anyone ever stripped the paint off a guitar?

[departed]

aparently my ibanez sa series could look like this with a little work:

http://img229.imageshack.us/i/killswitchb.jpg/

looks sweet to me, it's been a live guitar for the last 2 years and it's paint is a little worse for wear. i'm reluctant to try but i've read loads of stuff on the net about it being really easy, anyone care to differ?

 

[Notuern]

It depends on what kind of paint your guitar has, and what method you are using.
Paint stripper = easy, but it may leave stains on the wood(And it may dissolve some plastics.).
Wetsanding = easy, but takes a shitload of time.
Orbital sander = medium, doesnt take that much time.. but its easy to make the wood uneven(And it will require manual sanding afterwards.).
Heatgunning = hard, makes the wood look shitty.. horrible idea from stupid people.

I would recommend you to follow this one: http://www.projectguitar.com/tut/chem.htm

Edit: Oh, and are you sure your guitar is one solid piece? Because even allot of the expensive guitars have several pieces(If they have a solid paint job.).

 

[Forceps]

I'm in this process right now!
Beware your SA is made of mahogany, else it will look very different from the picture. I'm stripping a RG7620, it's made of bass wood and that's not as dark as mahogany. I'm in the proces of sanding, have to do 400 and 600 grit before putting oil on the body. I'll post the result
It was a pain in the ass btw to remove the paint, I sanded it down completely, took me almost 8 years (well, on and off, I'm kinda lazy in finishing stuff sometimes...)

 

[Forceps]

Edit: Oh, and are you sure your guitar is one solid piece? Because even allot of the expensive guitars have several pieces(If they have a solid paint job.).

Hehe, that's what I found out... the RG is made of 3 pieces, but on top and the back there's veneer. So you only see it at the sides of the body. And at the belly cut and arm rest (unfortunately)

 

[Jarkko Mattheiszen]

It depends on what kind of paint your guitar has, and what method you are using.
Paint stripper = easy, but it may leave stains on the wood(And it may dissolve some plastics.).
Wetsanding = easy, but takes a shitload of time.
Orbital sander = medium, doesnt take that much time.. but its easy to make the wood uneven(And it will require manual sanding afterwards.).
Heatgunning = hard, makes the wood look shitty.. horrible idea from stupid people.

I've tried all of these on a really old guitar with an incredibly thick and tough paint job. It was a huge pain in the ass, and I'm not exaggerating one bit.

 

[departed]

maybe not such a good idea then

who could i approach about doing it for me..? a carpenter perhaps?

 

[Notuern]

Hehe, that's what I found out... the RG is made of 3 pieces, but on top and the back there's veneer. So you only see it at the sides of the body. And at the belly cut and arm rest (unfortunately)

Yeah, my Aria was made of 4 pieces(But i was going to paint it black anyways.).
.. but its weird how a guitar with 4 pieces in the body is the most resonant one i have ever tried!

I've tried all of these on a really old guitar with an incredibly thick and tough paint job. It was a huge pain in the ass, and I'm not exaggerating one bit.

Yeah, ive stripped 2 guitars by orbital sanding through the clear coat, and wet sanding through the actual paint.. it was not that amusing.
One of the guitars was really bad though, because some retard had painted it before, putting the new paint on top of the old, and it was a REALLY thick layers.. it was like putty or something(It actually ROLLED up into small balls instead of turning in to powder.).
Im going to strip one of my other guitars, but on that one i will use paint stripper.

maybe not such a good idea then

who could i approach about doing it for me..? a carpenter perhaps?

Nope.. go to a shop that paint cars, they are used to sanding down paint, and will get a smooth finish.

 

[departed]

okay thanks, any rough estimates on costs? i know people can pay around $200 for a new paint job but surely just the stripping should be much less?

 

[JonWormwood]

Yeah, my Aria was made of 4 pieces(But i was going to paint it black anyways.).
.. but its weird how a guitar with 4 pieces in the body is the most resonant one i have ever tried!



Yeah, ive stripped 2 guitars by orbital sanding through the clear coat, and wet sanding through the actual paint.. it was not that amusing.
One of the guitars was really bad though, because some retard had painted it before, putting the new paint on top of the old, and it was a REALLY thick layers.. it was like putty or something(It actually ROLLED up into small balls instead of turning in to powder.).
Im going to strip one of my other guitars, but on that one i will use paint stripper.



Nope.. go to a shop that paint cars, they are used to sanding down paint, and will get a smooth finish.

I'm planning on bringing my rr to get sprayed at a car shop too.

 

[Executioner213]

There isn't any guarantee you guitar is going to look ANYTHING like the one in that pic. That guitar was manufactured that way.

Wetsanding *can* be a terrible idea if you aren't careful. If you get stuff like the screw holes wet to where water gets into the wood without a finish barrier to stop it some, it will start acting weird.

I stripped my RG, which was originally a metallic sky blue, so I could paint it flat black. It was a royal pain in the ass. I can't emphasize that enough. You might be better off taking it to someone who does that all the time and is used to shit like sanding paint off of wood.

 

[Ruins]

before you begin something like this i would highly recommend you to read some more. go to projectguitar.com forums they are great resource also check the sevenstring.org forums they have alot of threads of people doing exactly that.

what i can tell you from my own personal experience is research as much as you can plan your work prepare your self think through what you want to do how you gonna do it with what etc... this process of striping can be fast and easy and it can be very long and annoying. if you have no previous woodwork experience i would recommend you not to start learning this on your axe. perhaps you could try to do that to some old furniture or maybe score some cheap no name chines crap of ebay to practice just doing that.

 

[AudioPhile777]

I actually stripped my Prestige a couple months back...

I got it in a trade from some dude that didn't know what he was doing and 'ruined' it... so I got it for a stupid deal, I win.

Before.

After.

I was going for more of a raw, distressed, old, beaten, road worn type of look to it... I have more pics of the process on my facebook.

 

[Chris_P_Critter]

leave it - a beat up guitar looks metal as fuck.



in all seriousness, though - if you do this, be careful, and good luck!

 

[visceral]

Its a lot of work, but nothing too difficult.

I recently sold an ltd on this forum that was stripped & cleared. It turned out nice!

 

[Erocku]

I just stripped down my RG1527 and that paint/clear was a pain to strip down. I tried different chemical strippers and none really worked that well. I had to put alot of work sanding and using stripper to get all of the paint removed. I have stripped down an old yamaha and an Ibanez RG120 before and the chemical stripper took almost everything off with no issues.

 

[departed]

I actually stripped my Prestige a couple months back...

I got it in a trade from some dude that didn't know what he was doing and 'ruined' it... so I got it for a stupid deal, I win.

Before.

After.

I was going for more of a raw, distressed, old, beaten, road worn type of look to it... I have more pics of the process on my facebook.

that looks amazing! i might give it a go when my exams are over. if i do, i'll probally post up pictures.

 

[Notuern]

I just stripped down my RG1527 and that paint/clear was a pain to strip down. I tried different chemical strippers and none really worked that well. I had to put alot of work sanding and using stripper to get all of the paint removed. I have stripped down an old yamaha and an Ibanez RG120 before and the chemical stripper took almost everything off with no issues.

You have to use the right paint stripper for the right color(Well, they all work on most paints, but better at some.).
Did you use liquid or gel based paint stripper?

Oh, and you also have lacquer thinner and acetone.
Acetone is epic on polyurethane finishes.. check this shit out: [ame]http://www.metacafe.com/watch/548513/dissolving_stuff_polymer_experiment/[/ame]

 

[Full_Tilt]

Its all the nooks and crannies that's gonna make you wish you never started ....if your lucky ,if your unlucky possibly a hodgepodge of multiple pieces of wood that shouldn't be there .

Good luck .

 

[Virgil.]

Bumping this old thread...

I'm actually considering stripping the paint from one of my old guitars -- an Ibanez s420 from the mid 90's -- and repainting. I'm not going to go for a stained or natural wood look, as I know that's more of a pain in the ass. I've read a ton of tutorials lately and think I have a pretty good idea of what I need to do and the time investment involved.

Out of curiosity though, has anyone that posted in this thread last year ever end up doing this or completing this project? I'm interested in checking out some before/after pictures and even pics / details describing your experience or process.

My guitar is flat black right now and I'm trying to figure out some cool paint ideas. I really like the "magenta crush" color on the old rg7420, so I may do a coat of a similar color, a coat of sparkle, and then another coat of color. Just some ideas.

I want to see moar pics of completed repaint jobs you've done on guitars! Please!

Also, any particular brands of paints or clear that work well you've found? I'm wondering if I should shop at someplace like hardware stores for paint for something like this, or if I should visit hobby shops instead?

Thanks.

 

[Clockwork]

I've re-finished a bunch of guitars. Always just hand sanded them down starting at 120 grit and working up to 12000 grit micro mesh. It takes awhile... If you want a flat color I've gotten good results with Krylon, which is cheap and readily available and won't come off. Then when I've got the color right spray many many coats of minwax polyurethane sanding it even and then hand wiping on the last coat. It can be time consuming and frustrating the first time around. Always test whatever process you are going to use on some scrap wood. You should be able to find everything you need at hardware stores, skip the hobby stores.