surprised this body doesn't have a thin veneer over the 4 piece body. I thought most modern Fenders had veneers.
I’ve never heard of a fender having a veneer…
Yeah, they do it. Here's an example....
https://www.strat-talk.com/threads/tips ... at.477744/

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MrJagsquire
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Re: MIM Player refinish

Post by MrJagsquire » Wed Jun 02, 2021 6:56 am

I guess lucky mine didn't then...

I've tried the 'bare eBay body' route with the Strat, but since I already had this one I figure an hour with the heatgun and another one sanding wasn't too bad. I did think about selling my Jaguar body as a loaded one and buy a bare Jaguar body, but since I needed the trem and some other bits it seemed better just to keep it and strip it down.

Wasn't as bad as I thought it would be to be honest and the recent experience of spraying the Strat has helped me be more prepared.

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ChrisDesign
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Re: MIM Player refinish

Post by ChrisDesign » Wed Jun 02, 2021 2:09 pm

d-rock wrote:
Wed Jun 02, 2021 1:39 am
ChrisDesign wrote:
Tue Jun 01, 2021 5:18 pm
d-rock wrote:
Mon May 31, 2021 12:07 pm
Cool project. I'm very surprised this body doesn't have a thin veneer over the 4 piece body. I thought most modern Fenders had veneers.
I’ve never heard of a fender having a veneer…
Yeah, they do it. Here's an example....
https://www.strat-talk.com/threads/tips ... at.477744/
WTF‽ Why spend extra manufacturing dollars on something no one will see? I get the vaneer with a semi-translucent burst, but not solid colours. On well.

I'm unconvinced by the tonewood argument anyway, so if my MIM Jazzmaster is multiply with a veneer means nothing to me.
"I own a '66 Jaguar. That's the guitar I polish, and baby - I refuse to let anyone touch it when I jump into the crowd." - Kurt Cobain

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kifla
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Re: MIM Player refinish

Post by kifla » Wed Jun 02, 2021 2:23 pm

MrJagsquire wrote:
Sun May 30, 2021 10:48 am

Image

I wasn't going to do this just yet as I've just finished spraying a Strat I put together from a bare body, but the Jaguar slipped out of my gig bag coming in the house last week and landed on a hard floor, which took a big chunk of paint off. Figured I might as well get started on it, since the weather is good over here right now and I wanted to strip this outside.
;D
What a man gotta do to persuade his better half that he needs to work on guitars... again....
:whistle: :whistle:

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MrJagsquire
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Re: MIM Player refinish

Post by MrJagsquire » Wed Jun 02, 2021 2:27 pm

kifla wrote:
Wed Jun 02, 2021 2:23 pm
;D
What a man gotta do to persuade his better half that he needs to work on guitars... again....
:whistle: :whistle:
;D ;D ;D It's funny, even though I'd planned to strip this down at some point I was still really annoyed with myself for what happened. I was just glad it wasn't the Strat I'd just done. :-[

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MrJagsquire
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Re: MIM Player refinish

Post by MrJagsquire » Sun Jun 06, 2021 11:49 am

A week after the strip down I got some coats of clear nitro on to cover the wood/shellac and put a few coats of gold on it today. :)

Hanging up to dry off over night:
Image

From behind:
Image

I sprayed it laying down, hence the screws in the back and the strap button hole:

Image

There are a couple of small marks that I will wet sand tomorrow before giving it another coat of gold, then I can start the transparent red coats. 8)

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jdr1014
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Re: MIM Player refinish

Post by jdr1014 » Mon Jun 07, 2021 7:09 am

Looking good! Very interested to watch your progress and see final result! :)

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MrJagsquire
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Re: MIM Player refinish

Post by MrJagsquire » Mon Jun 07, 2021 9:44 am

jdr1014 wrote:
Mon Jun 07, 2021 7:09 am
Looking good! Very interested to watch your progress and see final result! :)
Thanks. :)

I got the transparent red coats on today. I knew that I needed an even coverage to avoid 'stripes', but also not such a heavy coat that I got runs. I think it's OK, but will be able to check later. It's a warm day here, so perfect weather for spraying, so I've no excuse if I mess it up. ;D

I started on the back as that's less critical:
Image

Then went over to the front:
Image

4-5 coats of clear over the next few days, provided the finish looks good once it's had chance to dry off a bit. I think it's going to look nice. 8)

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Re: MIM Player refinish

Post by MrJagsquire » Tue Jun 08, 2021 7:54 am

Checked it out in the sunshine this morning and spotted a couple of areas where the red coat was a bit thin and looked slightly orange, so I blended those bits in and then did a very thin coat front and back.

It really sparkles in the sunshine:
Image

Image

Image

Image

Clear coats next. :)

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