Help needed with sanding guitar

Lieutenat-J

Hey guys

My friend dropped his axe the other day, Not an expensive guitar thankfully for him. A cort elec, strat copy, can't remember the exact model name. The drop was on tiles so took a chunk out of the black finish on the bottom and sent to very visible cracks running from his bridge down.

He told me that he wants to now sand the guitar down and maybe go for a natural look.

The thing is we're both Highschool students and have limited views on what tools we need, what tools we should use
(what grain sand paper, how to remove the finish, should we clamp it down, what tool should be used where)

Been reading the posts on specific type of woods that you find under your finish.. Since this guitar cost between 2-3 grand the wood wood most likely be not all that good? :-\

Will post pictures of the gash in the axe's side as soon as pics

Thanks
JMH ?

Manfred-Klose

Working with a belt sander is loads of fun ?

Start with a hard grit like a 60 - 80 grit to take away the heavy coat, then when you start seeing something underneath, move on to a finer grit like 120 - 150, and then at 220 and continue to process until you are satisfied.

P.S: it is important not to take any wood away, only the finish.

Or you could use paint stripper.
I prefer using the sanding method.

aja

This may sound dumb and painfully obvious, but remember to remove all the hardware first!

Some people have deemed it not necessary and the results have been interesting. Unless you want that severely "distressed" look?

Attila

Use a heat gun....less mess and quick

Gearhead

Attila wrote Use a heat gun....less mess and quick

+1 but you need a good and sharp scraper.
Stay away from the sand paper and especially the belt sander. The paper comes in after you're done scraping, the belt sander is only needed if you want dents and unflatness all over the instrument.

PeteM

Gearhead wrote
Attila wrote Use a heat gun....less mess and quick
+1 but you need a good and sharp scraper.
Stay away from the sand paper and especially the belt sander. The paper comes in after you're done scraping, the belt sander is only needed if you want dents and unflatness all over the instrument.

Careful you don't singe the wood though - done that before.

Lieutenat-J

Careful you don't singe the wood though - done that before.

It does sound a bit risky I agree, first have to check if one of our dads have one those guns

AlanRatcliffe

My favourite method for the Asian polyester finishes is chipping it off with blades, chisels and scrapers. Once you get under the thick finish in one spot it's easy to chip it all off - just get the tool between the sealer and the finish, lever up and the finish comes right off. Then usually you can use a chemical strippers on the sealer coat or a quick sanding if it's also a poly.

Sanding a poly finish off is time consuming and throws up a lot of foul smelling dust. Also with most coarse abrasives that work well enough to cut the finish quickly you're quite likely to accidentally reshape the guitar the moment you get down to wood. Sanding however works well for the last stages and cleanup.

Heat guns take a bit of practice and you have to be very careful to not singe the wood and also things like plastic binding (or dots with a neck). With many laminated guitars you also have to be careful that the heat doesn't loosen the glue holding the laminates together. Specifically also the Mexican Strats which have a wood veneer over the laminates (the front and back of the guitar) - the heat gun usually lifts the veneer.

Chemical strippers are often the easiest, followed with a quick sand, but polyesters and some acid catalysed polyurethanes are inert, so do not react at all to strippers. You also have to be careful with plastic dots and binding.