Baja surgery

[raulduke]

See here dude:

http://www.madbeanpedals.com/forum/index.php?topic=5465.0

Note I am open to offers!

Since I got Betty (my eternal guitars tele), it has been sat in a case getting no use, so I would like it to go to a good home.

[juansolo]

See here dude:

http://www.madbeanpedals.com/forum/index.php?topic=5465.0

Note I am open to offers!

Since I got Betty (my eternal guitars tele), it has been sat in a case getting no use, so I would like it to go to a good home.

Ah! I remember now. I'd not be able to offer enough given how good it looks, and what I'd want do to it (essentially the Juan Baja conversion. A Juaja?).

Daftly enough it's probably easier to shift as parts. Which is quite sad really.

[TNblueshawk]

A most impressive job John. Love it.

[juansolo]

Took some more pics in better light (well, and an arty one).





...and here it is with the WezV oil finished Stratele

[gingataff]

Sweet tele man.
Looks a million times better like that, and it's got a Mike Stern vibe that really does it for me.

[alanp]

That is one good lookin' gat. (Mind you, look at my avatar -- of course I'm biased!)

Scary amount of finish on it, makes me wonder how much it would be to get my strat refin'ed.

[garfo]

is there any tuttorial for this?My strat is being built and the finishing is going to be oil finish.But I'm sure my luthier doesn't know about this tecknique, it looks cool.Would be great to find something to show him and follow this path.

I'm following the advice of the guy who did the Stratele for me. He's a bit of an oil finish specialist. So I've lots of sanding ahead of me. Followed by tru-oil and wax. If it comes out anywhere close to the finish I have on the Stratele, I'll be a very happy chappy.

Here he is wet sanding the oil into mine:

[atreidesheir]

I tried and failed to remove the poly finish on a G&L Legacy a couple of years ago with the hairdryer method.  Tried aircraft stripper, orange stripper, all failed completely.  Ended up taking 8 hours of muscle and a ton ($20-30) of sandpaper.  I am thinking about buying a heat gun.  I have an old school Peavey Vandenberg with a chipped up 1/8in.  poly coating waiting for me to figure out the best removal method. 

My point is not all poly finish is made equal.  Fenders are easy.  I refinished a hwy 1 strat with not effort.  Also refinished a MIM, squire, and AMerican standard.  All  pretty thin and easy.  Epiphone and some other brands have super heavy duty poly finishes.  The Vandenberg is cruelly coated like it was dipped in a vat of polyester.
So be sure how big a job it will be.

But the oil finish on that tele is most excellent.  Big win!

[jimilee]

Bitchin dude! I love Teles.

[juansolo]

Yep atreidesheir, this just worked for me on this particular guitar that had a poly finish on it that was like 1mm thick plastic. I'm in no way saying that all poly comes off this easily. I was lucky.

garfo, the system I followed was essentially this:

This is totally Sensei Wez's technique. Well apart from the stripping, that bit is all ours
The method employed boils down to this:
- Poly removed with a hair dryer, butter knife and pancake flipper
- Power sanded the body with 70 grit to remove the majority of the sealant/residue
- Hand sanded the rest with a load of 70 until it was just wood
- Then working up the grits until it got to 400 and it was smooth as a baby's arse. All still dry at this point.
- Apply a thick coat of oil over the entire body with a rag and leave to hang 24hrs.
- Then wet sanding with oil at 600 and buffing off. Did that twice. (watch Wez's video for the technique).
- Then 800, twice.
- Then 1200 about 4 times.
- After a thorough buffing, the wax was applied using 0000 wire wool and buffed off. Did this twice.

Now you could also sand up to 800, then apply the thick layer and leave 24hrs. Then apply a few more layers to taste buffing off every 15 mins after application. Then move on to the 1200 wet sanding.

Likewise instead of Tru-Oil you could use Danish (Wez recommends Rustins). They're available in different colours.

Products used:
- Birchwood Casey Tru-Oil
- Briwax Natural
- Liberon 0000 steel wool
- Lots of wet and dry and some horrible cheap pack of 70 grit sandpaper
- Sanding block and soft sanding block

[garfo]

Man, that strat finish is incredible.Thanks for sharing!!!