How would you go about removing a poly finish...

[Jakedog]

Satin poly. Neck through guitar with bound neck, body, and headstock.

Is there a way to remove the finish without

A. Damaging the binding.

B. Damaging the very thin flame maple veneers on the front of the body and headstock.

For instance, I wouldn't want to sand it, I'm afraid it might go through. I've tried a heat gun on one of these before not realizing it was a thin veneer and had it bubble and peel up on me.

Is this even possible? Or should I just leave well enough alone. The only reason I'm entertaining the idea at all is because I dislike black guitars. I'd like to do the back and sides natural, and the top and headstock face a cool bright color. Leaving the black binding.

 

[dlew919]

Satin poly. Neck through guitar with bound neck, body, and headstock.

Is there a way to remove the finish without

A. Damaging the binding.

B. Damaging the very thin flame maple veneers on the front of the body and headstock.

For instance, I wouldn't want to sand it, I'm afraid it might go through. I've tried a heat gun on one of these before not realizing it was a thin veneer and had it bubble and peel up on me.

Is this even possible? Or should I just leave well enough alone. The only reason I'm entertaining the idea at all is because I dislike black guitars. I'd like to do the back and sides natural, and the top and headstock face a cool bright color. Leaving the black binding.

Here’s the unedcated opinion.

Don’t do it. Black guitars are often black for a reason. Blemishes and other disfigurements on the wood might dim your ardour.

If you must, thanks everything off and use a heat gun.

 

[boneyguy]

I've stripped and prep'd over a hundred guits in the last 5 years....it's my job working for a pretty well known (within that small niche market) guitar painter who specializes in aged finishes.

Paint stripper is the place to start. If you are careful applying it with a brush you can avoid melting any plastic binding....in fact sometimes I'll put the stripper on the binding to get rid of some of the clear coat before sanding. Even if you melt into the binding a bit it will sand out easily. I've done this on numerous vintage guits....'59 LP's....old 335's....Strats and Teles from the '50's and 60's etc.

If the chemical stripper doesn't work because it's a catalyzed finish then the next thing is using a heat gun....I don't like that method because it's a bit tricky....easy to scorch the wood (which is only a problem if you want to do a burst or transparent finish)....and as you have mentioned it can loosen glue and cause other problems. Unfortunately, more and more I'm running into those impenetrable finishes.....hate them!! Oh, and here's a tip that took me years to figure out....if you use the heat gun buy one of those paint scrapes that you pull towards you. When you use a scraper that you push forward it's far more likely to gouge and lift wood....pulling toward you completely mitigates that problem

So, if you don't or can't use either of those first two methods all that's left is sanding.....and that will take you days of work!! I don't recommend it.

When you get down to wood I typically use 120, then 220 then 320.

 

[boneyguy]

Here’s the unedcated opinion.

Don’t do it. Black guitars are often black for a reason. Blemishes and other disfigurements on the wood might dim your ardour.

If you must, thanks everything off and use a heat gun.

That's true, opaque colours are often used to hide flaws in the wood....in which case, if it was a problem, you would probably just paint the whole guitar a solid bright colour....but having years of experience with this I would say the heat gun is not the first thing to try.

 

[boneyguy]

*

 

[awasson]

I was going to recommend stripper as well. I’ve only stripped one guitar body. It was set neck and I was careful to not put the chemical stripper too close to the join and I sanded it up to the join and left the neck alone. I’m not sure how it will affect the binding.

 

[chemobrain]

Satin poly. Neck through guitar with bound neck, body, and headstock.

Is there a way to remove the finish without

A. Damaging the binding.

B. Damaging the very thin flame maple veneers on the front of the body and headstock.

For instance, I wouldn't want to sand it, I'm afraid it might go through. I've tried a heat gun on one of these before not realizing it was a thin veneer and had it bubble and peel up on me.

Is this even possible? Or should I just leave well enough alone. The only reason I'm entertaining the idea at all is because I dislike black guitars. I'd like to do the back and sides natural, and the top and headstock face a cool bright color. Leaving the black binding.

buy a new body or pay so one that does it for a living
that stuff is going on the bottom of my birkenstocks, it will never wear out.

 

[Mr. Lumbergh]

How would you go about removing a poly finish...
I'm with @dlew919 on this one. After we inevitably kill ourselves in nuclear fire, the only things left will be roaches, ants, Keith Richards, and poly. You risk a lot of damage to the wood and binding, especially if the heat gun has to come out.

 

[dogmeat]

aircraft paint stripper. or look for one that has methyl chloride in it... thats the evil part that does the work. my stripper trick is to put a blob on the surface then cover it with clear plastic, like thin visqueen. the commercial trash can liners work too. you can monitor the action under the plastic & even "work" it a bit too. the plastic gives you a lot of control over where the stripper goes

 

[Paul Jenkin]

"Is there a way to remove the finish without

A. Damaging the binding.

B. Damaging the very thin flame maple veneers on the front of the body and headstock."

As with most things, there's usually a way. For me, the question is whether the risk of it all going wrong is worth it.

Attacking paint finishes that are intended to be permanent with various chemicals, sanders and / or heat guns, sounds like it could be an interesting challenge but, can you achieve a standard of finish that will please you? What if you prove you can't?

Personally, I'd look to trade the guitar for one that suits my eye for colour - but that's just me.

 

[hemingway]

In my experience modern poly finishes laugh in the face of paint stripper.

 

[plusorminuszero]

In my experience modern poly finishes laugh in the face of paint stripper.

I had Erlewine’s words running through my head as I applied a batch of black Stewmac epoxy to the 70s strat that took a gash when stratocasters collided.... “no solvent will hurt polyurethane”.

As the glue cured, I watched in horror as within seconds the surrounding black paint vanished, and a giant red blob appeared around the touched up area, apparently from a sunburst underneath the inperturable poly. I should have just left it.

I don’t know what kind of guitar you are dealing with, OP, but it’s a lot of work. Not to mention the dust, fumes etc.... Life is too short for this sort of thing. Besides, I like black.

 

[Boubou]

Bones posted a tutorial

 

[jimgchord]

I wouldn't bother when its poly and there are veneers and binding involved.

 

[ruger9]

IDK about the binding.

But I sanded a PRS SE with a flame maple top veneer.. I used a mouse sander with either medium or light (I forget) grit, and it made very quick work of it. Hand sanded the spots I couldn't reach with the mouse. And just to show you how little you can take off, even with a powered sander - I took off the top poly coat and the burst coat, leaving the sealer coat and the yellow/amber undercoat. You just have to go easy & be careful.

But of course, that doesn't help with the binding.

 

[3-Chord-Genius]

I wrecked a MIA strat (black) trying to remove the finish. Zip Strip will remove the poly, but there was this pink crap beneath it that required force to remove it. That's where I wrecked the body. The wood beneath it all was not very attractive, either.

 

[Mike Eskimo]

Rattle can over the black.

Reranch has a lot of cool bright colors.

Leave back and sides alone.

Problem solved.

 

[Jupiter]

I’m with Mike; let go of the natural grain idea and it becomes very simple.

Try to strip it off and you risk real headaches, and you don’t even know if you’ll find nice wood under there.

COULD BE BONDO CITY UNDER THERE!

 

[Jakedog]

Thanks for all the replies.

The finish is trans black, all over. So the wood is gorgeous.

I'll probably just leave it. Sounds like a lot more trouble than it's worth.

 

[Mike Eskimo]

None more black !