Has Anyone Here Successfully Sanded Off a Painted or Stained Top?

[flatfinger]

Originally Posted by Wellington

has anyone here sanded off a top? Is it possible or does the stain absorb too deep?

John Lennon did it to his Casino and twice on his J-160e

[random works]

I took a poly finish off a top once...I resorted to using pieces of broken glass to scrap off most of it, then of course more sanding than I ever imagined. If you break a glass jar and select the better curved pieces and are careful it can make a difference.

If you manage to get all the finish off, would you want to put some shellac on before finishing???

I don't see how a wood stain would not penetrate too deeply to fully remove unless the stain was applied over partially sealed wood....so if you can find out how the stain was applied it might save lots of effort.

[takamineGD93]

I removed the burst on a 12 string recording king dirty 30's.
Under that burst was a plastic coat so the color wasn't soaked in to the wood.

Im pretty sure even on soaked guitar it isn't really that deep. You may be left with some shade at most. Should be fixable with white.

We are talking of cheap guitars here. Experiment and have fun!

[mirwa]

I do it all the time, i do however measure top thicknesses and reject some jobs becuase of said thickness

[Fathand]

I just finished up an 0-18 yesterday. It would have been a week or so earlier but the finish was not cooperating. I was using Water based Varathane Diamond Hard aerosol which I have used successfully before on maple telecaster type fretboards. I had sealed this guitar with dyed shellac on back/sides then 3 or 4 coats of the varathane. On large surfaces sprayed thin, it creates all kinds of heavy orange peel which by the time I wet sanded level, I would be into the colour and have to fix it and recoat.

I got fed up and used an orbital "mouse" sander and 120 grit to take it all off, switching to 180 when getting close to bare wood, then 220,320 and hand sanding with 400. New dyed shellac seal coat then finished it with Tru Oil.

So yes you can sand a colour coat of polyurethane off

[Lkristians]

IMG_9557.jpg

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About 55 years ago I started learning to play on this, my father's Gibson. I didn't treat it very well, so he tried to "re-finish" the front. The back and sides are original. I wouldn't call this successful. I wonder if it can/should be restored?
PS: I blame it on the Beatles!

[John Arnold]

Stain on a bare spruce top is likely to have penetrated too deeply to sand out. Paint or tinted finish on top of a sealed surface is a different story, but that is not what I am seeing in the photo.
Your best bet is to go darker with paint or tinted lacquer.

[tdrake]

[RHayes]

Wellington, You might try paint stripper to get the finish off. Another possibility is the appropriate solvent on paper towel covered with tin foil (to reduce evaporation and extend effectiveness)

[Zigeuner]

I would never, ever sand the finish off of a guitar top. In the past, I've chosen to remove existing finish with chemical paint remover and in a couple of cases, wtih acetone - very, very carefully, of course.

If you use sandpaper, the top will be thinned. That's not good. I'm just sayin.

[Stevodod]

I'm thinking about buying one of these but can't STAND the natural top- possible to get a nice colored stain into the wood? Don't care about resale value.

Thanks!

[donnyb]

Yes, I have successfully removed a stained top but its fraught with danger.
As I think has been said here, if the stain is in the wood, Id forget it. If its in the lacquer coats that's a start. Can you remove something like the pickguard and check ?

Secondly, if its ply top its possible , but scary, as the top wood eg spruce will be very thin and you do not want to hit the sandwich wood unless you intend to paint the top with solid colour.

I did (restained) a 70s Suzuki that had a ply top , and the amber stain was in the lacquer so I proceeded with caution. I didnt sand it but scraped instead, starting under the pickguard to see how thick the lacquer was. Although, be aware that the outer edges of the top the coats may be thinner.

With a scraper its easier to control how much you're removing. But it takes a very long time to do a top. Also, if the top is spruce, make sure you know which way the grain runs, or you will snag it and tear out a piece.

Good luck.