stripping a neck thru bass, in a nutshell!

[kelly user]

alright, i finally have the time and the balls to attempt this, i don't really know what i am doing but i read all i could find on the topic, feel free to ask questions.

what it originally looked like, some jackass dropped it so i had to get it refinished.


here are some before pics, a refinish job went bad.......








i started of buy buy some stuff, heres a run down;
1 quart (plenty, i gave multiple coats and i still have half a quart left) Aircraft remover by kleenstrip- autozone
1 quart mineral spirts- autozone
"chemical resistant" gloves and brush- autozone
coated clay bowl- dollar store
heavy duty plastic spatula by bondo- autozone

remember i am not endorsing anything but a few people here and reranch recommend the stripper.

i started by removing all the hardware, taping the fretboard, and the cavities.

next pour the stipper into my clay bowl, and slathering it on the body, heres one thing i learned the more the better. it is okay if it goes over the side. two birds with one stone i always say. i went inside and chilled for 30min. then i went backed and looked at it, trust me you'll see when it is ready.

it took off most of everything except the sealer, so more coats goes on i wait and the scrape................

a little while later i am done..........

ESP stains the wood or something, so i started taking off the "stained wood" until i got to the natural stuff.

thats all, this puppy is going to be clear unless i change my mind. now for the pics.......

first coat

headstock first coat.

back

another shot

another shot

Now these are the second rounds




finally no more stipper.......remember what i said "chemical resistant" . FUCKING AUTOZONE ARE LIARS!!!!!!!!

get the best gloves and brust you can find, this stuff melted my brush and all 5 pairs of my gloves...........

so after shots






i sanded the body to get through the stain......



thats all for now folks.......

[Model1VH2]

I noticed you used stripper on the neck too ...
You may already know by now (I hope not), but chemical stripper will eat away the position markers as well as any binding.

Hope everything's okay with your project.
It 's looking good!

[straycat]

You can leave the aircraft stripper on until it bubbles the paint up.Some finishes take longer just let it sit for 3 or 4 hours.Most times it only takes 1 coat of aircraft stripper to remove most paint.I wont hurt the wood to leave it for several hours.

[Model1VH2]

You can leave the aircraft stripper on until it bubbles the paint up.Some finishes take longer just let it sit for 3 or 4 hours.Most times it only takes 1 coat of aircraft stripper to remove most paint.I wont hurt the wood to leave it for several hours.

Sorry, but I wasn't talking about it damaging the wood.
Klean Strip also makes several different chemical strippers for different types of finishes including epoxy, so there's no need to leave it on for several hours.

[straycat]

Well sometimes I would get a guitar that had been painted several times and you had to let the stripper sit for a while.Polyester finishes are the hardest to remove.

[kelly user]

yep, but i am an impatient, but i did wait for the bubbles so i started scraping away, and in my part of the world it is really hot, so it evaporated away after 45 min. Although i really wanted to try your wood dust idea but i didn't have any lying around.
As per the dot markers..........*goes and checks*............ the stripper didn't really get to the side of the fret board very well, except one, i think it melted a millimeter of a dot but i will build it up with something before i paint it.

[ihocky2]

Another trick, when possible, is to lay the body in one of those disposable aluminum backing trays and then cover it with aluminum foil while you are waiting for the stripper to do it's job. It will help hold the fumes in which prevents it from evaporating as quick. Plus it makes clean up a lot easier. Works great with bolt on bodies, but anything with a neck attached and it is more difficult.

[Bengal65]

Another trick, when possible, is to lay the body in one of those disposable aluminum backing trays and then cover it with aluminum foil while you are waiting for the stripper to do it's job. It will help hold the fumes in which prevents it from evaporating as quick. Plus it makes clean up a lot easier. Works great with bolt on bodies, but anything with a neck attached and it is more difficult.

+1 This works well. Also a heat gun works on the body if you are careful.

Now the hard part. Removing all the paint from the control cavities. When I strip it, I really get all of the paint no matter how difficult it is.

[kelly user]

isn't it est just to leave it there there is no sense on stripping paint that has a special job.