Fender Strat Refinish

[kottkerock]

hi there, i have a mexcian strat. 1996 model. it has a small chip in the paint and i have been toying with the idea of stripping all of the paint and leaving the body as natural wood. im just wondering if anyone has done this before or has any good advice on the matter,

thanks!

[crafty]

Most Mexican strats are made of poplar. It's a fairly good tonewood, but not very visually attractive. There really isn't much of a nice grain pattern and the wood tends to have a weird greenish tint to it--almost like pressure-treated lumber.

Either repaint or veneer it. The natural poplar will just look bad.

[thedoctor]

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Poplar does have consistency issues but who says you want to be consistent? Maybe a green dye set deep would compliment poplar's generally undesired shading. Decide once it is stripped.

[Mickguard]

it has a small chip in the paint

It's the chip that bothers you, or you really want a new look for the body?

Since's it's 'only' a Mexican strat, I'd say go for it... but you can also pick up a different body and play with that (like get one of those Chinese imports for $100, sell off the parts you don't need).

[kottkerock]

while the chip is kind of a deciding factor, i have been thinking of this project for some time before the chip occured. I am just a person who loves a natural wood finish on all guitars.

thanks for all the great replies so far! I will post some pictures of my result when its through.