by Brian Calvert

First of all it is NOT necessary for you to own all of the tools pictured at the top right!
However most of them will save you hours of grief and tiresome arm work.

I have found that most Pawn Shops in any neighborhood will usually have a good used palm sander available for a reasonable price (around $15-20) This one tool alone will give you the best results over and above the traditional sanding block. Besides the Palm Sander I without a doubt recommend the newest line of sanding sponges, purchase both varieties of coarseness available since each sponge is usually either fine/medium grit or medium/course grit in nature. These new marvels will allow you to not only get into the most stubborn of areas, but they will also smooth out the hardest of contrasting contours found on a guitar body. Sanding knives or hand sand paper blades are also great for when you are down to the finishing touches along the edge of a body and you really do not want to take that much off. I also highly recommend a couple of wooden dowels which when wrapped in sand paper can increase your ability to clean out the interior curve found in the horns on a guitar body.

Make sure you do this in a well ventilated area, actually outside is best whenever possible and if not then just inside an open garage door will do. You need fresh air to circulate past your face and while the particulate mask will do its job you will soon realize they can be quite uncomfortable and hot to wear even in the best of conditions.

So Lets get started with the palm sander or if you do not have one then the sanding block which can easily be just a piece of a 2x4 cut off and used to hold your sand paper. The hardest lesson here for most people to learn is control since they always seem to think that more pressure between the body and the sand paper should be better while in truth it really is not. Try to handle the block starting out with 50 or 60 grit sand paper and just glide it over the top of the surface to break the shine at first and get to the real body of the paint so to speak. Remember to occasionally lift your sander or block and remove all the particles of buildup from the paint dust accumulating on the paper itself and on the body as you go along. This simple act will allow the grit of the paper to better perform it's job and I can honestly say I have taken the entire front of a body down to bear wood using just one full sheet of paper cut up into 4 squares.

The first object here is to visually see large amounts of the paints dust flowing off of the body to the ground. Keep in mind this will also take either a good strong breeze or you holding the body tilted so that the paint dust can fall away to the surface of the floor. You do not want to let the paint dust to build up on the body itself since it will do you absolutely no good. Your trying to make the paint go away in the first place are you not? =o)

Loading (paint particles sticking to the grit of the paper) will always be a problem through out the entire process of stripping the paint off. The easiest way I have found to keep paper clean is by using an air compressor to blow the particulate free from my sand paper but you may not have one so stop and look and slap it off regularly by bouncing the surface of the sand paper against a soft object or the ground(BE SURE NEVER TO BREATH IN WHILE THE SAND PAPER IS ANYWHERE NEAR YOUR FACE). If you experience a glossy build up of paint attached to the grit you can try to pry it off using the tip of an exacto blade or brush it off using a wire bristle brush. Any time during your entire sanding process you look and see a hard glossy blotch of buildup on your paper your way past time to clean off the sand paper. The hard glossy points of paint attached to the paper are actually not doing you a bit of good and in fact they are only hindering your final goal.

Remember to always move around a large area since if you stay in one area to long you are bound to create a dip in the surface which you will battle all the way until the final process of polishing the surface after painting and you will not be satisfied with the results in the end. I'm not saying you can't start at one end of the body and work your way to the other but keep in mind that what you are doing now could possibly show up as a flaw in your final finish. I realize that it seems to take forever but taking your time and patience now will add countless amounts of satisfaction in the end. As the wood finally starts to emerge from beneath the paint move on to the next area.

Now that you see the wood coming up through the paint all around the body it is time to move down to a finer grit of sand paper. I would recommend that you start using 100 to 120 grit to finally take off the last layer of paint. Once this is accomplished move on down to 150 or 180 grit just to give the wood a total feel of smoothness. Occasionally tilt the body and look at it from an angle to make sure you don't have any valleys or hills formed from the sanding you have just done. At anytime during this process you may run into patch of wood that just will not become smooth, the grain is refusing to lay flat and the surface of it is constantly sticking up giving you a rough finish. That is all right just move on and worry about that area after you have completed the rest of the body. When it is time to come back to it apply a thin layer of wood sealer and let it dry first. There are several varieties available on the market from creams to spray on sanding sealers and any of them will work well if you just give them the time to dry and do their job. If your in a pinch you can even use a thin layer of wood glue but I would shy away from this since it takes longer to dry and is much harder when it does finally dry to sand down and smooth out, creating a welcome mat for a ridged surface ( valleys and peaks ) for an un-experianced sander.

Half an Hour into it take a break

If you happen to have a compressor you can use it to clean yourself off as well =o)

Now lets concentrate on the hardest part of the body to sand clean the inside horn area

First start by taping a fresh piece of 60 grit to a small wooden dowel to prevent it from slipping up and down. I have even used this technique on a drill bit when I was looking for a power way of sanding tight areas.

If you are using a contour sander then go ahead and read and follow the directions fully and begin but remember on both of these methods you will constantly need to knock off or blow off the build up of paint particulate on your sand paper quite often. There are several different ways to hold the body for sanding using this method and below you will see quite a few plus I am sure you may invent some on your own since this is also the most uncomfortable area to get to when sanding.

Yes the last image above shows how most people will finally break the surface since out of the curve it is the easiest area to sand. Be prepared to spend about 1 to 2 hours per horn if you are sanding by hand or about 30 minutes if you are using a contour sander. Finish this area off by using a sanding sponge to smooth out any imperfections you have encountered along the way.

The rest of the body is nothing more than a repeat of what you have just done. A Special note to keep in mind is that inside the cavity's you will usually find a black or gray non to semi shiny paint. This Paint is a special conductive shielding paint and if at all possible you want to keep it just the way it is. Not only is is a part of your electrical system by acting as a ground for your electronics to the body but it also acts partially as a filter to help prevent radio waves and signals from creating noise in the circuit of your guitar. I Myself charge people $15 which is not much to coat or recoat these areas with this special paint and yes it takes two coats and 24 hours between each coat to dry so try and save this area if your going to refinish your guitar on your own.

In General plan to spend an entire day to get this job done if your not use to doing this kind of work. The experienced sander can get the job done in about 2-4 hours but that is only because they know all the proper techniques and are using the proper tools to do it. It is a boring job and you will have plenty of time to think about the future but don't let your mind wander off to much because you might look down only to find out you have been in the same area to long and now you have to correct the ditch you just sanded into your guitars body.

Here are the basic rules to follow: