Stripping bass body with a heat gun

[pudge]

I had the idea of stripping a body i bought here.Heat gun took the outter finish off but there was a "sealer" coat under that.Mind you this was'nt a mint body to start with my plan B was to paint it with a spray can if it turned out to be a mess.It would have taken a long long time to get all that sealer coat off the body and there was no telling what the wood under the finish would look like either,The ones that get painted i'd imagine are of lesser quality visually.I'v etaken the finish off guitars before and this one was more difficult than any i had done so far. This is what i did

[lavmonga]

That Tbird is hot!

[Quatzu]

I would really like to do this with my MIM FSR Jazz. It's an amber to red burst with a quilted maple veneer underneath. The wood is beautiful, the red is awful. I just hate red instruments, but that's me. I went at it carefully with a heat gun just over the neck pickup area (where the pickguard covers it, just in case), and it isn't going well.

So far, I'm able to get a thin layer off, but there's a secondary layer that just doesn't want to separate from the wood cleanly. Sort of comes off in hard candy-like chips. I'm just not getting the big peeling sheets I've read so much about.

Can anyone tell me if maybe this semi-clear finish is just not poly, but some other material? Obviously it isn't nitro, as it's a 2003. Any help is appreciated.

[JoeWPgh]

I would warn against this if the intended outcome is a clear finish. You might get lucky, but it's much more likely you'll find some uninspiring, if not downright ugly wood. Me? I prefer to see a nice wood grain to paint, but I prefer paint to nasty looking wood.

[Quatzu]

I understand that. With mine, I can see the wood and it's beautiful. I'm hearing about veneers being vacuum-bagged on, and I wonder if that's what my under layer is.

[JoeWPgh]

They do vacuum bag the fancy tops on bodies. But I can't fathom why they would go to that trouble to turn around and paint it.

[Pilgrim]

Originally Posted by miramadar

You will have to sand it regardless. You'll need to sand it down to 300 grit before the Tung oil. With tape, mask off anything you don't want to sand (P/U's, bridge, pots, etc.).

There is a MAJOR error in the post above, because it seems to suggest an incorrect process.

If you're trying to strip a body without removing bridge, pickups and everything else except the body, you are making a HUGE mistake. Do NOT do that. Completely disassemble the bass and remove everything from the body.

[Quatzu]

Thanks guys. I'm all set. I decided to just go for it, and everything is coming off relatively easy down to the wood. I'm using a heat gun and slowly prying away. So far, there's no damage, except for a little scorching when I was using the gun on high, but I started where the pickguard covers any early mistakes.

Also, I had the concept of vacuum-bagging all wrong. The bag isn't something that ends up as part of the finish.