Cleaning Acetone Residue Off Gibson LP Custom

[randrewrussell]

Hey everyone!
I have a question. First, I tried to refin a horrific Sunburst refin on a Gibson LP Custom. There was red bleed through everywhere including the binding etc.
I sanded a lot of the refin off and then figured I could shoot black lacquer and clear coat. Well...the red of the sunburst started bleeding through the black lac and I finally threw in the towel and said "ok I am just gonna strip it with Acetone and thats what I did tonight. I carefully taped off the binding with green frog and avoided those the edges. The Acetone worked great and stripped my black lac and the red sunburst right off. I do have some black staining of the wood tho. Back to question, what if anything, should I use to take the staining or acetone residue? off the guitar. Should I clean the top with naptha? or should I sand the top lightly with 320? Is there Acetone residue left that will screw up any new black lac that I spray? I am just not sure where or how to go at this point now that the top is completely stripped. Thanks

 

[Cat MacKinnon]

The acetone should evaporate by itself, so don't worry about residue from that. I'd sand the top with 220 or 320: if it's a maple top, you may want to stop at 220 because maple burnishes easily, which can sometimes cause finish adhesion problems (the surface becomes so smooth that the finish can't "grab" the wood and ends up peeling/flaking off.) If you have black staining on the wood, you can either try acetone again (be careful of those bindings, especially because acetone can eat through tape and its adhesive!), or sand it out. If it was an alcohol-based dye, you can try rubbing it down with denatured alcohol (Everclear works too) to get most of it off; if it was a water-based dye, water should pull most of it off too (either way, you'll still need to do a bit of sanding.)

Acetone is almost always a component of lacquer (both nitro and acrylic), so even if there were a bit of dried residue, it won't cause any issues. But acetone flashes off really fast, so any "residue" you might see is most likely just whatever was dissolved in it (like old finish), not the acetone itself.

 

[randrewrussell]

Ok thanks
I am just gonna try the 220 lightly and then start shooting black lac. Maybe 3-4 coats and then clear coating after that. That acetone ate the lac off like butter. I hope I didnt fry the binding underneath the tape. I guess I will find out. Thanks. One thing I couldn't believe was how the red of old finish came right thru the black.

 

[Cat MacKinnon]

Ok thanks
I am just gonna try the 220 lightly and then start shooting black lac. Maybe 3-4 coats and then clear coating after that. That acetone ate the lac off like butter. I hope I didnt fry the binding underneath the tape. I guess I will find out. Thanks. One thing I couldn't believe was how the red of old finish came right thru the black.

I'd suggest pulling up that old tape first. It'll give you a chance to make sure the binding is okay, but there's also a good chance there will be a bit of the old finish right along the tape edge: you'll want to get that off so it doesn't get trapped under the new finish and look bad.

EDIT: also you may need to scrape some of the binding if it got any dye or coloring on it.

 

[randrewrussell]

Yes I checked and the binding is fine. There is a a bit of that old finish (red) on the binding. I think what happened was the previous owner got creative and stripped the guitar to do a red sunburst but it was very poorly done. Very sloppy and as I said bleed thru, binding stained and just generally amateur hour stuff. Any suggestions on how to clean the edge/binding area before shooting? Also should I do an initial coat of sanding sealer? Clear lac? or something before shooting the black lac? I like the lovoc sherwin williams t70c60 and I have some sherwin build stuff. Any thoughts on blac lac? I have used black lac Krylon. Is there a big difference between that and "stringed instrument" lac that Stew Mac sells?

 

[Buckocaster51]

Yes I checked and the binding is fine. There is a a bit of that old finish (red) on the binding. I think what happened was the previous owner got creative and stripped the guitar to do a red sunburst but it was very poorly done. Very sloppy and as I said bleed thru, binding stained and just generally amateur hour stuff. Any suggestions on how to clean the edge/binding area before shooting? Also should I do an initial coat of sanding sealer? Clear lac? or something before shooting the black lac? I like the lovoc sherwin williams t70c60 and I have some sherwin build stuff. Any thoughts on blac lac? I have used black lac Krylon. Is there a big difference between that and "stringed instrument" lac that Stew Mac sells?

Scrape the bindings.

Utility knife blade, single-edged razor blade, microscope slide.

Here is a gadget that is easy to make that is a good scraper. ---->Click Here<---

 

[Flakey]

One thing you might want to consider if by black staining you mean that the maple has absorbed the black into the wood is to use 2 part bleach. This will alter the patina of the maple itself but you can rebuild the color to the tone you want using dyes. I try to stay way from sanding any color out of the wood particularly anything that has arches and such to the contours of the body.

Now if your just shooting a color coat on top then sand it smooth to 220 then shoot your sanding sealer. This will creat a barrier anything left on the body. Sand smooth to 320, then primer and sand to 320 and then shoot your color coat let dry and then scrap your binding then shoot your clear.

 

[randrewrussell]

I am not sure what the protocol is that you are discussing in the last paragraph of your post.
Lets see if I understand this?
1. color Coats, first?
2. then sanding sealer coats?
3. Then the clear coats?
Is that right? I thought the following: sand 220 (Maple) then sanding sealer 2 coats (320) then color coats 2-3 coats (320) then clear coats and then final finishing and buff.