Removing spray paint

[84sups]

I just picked an old Aria Pro II for dirt cheap and it has the worse rattle can paint job I have ever seen. Any advice on how to remove it without removing the original finish? The whole guitar was painted as a whole it looks like and I can get the paint off the bit and pieces but I have no idea how to attack the neck, fretboard and the body. It had a set of old Dimarzios in it with makes the price almost zero.

[Axewielder]

What a trainwreck! So what happened to the inlays?

[84sups]

They are painted over. I was able to pick the 12 fret clean but not doing that to the whole guitar. It's also really soft paint and the headstock has something on it that has the consistency of dried gum. Not sure sanding will be the way to go. Was almost thinking about getting some stripper from home depot and see if I can screw it up worse!

[straycat]

Try mineral spirits if the paint feels soft it should come off with some careful circular rubbing and keeping a clean cloth.
You are going to go thru a lot of rags so have plenty on hand.

[LaoWai]

I’d try mineral spirits, if the original finish is coated with polyester or catalyzed lacquer, it probably won’t eat it.

[84sups]

Tried mineral spirits but it didn't touch it. I decided not to go the sanding it off route cuz I know it would take a dogs age so I got some stripper and stripped the white off. Got most of it off already being on top of it making sure it doesn't go into the original clear coat. It has gold hardware too with old school gotoh tuners and the finish was actually really nice with multi layer binding all the way around. Decided to stop for the night because it's getting dark and I was getting impatient so I knew it was time for me to stop.

[DonP]

Are you sure this guitar is an Aria? I have never seen an Aria Pro II:

With that headstock
With that control cavity
With that body style
With those inlays (Pro II's had small dot markers).

I troll ebay for Aria every so often because my first guitar was a pearl white Aria Pro II RS Classic.

[rjohnstone]

Looks like a mid 80's Aria Pro II Legend. (Rear route is different, but the rest looks right)

Don... the Pro II line came in so many different iterations it's not funny. They copied EVERYONE.
They had small dots, big dots, wide dots and every kind of inlay design out there.
At last count, they had sometime like 15 different headstock designs and too many body shapes to count.

[84sups]

Honestly I'm not even sure it's an Aria after looking around. The only tele's I've seen are lawsuit copies of Fenders. It seems well made but the coating of white household spray paint may have killed it. I'm having problems getting the paint off the neck and if I have to do a refret to get the paint off I'll just grab a cheap Squier tele neck off ebay. It has the same neck pocket as a Fender Tele.

[Newc]

Any markings in the pocket or heel? Or did they paint over the whole thing?

[84sups]

Lol the entire guitar was spray painted white. I bought it from a guy that started stripping it. I mean every single piece was covered in krylon and very very thick. I have most of it off and there are markings in the neck pocket. I'll take progress pics tomorrow. I used spray stripper to get everything off the neck. The headstock has swirl crap on it that looks kinda like Vai's swirl guitars but was gooey like chewing gum. I'm gonna start sanding it tomorrow and hopefully get it to shine again. I may be looking at a refin....sigh. Stupid HIPPIES!

[DonP]

My two Aria's have a 2 1/4" neck pocket, but the mounting holes are narrow like a Kramer.

[straycat]

Looking at an Aria RS warrior project guitar right now I have the kahler and pick ups just need to find a correct pick guard.

[84sups]

Update pics, I didn't do anything today it was cold and rainy so said screw it and stayed inside.

[straycat]

Aria usually put a number in the neck pick up cavity, just what that number means is any ones guess. Neck cleaned up nicely. FGG should mean Fugi Gen Gakki plant. Could be Aria,Vantage,Westone etc. My guess is Vantage judging by the shape of the headstock.Just a guess mind you.