Painted headstock decal removal?

[selfdestroyer]

Anyone have any experience removing a decal on a painted head stock (Japanese Fender) of a guitar? I figure if I wet sand gradually it should come off but I wanted to see if I am missing a better way of doing it.

Cody

Edit: I just realized this would have been better in the "Guitar Building" forum. Sorry Brian.

[mcallisterra]

The only trouble with sanding it is that if it is under the clear coat, as they are on Japanese Fenders, and the clear coat has yellowed over time, you'll have to take it off very evenly or the color will look patchy. This is obviously more of a concern on lighter shades but it's something to bear in mind.

[selfdestroyer]

The only trouble with sanding it is that if it is under the clear coat, as they are on Japanese Fenders, and the clear coat has yellowed over time, you'll have to take it off very evenly or the color will look patchy. This is obviously more of a concern on lighter shades but it's something to bear in mind.

Makes sense, this is a Squire Classic Vibe that I may pick up. Its Sherwood Green Metallic with a painted headstock. I wonder if they shot the neck and headstock with clear then put on the decal and shot a little more clear on it to seal it. I want to use this Classic Vibe as a base for a project guitar since I love my white Classic Vibe strat I got last year. I already have all upgraded hardware siting around to populate the body but I just want to ditch the decal.

I was looking at Reranch for Sherwood Green Metallic paint but I heard there was so much variation with it that it could be hard to match.

Cody

[mcallisterra]

Yea I'm not sure of the order or process they use, especially on Squiers. Unfortunately, the fact it's over a metallic finish makes it even more difficult. If you rub into that paint even a tiny bit, you'll never get rid of the scuff in the finish because you will have disturbed the way the metallic particles lay, and therefore reflect the light. On a solid color you'd get away with it, but that's not the case with metallics.

[playpunk]

Just keep it - sherwood green is sweet. Rock the squier with pride.

[selfdestroyer]

Just keep it - sherwood green is sweet. Rock the squier with pride.

I really have no problem rocking a squire, my white classic vibe still supports the decal. The CV series is really a great guitar for the money. I just want to put my own decal on this sherwood one since all I am keeping is the wood of this thing. Literally everything else will be replaced. Its not a deal breaker by any means, just thought it would be a nice touch for a guitar for myself.

Cody

[mcallisterra]

You could always take the paint right off, add your decal, clear coat it back up and just do without the matching headstock.

[mcallisterra]

Another thing to consider is that you could probably get a similar (not exact) Sherwood from ReRanch, and it would probably look fine since the headstock and body are never close enough to be directly compared.