Material Finish Gone Wrong. How To Reset?

[angelmozart]

hi there, hope someone here can help me out.

i tried googling and it seems like everyone managed to 'Finish' what they started except me ;-<

to cut a long story short, i followed Brian's tutorial religiously ( except i was impatient, didnt have all the right tools + too long between the work progress ) but has finally admitted that the project was too ambitious for a first timer. my needs have also changed along the way. now i really jus wan a working guitar! strip of any finish, jus raw or even BBQed.. i jus need my Tele to be than in pieces.

so yes i would like to know if anyone has any experience removing fabric that has been glued to the body? i m too embarrassed to post some 'FAILED' pic but i was up until the filler bit. http://www.projectguitar.com/tut/mat2.htm

is this the time for some chemicals? or should i jus palm-sander it through?

[Southpa]

Its a good place to vent the anger, channel it right back into the guitar. get medievel on the thing and strip it down to bare wood again. Use scrapers and chemicals, coarse grit sanding, etc, what ever it takes. Then rethink your finish. Otherwise your main issue here is

i was impatient, didnt have all the right tools + too long between the work progress

Edited July 24, 2010 by Southpa

[angelmozart]

Its a good place to vent the anger, channel it right back into the guitar. get medievel on the thing and strip it down to bare wood again. Use scrapers and chemicals, coarse grit sanding, etc, what ever it takes. Then rethink your finish. Otherwise your main issue here is

i was impatient, didnt have all the right tools + too long between the work progress

thankyou for the reply. i realise i posted this in the wrong page! it should hav been in the Chat forum. i'm going through the pages researching now.

[verhoevenc]

Find someone with a thickness sander or planer and just hock it off the top. I'll save you time compared to doing it by hand. I'd suggest planer over sander since all that epoxy may mess with whoever's paper it is, and those things can be expensive... yes... even just the paper lol.

Chris

[Drak]

The material and the glue will just clog up a thickness sander and reduce the sanding roll to useless pretty quick, that's a no-go.

A planer may grab the glue and/or material and rip a hunk of wood off with it in the process, so that's sort of risky as well.

I think a portable hand-held belt sander w/ some 40 grit paper would probably be best to remove a large amount of material quickly.

[verhoevenc]

I agree on the thickness sander as I hinted at above. However, a belt's gunna be little different IMO, they're both sanders. I say find 40 grit (low grit, which will be the key to stopping clog up) for a thickness sander, and as long as you have good collection I doubt it'll clog more than a belt with 40 grit. And with the thickness sander you'll get perfectly flat results, while a beltsander will take more skill to achieve that (not sayin' you don't have it).

Hadn't thought about that on the planer. And although I'd be tempted to say planer blades, if sharp, shouldn't be catching on epoxy, you're right, may not be worth the risk there.

Chris

[Drak]

I agree, my point was that he could go buy a hand held belt sander at HD for $50.00 and a few belts for it and be done quickly, same day, minimal cost.

Finding someone local with a thickness sander, then maybe having to purchase a 40 grit sanding roll for it (most people use much finer grits for thickness sanders) could be more trouble than it's worth, and using an orbital sander could take several hours, where a belt sander will eat through it pretty quick.

Minimal cost, same day results, effective tool for the job.

Having said that, for even less, he could do it with an orbital sander and 40 grit paper, will just take longer.

[verhoevenc]

Touche. Yeah, I was lucky that before I had my thickness sander, these guys at a cabinet shop would thickness anything I felt like as long as I brought them beers for after work hahahah.

Chris

[Woodenspoke]

How come evryone always screws up brians plans? Seems like atrend lately. I havent looked are they that bad or are all the disclamers missing?

[angelmozart]

Hi everyone thankyou for yr response. i'll be looking at the resources i have at my disposal and make sure i see through the reset this time around.

How come evryone always screws up brians plans? Seems like atrend lately. I havent looked are they that bad or are all the disclamers missing?

IMHO Brian and alotta of the tutorials on the site were great and inspiring. it really make noobs like me wanna try things out. but some of these projects are also really harder than they look. and depending how much wood, arts&craft, related experience you have, the results could vary greatly. after a great swirling experience, an incomplete refret and now having a box of bodies n necks laying ard, i know i had fun.

but its surely clear now. when i have the money, i'll be buying them made by real luthiers but when i have time, i'll continue messing around with these tutorials