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Can I refinish my guitar myself???   You are logged in as Guest
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Leñador

Posts: 5237
Joined: Jun. 8 2012
From: Los Angeles

Can I refinish my guitar myself??? 
I work as a general contractor and while I was showing one of my employees how to strip the lacquer off of some veneer panels for refinishing I had the idea of changing the finish on my guitar. It's currently a lacquer finish and I'd love to change it to a french polish. I've stripped many of cabinets and panels in my day and have done french polish on furniture as well.

Is the process going to be vastly different for a guitar?? Is it better to mechanically strip it (sand it) or chemically strip it (acetone, lacquer thinner?). What are some the potential dangers?

Muchas garcias in advance!!

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  REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE |  Date Aug. 14 2012 20:52:32
 
El Kiko

Posts: 2697
Joined: Jun. 7 2010
From: The South Ireland

RE: Can I refinish my guitar myself??? (in reply to Leñador) 
I did something like that earlier this year........
here .........

http://www.foroflamenco.com/tm.asp?m=193119&appid=&p=&mpage=1&key=rescue&tmode=&smode=&s=#193200

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  REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE |  Date Aug. 14 2012 21:41:53
 
Leñador

Posts: 5237
Joined: Jun. 8 2012
From: Los Angeles

RE: Can I refinish my guitar myself??? (in reply to El Kiko) 
Nice, thanks Kiko. When you say skim, did you just sand off the existing finish?(mines super thick poly of some kind) I'm imagining I have to get down to the raw wood to make a it a real french polish no?.?.

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  REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE |  Date Aug. 14 2012 21:53:06
 
Flamingrae

 

Posts: 220
Joined: May 19 2009
 

RE: Can I refinish my guitar myself??? (in reply to Leñador) 
quote:

(mines super thick poly of some kind)


Just in the process of doing this to my No1. I used a pretty standard furniture varnish and it's come off very easily with a paint stripper. I think someone covered this quite recently too, so it might be worth checking back posts. You may have to use heat if it's really thick otherwise with a stripper it could take some time. errr.....sorry about the terminology but that's just how it came out
  REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE |  Date Aug. 14 2012 22:13:57
 
Leñador

Posts: 5237
Joined: Jun. 8 2012
From: Los Angeles

RE: Can I refinish my guitar myself??? (in reply to Leñador) 
Strippers charge per song so that could be a fortune!!

Heat scares the hell out of me so I'd be willing to invest the time. No concerns of the stripper introducing too much moisture to the wood? When I've chemically stripped panels and what not at work everyone says to leave it for 24 hours to dry out before doing the new finish.

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  REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE |  Date Aug. 14 2012 22:36:37
 
El Kiko

Posts: 2697
Joined: Jun. 7 2010
From: The South Ireland

RE: Can I refinish my guitar myself??? (in reply to Leñador) 
Mainly just sanding , although I was pretty rough with it at first , just to get into the wood after that I went down to fairly smooth paper ,
Oh I used different sizes of wood block to hold the paper as well .
Tyr not to make any scrapes or gouges , cos you have to do a lot of work to get rid of them and when you think they are gone you see them again through the first finish ...

So off and start again ,,,,
For me it was , an experiment and I had a lot of time on my side , so I would just sand away a bit every day out in my shed and put some flamenco on..
Its kind of theraputic actually ......

I wouldnt mind doing it again another time ,.... maybe with a negra or something .....

careful with those rough strippers as well ! dont let it get on the sides unless you are doing them as well ,......

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  REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE |  Date Aug. 14 2012 23:06:41
 
El Kiko

Posts: 2697
Joined: Jun. 7 2010
From: The South Ireland

RE: Can I refinish my guitar myself??? (in reply to El Kiko) 
I am happy with the sound change as it is a lot louder and more treble is there . just generally a more powerful sound ...
However its also like a new guitar and it does change over the first few weeks ,,,

But its a really interesting thing to do ....
My only advice would be ' Dont Rush " you have plenty of time ......

it didnt make me play any better though .............

http://www.foroflamenco.com/tm.asp?m=203735&p=1&tmode=1&smode=1

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  REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE |  Date Aug. 14 2012 23:15:41
 
Flamingrae

 

Posts: 220
Joined: May 19 2009
 

RE: Can I refinish my guitar myself??? (in reply to Leñador) 
quote:

No concerns of the stripper introducing too much moisture to the wood?


Like you say - leave for a bit. I finished off using a 400 abrasive and then a small flat scraper. Just did a first layer of FP on the top tonight and Nitro on the sides and back. I basically did stripper all over so no worries about any finish I wanted to save. For me if I was just sanding, I would worry about going to far and there will be a pile of dust that you have no idea what it contains. Mask essential. Good luck but I would say it's not super complex and will most probably benefit the guitar - hope you are going to do a french on the top.
  REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE |  Date Aug. 15 2012 0:09:39
 
Leñador

Posts: 5237
Joined: Jun. 8 2012
From: Los Angeles

RE: Can I refinish my guitar myself??? (in reply to Leñador) 
quote:

it didnt make me play any better though .............

Well forget it then!
Alternate response: What? you mean it's not like when I buy a new pedal and I'm instantly better??

Thanks Kiko, Yours seems to have turned out great, big sound and looks sharp.

quote:

hope you are going to do a french on the top.

Definitely, I'm doing this for sound more then anything. Thanks as well Flamingrae, I've got some confidence now that I'm not going to frig it up. I'll just treat it like high end cabinetry.

I feel like I have to record a before and after to compare the audio which I'll definitely post. I feel like all that thick poly has to be killing the sound. This one is going to Spain with me in a couple weeks so it'll have to wait till I get back.

Thanks again you two!

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  REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE |  Date Aug. 15 2012 0:40:26
 
krichards

Posts: 597
Joined: Jan. 14 2007
From: York, England

RE: Can I refinish my guitar myself??? (in reply to Leñador) 
quote:

It's currently a lacquer finish and I'd love to change it to a french polish.


You haven't said why you want to change it?

FP is my preferred finish but nitrocellulose is excellent too. And I've had very good results with water based polyacrylics.

But whatever you do, just keep it thin. Thats the most important thing acoustically.

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Kevin Richards

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  REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE |  Date Aug. 15 2012 7:19:30
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