When To Start A Finish From Scratch?

[RiffWildly]

How many of you, my esteemed fellow guitar assemblers, have taken the the large but necessary time to strip off a less-than-perfect lacquer finish to start over from scratch? There's just a few small imperfections, but I know right where they are, and they will make me crazy every time I pick up the instrument.

I really dread the thought, but I'm not seeing another way out of it. Your thoughts, please?

 

[Tonar8352]

I have done it a few times over the years. Generally it is necessary due to some minor catastrophe such as a gun dripping right in the middle of a sun burst or spitting a glob of junk out of no where, which usually happens spraying metallic.  The guitar in my avatar was stripped twice before I got it right so I painted that thing three times. I hated that thing when it was all said and done but I sure learned a lot finishing that thing.

I find it much easier to get out the DA with 220 and sand it off  instead of chemical stripper. It is also great practice for learning  learning what not to do next time! 

 

[RiffWildly]

Well, the lacquer pretty much comes right off with acetone, so it's not a big deal to strip, generally. Just a real drag, emotionally speaking! Maybe I'll strip the lacquer and just finish with 100 percent thinned shellac ... More idiot proof in my experience ...

 

[Cagey]

The way I look at it is if I'm not happy now, things aren't going to improve. So, you bite the bullet and build on what you've learned. I have an old PRS-style VIP that's on its 3rd finish - hopefully this one will be the charm, but it's not finish-sanded and buffed out yet so things could still go terribly wrong. I also have a Mahogany Strat that's likely going to get a second treatment. Finish is fine, but the burst is way too fat and looks wrong. Only way to fix it is to replace it.

It happens. The guys who do that sort of thing all day every day are well-practiced. For them, it almost takes malice aforethought to screw up. Guys like me who do it 2 or 3 times a year aren't so comfy and it takes a ton of work and planning to get it right. Then there are accidents, misjudgements and plain ol' poor decisions.

 

[RiffWildly]

Here's something that occurred to me while staring at my mess: I know the acetone will take the lacquer off slick as a whistle, but what is it going to to do to my binding? Will it take it off clean; will it become a goopy mess; will it leave it unaffected? I guess I just want to know how bad it's going to be to fix.

 

[Tonar8352]

Acetone will melt binding. I speak from experience.  :tard:

 

[Cagey]

Tonar's right. Acetone is what is used to fuse layers of binding together. It melts in its presence, sorta like polystyrene melts in the presence of toluene. It's what makes model cement work.

 

[RiffWildly]

Right ... so is there any point in trying to save it somehow, by masking it off or something? Or do I just need to focus on taking it out of the routed channel as cleanly as possible?

Okay, last question: why does something always have to go wrong?!?  :dontknow:

 

[RiffWildly]

Actually ... one more thing I just thought of ...

After I glued in my binding, I went over the entire body several times with some amber dewaxed shellac, to give it some color and to act as a sealer. Think this will help me (or hurt me) when I start scrubbing away with the acetone? Or, as I predict, no effect at all?

 

[RiffWildly]

Well, if anyone is still interested:

I removed all the lacquer with acetone and a old, clean white towel. It took a little scrubbing and elbow grease, but it eventually seemed to get down to the shellac layer; no more color was coming up and it wasn't sticky at all. I hung it up to dry for a while, and I'll give it another good acetone scrub tomorrow. For whatever reason, the binding remained (visually, at least) pretty much intact. I'll give it a closer inspection tomorrow, but for now, it looks like I may have dodged a bullet. Of course, I'll want to give it a little more time to dry out and "cure" again before I make a final decision.

I'm thinking that my final finish step will be more layers of thinned shellac, with some StewMac dye in it. I'm hoping for something simple, with a nice color and a nice patina over some amount of time.

Yes, there is a lot of "hope" involved in my process! Have a good weekend, all.  ccasion14:

 

[Cagey]

Sounds like it's working out for you. I think I might have done a little binding/finishing on a piece of scrap before I took after the guitar, but as you say, it seems like you've dodged a bullet.