Vintage guitar finish restoration
Chris Grocott
Recently I saw a '63 Fender P Bass that was originally factory finished
Foam Green (my favorite 60's Fender color) which had been over sprayed
black by someone later. Unfortunately someone had recently tried to
restore it by using paint stripper and a putty knife and had pretty much
ruined the original finish in the process. It almost made me cry because I
know I could have gotten very good results removing the over sprayed paint
off this bass but now it was too late as the original paint was damaged
beyond repair. I have successfully restored about 10 vintage guitars that
had been completely painted over their original finish and many others that
had lesser amounts of unwanted over spray. It is almost impossible to do
this using chemicals because the chemicals used in most thinners and paint
strippers will not only remove the unwanted over sprayed finish but also
damage the original finish that you are trying to reveal. I have been able
to use lacquer thinner to remove the unwanted finish to some degree by
using very small amounts on a rag and quickly wiping very small areas. But
the risk is almost not worth it as this will actually do more harm than
good if the thinner soaks through the over spray and damages the original
finish you are trying to expose. I recommend against using chemical
solvents period, it's just not worth the risk. The only really safe way is
to use very fine sand papers, oil, lots of elbow grease and tons of
patience.
The last one I did was an beautiful original Blond '61 Jazz bass that
someone had painted white. I figure it took about 50 hours spread over a
couple of weeks of tedious, boring, hand sanding and hand rubbing. So plop
down on your favorite couch, rent some of your favorite videos and know
that you aren't going to get it done in a day. But if you are careful and
very patient you can get very good results. The Jazz bass I just mentioned
came out so good most people couldn't spot my restoration and my hard work
increased it's value from $2000 to $5000. It is important to realize that
no matter what you do you will no way be able to restore to the point of
"as if it was never over sprayed" no matter what you do as some damage to
the original finish is unavoidable. But you can minimize the damage if you
are very patient and careful and get it to 90% as good as original and
unmolested and that's still better than refinished.
First of all I check several different areas of the guitar to make sure
the original finish is still intact over the entire instrument. One time I
had a guitar which at first seemed like a promising restoration job only to
find out that the entire back had been sanded to the bare wood before the
over spraying whereas the rest of at had been painted over the original
finish. I judged it as too far gone to justify the effort and had the
whole thing refinished (It was only a sunburst '64 Jaguar anyway, if it had
been a 50's Fiesta red Strat I might have thought differently). I always
do a few small areas on different parts of the instrument all the way
through the process to be sure that it's going to be worth the effort.
Second I recommend 600 grit sandpaper to start and doing most of your
work with 1000 grit. I like to use the black papers (can't remember what
they call that type of sandpaper) and WD40 as a lubricant. I first start
with the 600 grit paper but I'm constantly wiping off the area and looking
to see if I've exposed the original finish as I want to immediately stop
using the 600 grit paper when I see the slightest hint of the original
finish peeking through as the 600 grit paper will scratch the original
finish deeply enough that you might not be able to rub these scratches out
later and besides this just creates more work for yourself. So as soon as
you begin seeing the original finish you need to go to using the 1000 grit
paper as this way you will be able to remove the unwanted over spray
without scratching the original finish underneath. But even the 1000 grit
paper can damage and go through the original finish eventually so I just
get say about 70% of the over spray off with the 1000 grit and remove the
rest of it with rubbing compounds later. Just work on small areas at a
time and be very patient frequently wiping off your area and checking your
progress. You can always go further later but if you damage the original
finish it's gone forever.
When I have removed say about 70% of the finish this way I move on to
rubbing compounds. I like the Maquire's "scratch remover" (I think that's
what it's called, it comes in a red bottle) for the next step. This stuff
is just course enough to remove the remaining 30% or so of over spray
without being too corrosive to the original finish. I go over the entire
instrument with this using it on a rag and remove all of the over sprayed
finish (sometimes you need to go back to a little of the 1000 grit in some
tough spots and pick some finish out of holes and scratches with a sharp
Exacto knife or whatever).
Next I finish up with Maguire's "Car Cleaner and Wax" which is very
mild and with a good soft rag you can bring back all of the original luster
and shine of the original finish. By the way I have been using this stuff
for years to clean old guitars and it works great, it makes a dull oxidized
finish really shine! But, be careful it can also remove an old Fender
headstock decal if you're careless. Finally, use a little Pledge and a
clean dry soft rag and it will really shine!
If you don't have the patience for this type of work I am willing to
consider doing the work for you. I charge $200 to $1000 or more depending
on the instrument and amount of over spray. Good luck and if you learn any
better, more effective, less time consuming methods I'm all ears!
Thank you very much, Chris Grocott of Chris' Guitars
email: ch...@chrisgtrs.com
phone: 818 762 3026 fax: 818 762 6693
Chris' Guitars Web Site: <A HREF="http://www.chrisgtrs.com">Click
here!</A>
snailmail: 5116 Lankershim Blvd., N Hollywood CA 91601
Store hours: Tuesday-Friday 12-6, Saturdays 12-5
Closed all federal Holidays and sometimes for shows,
buying trips and other reasons so please always
check with our phone machine before traveling.
Eddie Case
Kalevi Kolttonen
them in the process. Only the original color is all right.
br, KK
Willie Whittaker is a Putin Cock Sucker
> Eddie Case <basementfi...@gmail.com> wrote:
>> On Friday, December 5, 1997 at 3:00:00 AM UTC-5, Chris Grocott wrote: