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So I'm Upgrading a 1995 Plywood Squier...(a story of rattle-can folly recalling the glow of HCEG's past)


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I have another refinish/upgrade project I'm considering but though I've done oil and shellac finishes in the past I've never done a full spray refinish job, so I figured I would do a practice job first. I also recall with fondness the history of rattle-can finishes posted on HCEG over the years, so I thought I might also share my folly.

 

The most favorable candidate was my 1995 Korean sunburst plywood Squier. I'll likely never let it go as it was my first electric and a gift from my school buddies. Add to that, it's really not a bad guitar. I love the neck and the cheap GFS pre-wired pickguard actually sounds pretty good. Really.

 

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I dissembled it and scuffed up the finish a bit with 1000 grit. I also filled a few scratches with cyanoacrylate, but as I wasn't going for a showroom finish I didn't do that much more. Instead of stripping it down totally I elected to spray over the current finish, much like old Fender resprays over sunburst.

 

One note about a mistake I made; the tuner bushings. I removed them with sockets as I had seen in a TalkBass post and this left circular dents around a few of the tuners. :facepalm: Well, this is why I'm doing a practice run. :lol:

 

I started by wiping it down with alcohol followed by a spray can of BIN primer - this stuff is great, really does seem like it goes on anything.

 

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Yup, I'm doing my first headstock also. After a few coats (frankly just 2, maybe 3 light coats), I started on the color. Which color am I going with? Duplicolor Honda Avignon Blue, it seems a not bad acrylic lacquer approximation of Ice Blue Metallic; I picked up the last 2 cans AutoZone had in stock.

 

I put down a few light coats but soon confirmed my suspicions that I was not able to put down any more without a proper respirator. I was in a well ventilated area and didn't breathe while in the spray area, but while I didn't get a headache or light headed my stomach was starting to feel a little off, so I hung it up and ordered a 3M 7502 and organic vapor cartridges. In the meantime...

 

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So then it was waiting for the safety gear to come in...

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The safety gear just came in and it looks great. I blew the dust off the body and headstock and set it down for more color. There we go, the respirator was fantastic; like fresh mountain air all day.

 

Threw a few more coats of color on. Before spraying again I also removed the tape I had wadded up in the truss rod cavity as in the meantime I had seen some great headstocks where they just painted it and the truss rod cavity just sort of disappeared.

 

After this I went straight to the clear as I had read repeatedly that you should not sand metallic coats as the flakes will lay down. I started spraying Valspar clear acrylic lacquer in very light coats. It looked pretty good. After I started the headstock, I realized the rosewood on the headstock side of the nut was still masked, so I stopped and removed the tape. This unearthed a bit of a problem.

 

I forgot to take a picture, but the primer peeked out a bit from the color on the edge towards the nut. facepalm.gif I tried scraping it away to no avail. I eventually just re-taped a little and sprayed a couple more localized passes of color. Bingo! got it.

 

I went through one can of clear, and though most of it ended up on the floor, a storm front was moving in and I didn't want to mess with the humidity jump - so I hung it up and put everything away. This is pretty much where it stands right now...I should get better pictures but oh well...rolleyes.gif

 

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Smart man. One of the reason I completely stopped spraying nitro at home is how toxic (and explosive) it is. I now only spray solvent based finishes in my friend Jesse's (you remember Jesse and the skulls) full on paint booth with a full on respirator. I don't have too many brain cells left, I want to preserve them a little longer

 

Looking good - refinishes are frankly harder that finishing from bare wood. I think this will turn out good.

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Smart man. One of the reason I completely stopped spraying nitro at home is how toxic (and explosive) it is. I now only spray solvent based finishes in my friend Jesse's (you remember Jesse and the skulls) full on paint booth with a full on respirator. I don't have too many brain cells left, I want to preserve them a little longer

 

Looking good - refinishes are frankly harder that finishing from bare wood. I think this will turn out good.

 

Howdy, Freeman, thanks for dropping in; your build threads are always incredible. I've read a bit on forums about different finishes, your work with water based stuff looks awesome. thu.gif

 

Oh, and also, while I sincerely appreciate your optimism, I really can mess things up in a hurry. :lol:

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That's looking really good already! It reminds me of the "The Strat" model that Fender brought out with the matching headstocks. Nostalgia.

 

Thanks! Yeah, I'm a sucker for matching-headstock fenders, especially Fenders that aren't teles, and most-especially off-sets. :love: I'm not really into the relic'ing thing myself but I also don't want this one to look too shiny and new, we'll see. And yeah, this one may have a touch of "throwback" in its eventual look.

 

Okay' date=' I'm home and I can see the pics. Looks good so far. Keep us posted.[/quote']

 

Thank you, I'll try.

 

Just a general note, I'm pretty busy with work and other stuff so this project isn't really going to be one of these 'knock it out in a weekend' deals. I suppose in a way it matches the current flow of HCEG a little more closely. :lol: I do apologize in advance for the slow progress, though.:o

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Nice!

 

That must've had some sort of veneer on the top since the sunburst didn't cover the forearm cutaway with black.

 

Interesting, I think you're right as the back apparently did not...(and apologies for the blurry picture...)

 

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Ok, so finally able to lay down some more clear. One thing that I think has helped is soaking the lacquer cans in a bucket of hot water. The warmer the can the smoother the lacquer seems to go on, maybe just my 'magination.

 

Anyway, this stuff builds really nicely - coat blends into coat, and orange peel in no time! Also, I was surprised how fast this stuff was dry to the touch - and feeling pretty hard. Sorry for the big pic, but you may be able to see the clear building here - and the orange peel!

 

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Ok, so while I muddle through the finishing process I thought I might start on the electronics.

 

I've had pretty good success shielding strats before so I thought I might start with the pickguard before wiring it up. While I've used aluminum foil with good results, it's not the neatest looking approach, and considering the finish work I'm putting into it I thought I might do something a little cleaner looking. So...

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It's a 12"x12" sheet of adhesive-backed 1.25mil copper foil shipped in a comically large box - the box being about 3" tall. It is apparently primarily used in the stained glass field and was about $12 shipped. Before putting it on the new pickguard I peeled the token shielding off.

 

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I rubbed it down with alcohol to clean the residue off then sized it up - looks big enough...

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I cut the basic shape out and awkwardly applied it...

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I then used an applicator card and a razor to trim it up...

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And I gotta say, though *very much* not perfect, it is cleaner than my prior shielding jobs...

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Nice! What's next? Wet sanding through the grits?

 

Thanks! I want to check in a day or so to evaluate whether I need to lay down some more clear this weekend. It's pretty good now but I figure to lose a decent amount of that in the wet-sanding process you describe. So, yeah, I'm pretty eager to see that too. :D

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