hi folks
I have an 11 year old fender squier strat,( candy red), i want to strip it down get rid of the dings, and respray it. any ideas on the type of paint to use, also what do i use to varnish it with, can you buy special stuff for guitars? i have heard a lot about strats being covered in nitro?, is this a varnish or laquer, feed back needed thanks for your help.
oh any ideas on the new colour i should spray it thanks, i was thinking green!!

nitro is a laquer and chips easy as H3LL. Stick with automotive paint...IMHO

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"I like the way he puts Yngwie J. Malmsteen on his album covers. You know,....so you don't confuse him with all the other Yngwie Malmsteens in the business"


2008 Fender MIM Stratocaster
2010 Epiphone Masterbilt
2009 Fender Super Champ XD

Ayup......ten coats of Imron oughta do it!



Arjay

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"Here's why reliability is job one: A great sounding amp that breaks down goes from being a favorite piece of gear to a useless piece of crap in less time than it takes to read this sentence." -- BRUCE ZINKY

Leave it natural, rub it down with gun oil and clear coat it.

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1984 Squier Contemporary Stratocaster
1986 Peavey Envoy 110
1967 Kingston Acoustic

"Ayup......ten coats of Imron oughta do it!"

Back in the '80s, Veneman's repair shop (they were a big full-service dealer in the DC area) loved Imron. They suggested it for all refinishes -- even some pre-CBS Fenders got sprayed with it. A couple of thin coats was generally all that was needed -- they usually didn't need to clear coat them because it's inherently a "wet look" paint (ash and mahogany needed grain filling first but it's pretty much self leveling on woods with closed pores). As far as they were concerned, Imron was superior to nitro in every way. Among other pros, Jimmy Thackery (then of the Nighthawks) was a regular customer -- they were a pretty well respected repair shop back then.

Fender started off using car paints back -- back then car paints were nitro or acrylic. They continued using car paints when car paints switched over to polyurethane. So the idea of using car paint isn't ridiculous or anything like that.

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Where was your Fender Squier built? I'm guessing that you're in England or Australia and I don't know the history of Squier in those countries (I'm not any sort of expert on US market Squiers either). Some Japanese Squiers are well respected and somewhat valuable and refinishing it might lower the value significantly. Be sure of what you've got before you do anything drastic.

And if it's a lower-end Squier there's a good chance the opaque paint is hiding ugly wood or a body made of many small pieces of wood. Or even a plywood body. So if you decide to go ahead and refinish it, I'd leave the existing finish on it. Fill the dents and dings, scuff sand it, prime it, paint it. Fender uses a thick poly basecoat under nitro on the American Vintage Reissue models and they're high-end great sounding guitars. Unless you buy into the theory that thin finishes have a significant affect on tone there's no need to strip it.

Wear a very, very good mask when spraying Imron. People have died from inhalation.