removing 21872987 coats of paint.

AuMello · #1 08-06-2009, 12:24 AM

so today i traded for a MIM standard J. it's a hideous blue color. i want to take off all the paint and then stain and clear coat it. does anyone have any slick, quick, or easy ways to remove all that damn paint?

thanks much

AuMello · #2 08-06-2009, 12:27 AM

also, let me add: although it may look hideous, the sound is anything but hideous. it is actually quite nice. its kind of a diamond in the rough. it looks cheap and lame, but its actually a joy to play. so i want to make it look worthy of its sound. any suggestions are much appreciated.

standupright · #3 08-06-2009, 12:29 AM

hire a stripper

http://www.homedepot.com/webapp/wcs/...10000003+90401

AuMello · #4 08-06-2009, 12:32 AM

im gettin that tomorrow. oh dang. have you used it on any of your own projects?

standupright · #5 08-06-2009, 12:35 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by AuMello

im gettin that tomorrow. oh dang. have you used it on any of your own projects?

nope. i'm currently on my 324,637th piece of sand paper on my wishbass refinishing project.

thank god he didn't paint it.

ashtray · #6 08-06-2009, 12:37 AM

Replace the body with a Warmoth one?

You never know what kind of pieces of wood you have under a solid finished Fender. Expect 4 pieces of non-matching wood. Maybe some knots. Getting a replacement body takes some of the mystery out of what the wood will look like, and also saves a LOT of sanding, etc.

Alternatively, you could sand the original paint down a bit, use it as a base coat, and paint another solid color of your choice on top of it. That would be the cheapest and easiest thing to do to change the color of the bass.

standupright · #7 08-06-2009, 12:38 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ashtray

Replace the body with a Warmoth one?

You never know what kind of pieces of wood you have under a solid finished Fender. Expect 4 pieces of non-matching wood. Maybe some knots. Getting a replacement body takes some of the mystery out of what the wood will look like, and also saves a LOT of sanding, etc.

Alternatively, you could sand the original paint down a bit, use it as a base coat, and paint another solid color of your choice on top of it. That would be the cheapest and easiest thing to do to change the color of the bass.

or he could hire a stripper. done in 30 mins.

standupright · #8 08-06-2009, 12:39 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ashtray

Replace the body with a Warmoth one?

You never know what kind of pieces of wood you have under a solid finished Fender. Expect 4 pieces of non-matching wood. Maybe some knots. Getting a replacement body takes some of the mystery out of what the wood will look like, and also saves a LOT of sanding, etc.

Alternatively, you could sand the original paint down a bit, use it as a base coat, and paint another solid color of your choice on top of it. That would be the cheapest and easiest thing to do to change the color of the bass.

oh and if your accounts are no longer hacked, change your sig.

49sfine · #9 08-06-2009, 07:27 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by AuMello

im gettin that tomorrow. oh dang. have you used it on any of your own projects?

AuMello; I have taken paint off of a lot of things and I don't really think there is a fast and furious way to do it without risking damage. Paint tends to come off one layer at a time, and short of bead blasting it, you just have to put the time in. Even an 'aircraft' type stripper will only peel the paint in increments. Make sure you are in a well-ventilated area and have plenty of course steel wool on hand along with various putty knives. I always like to use one putty knife with gently rounded corners on the blade and one without. If you don't have an old one that has softened edges, then file or sand them down so they don't gouge the body wood on every pass. The sharp one will be handy for those areas demanding a point. Woodworking scrapers are great too, if you have access (Ebay) to some.

As the other fellow said, it's hard to say what shape your body will be in once stripped, but personally, I wouldn't let that stop me. Be prepared though, for a surprise or two. Paint can hide a multitude of flaws!

I just picked up a beat '70s "Hohner" P-bass clone and plan to restore/refurbish it - although this one left the factory in a clear finish so there is no mystery. If you want to see it, I started a thread on it yesterday (Hohner P-bass Clone: Vintage?). Anyway, good luck on your project.

kingquasar · #10 08-06-2009, 08:46 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by standupright

hire a stripper

http://www.homedepot.com/webapp/wcs/...10000003+90401

That stuff just won't work on your finish. Fender has been using a polyesther finish on their Mexican basses which effectively creates a thick plastic shell around your instrument. They are next to impossible to strip. Ask anyone who's tried.

Your best bet is to paint over it or chip it away w/chisels, scrapers, etc. Not fun and will take you A LOT LONGER than you think.

-kQ

standupright · #11 08-06-2009, 08:51 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kingquasar

That stuff just won't work on your finish. Fender has been using a polyesther finish on their Mexican basses which effectively creates a thick plastic shell around your instrument. They are next to impossible to strip. Ask anyone who's tried.

Your best bet is to paint over it or chip it away w/chisels, scrapers, etc. Not fun and will take you A LOT LONGER than you think.

-kQ

i must have missed where he said MIM fender (even though it's righ there in the first post

). i think i saw a thread on here where a guy used a heat gun to remove the "fender shell"

Dave Vader · #12 08-06-2009, 09:06 AM

It's true, it takes forever, the aircraft stripper will get the colour coats off fairly quickly, but then you're left with the poly sealer. This is near impossible, be prepared to sand it by hand for a couple of weeks to get it all off. Though after finishing my '89 P, my furniture restoring friend told me to try a cabinet scraper and a heat gun. Sadly I was finished by that point, but he reckoned it would speed things up immensely. Have a look at the link in my sig to see the trouble I had with a poly finish.

AuMello · #13 08-06-2009, 03:57 PM

i was so shocked when i first realized how thick the finish really was. i had removed a significant portion of the outtermost layer and figured i was nearing wood. so i started sanding, low and behold: MORE BLUE PAINT!! so i chipped some of that off, opened up a good bit of it, started sanding again, and wouldnt you know it: more paint. under THAT layer is wood. if i get a big paycheck before i get the thing stripped i may actually just get a warmoth body. i'm gonna be ordering some parts from them anyway. of course i was hoping to keep expenditures down, but we'll see. thanks much everyone.

Craig_S · #14 08-06-2009, 05:22 PM

Nobody has mentioned a heat gun.

koobie · #15 08-06-2009, 07:12 PM

Is there a 'standard' wattage of heat gun?

Is a hair dryer on it's 'hot' setting going to work at all, or would that be a waste of time?

Dave Vader · #16 08-07-2009, 02:23 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by koobie

Is there a 'standard' wattage of heat gun?

Is a hair dryer on it's 'hot' setting going to work at all, or would that be a waste of time?

You could try it, the heat gun I was using wasn't very high wattage, and it softened everything up quite nicely.

62bass · #17 08-07-2009, 05:51 AM

Heat guns are cheap these days-about $30 and they'll do the job just fine. A hair dryer won't. It doesn't get quite hot enough. I don't know what the wattage of the average heat gun is but it's a lot more than a hair dryer. The fairly cheap one I bought over 10 years ago is still working. It came with several types of nozzles and a metal scraper. I found a flexible putty knife about 1 1/2" wide was the most useful. I think all the cheaper ones are made in the Orient but they do the job. The heat gun will bubble the heavy duty paints quite easily. It will not remove all of the polyester sealer underneath, at least it wouldn't from the rather rough ash on my Fender P. That you need to sand off and there will be for sure some bits of paint and stain that remain anyhow. So be prepared to do some sanding after the heat gun has done the majority of the work.

I used some 36 grit ceramic belt sander belts, cut into appropriate sized pieces for the rough work. They're cloth backed and stand up longer than the usual coarse grit sandpaper sheets. I also glued some to a 1" piece of wood dowel and a somewhat wider piece of PVC pipe to get into the inside corners of the edges and glued a piece to a block of wood for the flat spots. It made things a lot easier than trying to back the stuff with your hand while sanding. As I worked up the higher grits I used aluminium oxide sandpaper from 80 grit up to 220.

Not all bass bodies will be as tough as my Fender. I'd imagine alder and other smoother woods will give up the paint and sealer easier. I have a far easier time sanding off regular housepaints and varnish from the woodwork in my house and strippers will work on them though sometimes if they're really old and well cured they can be pretty tough.

markee · #18 08-07-2009, 07:19 AM

The best way I found to strip poly paints is to use an orbital palm sander on the top and bottom starting out with 100 grit paper and sand until you see the primer coat coming thru, then stop, (the primer coat is soft and usually white in color). Sand the rest of the way with a block sander with a rubber base, like the body shop guys use, by hand. Then, (on the edges only), use an aircraft type stripper (sparingly). Use a flexible scraper and don't try to remove the finish all on the first pass. I make mine out of thin sheet metal. This prevents you from deforming the factory curviture/radius of the sides. Keep in mind that the stripper you use can weaken the glue that holds the pieces of the body together. I refinished a Robin Ranger guitar years ago that this happened on and by sanding the top and bottom first you can see if and or where the joints on the body are to prevent over saturating those glued seams.

I doubt the pickup cavity is shielded on a MIM Fender but this method prevents lifting up shielding paint if it has it.

Note: Do not remove the paint in the neck joint. Tape it off with painters tape and leave the tape in place until the entire stripping job is done. If the edge of the pocket has a bit of a rounded edge where the body and neck meet just scrape the edge that shows and sand. This will insure a good tight fit. This area is where a lot of do-it-yourselfers stumble and or have problems.

If the pocket is sloppy to start with you may want to glass bed the neck much like gunsmiths do to rifle barrels to stocks. You just want to bed the sides of the pocket, NOT THE BASE. Tape the neck where it's exposed above the body or anywhere you don't want the bedding material to get on. I suggest going to Brownell's.com for that kit, (with detailed instructions included of course), if you don't have a gun store in your area. If you do they should have it in stock. Doing this step should be done prior to stripping the finish for best results and it works like a champ!

Refer to the www.reranch web page for useful finishing info. I use their products a lot and they are excellent. Refinishing a guitar body can be very rewarding if it turns out great and very disappointing if it does not so take your time and don't rush it. Most importantly, have fun with it!

Pilgrim · #19 08-07-2009, 09:35 AM

A note for finishes that are susceptible to paint strippers - you can paint the stripper material on, then slide the body into a large trash bag or (what I did) buy a cheap plastic storage bin/tub that's airtight and put it in there, then snap the lid on and let it sit overnight. The idea is to let the chemical work more effectively by eliminating air exchange, which helps the stripper work more effectively.

I found a plastic storage tub that was only about 8" deep and big enough to hold the bass body. That worked really well because I could scrape the body in the tub and it caught the scraped-off residue, making cleanup easier.

standupright · #20 08-07-2009, 11:24 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by standupright

i must have missed where he said MIM fender (even though it's righ there in the first post

). i think i saw a thread on here where a guy used a heat gun to remove the "fender shell"

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dave Vader

It's true, it takes forever, the aircraft stripper will get the colour coats off fairly quickly, but then you're left with the poly sealer. This is near impossible, be prepared to sand it by hand for a couple of weeks to get it all off. Though after finishing my '89 P, my furniture restoring friend told me to try a cabinet scraper and a heat gun. Sadly I was finished by that point, but he reckoned it would speed things up immensely. Have a look at the link in my sig to see the trouble I had with a poly finish.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Craig_S

Nobody has mentioned a heat gun.

2 and 3 posts above you