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Stripping a 2001 MIM Jazz body

M

mattbrown

Guest
Nov 23, 2011
26
0
#1
I got my hands on a 2001 MIM J bass that needs some work. Physically its in great shape, but I'd love to refinish it. Its some sort of cream color, fading to yellow in places like its been in the sun; just not that attractive. I guess my first task is to strip this puppy down to bare wood, I may want to go with a stain/dye if the wood grain is nice. If not, I'll repaint it.

But for stripping a 2001 MIM, I'm unsure how best to do it. I don't know if its poly or nitro, what chemical would work best, or if I should just sand or heat it. Any suggestions on how to proceed.
Matt
 
#2
It's poly.

The color coats on MIM's will often strip easily with a heat gun and a good quality scraper. The clear undercoat is tougher, and using a heat gun to remove it will often burn the wood. One way to do it is use a heat gun for the color coats and then use Aircraft Stripper (you can get it at Autozone) to remove the undercoat. This sometimes takes a couple applications of the stripper. Lots of people just sand the undercoat flat, prime, and paint. That's another option instead of stripping to bare wood. Personally I strip it all off, but it's up to you.
 
#3
Exactly what Dark Horse said. I just did the same thing to a Jazz bass of about that age. I sanded the whole thing since at that time i didn't know i could use a heat gun. Took me all day and the relief cuts got screw up in the process. Just get a cheap heat gun out of harbor freight. It made a world of difference since I did that on an old Ibanez. The undercoat will still need stripping or sanding but its still a lot less work.
 
#7
I'd suggest thinking about what you want carefully. If you really do want a natural finish, then of course you need to strip it down all the way. If you think you may want a solid colour, then there is no need to strip it, you can just prep the existing finish and paint from there - this will save you mucho time and money. Check out reranch 101 for basics involved in the process...
 
#8
Heat gun and scraper did a great job. The curves up by the neck were a little tough. There was a layer of something (looked like dried wood glue) between the wood and the base coat. Most of that came off with the scraper and heat, but I sanded with 100 grit to get the rest. I made a few unfortunate nicks along the way, mostly on the curved edge where the side meets the face and back, but nothing that can be sanded.

This worked pretty well, i definitely need to patch up some of the nicks before I commit to the next step.
 

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