Halfway Through A Refin.

[Oster]

Not long ago, I bought a '68 Gibson Classical (C-1E) guitar on ebay. Fortunately I only spent around $300-. Unfortunately, the guitar had been badly refinished at one point with poly, apparently slapped on with a brush on a windy and dusty day. Fortunately, the headstock front and back was untouched.

Faced with several thousand dollars of refinishing costs from a pro shop, I decided to go it alone. Thought I'd post about where I'm at with it. Anyone with advice or stories to tell, please join in!

The stripping went well, it was a relief to get rid of that awful goop. It had been painted over the guitar's black celluloid binding, which unfortunately had to get partially stripped too (the smell of melting celluloid - whew! The good news is that most of it remained intact). The products I chose for the refinshing are a couple spraycans of Rust-oleum Lacquer and a small can of Behr Clear Lac Sanding Sealer.

Right now I'm waiting for the first double coat of Sanding Sealer to dry (It went over a few sanded coats of Lacquer). I'll be block sanding in a day or so and applying another two coats of the Clear Lac.

I'm not really attempting a high gloss thick skin look: Just something nice looking and even. I'm hoping that I won't need to go much finer than 600 grit for the final wet-sanding especially since I can't seem to find anything finer than 600! I'm not sure how many coats of the spray lacquer I'll be applying. I'm thinking probably only a couple.

[gottliver]

The Behr sand sealler is a good idea. I've never heard of the Rust-o-leum product.It would be wise to use a product intended for wood. It sounds like rustoleum is a product intended for metals. Try to find a wood working store, they usually carry a diverse variety of finishing products. You may want to try a nitro based spray or even Minwax Quick dry poly spray.The minwax product can be purchased w/a gloss, semi gloss, or satin finish. 2 coats of that product will give you a very thin finish which won't inhibit the vibration of the guitar and will be pretty tough.
A good technique is to spray outside on a calm, warm day. Spray quick overlapping passes making sure to keep the coverage very thin. To achieve this hold the can at a distance where the spray pattern is a its widest. Start spraying to the side of the guitar and then pass the spray onto the guitar and then off the guitar. Don't start the spray on the guitar or end on the guitar. Do this w/quick side to side motions. Let it dry for 1 to 2 minutes and give it a second pass. After the second pass hang the guitar up in a dust free area for at least 8 hours, 24 is better. Take some 0000 steel wool and sand the finish smooth. This will take off any dust which has settled onto the finish and will prepare the finish for the next passes. Be sure to vacuum all the steel wool particals of the guitar. I usually vacuum and then use a moist paper towel to make sure there is no steel wool bits left. Spray your second coat the same as your first. If you are lucky you will have a finish that will be adequate for your needs. It won't be pro nor glassy smooth but it will be very nice. You can use 0000 steel wool to satin a gloss finish. As well, you can wet the steel wool w/lemon oil and polish the finish w/that.

Mark

[Oster]

Thanks a lot, Mark. Yeah, you're right about the 'Rust-oleum' lacquer. The problem is, I can't find any other kind of spray lacquer. The min wax sounds like a great idea. I'll definately look into that. 'Lacquer'-anything seems relatively hard to come by.

I tested the 'Rust-oleum' on a separate piece of wood and it dries evenly and sands like it should. But I think I'll hold out for something else more suitable.

[gottliver]

so in TO you must have a Home Depot close by? If so they carry a lot of spray products. Minwax and Behr. Check one out.

Its a great Idea to test on wood. You can perfect your spray technique and test your finishing skills as well.

The reason i recommend the minwax product is that I've had great success w/the wipe on version of the quick dry poly.

As well, if you want to go w/wet sanding you will have to sand up to atleast 1000/1500 grit to get a gloss finish. Canadian Tire carries 3m wet/dry paper up to 2000 grit in the car department.