I was recentley readig guitar world when i came a cross Dhani Harrison the son of George Harrison from the beatles, He was playing a sanded strat he said it was a black eric clapton strat thet he sanded himself.


So say i want to sand my strat to make it look original what sand paper should i use? how should i do it? should i dissasemble the guitar than do it? please repond

Hello Rock God,

Well you can start with
80 grit -- 120 -- 240 -- 320 -- 400 grit.
Be prepared to use plenty of elbow grease,
those urethane finishes are -extremely- durable.
Yes disassemble the the guitar. What are your plans
when you have an instrument with no finish left on it. Wax?

Cheers.

Do you want to go to the grain or just have it look like it's bare wood?

I'm not sure how Fender does their finishes but on some bodies you can get through the actual finish buy using 120grit and up, and keep the filler and sealer in tact so you don't end up damaging the body with moisture.

And yes you should disassemble the guitar completely and if you do take it down to the grain i'd spray a thin layer of clear over the body to protect it.

Take care around the upper and lower horns. If its a american guitar and urethane finished chemical stripper will work if you sand through the clear coat and leave it long enough.

I'm told Aircraft remover is the king of chemical strippers by a very informed forum member.

No its not a ground to air missile.

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No no and no

If you want to keep the grain filler and that thick layer of plastic that comes on top of the wood then steer clear of Aircraft Remover and just use the sand paper. It actually looks pretty cool at that stage.

If you are trying to 'open up' the wood for more tone than you must use a solvent.

_________________
Custom Shop '59 Strat with John Cruz Master Design Pickups
Vibro King
Fulltone Clyde>Deja-Vibe>TS-808>TS-9>Boss Tuner

You may want to consider a palm sander for the big areas...



Be careful around the corners. You'll still need to do those horns around the neck by hand. Those will take a WHILE to get down all the way without chewing them up too much.

Just when you think you "might" be done, you'll want to go over it again just to make sure you've done a thorough job.