Stripping Factory Finish

  • Thread starter Thread starter rupe
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rupe

rupe

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With all of the mutt builds that I've done, surprisingly I have never stripped a factory finish myself. I have an Ibanez RG-570 that has had a large chunk of the finish knocked off directly behind the bridge recess, so I figure a refin is in order. What's the most effective way to remove the rest of the finish? I'm hoping to avoid sanding it all off if possible. It has a nice flamed maple cap so I plan to go with another transparent finish. Here's the guitar (in better days) in a patriotic pose with a few others.

 
You can use a chemical stripper but that can be both tedious to work with and can get out of hand very, very quickly. The easiest way to tackle it is by using an orbital sander starting with 120 grit and working your way up to 320/400W to get the wood nice and ready for whatever stains/paint you plan on applying.

When I did my Les Paul, I used 80 grit sand paper by hand and worked at it slowly. You may even want to do this after taking off heavy layers with the orbital sander as to not mar the wood. If scratches are too heavy, saturate the surface with water to allow the wood to swell and sand lightly with 320 grit again to help eliminate any surface marring.

And if you're going with a transparent finish, you'll want to be especially careful during the initial sanding process. It's really fun and easy to do but be sure to take your time with every step. A clean surface is key to a good finish.
 
Most Ibanez are made of basswood and the finish on RG guitars is notoriously thick
I sanded an RG470 and the result was pretty disastrous
When your finish is off, your wood sealer isn't, and that requires more sanding
Then you try to stain it, but if there's any sealer left, it's blotch country
I have an RG570 project that I'll do soon and that will be with heat gun; I will then try to apply tinted tru oil on top of the sealed wood
 
formby's furniture refinsher and fine steel wool. never used on a guitar but i have used it on furniture.
 
Poly finishes are an absolute nightmare to remove. If it is at all possible, I would see if you can wedge a heavy guitar pick in the large paint chip between the paint and the wood and see if you can chip it off in chunks without gouging the wood.
 
Quite frankly, I'd just enjoy it as a beater if I had to strip a guitar. There are instructions for using a heat gun out there but you can make a lot of charcoal if you're not careful, and probably a little lucky.

Slap a Fred Flinstone sticker over the gash and rock it.
 
Quite frankly, I'd just enjoy it as a beater if I had to strip a guitar. There are instructions for using a heat gun out there but you can make a lot of charcoal if you're not careful, and probably a little lucky.

Slap a Fred Flinstone sticker over the gash and rock it.
 
I used a heat gun and scraper on my strat to get down to the sealer...then I used an orbital sander to get all the sealer off...the sealer was a pain in the butt....but...once done....a little tung oil on the body and I love it...my strat sounds so much better now also. Went from sunburst to this
435773A0-7810-4F72-A5AA-9474180B376D-9648-00000651FDB576A2.jpg
 
cool thing about the formby's is that it not only will remove the laquer or urethane, it pulls the stain right out of the wood as well. all you have left is bare wood. pretty cool product.
 
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