i was playing my old strat today and the poly finish is getting more milky by the week , add to that a load of dings , dents and scratches , so i decided it was time to do something about it , so i got some sandpaper out and started attacking it man that poly is tough . i know i should use a heat gun but i don't have one and i'm skint , i also have plenty of time on my hands at the moment so no worries i'll get the poly off and see how nice the grain looks , if it's ok looking i might just oil the body , Zappa used to have a strat that looked like that and i always liked the look of it , i'll get some pics up , cheers
Alan

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i'm using some ally oxide paper that cuts into the poly and lasts for ages , i spent about an hour and a half on it today and got a good bit done , i'll plod away at it , in the meantime i get to play my epi's

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My friend has a poly strat that got stepped on, and now the finish is coming off in chunks. You can literally pull of a 3x3in piece with your fingers. Which makes me wonder if you could just tap it with a hammer to shatter the finish like his, and then just pull chunks off...

just a thought.
-John

Stop, Hammer time.

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Rated "M" for meaty.

well the back and sides are now poly free , the front is almost there , i had to stop as the rain came on , well the body is 2 piece and the grain on the back will do me nicely (if the front is anything like it ) it is a nice bit of wood
Nevin , i'm a joiner / carpenter to trade , a bit of sanding holds no fear for me , the only bugger of a bit will be the horns i think , time for a coffee and hopefully the rain will be off by the time i finish , cheers
Alan

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The rain's off big yin, get back to work on that Strat Tell you what bud, I'm looking forward to seeing this. I'm hoping to pick up the Tele, I put in to be set up last week. Oh I asked about my fuzz face yesterday (saw Roy at the workshop), he hasn't had a chance to look at it yet.

well thats the poly off thank feck it should look sweet snowy but you'll see it soon enough , time to get tidied up and get onto making the dinner , i might get some rubbing down done later on , starting with 180 wet and dry down to 1200 and i'll see how it looks , late guys

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Good luck with the refinish Alan,some alder bodies(I'm supposing that's what it is)have very nice pronounced grains and the two pieces are nicely matched,even under a solid colour finish.I hope that's the case with yours. Are you plaining to use a clear finish or have you considered a transparent coloured finish?Some of these see through coloured finishes are really strikingly beautiful and enhance the grain even more than clear finishes.

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'65 Strat,65 Mustang,65 Jaguar,4 more Strats,3 vintage Vox guitars,5 Vox amps,'69 Bassman with a '68 2-15 Bassman cab,36 guitars total-15asst'd amps total,2 vintage '60s Hammond organs & a myriad of effects-with a few rare vintage ones.

Best of fortune with the possibly clear refin.

'Have an SG Faded Brown which (what finish do those have) is mahogany and one can feel all the grain; the guitar feels "naked" and is so erotic to play!

Maybe tung oil and wax?

thanks guys that sealer is a bugger but i've got the front and back sealer free , just the sides to sort out then start the finishing round of sanding .
i'm thinking danish oil , i get some good results with it on rifle stocks and i have loads of it the grain is quite nice , and the oil should make it stand out even more , time for a shower '
Alan

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well i just gave it the first going over with the wire wool and it looks sweet , i might leave it for a few weeks or so to let it age and get a wee bit darker , then i'll hit it with the oil

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sorry for the delay , i got fed up waiting so i started on the oiling yesterday , i only gave it 3 coats yesterday , (i started early) and i put it back together last night , i think it looks excellent it's like having a new guitar , and it's going to take a wee while to get used to seeing it sitting instead of it's previous black and battered look , no dings or dents now and the good thing about the oil finish is that if it gets a bad dent or scratch it's easy enough to sort anyway enough of my ramblings heres a pic the wife took last night , i'll try and get her to take one in the sunlight later on ,



it looks a bit better in person and with some natural light , i need to sort out the trem hight today and she's good to go

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She looks great Al, I'll bet it was worth all the effort.

Ain't she sweet!!!

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'65 Strat,65 Mustang,65 Jaguar,4 more Strats,3 vintage Vox guitars,5 Vox amps,'69 Bassman with a '68 2-15 Bassman cab,36 guitars total-15asst'd amps total,2 vintage '60s Hammond organs & a myriad of effects-with a few rare vintage ones.

Lookin good there