Chemically stripping a guitar body: Some options

Usually the first step in the refinish process is removing the existing finish on the guitar. In some cases this is very easy, requiring just some sanding with a random orbital sander and a block - and other times a standard chemical stripper, such as ZipStrip, will work to cleanly bubble the finish off.

However, there are also a whole breed of indestructible finishes - starting with Fender's polyester finishes of the 70s and 80s - and including a whole variety of other recent instruments. These finishes have the advantage of being very chip resistant and pretty much wear free - for example, the back of the neck on my 1970 P-bass is still shiny shiny - while the body, which was finished in lacquer - is missing about 1/2 the paint from age and wear. The problem with these super tough finishes arises when you want to remove them.

In the past, I have worked on a number of 70s Fender - and in those cases, I simply sanded/ground-off the polyester finish, usually leaving a good portion of the clear sealer coat underneath, since it was equally tough.

Recently, I was asked by a customer to strip an 80's "shred" neck - and then apply a thin satin finish on the wood, to improve the feel of the neck. The neck had a VERY shiny black finish - with binding - which I carefully masked off.




I first tried a standard Methyl Chloride-based paint stripper - this is Ace Hardware's version of zipstrip or 5F5 - all pretty similar. Unfortunately, after letting the stripper sit for about 40 minutes, the gloss was barely even dulled by the stripper - and the finish was certainly not going to be coming off anytime soon.

I then decided to search for what I heard referred to as "Aircraft Stripper" - which was supposedly made for the purpose of stripping paint off of aluminum skinned aircraft (e.g. when USAirways took over Piedmont Airways and repainted all their planes). After a little calling around, I found the product pictured below at AutoZone - $13 for a quart container.



I applied it to the neck - left the basement for 20 minutes - and when I came back - I was able to scrape off a bit of the finish (with a plastic scraper) - finally something that at least softened the finish!

After another application - I was able to remove the entire color coat with the scraper and some steel wool - but this revealed a clear coat under the black paint.

I started again - with a heavy coat of the aircraft stripper - and let it sit for 40 minutes. This did soften up the finish - but I had actually still use metal scraper - CAREFULLY - to get the finish off . I didn't scrape the neck completely bare this way, as I didnt want to damage the maple neck, but what was left was sandable and loosened up anyway.

I am impressed with the capability of the aircraft stripper - I guess the ultimate test will be on a 1979 Fender body - if it can strip that, it can strip ANYTHING !!

A final note - WEAR GLOVES WHEN YOU USE THIS STUFF !! - it will start to burn your fingers within a few seconds of you getting it on bare skin - and it really hurts if you get some on more tender skin, like say the insider of your forearms !! Hear me now and believe me later ....