DIY refinishing?
 

I have two Sada Yairi classical guitars (B&M Soloists) from 1965, one of which is cosmetically very beaten up and needs some repairs. (Still sounds great!).

I was toying with the idea of sanding the whole thing (neck, body and headstock down), which would help remove some of the worse scars. It'd be then down to the bare wood, so would presumably need to be treated in some way (?). I'd be very happy for it to look natural or have a satin finish. Is there an economical, DIY means of refinishing/sealing which doesn't require expensive equipment or materials or loads of time. I seem to remember something about boot polish!?!?

Any pointers on how best to sand the guitar down also appreciated (the top in particular is what concerns me, since I don't want to thin it too much for obvious structural reasons).

If this is an entirely crazy idea, let me know! I don't suppose it's worth a huge amount, given its condition and I have another, so it's not the end of the world if it doesn't turn out brilliantly.

Thanks for any suggestions.

If its laminated live with it. Solid wood, its still thin. You gotta have a good touch or you might sand the strength out of her. Explore French Polish for home refinishing or finishing. There is a great free tutorial on the net and many other sources.
If you want it sprayed a fellow AGF'er here Joe White does awesome guitar finishing. He does the final finishes for many famous and non famous builders.
I have seen a lot of his work. Great stuff.
Oooops, just saw you are in the UK. Joe might cost ya a bunch in shipping.

I would recommend not refinishing a guitar, the final thickness of the woods are part of the builders plan as is the finish and adding or subtracting to/from either will affect the tone in an unpredictable way. I do recommend cleaning it up with a slightly damp cloth and showing off your scars!!!

I would pay attention to John How's advice.

However, I did refinish the neck on an inexpensive guitar, so I can offer the following:

Sanding is difficult. Especially around the heel and the bridge. Some people have had good luck with a heat gun and scraper, but there is risk to braces, bridge, and other glued areas when applying heat.

You do need to refinish after removing the old finish. Otherwise, the guitar will get filthy and it will be exposed to moisture effects.

I've used Tru-Oil with good results. It's easy to apply, and it dries to a hard finish. It's the same stuff used to finish gun stocks.

OK, so (some of) the pro's glop on epoxy to fill the pores. Sand off the epoxy, put on another coat of epoxy on. Sand. Spray on a finish, sand it, reapply, sand reapply...... Whats the magic????
On level surfaces never use your fingers behind the sand paper. You need to use sanding blocks. A light touch is required. Sand the finish, not the wood. It can be done. Like everything in Guitar build, repair, restore it takes work, tenacity and patience. It can't be fast and sloppy. If the wood is stained it can be next to impossible to match. Time for a Black guitar?
A heat gun? No way in my book.

Have you ever refinished any piece of woodwork in your life? Believe me a guitar is not the place to start. Sorry to be harsh, but anybody who thinks that sandpaper is a way to strip finish is asking for trouble. Please don't sand anything down. A professional would use chemical strippers formulated for the type of finish on there, or would use a heat gun and careful scraping - but sanding is not how it is done. And no, there isn't any good way to get a glass smooth finish on a guitar without equipment, experience, money, and time.

Ok, don't take my advice. Go ahead and ruin a vintage instrument. But before you do, read up at reranch.com.

Yep I have. Chemicals suck

Yjunkie, you, I trust. It's the OP that has me worried. I can just picture someone trying to strip poly with a beltsander...

You learn more doing it wrong. One sweep with a belt sander puts it on the Bad list Lol

I wouldn't put a heat gun anywhere NEAR a guitar.

I've seen what heat does to glue!"!

Thanks for all the responses. Given the value of the guitar, and my inexperience, looks like it will have to stay as warts and all as it definitely doesn't warrant a pro job. Thought it was worth asking on the offchance that there might be a cost effective solution, but I feared it would be a silly question!

I have a 1970 Saduo Yairi Classical guitar. It's got a solid spruce top with laminated Indian Rosewood back and sides. AFAIK, they are finished with some sort of poly finish.

I would advise against doing any sanding on a laminated guitar (or any guitar for that matter) but that's just me. If you were to strip it, you might consider using some form of chemical stripping, and then perhaps fine steel wool to prevent thinning the wood. this is especially important with a laminated guitar. I've seen some where the owners sanded through the outer laminate. It's not pretty.

They are a very nice instrument and belong to a different Yairi series that the other one...I forget the initial of the other Yairi company.

Thanks for posting this link! http://reranch.com/

Here is an idea I got from an excellent furniture refinisher purchase a scrap piece of wood (same type as the guitar) sand it finish it then remove the finish and refinish. See what your results are. If it's no good there's no money lost. It's always a good idea to practice before you tackle the real deal.

Guitars I Own
________________
Martin HD35
Martin D18GE
Gibson AJ
Gibson J45
Larrivee D03R
Larrivee D50
Larrivee D60
Larrivee D10 Custom Brazilian
Guild D40

Yeah, you're all kinds of wrong. And obviously know nothing about refinishing guitars. Time and skill are all that are needed to refinish any wood surface correctly. For little to nothing, at that.

It's not that difficult to refinish a guitar, even the neck as long as you're careful to stop sanding once you reach bare wood.

You don't reall need a lot of experience and expensive equipment, either.

Here's a guitar I recently re-topped. The old poly finish on the neck and headstock had a lot of surface cracks and dings, so I sanded the finish off using a Dremel 280-grit abrasive buffs. These make the job go pretty quickly and are easier to control than sanding by hand, especially around the heel area. The Ovation headstock is about the most difficult one to do.

WRT applying a new finish, this can be accomplished as easily as using a rattle-can finish.

Here's a couple of pics of my latest project. I stripped the neck and headstock to bare wood, then sprayed the finish using Minwax rattle-can polyurethane including applying a new logo to the headstock.

Stripped neck:
http://savagelight.com/ofc/1617/DSC00973.JPG

Stripped headstock:
http://savagelight.com/ofc/1617/DSC00985.JPG

Finished neck:
http://savagelight.com/ofc/1617/DSC01143.JPG

Finished headstock:
http://savagelight.com/ofc/1617/DSC01137.JPG

http://savagelight.com/ofc/1617/DSC01140.JPG

It looks like you did a nice job in refinishing the neck. I applaud your efforts.

Experience in repairing instruments, and what people have brought to me for repairs, has taught me that doing a good job of fine finishing is beyond the average do-it-yourselfer who will generally end up with a result worse than that which they started. I'm pretty sure I'm not alone in that experience.

If one wants to put the time and effort into learning how to do fine finishing, and feels that one has the skills to do it, by all means try it yourself. The caveat is, "Know thyself".

Thanks for the kind words.

In all honesty, while I'm fairly new to guitar repairs/refinishing my previous hobby was building R/C model airplanes, which provided a lot of practice sanding and finishing wood.

I am in complete agreement with you in that one has to know their limitations and how easy it is to get in over one's head.

It's been alluded to, but I don't know if anyone really pointed out this aspect. On a laminated (plywood) bodied guitar, there are multiple layers of wood. The outer layer of wood under the finish is often not much thicker than the finish. Even if you strip the finish by means other than sanding, you still need to prep sand the body prior to refinishing. Even during a light prep sanding, those with no finishing experience will find it very very easy to sand through the outer veneer into the core laminate. Looks pretty ugly.

Even those with great experience are not immune. I recently refinished a 1970's S Yairi laminated body guitar that had been re-topped and then prepped for finish by a very experienced luthier. He sanded through the outer veneer in two places next to the binding. (Due to a dispute with him the customer took the guitar back before it was re-finished, and later gave the guitar to me)

Using blocks to sand rather than fingers is standard good procedure for leveling the wood surface and sealer or intermediate finish coats. It is no guarantee of success on an older guitar because it is unlikely the surface will be level to begin with due to 50 years of string tension.

Considering its been 6 years since he asked about refinishing his guitar, I'm fairly certain he's done it already or he's moved on to a new project.

LOL! I didn't realize I was necro-posting. Thanks!

Oh... those little numbers in the blue line are dates?? No more soup for you !

Yeah he's probably done by now. None the less it is a good topic. An alternative to complete stripping and refinishing would be to refurbish it.
Clean the existing finish
Lightly scuff sand it with 320
Drop fill any dents with lacquer or poly or what ever it is finished with
scrape the fills flat using the edge of a razor blade then sand using a large eraser as a sanding block.
Once flat top coat using a spray can
Sand the finish flat with 600 then 1000
Buff out.

Some scars may still show but if you do it right it can look nearly brand new this way.



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Actually, thanks for resuscitating the thread: I've still not done it! V low on my priorities list!

Given the current state of the neck, it's hard to imagine it getting worse! The costs of a professional re finish would far exceed the value of the guitar. The body I can live with in a poor state, but the state of the neck basically makes it unplayable. I'm thinking a DIY strip and oil finish (so avoiding the need to spray) on the neck only is the way forward.

Wipe on Poly is another option for refinishing, easy to apply, go's on thin, dries pretty quickly. Requires multiple coats but is novice friendly.

Thanks for the tip - worth checking out. At some point (it'll probably be over a month away), I'll take a photo of the neck so you have an idea what a state it's in!

(BTW, I used to have a Larrivee LV-19CA - great guitar!)

DON’T USE CHEMICALS!
 

Don’t use chemicals! They will take the finish off but they will also melt any plastic binding or rosette. I had a guy who ruined one of my guitars by using methalyne chloride to remove a poly finish on a nice acoustic. He melted the binding and the rosette. Don’t use heat guns either. I did another one of my guitars with this and i burned the the wood on the back. There is only one way and it’s sanding. You must be very careful. It’s risky as hell but the sound is way better without the heavy polyester polyurethane finish.https://youtu.be/a_MO6Q1bTPo

Post is 8 years old.

8 years later, if he still has not refinished this friggin guitar, it might be wise to trade it off for something else or convert it into a wall hanger.

Well, I'm the OP... and to my shame... I've not got round to it yet!
One day, one day!
Too many guitars, not enough time. Day jobs and a child (with another due shortly) seem to have that effect!

Given the nature of the finish damage on this instrument, I think delicate sanding is going to be the way to go to strip it back. I expect I'll only do the neck, and then opt for whatever the most straightforward finish is on that (oil, perhaps?).