A couple questions (re-finishing & cleaning)

  • Thread starter Thread starter Steve Henningsgard
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Steve Henningsgard

Steve Henningsgard

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Alrighty, so I'm finally at the age where I appreciate my guitars and want them to look and play as well as humanly possible. Unfortunately, this is in sharp contrast to my teenage years, where I experimented ruthlessly on my poor Squire Affinity "Strat", leading to my current need of re-furbishing & re-finishing it. I'll take pictures this week sometime to let 'yall see, but let's just say I found a random guitar pickup in my dad's basement that didn't fit in the pickguard and... well, you get the idea. :P

Anyway, so my first question is: Does anybody know what type of finish was used on a mid-90's Squire? Obviously something crappy, but I need to know so I know how far down I need to go before hitting wood.

Second question: I've got a buddy who paints cars, and does a good job. My current planned course of action is to strip, sand, and primer-coat the body, then give it to him to paint (bright orange with white or cream racing stripes, to be exact :p). Would this be the logical course of action?

Final question: At the advice of one of my semi-guitar-savvy friends, I purchased a tub of Turtle Wax with the intention of giving my guitars a nice sheen after cleaning them. I tried it, and it seemed to work well, but am I going to hurt the finish by using this?


Also, I just want to voice my appreciation at belonging to such a knowledgeable and diverse community :) Even if the conversations get derailed sometimes haha
 
Light and Muttley would know for sure, but I'm reasonably sure that you're looking at a polyurethane finish.

I've heard of other people getting their guitars bodies painted by auto painters and have seen some pictures that look really good. I'm guessing this is anathema to luthiers but, hey, it's a Squier.

Can't speak to Turtle Wax, but as it's a cleaner wax (contains abrasives) intended for automotive applications I wouldn't use it on any of my guitars. Unless it was painted by an auto painter. :D
 
I fully expect either Light or Muttley or both to smite me for my unlearned response. I haven't had a good spanking today so I must be due. ;)
 
Zaphod B said:
Light and Muttley would know for sure, but I'm reasonably sure that you're looking at a polyurethane finish.

I've heard of other people getting their guitars bodies painted by auto painters and have seen some pictures that look really good. I'm guessing this is anathema to luthiers but, hey, it's a Squier.

Can't speak to Turtle Wax, but as it's a cleaner wax (contains abrasives) intended for automotive applications I wouldn't use it on any of my guitars. Unless it was painted by an auto painter. :D
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no not Poly. more than likeley a laquer based either nitrocellulose or automotive grade finish. or possibly acrylic

not a whole lot of builders use poly, however more and more are beginning to.

Personally I would not use car wax on a guitar although there is a possibility it could have an automotive finish
but as far as I know car wax does not contain any abrasives.
 
Roguetitan said:
no not Poly. more than likeley a laquer based either nitrocellulose or automotive grade finish. or possibly acrylic

not a whole lot of builders use poly, however more and more are beginning to.
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Rogue, The squires range, affinity included were finished in polyurethane.

Steve.h, I would ask the guy thats going to refinish the guitar what sort of prep he wants done. He'll know what he wants to use. When he's told you report back. There is little wrong with using auto finishes on something like that if the original finish is shot.

As far as the cleaning question. What guitar is it and what sort of muck are you trying to shift? I'd steer clear of using anything that you don't have to. Normally a slightly damp soapy rag and a chamois leather is all you need.

Zaphod, I'll smite you if you want but you got this one right.;)
 
steve.h said:
Second question: I've got a buddy who paints cars, and does a good job. My current planned course of action is to strip, sand, and primer-coat the body, then give it to him to paint (bright orange with white or cream racing stripes, to be exact :p). Would this be the logical course of action?
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Yumm, Cream sicle:D

depends on the finish whether I would strip it to the bare wood or not if it is laquer I would water sand then repaint
if it is poly I would strip it.
JM.02
 
steve.h said:
Second question: I've got a buddy who paints cars, and does a good job. My current planned course of action is to strip, sand, and primer-coat the body, then give it to him to paint (bright orange with white or cream racing stripes, to be exact :p). Would this be the logical course of action?
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Not if you ask me. Autobody guys almost always (well, always in my experience) spray finishes which are way too thick for the guitar, and I don't think modern automotive finishes are good for guitars. I've done some guitars with acrylic lacquer (my shop is just blocks from the shop of the guy who invented the stuff), but I don't like it. The poly's they are using these days are even worse. I would much rather use a finish which is designed for guitars - LMI's KTM9 or Stew-Mac's waterborne finish are ideal for guitars, safe, and easy to apply.


Light

"Cowards can never be moral."
M.K. Gandhi
 
I've been real happy with using car wax for my guitars. As long as it doesn't have any polishing agents, you should be fine.

I have a tub of Turtle Wax in my shop right now that I use all the time. It puts a great protective finish and shine on them. Don't use carnuba or some of other specialty "waxes" without trying them on a a test guitar - like a Squire strat comes to mind :p

What I would avoid is the oil-type guitar "polishes" you see from time to time. They basically leave an oily, streaky mess.

Just to reiterate - anything that specifies "cleans", "scratch remover", etc. will contain an abrasive of some sort. However, you can use those products on some of the metal pieces - again do a test before you take the shine off your vintage metal bodied resonator!

When I was younger, there was a product I think was called Mirror Shine that I would use on my 1976 MGB (not a guitar) after I used a polishing compound (not rubbing compound!). It came very close to a custom rod shine. But I'm not sure if it was the polishing compound or the Mirror Shine that really brought out the depth, color and shine... But that was on a car and not a guitar.
 
Light said:
Not if you ask me. Autobody guys almost always (well, always in my experience) spray finishes which are way too thick for the guitar, and I don't think modern automotive finishes are good for guitars. I've done some guitars with acrylic lacquer (my shop is just blocks from the shop of the guy who invented the stuff), but I don't like it. The poly's they are using these days are even worse. I would much rather use a finish which is designed for guitars - LMI's KTM9 or Stew-Mac's waterborne finish are ideal for guitars, safe, and easy to apply.


Light

"Cowards can never be moral."
M.K. Gandhi
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I agree and disagree if that makes any sense. I have a couple of buddys who do excellent art work on guitars who mainly do custom automotive and Motorcycle finishes and also do extraordinairy custom work on guitars.

I Love automotive finishes for custom paint work on solid body Guitars but I also like the waterborne finishes for acoustic instruments.
I absolutley agree that the Stewart MacDonald waterborne finishes are easier to apply than automotive grade finishes but are a little less durable than Automotive grade finishes.

both have their trade-offs.
JMHO:)
 
Light said:
Not if you ask me. Autobody guys almost always (well, always in my experience) spray finishes which are way too thick for the guitar, and I don't think modern automotive finishes are good for guitars. I've done some guitars with acrylic lacquer (my shop is just blocks from the shop of the guy who invented the stuff), but I don't like it. The poly's they are using these days are even worse. I would much rather use a finish which is designed for guitars - LMI's KTM9 or Stew-Mac's waterborne finish are ideal for guitars, safe, and easy to apply.


Light

"Cowards can never be moral."
M.K. Gandhi
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Although that maybe true in general I think on an Affinity Squire with a ruined finish there's no harm. Most of them had Alder bodies which is not the most exciting of tonewoods. I really don't think it's going to kill any tone potential. If he can get it done out it's got to be easier than doing it at home.
 
Is there a trade-off? As in, give him more guitar-finish-oriented paint to use in his gun? The thing I was figuring was that the tone doesn't really matter all that much, as the idea is cheezy/awesome-looking semi-unique backup guitar, and I could get it to really shine with the automotive finish.

Out of curiosity, as I really don't know much about painting at all, do automotive guys use a clear finish over the color? Or is it all just one paint? Even better, do y'all know of a site I could go to to learn this stuff on my own? :)
 
steve.h said:
Is there a trade-off? As in, give him more guitar-finish-oriented paint to use in his gun? The thing I was figuring was that the tone doesn't really matter all that much, as the idea is cheezy/awesome-looking semi-unique backup guitar, and I could get it to really shine with the automotive finish.

Out of curiosity, as I really don't know much about painting at all, do automotive guys use a clear finish over the color? Or is it all just one paint? Even better, do y'all know of a site I could go to to learn this stuff on my own? :)
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I really wouldn't worry about the effect on tone. Most auto shops put clear on top of colour. Some of the fancy metalics and sparkly stuff has a slightly different lay up method but essentially it's the same. Custom shops do different things to achieve different bursts, stripes etc. If you ask him to keep the build down there is no reason why he can't.

I don't know of a site that covers auto finishing, others might, but google should give you a few.
 
I refinished an old strat with dupont emoron poly paint.
I didn't know you weren't supposed to spray a thick coat back then (1981).
I put 4 coats of color and probably 12 coats of clear on that strat. The finish had to be ungodly thick.

That strat sounded great. I played it with that finish until around 2002....21 years. (I think I got a pretty good handle on it's tone in that span)
In 2002 I took it back down to the bare wood and finished it with a very thin nitro laquar finish.
No difference whatsoever in the tone. It was great with the thick poly and the tone is great with the thin nitro.
That in itself has caused me not to put much stock in the hype about how much difference there is in tone between a thin coat and a thick coat.
 
Well, Jimi, it's obvious that your ears just can't discriminate between good tone and bad tone.

I'll bet you couldn't tell the difference in your stereo from using a $150 AC wall plug, either. :D :p :D
 
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