Run out of acetone and need to strip your Gibson?

p90fool

Use gaffa tape!

I just lightly scored a line in the finish, stuck a strip of gaffa tape on it and lifted the nitro straight off. 

The gold and the sealer come off with just a little light sanding, no fuss, no mess.

http://i66.tinypic.com/2ebwoef.jpg

http://i64.tinypic.com/2hg8v7l.jpg

King85

 

How are you going to refinish it?

p90fool

No idea!

Kittyfrisk

Great tip.
Two questions,
1) Why do it at all, looks like you had a nice aged patina going on?
2) Are you going to Mick Ronson or Marc Bolan finish it? 

p90fool

Kittyfrisk said:

Great tip.
Two questions,
1) Why do it at all, looks like you had a nice aged patina going on?
2) Are you going to Mick Ronson or Marc Bolan finish it? 

1) Got bored 

2) Probably the latter, if you mean a car crash, I'm rubbish at this

Kittyfrisk

Stick with guitar staining & avoid Mini's & trees 

merlin

Reminds me of the old saying, "If you can't fix it with gaffer tape, you're not using enough". 

victorludorum

Will they ever invent gaffer tape that's strong enough to rip the finish of a poly finished Fender though? That's the question!

SteveRobinson

What?! Isn't this your #1?

p90fool

Yes it is @SteveRobinson ;

The truth is it was ageing but not in a nice way, you only had to look at it (or have a lead singer bash it with a tambourine every other gig) for chunks of finish to fall off. 

The forearm wear was greening nicely and the lacquer has worn through on the back of the neck in places through sheer workload, but every accidental chip or ding just looked a bit crap tbh. 

Anyway, it's done, and it appears to have a one-piece top with a bit of a Jupiter's Storm thing going on, which I quite like. 

I was expecting all kinds of horrors from a recent LP which was selected to become a goldtop, but it's tidier than most stripped solid colour standards I've seen, including a few famous ones. 

Initial thoughts are Black Top if I can be arsed, or just slap some clear or tinted nitro on it and bung it back together, bearing in mind I only have one weekend off gigging. 

http://i63.tinypic.com/2m4zvaw.jpg

earwighoney

p90fool said:

Yes it is @SteveRobinson ;

The truth is it was ageing but not in a nice way, you only had to look at it (or have a lead singer bash it with a tambourine every other gig) for chunks of finish to fall off. 

The forearm wear was greening nicely and the lacquer has worn through on the back of the neck in places through sheer workload, but every accidental chip or ding just looked a bit crap tbh. 

Anyway, it's done, and it appears to have a one-piece top with a bit of a Jupiter's Storm thing going on, which I quite like. 

I was expecting all kinds of horrors from a recent LP which was selected to become a goldtop, but it's tidier than most stripped solid colour standards I've seen, including a few famous ones. 

Initial thoughts are Black Top if I can be arsed, or just slap some clear or tinted nitro on it and bung it back together, bearing in mind I only have one weekend off gigging. 

http://i63.tinypic.com/2m4zvaw.jpg

That's actually a really nice looking piece of maple. 

Great work so far, look forward to seeing how it progresses. 

Kittyfrisk

 That is a rather nice looking top, seems a shame to bury it again?
I know, get a Harley Benton to gig with for a while & take some time to finish this   

SteveRobinson

You can always seal with a coat of lacquer then come back to it when you have more time.

IvisonGuitars

Oooh, nice! I think I’d go aged/faded plain top burst or an aged gold top but with the proper bronze powders

Kittyfrisk

^ +1 aged/faded plain top burst. Bit of a cliche, but would look great & you'd keep the wood visible.

skullfunkerry

Orange sparkle!  

Kittyfrisk

Orange whip.

p90fool

Well here we are, two days later and it's nearly done. I've just mocked it up to see if I like it and it's looking ok.

It's a two piece centre-joined top with a bit of subtle flame in the right light and although not the prettiest it's generally quite a pleasant surprise to find it under a modern gold top - I was expecting multiple joins in awkward places and knots everywhere. 

So, one can of Northwest Guitars amber nitro (which was a scarily baked bean orange when first applied) and a bit of elbow grease and I'm quite pleased with my amateurish efforts, though I'll be happy never to have to hand scrape any binding ever again. 

EDIT; It's not quite that lemony in real life.

http://i65.tinypic.com/2zejfuv.jpg

JD50

Looks great

I'm still undecided on what colour to refinish my Musicmaster, I had thought of using a Wudtone stain/dye but would prefer a solid colour as the wood figuring is not great.

Just looked at the Northwest Guitars website & they state that their Nitro Aerosol should need no sanding between coats.... Is that your experience?

I'm tempted by either their Vintage white or Lake Placid Blue.

TINMAN82

Great plain top figure, looks fantastic

SteveRobinson

JD50 said:

Just looked at the Northwest Guitars website & they state that their Nitro Aerosol should need no sanding between coats.... Is that your experience?

There is no need to "key" between coats because lacquer dries by evaporation and each subsequent coat partially redissoves the previous one so bonding with it.  Only sand if you get a run or dust in the finish.