Is sanding complete?

[dratini357]

This was a Fender custom shop guitar that had a pretty thin finish (it was a relic).
I sanded it down with 400/800, and now it looks like this. What am I seeing here?

There's a bit of brown spots. I'm assuming the sealer was so thin, the brown sunk into the grain. The touch feels just a bit sticky, so am I correct to assume there's a bit of sealer/finish left?

Now, why are there whiter spots? I did accidentally water-sand and some of it got into the grain because the finish was so thin. Could it be because of that? How long should I wait to make sure there's no moisture left in the wood before applying lacquer?

 

[stratamania]

It looks like filler or sealer of some sort.

Wet sanding is not needed to remove finishes. But as you have got it wet, how wet did it get, for how long, and the temperature / humidity of your environment will inform how long you may need to leave it.

Is sanding complete, that would depend largely on what finish you plan to use.

 

[dratini357]

It looks like filler or sealer of some sort.

Wet sanding is not needed to remove finishes. But as you have got it wet, how wet did it get, for how long, and the temperature / humidity of your environment will inform how long you may need to leave it.

Is sanding complete, that would depend largely on what finish you plan to use.

Thanks stratamania. Yeah, I learned the hard way.

I noticed after about 2 hours since I started, so maybe 30min ~ 1 hour that the wood was exposed to water. After that, kept it to 30-40% humidity about 3 days, and then sanded down with 800 grit to achieve the picture. I'll leave it another few days to see if anything changes.

I guess it's good that there's still some finish material left, so I don't have to start all over from sanding sealer? Trying to go for a relic-ready finish, with wood contour showing on the surface.

 

[stratamania]

Personally I would leave it for a good couple of weeks to a month, then primer it and wait a few days to see what happens before proceeding further.

What is relic-ready? Something that could be reliced or is lightly reliced or a thin finish that would relic easily?

 

[dratini357]

Good call, yeah don't want the water to do any harm. :icon_thumright:

Relic-ready is Fender's term which I think just refers to extra thin finish. One of the characteristic is that, even for solid or metallic colors, the wood contour is visible (like pic)

 

[stratamania]

Ah, the wood grain is visible versus the body contours of the wood. That may be more difficult to do as a refinish as you then would not be able to use a solid primer. You probably need to sand more.

 

[DuckBaloo]

320 is as fine you want to get before finishing. Much smoother than that makes it hard for a finish to grip. I guessing never never had a course enough girt to get through the sealer coat. I would have used 220 dry to take off the finish, then 320 (400 at most), then finish. 800 is much to fine, it is what you start at when polishing the final finish

 

[dratini357]

320 is as fine you want to get before finishing. Much smoother than that makes it hard for a finish to grip. I guessing never never had a course enough girt to get through the sealer coat. I would have used 220 dry to take off the finish, then 320 (400 at most), then finish. 800 is much to fine, it is what you start at when polishing the final finish

Thanks for the suggestion. Yeah it does feel very smooth at this point.

Any tips on stripping off relic-ed guitars? There are somewhat deep dings that are dark colored. Do I just give up and paint over the ding?

 

[DuckBaloo]

Dings would need to be filled then sanded smooth. Depending on shade of filler (and shape of ding), it might be visible under a transparent finish.

 

[Rick]

With 100 year old mahogany doors I've stripped of the paint the best I could, filled the gouges, covered with clear semi gloss.  Came out nice, has character.

The alternative is to cover with paint.

Either you go with character, or you go with paint.  Paint could be nice, all depends on what you want.