Guitar finished?

gobythewall

I have a black Mex Strat I'd like to sand down to the grain and maybe just finish with a rub of linseed oil. I've done a fair bit of online reading and appreciate it may be a difficult thing to get right, but what worries me is whether the grain of the body would be worth the effort. I hear a great deal about how a Mex is as good as American, I'm just wondering if anyone knows how they compare underneath so to speak. If it needs repainting afterwards I haven't the facilities!

eoin5

Its a complete gamble. You can bet its a well seasoned good quality piece of alder under there but as to how it looks you wont know until you sand it. Same goes for an american one. Personally all natural wood looks good to me, even scots pine! If you feel you need to refinish after theres a paint doctor lurking around somewhere here

Johnny Storm

Supposedly the Mex strat bodies are made of more pieces than the US bodies. The grain on the pieces may not match up nicely.
So as eoin5 says it is a gamble.

Owen

Definitely a gamble. I did a Strat a while back (Can't remember where it was made), and the cheapest of matchsticks glued together underneath came to the fore. Go mad sanding, but bear in mind you might have to paint it again later.

Nozebleed

this guy does it....gove him a call. Pat Mac Sweeney 0872749996

gobythewall

Thanks all! Guess its pretty much as I figured, no way of tellin till the paint is off. I think I'll give it a lash all the same. I've a feeling eoin5 is right and any more or less solid piece of wood should look ok, and sure it can always be repainted. So long as I'm zen and don't think of it as wasted effort

FruscianteFan

The only think you would have to worry about is that the join could be a bad one and could be very obvious. That doesnt mean is not a good guitar but they use the not so nice looking bodies for solid colour finishes as they wont be seen. But as long as you dont mind that the grain might not match and there might be glue lines it will be grand. you could even get lovely grain but you wont know until you strip it.

Another thing to consider is that poly finishes are a comeplete PITA to remove. They are put on really thick, up to 2 or 3 mm and are tough to remove. But there is plenty on stuff on the internet about how to remove. I remember reading on tdpri.com that a guy used a wallpaper stripper heat gun to remove most of the finish and then sanded the rest. Bear in mind if you are just sanding it will take AGES as the paper will clog up pretty fast. I would still go for it though. It wont do any harm!

gobythewall

Yeah, I think I'll have to give it a go. I'm curious to see what's in there now as much as anything else. I came across the stripper gun method too but I don't want to gas myself in an improperly ventilated flat! I was planning on sandpaper, hoover and time. And a lot of acoustic guitar in the meantime I take your point about the poly finish though. From all I've seen on dinternet and the knocks this one has already had, its like diamond.

Owen

Start with 80 grade paper, should make mince meat of most of the finish, and the instant you see some wood shining through, switch to 180, then to 400. Then if the wood is good enough, go use some wet and dry progressing to 800, 1200 and eventually 200 to remove any scratches from the sanding process.

gobythewall

Thanks PaintDoctor, I'm making a list. Anyone know if there's an eBay shop for this sort of thing? Searches for SANDPAPER have revealed little.

Owen

Don't bother buying online, and don't bother buying from a hardware store either, you'll pay too much. Go to your local, proper, motor factors. They'll be selling sheets of the stuff for pence to the local bodyshops.