Hi! =)

When repainting a guitar I suggest you strip all the lacquer or clear coat off of it(that glossy coat you're talking about). Reason being that a clear coat is meant to protect the paint and be smooth enough to wipe anything off.

If you tried to paint over that, even if you sanded it so it isn't so glossy, you would still find the paint will start to run and won't looks very good. In the case that it doesn't run, you will get excessive orange peel or worse, fish eyes, and that's guaranteed.

When you get down to the paint, you can do 1 of two things. Leave the paint and go over(just remember to prep the old painted surface by roughing it up).

OR

you can strip it completely down to bare wood. The advantage of this is that you'll only need to apply a few coats because you don't have to worry about the old paint showing through. Also, you'll have a thinner layer of paint on the guitar. That means more resonance, as well as lowering the chance of the paint cracking.

Hi Thejake. Are you sure you are dealing with a nitro finish? Most- not all Fenders are a poly finish, and poly is very thick on Fenders. I would not recomend stripping a poly finish if you are not a patient man. I painted cars for 30 years so if it is poly I would recommend a thorough solvent wash with a grease and wax remover followed by a thorough sanding with appropriate grit sandpaper recommended by the paint manufacturer.

If you are going to use an automotive type finish like a basecoat/clearcoat talk to the people at the supply house, thay can give you some more info related to their specific product. Remember one thing- the end product is only as good as the prep job that you put into it. If you get your guitar all prepped and have second thoughts about spraying it you could always get a body shop to spray it for you for a couple bucks on a slow day. Hope this helps . Good luck, let us know how you make out with your project.

+1 I used to do the same kind of work and I totally agree. Don;t do anything unless ya know what your doing or practice on something else first or take it to a body shop....

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