Refinishing A Cheapo

[Cozmo]

I've always wanted to refinish a guitar, but have always lacked the time, tools, and workspace necessary. But I recently acquired a wood-topped workbench from a friend, and this is now my guitar table. So I decided to give it a shot.

A couple of years ago I picked up a really cheap (in every sense of the word) acoustic guitar from a thrift shop for $10. It's laminate, covered in a really hideous purple-brown computer generated paint scheme complete with fake wood grain and a big "Dr. Pepper" logo on the bottom. It is x-braced, and doesn't sound horrible, so I figured it might have some promise. So this is my guinea pig, as I figure it can only improve from where I got it. It's got some rubbish tuners. The fingerboard is plywood with a rosewood-ish veneer (we'll call it "brownwood"), and the bridge is also brownwood. The nut, saddle, and bridge pins, and binding are plastic.

This is my story.


This is the body with just a little sanding...I just remembered to get pics first.


My son helped me with the sanding. It was enough to get the paint off but not the grain from the laminate. Some of the wood was weird, with what looks like some kind of wood filler to even it out before painting.







Then I got to sanding the sides and discovered a faux-mahogany veneer on the side laminate. Unfortunately I inadvertently sanded some of this off, but since it's such a cheap guitar, I'm not wrecked about it.



That's what I've got so far. I also went over it with 400-grit sandpaper to smooth it out, and will probably do that a few more times before I add some colour.

I'll post more when I've got some good progress made.

[Cozmo]

Also, if anyone has suggestions or anything like that, I'm open to hearing them.

Some that I've heard already are:

1) "Just paint it. Stain will never look good on that kind of wood."

2) "Put a Mr. Pibb label on it."

3) ???

[ChrisN]

I'm interested and will follow this. I don't have enough knowledge to make suggestions, but I'd think you'd want a thin finish on top to allow max movement, and I don't think I'd care how it looked (though I might go with a darker stain). Not sure if paint would be too much. Perhaps there's a creative way to impart some grain-distraction, maybe a fake torrification or other aging wood look. Again, I don't know, but keen to see what others come up with.

[Cozmo]

Originally Posted by ChrisN

I'm interested and will follow this. I don't have enough knowledge to make suggestions, but I'd think you'd want a thin finish on top to allow max movement, and I don't think I'd care how it looked (though I might go with a darker stain). Not sure if paint would be too much. Perhaps there's a creative way to impart some grain-distraction, maybe a fake torrification or other aging wood look. Again, I don't know, but keen to see what others come up with.

I'm totally with you on that. At the end of the day, it can't look worse than it did with the purple "Dr. Pepper" paint on it.

But yeah, I've definitely been giving that some thought. That big blotch around where the bridge holes are is rather inconveniently placed, don't you think? So I've been kicking that idea about since Saturday. Maybe I could try to stain just that part a shade darker so that at least the tone matches the rest of the laminate. Or maybe I could even take some coloured pencil and try to MAKE my own grain, and then hope that any stain will serve to kind of seal it in.

I did find a great video on one of those woodworking websites where the mandolin guy makes a beautiful green-amber burst by hand. I know it won't look that nice, but I don't have a workshop or a place where I can spray lacquers or anything, so hand-staining will be my most likely path.

One thing I definitely want is a thin, plain white rosette around the sound hole, but I can't find any. It's all MoP or something like that. So if you know any good options for that (that won't require routing or anything), I'm all ears!!

[ChrisN]

The blotches are a problem, for sure. Maybe work a burst w/darker and heavier stain. Rosette - I've gotten a couple from http://www.dukeluthier.com/Waterslide-Decals_c28.htm and he might have a few choices for your. They're decals, but they're cheap and will look OK from a distance.

[Cozmo]

Originally Posted by ChrisN

The blotches are a problem, for sure. Maybe work a burst w/darker and heavier stain. Rosette - I've gotten a couple from http://www.dukeluthier.com/Waterslide-Decals_c28.htm and he might have a few choices for your. They're decals, but they're cheap and will look OK from a distance.

Awesome! I will definitely check that link out. Thanks for sharing. I'm okay using decals for this project. To be very clear, I have no illusions about this looking like a guitar that's actually worth money. I know it's not like the "ugly" girl in the movies where she takes off her glasses and lets her hair down, and suddenly she's the prom queen.

As long as I can stand to look at it, maybe even pictures of it, I'll be happy.

[mirwa]

First, shame you used an orbital on the wood, bad choice as it leaves swirl marks in the wood, which can be extremely difficult to get out later on, you will see what I mean when you start painting.

As far as colour, this is a fender guitar, the colour is just a stain in the lacquer.

Anything can be hidden.




Steve

[Cozmo]

Originally Posted by mirwa

First, shame you used an orbital on the wood, bad choice as it leaves swirl marks in the wood, which can be extremely difficult to get out later on, you will see what I mean when you start painting.

As far as colour, this is a fender guitar, the colour is just a stain in the lacquer.

Anything can be hidden.




Steve

Ehhh, if it were a guitar that I really cared about I would have picked a different tool. The main thing was getting the paint off. Once that happened I hand-sanded with the grain (which was a good lesson point for teaching my son about grain and wood and all that).

I like how you did the neck. That two-tone is nice!

[Quickstep192]

I'd go all Johnny Cash on that thing and lacquer it black. If you're looking for a challenge, black can be as challenging or even more challenging than clear.

[Truckjohn]

I agree - paint it. Give it a thin but non-transparent finish of your choice.

If you use a clear finish - it will look blotchy from the places you sanded through the veneer/laminate.

I would recommend you use a good sealer/grain filler that is compatible/tested with your desired finish.

Thanks.