Hey there modsters,

I've been entertaining the idea of painting my Midnight Wine standard Strat another color. Maybe to complicated and I should forget about it.

What is the best, (easiest) way to strip paint off a 2009 MIM Standard Strat?
Chemicals, heat gun, sanding? All advice is welcome.

I only want to tackle this job if I can do it myself but I want to do it right.

Thank you

Heat gun, probably take less than an hour

Also depending on what kind of finish you do, you might have to wait a few months for the clear coat to harden to sand it, so the guitar will be out of service for awhile.

A few sticks of TNT might help you get started to strip the finish off The polyester clear, color, and undercoats of MIM Strats are seriously tough stuff and thick. I stripped and refinished a Strat and swore I will NEVER do it again unless I have more tools.

If you want a new solid color, I would recommend just sanding down the whole body little just enough for a new color to adhere to.

If you are planning on doing a sunburst or some other translucent finish be prepared to do a lot more work stripping and then you might find your guitar is 5 varying pieces of alder whose grain does not match at all and will not look too pretty; Fender saves the pretty grain bodies for their sunbursts. edit: Fender puts a veneer on the sunburst MIM Standards.

Stripping the finish is only half the battle. The other half is learning how to have the patience to deal with nitro. Please don't put house paint on your guitar

Reranch is the go to site for guitar refinishing. Check it out http://www.reranch.com/ Good luck!

p.s. If you do take the plunge, please post before and after pics!

_________________
Obligatory gear list: Fender, Rickenbacker, Gibson, Gretsch, Vox, Martin, and more Fender.

Buy another the color you want. Two strats are better than one........... Mike

_________________
The blues ain't nothin but a good man feelin bad.

Or buy a new body with no paint on it and do what you will.

Well what I'd like to do is paint my Strat a Vintage Cream color. I first thought Daphne Blue but after doing a lot of looking on line my favorite
is the Vintage Cream. For me that looks really nice with the rosewood fretboard and maple neck.

I've never done a job like this before but I'm good with my hands. I've got my one Strat and I love it, not sure why but I'm not into collecting a bunch of guitars, although I appreciate the collections of people that do.

I like the idea of roughing up the paint and spraying over it but it would be a shame if the Midnight Wine bled through to the new color.

I'm researching this project on line but need step by step instructions on either stripping the current paint or preparing it to be painted over.

Thanks

Would it be recommended to get the body "dipped" at a furniture refinisher?

Thanks

Heat gun is your best bet to strip it, it takes it off in big stripes and you don't have to mess with any chemicals.

I have a pdf guide I can email for refinishing guitars if you want? Just post your email addess.

Thank you

That's a very hard finish to strip and applying a finish as nice as the factory finish isn't for beginners but for professional painters because any paint job reflects the experience or lack thereof of the person who did it. I think that midnight wine is one of Fender's nicest finishes why in the world would you want to change it and why did you buy it in the first place if you weren't fond of the colour?Just curious why someone would want to go through all that trouble with a new guitar.

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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.

I would recommend if you don't know what you're doing, let someone do it that does.

Well guitslinger I purchased my guitar last year for like $294.00 brand new '09 model. I don't hate the Midnight wine color, but you see I'm a lefty and
I got such a good deal because supposedly GC isn't carrying that color in lefty in the stores anymore. (who knows?) We leftys don't always have many choices.

Anyway the guitar is flawless and I love it. I've put some Sperzel locking tuners on it, that's really the only mod so far. I really like the Vintage Cream color and like I said I was "entertaining" the idea of painting it. Also why I wanted to run my idea by this forum for feedback. I thank everyone who responded.

JasonSD Thank you for the painting guide sent via e-mail. This is exactly what I was looking for. I now, after scanning the painting guide, have new
confidence to take on this project.

I will most surely post pics of the project when I get started, and it may not be for a little while.

Thanks again everyone!

Sell / trade the body for a color you prefer. Or if you're into the whole painting / DIY, sell the body and get an unfinished one from Warmoth or one of the other places like that. That's my advice. On the other hand, the project will give you experience. Up to you brother. What do you desire more, the color or the experience?

_________________
-Kirk

GUITARS
'12 Sonoran Acoustic - black (dated 10/31/12)
'13 Standard Strat
AMP
Vox ac4c1-bl
PEDALS
Compressor
Big Muff
Vox Stomplab 1G
Carbon Copy Delay

Ok...sor far I think you've gotten some pretty good advice. I certainly agree with the heat gun being the most favorable method for stripping...chemical stripers work but they can be -really- nasty to deal with and forget trying to sand through that poly! LOL!!!

As Metropolis said though, stripping the body is only part of the battle. If you want the instrument to look -nice- afterward, there is -A LOT- of work involved...it's not as simply as just buying a can of your favorite color spray paint and going to town (and PLEASE DON'T!). The very first thing I would suggest is that if this is your first re-finish, do NOT do it!!! There's an old saying...practice makes perfect. Refinishing a guitar is a -skill- just like playing the guitar yet and doing proper refinishing can take some time to learn...and you really don't want to screw up your nice guitar by doing something "impulsive". It literally took me a good 8 or 10 attempts before I really started to get something that I was truly happy with. Start with scrap wood...learn how to sand and learn how to paint (and wet sanding...lots and lots of wet sanding if you're working with lacquer!). Once you've gotten yourself to the point that your happy with the results you're getting on scrap, then get yourself a -cheap- guitar...something like a used Johnson or an old Lotus or a Squier Bullet or something...think $100 or less...and do you first refinish on that first. This way if you screw up (and you probably will...we all do) it's not a major loss.

Now seriously here...if you want to get something that looks like a truly professional finish, you must first learn to LOVE wet sanding! If we're talking lacquer here, this is no exageration!!! After you've got the body finish sanded and ready for a finish, you'll apply a couple of base coats of finish, let it dry and wet sand. Then you apply another coat of finish and you wet sand. Then you apply another coat, let it dry and you wet sand, then you apply another coat, let it dry and wet sand...rinse, lather repeat! Have I mentioned that you have to do some serious wet sanding? Then for the final polish you have to wet sand with 400 grit, 600 grit, 800 grit...all the way up to 2000 grit if you can find it. The you polish with rubbing compound, then you polish with polishing compound and then you do the final polish with swirl remover.

I really can't over-emphasize this at all...if you're really having that much of a problem that you feel you need "step by step" instructions for just stripping the body, you're probably not ready my friend. Start smaller...work with scrap pieces until you -know- what you're doing. Seriously Grasshopper...wax on, wax off.

-After- you've done a refinish or two on some inexpensive guitars and you have a good solid idea of what you are doing (and hopefully you've learned from any mistakes you've made), then is the time to start on the Standard.

Please don't misunderstand me here...I'm not trying to discourage you, I'm just trying to make you aware of what it is that you're getting yourself in to so that you can be properly prepared. I do actually think that people doing their own repair and modifications is actually a very good thing...it's the best way of getting an instrument that is truly unique. However refinishing your guitar is -NOT- like changing your pickups...once you've started stripping that old finish, you're -committed-....and there's no going back. Some people seem to think that it's as easy as just buying a can of enamel and painting a bicycle frame, and it's not...it's really not. I would also add that being "good with your hands" isn't really enough for something like this...again proper refinishing is a -skill-. Don't just dive in with both hands and hope you can blunder your way out. If you value this guitar at all, take your time and wait until you're ready so you can do a decent and respectable job with it.

Just my $.02 worth,
Jim