serial number CN301082, made in Korea, Squier Precision Bass, by Fender.
This is my faded "some kind of white" now yellowing bass that I want to repaint.
When I talked to a guitar tech about it he said "this is a long tedious process to remove the old polyester paint, a lot of careful sanding and then more careful sanding to get to the wood and when I'm almost there I could give it to him for the final clean up and then he would paint it white for me".
He said that lacquer doesn't work unless all of the old Fender finish is removed.
My question is if I could find a compatible paint, would it be possible to sand the surface finish off and then repaint the body?
I really want to use this body and will replace the broken neck, but don't want to attempt the stripping process myself or pay a tech to invest that much time and effort into it.
Suggestions from the knowledgeable guitar guru's here (Ceri, Nikki, et al Bros?) will be greatly appreciated.

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you can save the world with your guitar one love song at a time it's just better, more fun, easier with a fender solid body electric guitar or electric bass guitar.

I have done this, I take it this is a poly finish you are taking off? Use Airkraft cleen strip paint remover...or some brand I forget the name, but it comes in an orange spray can and is good. Get a metal flat scraper, I used a plastic one once and it melted the plastic one... Srpay on, let sit close to 10-15 min..then scrape Then use Naptha to clean the body, and you should be good to go...

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1965 Fender Precision Bass, 1994 Fender '54 Reissue Precision Bass, 2007 Applause Celebrity, 2011 Fender American Special Jazz Bass, 2012 Squier Vintage Modified Jazzmaster, 2013 Fender American Special Stratocaster, 2013 Gibson LPJ

BTW sanding a poly finish takes way too long, and is very tedious, the best way is to use the beforesiad paint remover...

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1965 Fender Precision Bass, 1994 Fender '54 Reissue Precision Bass, 2007 Applause Celebrity, 2011 Fender American Special Jazz Bass, 2012 Squier Vintage Modified Jazzmaster, 2013 Fender American Special Stratocaster, 2013 Gibson LPJ

Hi SBLS: well, he's right in as much as the ideal is indeed to strip it to the wood before re-finning. Though if you are going to do that I so strongly suggest you use a heat gun to cut out most of the sanding. Saves so-o-o-o-o much time. I expect I could do some pics for guidance if it would be useful.

Your guy sounds like he only wants to work the "right" way, so I expect this next suggestion will not impress him. But it is also possible to spray a new coat right over the old one. Back in the day, when Fender botched a sunburst finish they just sprayed a solid one right over the top and sent the guitar on its way. Which is how people with 1960s bodies with black or white finishes that get chipped often find sunbursts underneath.

With a polyester finish you need to find a compatible paint to use and nitrocellulose isn't really the best thing (though it is possible: someone will want to point out that reportedly modern Fender nitro finishes are generally laid down over poly sealers). You'd probably do best to go to a car parts store and source some automotive paint in the color of your choice and use that, either in an aerosol or in a tin for use with a spray gun.

Even if you are putting paint over paint you do need to give it a good sanding all over with grade P300 paper to even up the surface and give it a "tooth" for the new paint to adhere to.

I'm not going to promise how good the results will be: that will partly be down to the skill of the hands doing the work. But at any rate it's do-able. There's plenty of electric guitars out there repainted this way.

Ultimately, it's kinda down to how much work you want to put in on the thing...

Gissa shout if we can help more.

Cheers - C

EDIT: typed at the same time as wferguson's posts above, and not intended to disagree with what he's saying.

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Thank you Bros for the quick responses, Fender Forum Brothers are the best guitar guru's on this planet! wferguson and Ceri, I am going to talk these options over with the tech and depending on what he says I will let you know which path we're taking and post before and after pic's!

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you can save the world with your guitar one love song at a time it's just better, more fun, easier with a fender solid body electric guitar or electric bass guitar.

Sanding back to wood is definitely the best option, although I have achieved good results with overspray jobs. In the case below, I wanted a natural finish ,so had no option but to strip.



I did this with a sanding block. It's not my favorite job but if you can set up somewhere where you can do some sanding and walk away for a while, it's not too bad (maybe 4-6 hours) over a few days (wear a mask)
I've never had much success with strippers but if the one mentioned above works go for it.
It's a job worth doing properly, Good luck.

My Strat turned out well.

.....Mark.

I did one by lightly sandblasting the old finish off. You have to be very careful not to damage the wood which wasn,t easy to do. I don,t recommend this but I did it and then sanded the body to clean it up. The paint stripper works good to.

"...You'd probably do best to go to a car parts store and source some automotive paint in the color of your choice and use that, either in an aerosol or in a tin for use with a spray gun.
Even if you are putting paint over paint you do need to give it a good sanding all over with grade P300 paper to even up the surface and give it a "tooth" for the new paint to adhere to..."

As a matter of fact, I was going to experiment with this very technique over the next few days with a no-risk Strat-like Squier body.

Due to the resilience of poly, not all paint removers are going to work, the brand I listed I have used and are good ones.. BTW if you want the job to go a little faster, put the body with the paint remover on it and put it in a trash bag, the "seal" helps speed the removing process... also, the particles that come off poly when you sand it smell stickly sweet, and hope you woukld wear a mask when doing this, would reccomend the remover though, becasue some particles can still get into the mask..

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1965 Fender Precision Bass, 1994 Fender '54 Reissue Precision Bass, 2007 Applause Celebrity, 2011 Fender American Special Jazz Bass, 2012 Squier Vintage Modified Jazzmaster, 2013 Fender American Special Stratocaster, 2013 Gibson LPJ

wferguson, the remover does appeal to me more than sanding down to the wood and I do appreciate the info.

dfrain, let me know how your paint project works out.

boxbang, your project looks good, I was trying to avoid the sanding part, lol.

tbazzone, taking your advice and not going to attempt a sandblaster.

Ceri, I may have to ask for some pic's Bro. Here is what the tech said as we were going over the posts. 1st, he wouldn't want to purchase a new gun for the job as all of his are lacquer guns. 2nd, if I were to remove most of the paint before giving the body to him for finishing, he would want 300 USD or there abouts. 3rd, if he did the entire project, paint removal and refinishing would cost a little over 400 USD.
I have some things to consider definitely and will talk with him again soon, I want him to work with me on the neck install and some new electronics for this bass so I'm going to give some more thought to refinishing this body. Thanks again Bros the input helps greatly.

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you can save the world with your guitar one love song at a time it's just better, more fun, easier with a fender solid body electric guitar or electric bass guitar.

Put heat to it the paint will come off in pieces. Like cracking plastic, heat and scrap carefully. I have done it in an evening. Then pick your color at the auto shop supplier.
Aircraft paint remover will work and so will you using it and the methylene chloride is nasty.

Polyester is just like wrapping the guitar in plastic.

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The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government.

Thomas Jefferson

heat gun and a scraper are the best option.



I don't have pictures of the process anymore, but it only took about 45 minutes.


Keep the gun moving, and just ahead of the scraper,the poly will come off in strips. Keep the gun moving so you don't scorch the wood. Wear a mask and eye protection because the poly could come shooting off like superheated popcorn.

I rounded the corners of my scraper off, to help avoid gouging the wood.

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I'm not an expert, but I play one on the internet.

CV and Twelvebar, thank you Bros, from your input the heat gun does appear to be the better option. Rounding the edges of the scrapper is something that I wouldn't have thought of.

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you can save the world with your guitar one love song at a time it's just better, more fun, easier with a fender solid body electric guitar or electric bass guitar.

Solid:
I just started into it last night.
If doing the paint-over-paint, definitely do like Ceri said and sand it (the current surface), with the finest grit you can find. I used 220 and after two coats of dark red metal flake, I can still see the scratches left by the sandpaper.
I'm just glad this is my "project" guitar.
So i'll sand it down and try again tonight.

There's something to be said about patience and doing it right the first time.

BTW- Mark:
You got some good grain under that blue. Fantastic job!

Hi again SBLS. No probs. I have a polyester covered Tele body I've been meaning to strip so I'll see if I can get round to that sometime next week and post some pics for you. I'll be doing it by the heat gun technique, but I have no disagreement with the other methods people have suggested here. All good, different routes to the same end.

BTW: I absolutely understand your guy not wanting to put anything but nitro through his spray guns. I have a feeling you are in the hands of someone who knows what he's doing there, so that's fine.

I think we're all singing from the same song sheet on this thread, so between us we'll get that bod prepped and ready for your fella to paint. Neat!

Cheers - C

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