Guitar Refinish on the Cheap...

[Nathans_Dad]

So I was bored today and decided to get rid of the satin finish on my Highway 1 Strat. All Highway 1s come with a satin nitrocellulose finish, I prefer a bit more gloss...

So, off to the Auto Parts store!!

The tools:
2000 grit sandpaper for wet sanding
Sanding block
Turtle Wax Rubbing Compound
Meguiars 2 step system (cleaner, polish, wax)
A Whole Bunch of microfiber towels
Couple screwdrivers and wire cutters
Beer.

The patient on the table, prepped and ready for surgery:


Close up of the front, notice the gloomy and uninspiring stain finish:


Neck and most of the hardware removed, I left the pickguard attached because I could work around it and really didn't want to hunt for my soldering iron:


Step 1:
Wet sand with 2000 grit sandpaper. This removes the orange peel that is part of the satin finish. If you skip this step the end result just doesn't look good at all.... I had read on the net of people using anything from 1000-2000 grit but I decided to err on the side of caution because I didn't want to sand through the finish and the nitro finishes on the Highway 1s is pretty thin...there are lots of "reliced" Highway 1s out there to prove it. Luckily the orange peel areas are pretty easy to see in the light once you get going. Here is the body after wet sanding:

[Nathans_Dad]

Ok, step 2 is to get in there with the rubbing compound and rub your ass off. This step takes the most time, probably took me about an hour to get the whole body done.

Step 3 is to use the Megiuars Polish (which is actually step 2 of their system) and rub like hell again...the good news is that you really start to see some shine here.

Step 4 is the wax. I used the Megiuars liquid carnauba on it, just a light coat.

I then reinstalled the neck and all the hardware and polished it up with the guitar polish cloth that came with the guitar.

Wow, what a difference! The grain of the wood is much better seen now and the depth of the finish is MUCH better. The only bad news is that it shows fingerprints like a BEOTCH now...

The next step is probably going to be putting in new pickups, the guitar came as a fat strat and I am thinking I want to go more towards a classic strat sound. I will be looking for a set of single coils to go into a new pickguard...bad news is I will have to solder and I HATE soldering!!!

Anyhow, the results of 2 hours work:





The pics don't really do it justice, I will try and take some outside in the sun tomorrow...

[bell]

outstanding, night and day difference

you can tell by comparing the flash where it hits the edge on these 2 pics of the improvement



to

[WolfeMacleod]

Originally Posted by Nathans_Dad

I will be looking for a set of single coils to go into a new pickguard...bad news is I will have to solder and I HATE soldering!!!

Send me your address. And hold off on that search for a bit.
What kind of sound do you like?

[Sonic dB]

Wow that really looks great. Let us know how the finish holds up.
I read this thread earlier today but wanted to see the finished result before commenting.
As you probably know... its best to not to remove the neck too often...if you dont get it
back in the exact same spot, it will usually screw up the action and you will need to get it professionally set up. Fender's look so easy due to the bolt on...but it is something that should be done only when absolutely necessary....but you did it and if you got your action back then great.

here is a link that i found that discusses it better than i did above

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/roadshow/fts/bismarck_200504A23.html

Anyway....Nice finish and much improved looks great....enjoy

[Nathans_Dad]

Hrm, didn't know that about the neck. Unfortunately I broke the high E string in my new set of Super Slinkys while stringing it up (a little too aggressive on the string stretching...) so I didn't play it last night.

I had to remove the neck to get the pickguard off which I thought was strange...I figured you should be able to just pull off the pickguard but the neck overhangs it by a good 1/4 inch or so...

Should you just remove the pickups instead and slide it out?

As far as the setup goes, I am thinking about having it set up professionally anyhow, I never did when I got it in the first place and have tinkered with it off and on.

[Nathans_Dad]

Ok, had to take some pics this morning in the sun...wow....it looks even better this morning!! The whole finish has a wet look, I was able to remove about 99% of the orange peel, you can see just a shadow of it at the right angle but nothing anyone is ever going to notice. Of course when I eventually put a ding in this thing I will cry like a little schoolgirl....

I highly recommend this treatment if anyone has a satin finish!!

[legion]

My FIL makes/refinishes guitars as a hobby/side business. I know it can take him months to refinish a guitar. (He customized a guitar for a local Elvis impersonator to look like one of Elvis's guitars and it took him 18 months.)

[Jim Richards]

Nice job on your Strat, Rick.

[sammyg2]

Cool, now it looks almost identical to mine, except for the name on the head

[Nathans_Dad]

Hate to hijack my own thread, but I guess it's ok since the guitar in this clip has the same finish as mine...

Damn, this guy made my jaw hit the floor...

[Sonic dB]

I like his tone... cracks me up how people put videos of themselves jamming on Youtube...its like the thing to do today.

Nathan's Dad you can play what he is playing, even if you just started a while back which i think you did, you can get up to that level in the next year or two...its not that hard.

[Nathans_Dad]

I gotta work on my guitar face to get to his level...I love that first bend he does, it's like he's constipated or something...but in a cool way!

If I can play that well in a year or two I will ***** myself...

[Sonic dB]

yeah that is a good blues face on that bend....
His sound and style are a little like Robin Trower but he has more chops...the big bends and tone are a little like Robin but with some SRV type thing goin on.

Those pinch harmonics at about :45 are actually pretty easy with distortion, ZZtop used them on La Grange back in 73 and then they became big and everyone was using them.

Robin Trower clips below...what a tone

[Sonic dB]

[Sonic dB]

[stuartj]

Originally Posted by Nathans_Dad

Ok, had to take some pics this morning in the sun...wow....it looks even better this morning!! The whole finish has a wet look, I was able to remove about 99% of the orange peel, you can see just a shadow of it at the right angle but nothing anyone is ever going to notice. Of course when I eventually put a ding in this thing I will cry like a little schoolgirl....

I highly recommend this treatment if anyone has a satin finish!!

Nitro finishes are highly sought after. Guitars coming out of the variuos custom shops are almost univesally done in nitrocelulose, in the vintage manner.

[Nathans_Dad]

Agreed Stuart, I was surprised to hear that the Highway 1s are nitro finished since they are one of the lowest price point American strats. Apparently it has something to do with the reduction in labor needed to just do a satin finish instead of buffing it out to a gloss. Obviously the electronics are a factor too.

Just FYI in case anyone else decides to do this, I think I made two small mistakes in the process. First I should not have taken off the neck unless it was absolutely necessary. My action is fine so I lucked out but apparently you can screw up your guitar this way. I didn't know that when I started. Second, I was talking to Wolfe yesterday and he pointed out that the carnauba wax will tend to build up over time and can deaden the tone on the wood. I just put a single light coat on so it shouldn't make a difference, but he cautioned against putting on multiple coats of wax over time.

Anyhow, those are the lessons I learned during this project and I am still very very happy with the results!

[stuartj]

Nah, taking the neck off wont hurt. As long as it goes back right. And dont worry about honest damage....

[IROC]

Originally Posted by stuartj

Nah, taking the neck off wont hurt. As long as it goes back right. And dont worry about honest damage....

I was thinking the same thing. A little "patina" never hurt anyone. I need to post a pic of the back of the neck of my SG. I've worn through the laquer in quite a large area. I was going to try and fix it somehow, but it's kind of like a badge of honor...many, many, many hours of playing...