Run out of acetone and need to strip your Gibson?

JD50

SteveRobinson said:

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.

Thanks Steve, how long do they take to dry between coats....basically how long before you can put the guitar back together?

p90fool

@JD50 I've done done a couple of guitars using their nitro.

This Les Paul has basically just a tinted clearcoat, so I sprayed six or seven very light coats, waiting the recommended 20 minutes between coats. I was prepared to wait anything up to a week before sanding and cutting back, but actually sanded it with 800 grit the following day then cut it a day after that, as the finish had easily cured hard enough. 

I didn't sand it between coats, and the final finish before sanding was pretty rough, but that may have been because my coats were too light and from too far away, letting the particles build as peaks without dissolving the previous layers. 

It's kind of hard to experiment when you have gigs lined up and your only can was 20 quid a pop with postage!

I did a Strat in Olympic White with a clearcoat a couple of years ago and that came out very well, Northwest Guitars have some very good videos on YouTube - if you follow them to the letter it just works. 

http://i68.tinypic.com/120nj2u.jpg

JD50

@p90fool , thanks - will check out the Northwest guitars youtube videos.

underdog

Good job etc but man that goldtop was one of my favourite looking guitars on here

randella

I like that.  Embrace the lemon (even if it's not-so-lemony), I say.

One of the few guitars I feel I 'missed' was a Les Paul Standard Doublecut in Lemonburst, or whatever they call it, from the briefly-existing Manchester branch of he-who-shall-not-be-named, previously of Denmark Street, Soho.

It had a lovely flame in the top and I was umming and ahhing, in the end I left it on the wall, forgot about the whole thing, and bought my current singlecut which I love.

That refinish of yours has just reminded me of the one in Manchester.  It probably played like a dog, at least that's what I tell myself.

King85

That looks really good mate. Nicer than the gold imo

breakstuff

underdog said:

Good job etc but man that goldtop was one of my favourite looking guitars on here

Mine too,so much so I pretty much modelled my LPJ on it. 

Still like the stripped look though. 

p90fool

Nice to hear people liked my goldtop, I'm fond of it myself!

I'm sure in its current form it will age pretty fast and gain a bit more character in the process. 

It still sounds as good as ever and feels like my old friend even if the gold has gone. 

http://i67.tinypic.com/20k3hxl.jpg

menamestom

Looks better than gold IMO, looks great.

SteveRobinson said:

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

I might do this with a Telecaster Steve.  Could you use sanding sealer as a temporary coat?

I'm thinking of getting a Tele project up and running with a basic seal then going back to do the colour when I have a bit more time and can decide what colour I want.

SteveRobinson

I don't see why not @menamestom. My sanding sealer is just nitrocellulose lacquer with a bulking agent added so it builds quickly and sands easily.

menamestom

SteveRobinson said:

I don't see why not @menamestom. My sanding sealer is just nitrocellulose lacquer with a bulking agent added so it builds quickly and sands easily.

Great, thanks.  May give you a bell tomorrow and pick up a tin if I get a spare half hour, i’m only round the corner in Gatley

SteveRobinson

No problem @menamestom ;