Poorly refinished Aria SB - help!

[Alembic83]

Hi there, I just got an Aria SB Elite I bass that was the unfortunate victim of a hack refinishing job. I hope to try and restore the bass, if not to it's original finish, then at least strip the bad paint and start from scratch with a natural finish. It is a neckthrough bass, which probably complicates things, too.

I have read various threads on here about stripping paint, but in this case, I can actually see the original "phantom blue" factory paint job lurking under the black crusty finish that currently inhabits the bass. I can also see some red paint in spots (and on the bridge - shows how "careful" the re-finisher was!) that looks like it might have been a primer.

So it looks like someone didn't bother stripping the original finish, they just painted a layer of primer, and then used black paint of some kind.

My question is, can I use some kind of chemical stripper (or other means?) to strip away the black paint and primer and NOT destroy the original finish? Because I know the stripper isn't going to know when to stop stripping paint! Or am I doomed to the fact that if I want to get rid of this black paint, that I will have to get rid of everything, including the original paint job underneath?

Another interesting note on the bass, when I looked into the control cavity, I noticed the pots, wires, and output jack were ALSO sprayed black! Amazingly, the bass still works.

Here are a few of pics of the finish, sorry if they aren't very clear, but maybe it can give you an idea of what I am talking about. First one shows a small chip with red underneath, second pic shows just a larger chip with original finish showing through, and the last one is the side of the fingerboard with red paint and original finish visible if you look closely. Also, with some effort, you can flake away pieces of black and get to the original finish but I don't think my thumbnail will be able to handle that if I try doing the entire bass that...







Thanks for any suggestions!

[202dy]

Much in the same manner that a table saw blade does not make a distinction between a finger and a piece of mahogany, chemical strippers do not distinguish between various layers of paint. With one exception: Modern catalyzed finishes can be impervious to the stripper. Try this. Pull the electronics in the cavity and test the stripper of choice. It won't show in there and you might get lucky. If you do, do the rest of the body. Then it can be cleaned, rubbed out and buffed to it's former glory. That is, given no other defects in the paint.

If the stripper removes all of the finishes, then there are two choices. The first is to remove the finish and proceed to apply a brand new finish. The second is to attempt to sand through the layers until the original finish is reached. It will be a dirty, tedious, and time consuming task. It is hard to imagine that it would be worth the effort. Choice is yours.

[62bass]

Since it was an amateur refinish it's likely that a good chemical stripper will remove the new finish and primer. It's also likely the original finish will be a chemical resistant catalyzed finish and the stripper won't remove it. However, the original finish was probably sanded carelessly and there may not be enough left worth saving.

I'd try the stripper (the thick gel stuff not the liquid) and remove the new finish, then see what you've got underneath. If it's worth saving you can probably wet sand and buff it out, although you have some chips that go right to bare wood that'll take some work to hide.

If you can't save it, then sand it off and when you discover what the wood underneath is like, you can decide on what to refinish it with.

[Alembic83]

Thanks for the suggestions, I will see if any of those work! It'd be great if I could restore the bass to original but it's looking like it will need to be stripped to the wood. I will post pics if and when this happens!

[Pilgrim]

I'd say there's less than a 5% chance that (a) the original finish wasn't screwed up b the idiot refinisher, and (b) that there's enough left of it to be worth worrying about.

If you use stripper on it, the stripper will remove all the finish - old and new - unless the original is poly. If it's poly, it was probably sanded and therefore will look terrible.

Try whatever salvage effort you want, but also spend some time on Reranch.com and buy Dan Erlewine's book on guitar repair - and plan to do a complete refin yourself. That's where you'll probably end up.

[jrfrond]

Aria guitars are shot with polyester, and there isn't a stripper that exists that will touch it.

[Alembic83]

Ok, thanks for the additional info Pilgrim and jrfrond. It sounds like the best route is indeed to use a chemical stripper first, and see what the original poly finish looks like underneath. I will keep my fingers crossed but I'm not expecting a pristine finish waiting for me underneath. From the little bit of original finish I can see, it does not appear to be sanded. It looks like the guy just painted a red coat first, and then slathered on a black coat. I doubt he would've taken the care to "prep" the original surface by sanding it. We'll see! Thanks again and I will post any updates or final results pics later!