REMOVING OLD FINISHES

[bazza99]

Hi all - I'm a bit of a newbie to this refinishing gig and need some advice. I tried to strip down my Aria Pro II Magna bass which was finished in a yucchh blue, with the idea of refinishing in a kinda Fender White Blonde. However, when I applied my trusty Paint & Varnish stripper, NOTHING happened. It just sat on top of the finish, even when I had left it for hours. They must have coated these babies in an armour-plated finish. I even tried other brands - but zilch!

Well, I have ascertained from Aria that this finish is probably a two pack epoxy or urethane finish though they couldn't be 100% sure. So, question is:
What chemical (that I can easily obtain in the UK) would strip off this stuff. I really don't want to go down the heat gun or belt sander route as I don't have a workshop or even those tools. I can't imagine how I would get to sand all those hard-to-access places like curves of horns etc.

Next, does it automatically figure that any factory-applied high gloss finish is the same thing, ie a two pack, as I would dearly like to start by buying a cheapie like a Westfield / Stagg / Crafter jazz style to try my skills........ I only want to remove chemically + hand sanding to finish.

Any help or pointers?

 

[62bass]

Don't waste your time or money with chemical strippers. I've tried. The best method I've found is using a heat gun. Lots of info on previous threads about it. There will still be lots of sanding to be done but the heat gun will get off the worst of it.

A heat gun can be bought for about $30 these days. I bought mine over 10 years ago when the best price was $50. It still works and I've done a lot of work with it since.

Anyhow, read all the old threads about it. This question comes up a couple times a week.

 

[Canadian APII]

This is interesting. I stripped an Aria Pro II RSB bass last year with the first cheap spray on automotive paint remover I found. The finish looked original and had all the battle scars from thirty years of use. the finish stripped off with some elbow grease. Could Aria Pro II have used several different finishes?

 

[Morten_B]

I bought this gloss black G4 body from Warmoth - it was crazy cheap, and it said in the sales add, that under the paint was a walnut body with black korina top. I also tried paint remover, but no effect what so ever... I sanded it down by hand, and also used heat gun + scraped the paint of with a sharp blade. It took some time, but it can be done without doing any harm to the finish underneath.

I refinished it with tung oil and wax... Beautiful...

 

[JIO]

Depending on where you live the chemical strippers now are not nearly as effective as they once were. Also - guitars have a very tough poly-epoxy coating now which is really hard to remove. As 62bass said - a heat gun is the way to go.

 

[JIO]

I bought this gloss black G4 body from Warmoth - it was crazy cheap, and it said in the sales add, that under the paint was a walnut body with black korina top. I also tried paint remover, but no effect what so ever... I sanded it down by hand, and also scraped the paint of with a sharp blade. It took some time, but it can be done without doing any harm to the finish underneath.

I refinished it with tung oil and wax... Beautiful...

View attachment 418776 View attachment 418777 View attachment 418778

That looks great!

 

[Morten_B]

Thanks JIO... I agree It's my favorite bass...

 

[xk49w]

I bought this gloss black G4 body from Warmoth <snip> I refinished it with tung oil and wax... Beautiful...

Wow - that is pretty.