I am thinking of getting a 50s series or 50s player. I like black, but I seem to only find them in sunburst. Not looking to buy new, just looking for deals.

Okay question is how difficult would it be to refinish a sunburst in black? Do you need to take the old finish off, or could you spray right over it? Also, would there be much impact to the tone of the guitar?

I'm thinking of dressing up the guitar like Gilmour's black strat and I like the look of the 50s neck.

Would it be crazy to refinish a mint condition guitar?

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How hard it is, and the resluts you are looking for would depend on the body you use. If you use a poly finished body, I have heard the best way to strip them is to use a heat gun. I have never done this myself though. Or, if you're not too picky, you could paint over the poly finish. If you have a body that is finished in a laquer, you can use thinner and sandpaper to strip it. You can determine if it is lacquer by using a bit of laquer thinner in an inconspicous place on the body such as under the pickguard or under the neck plate. Personally, I don't think spraying over a poly finished body would have much, if any effect on tone. Stripping and re-finishing a lacquer finished body shouldn't really have too much of an effect either. Refinishing an original guitar will almost always have a detrimental effect on resale value, but as long as the guitar isn't a "collectable" and you are doing it for your own enjoyment ... you shouldn't worry about it. Another option might be for you to sell your body on ebay and purchase a replacement body finished in black ... you may be able to come away without taking any more of a, if any loss that doing the finishing since genuine Fender bodies tend to fetch decent prices. If you were to finish over a poly body with a lacquer ... you could always basically strip it back to the original.

It seems to me if you just paint over the old finish as soon as you nick it the old finish will show right through the new finish.

hey Kong,
Well...as with many things guitar related, getting a -good- guitar finish takes some work and a good deal of skill...it's NOT as simple as buying a can of Krylon and shooting over the old finish. Now I would like to clarify something here...when I say a "good" finish, I mean a finish that is going to look reasonably professional like original finishes and NOT the crappy kind of work that some people do where you take a rattle can and paint your kid's ten speed bike.

Also before you even touch a nice, decent instrument, get some practice pieces FIRST! Virtually everyone I've ever known who has tried to refinish a guitar...including myself, has seriously screwed it up the first time around! You -WILL- fook it up...so don't do it on a decent instrument until you have a few really cheap practice instruments under your belt and a much better understanding of what you are doing.

So that said, first I will address shooting over the old finish. One thing I've learned over the years is to NEVER mix finishes...if you're going to use a poly to shoot over a poly, then you'd be ok however if you are considering using a lacquer, then you will want to strip the body down to the bare wood. Mixing paint finishes is just begging for trouble...lacquer, enamel and polys are often VERY incompatible leaving absolutely disastrous results.

Some folks recommend a heat gun, personally I use sand paper when it comes to stripping the old finish. It's A LOT of work. If you are going to get into refinishing your own guitars I will tell you right now that you need to learn how to LOVE sanding...because you are going to be doing A LOT of it!!!!!!!

After the old finish has been removed (by which ever method you choose) the next step will depend greatly on the wood. Most guitar bodies will need some degree of "grain filler" however to what degree depends on the wood itself. Woods such as basswood and even alder don't usually require a lot however more "open grain" woods such as ash and mahogany can require a great deal of filler in order to get a decent finish. How well...or how poorly you do this will determine just how good the final finish will look. If you skimp on the prep work you will NOT get a decent finish regardless of what type of finish you use.

Now personally I tend to use acrylic lacquers for all of my finishes. Nitro is fine but it's a bit more expensive and harder to come by. Regardless, after the grain has been properly filled, the next step is to "seal" the body. A lot of folks will use a primer but since I use lacquer, personally I just use a lacquer sanding sealer and I'm done with it. If you choose to use an enamel though you WILL want to use a primer as well. Either way you go, make sure you're using compatible finishing products...i.e. if you're using lacquer finish, use lacquer primer. If you're going to use enamel then use enamel primer, etc.. Once I've shot the lacquer sanding sealer, I will "knock it down" with some 400 grit sanding paper.

Once that's done, I will typically shoot around 8 -light- coats of lacquer. I try to go for thinner finishes myself..that whole resonant thing I guess. With each coat, I will "wet sand" with 400 and/or 600 grit paper between coats. Like I said...lots of sanding.

Once you've shot the final coat, depending on what type of finish you've used, you usually need to wait AT LEAST a few weeks for the finish to setup before your final polishing. Now this is where things get fun...I typically start out with 400 grit paper and work my way up to 1500 if not 2000 grit paper....400, 600, 800, 1000, and so on. Did I mention there's LOTS of sanding involved? If you find you've missed something, work your way backwards through the grits until it's corrected. Always be aware of pressure and "sand thrus...there's nothing that will break yoru heart faster then getting this far and sanding thru the new finish. It's heart-wrenching! "I've found you get really good results if you let the sand paper soak in water over night before you start the final polish and I will typically add a little dish soap to the water as a "lubricant". Once I've finished with the sand paper, then I will work my way up thru the pastes...rubbing compound, polishing compound and finally swirl remover. The swirl remover is where the "magic" happens so buy good stuff...I personally recommend 3M.

After this you can re-assemble the guitar but you will want to be VERY careful for a while...particularly with lacquer for example, lacquer can stay "soft" for several -months- and in fact dries over the course of years! It doesn't take much to put a new little nick or ding in a brand new finish...and you'll kick yourself in the butt forever about it!

Now for all of that...you could just get a black body you like off Ebay or somewhere and just build what you want in the right color...it's A LOT less effort. Of course, that's completely up to you .

As to the "should I?" issue...that's completely up to you as well. The way I see it is, it's -your- guitar...do what you want to. Just remember that with something like a finish, once you start there's no going back. Bridges, pickups and even necks and such you can always swap them back later if you're not happy with what you've done but once you strip that finish there's no way to go back....so do consider what you want to do very carefully. Either way, again do some practice jobs first!!!

Ok...that's about it. It's just a brief summery. You'll want to do more research before you even consider beginning! A good place to start is ReRanch...you'll find them on Google when you do a search for "guitar refinishing".

Good Luck!
Jim