Help with refinishing a guitar?

Al Watsky

Yes. By all means have some fun. Some thoughts occur to me as I read this thread . In no particular order: 1. If you asked a professional to do this they would discourage you. 2. If your goal was to thin the finish , wet sanding with out removal would get the job done. 3. Mechanical removal is the best, that would be sanding or scraping. 4. The sealer coats on factory guitars these days even if over finished with nitro are often poly. So you do not necessarily need to remove all the finish to get some results. Just wet sanding through the top coats might lighten the finish sufficiently to free the top .5. There is no need to refinish the whole guitar , just the top will do.6. you will be rubbing and rubbing and rubbing and rubbing . 7. I'm not a big fan of poly finishes on guitars , a cheap poly finish looks way too glossy and has a rather nasty feel. If the look and feel are whats got you down you can ,once again, wet sand the poly to make it look matt. Folks do that a lot. 8.Brother Beware !! On other types of guitars with larger sound holes its not uncommon for folks to thin the tops and braces on the interior.

asura

Thank you everyone for all the help! Definitely learning a lot.

@Al Watsky thanks for that info! It's good to know that just refinishing the top could be an option too! Sounds like a lot less of a hassle and still get the look and feel I'm looking for

Cheers!

bluetrain

I did this process to my old Gallato RS-1939 Angelo Debarre model. First I practiced taking the lacquer of with my cheap nylon string guitar. I used scraper mostly and then finally some fine sand paper. I used shellac. I didn't do any french polish.. but tried to do it similarly. I removed lacquer from the back, sides and top. After this treatment I think the guitar really opened up. I can highly recommend doing this but maybe you should practice first with some really cheap guitar to see how the scraper works etc.

Bones

Hey Blue. How did the sound change on ur RS-1939? Mine are loud and dry as they come stock from the factory.

bluetrain

Bones wrote: »

Hey Blue. How did the sound change on ur RS-1939? Mine are loud and dry as they come stock from the factory.

I think the sound was a bit plastic originally and after I refinished it with Shellac the sound was a bit woodier, warmer and louder. Maybe a bit more treble also. There was originally some middle boominess (maybe around 250Hz or something) and this was less pronounced after the refinish and the frequency changed one and a half step lower.

Bones

Hmmm, interesting. I'm psyching up to shave down the neck profile on one of my Gallatos to make it more comfortable for my old, arthritic left hand so maybe if I feel extra brave I'll sand down the top at the same time...

bluetrain

I had one gig where my guitar dropped from chair to pretty rough concrete floor and the original plastic (?) lacquer was cracked. I was amazed how thick it was so while I repaired the crack I got the courage to start the project of refinishing it. I have no idea why in earth manufacturers put so thick lacquer on guitars.. it can't do any good for the sound and who cares about some extra scratches. Most of the players seem to favour vintage style finishing anyway

Al Watsky

Factory building is just process. The finishers are people trained to use spray guns not guitar builders. The material in applied in the manner intended . Its product first and foremost .