Questions about repainting a neck-thru guitar...

[Krymson86]

I know there are several threads about refinishing a guitar, however most of them deal with repainting a bolt on guitar. My main question is are there any significant challenges to stripping a refinishing a neck thru guitar?

I have a soloist standard from the mid 90s that I picked up used. It has a few nicks in the paint, but nothing bad, mostly I'd just like to refinish the guitar in a color that I like better than the reddish maroon it is now.

Any feedback would be appreciated.

[Axewielder]

Is there a neck binding? There is a definite skill set to painting a bound neck.

[Krymson86]

There's no neck or headstock binding on the standard line from the old pro series. So that's one headache avoided. I know there are chemicals that can be used to help strip the paint. But will the chemicals used do any type of damage to the wood? I'd prefer to use that method as it seems like there's way less risk of shaving down any of the wood from the neck or body. I'm particularly concerned about the neck because I don't want to ruin the contour of it.

Thanks again for any input.

[Tommie]

I don't think there's a chemical out there that'll remove a poly finish successfully. I tried the usual stuff and it just laughed it off.

[warlok]

I stripped my model 6 by sanding. Did the whole body and neck with a random orbital sander. On the neck, I stopped when I could see most of the sealer and went the rest of the way by hand. Had to be really careful not to dig in but it went pretty easy with a pretty fine grit paper and the padding on the sander itself. Also, check out sully's video where he stripped the gibson neck with a razor blade. That looked like it worked pretty good.

[DonP]

After doing this too many times myself, screw the chemical strippers and sand. And you don't need to sand down to the wood IMO.

[6string40]

Assuming you are painting a solid color, you don't need to sand down to the wood, you should be able to stop at the primer or even the sealer coat. If you're using a trans color or staining, that's another story I believe.

I've not used it myself, but from what I've seen elsewhere, aircraft stripper is supposed to work well, but is very messy. But like warlock said, see Sully's video...