My Adventure Trying To Sand An Ibanez RG

[Daniel]

I'm not sure if this is in the right forum section, but if it isn't ill delete this thread and move it.

Anyways back to the point of this post. Today I was hyped because I was going to finally strip the paint off my Ibanez RG 270. I got out my paint stripper and applied it on. It did nothing, but maybe take a little off, even though it took a good amount off the cavitys. So I reapplied it and it still did nothing. I then decided to sand it down, but all this white dust kept coming up. So I continued to sand and another layer popped up. I sanded down more and another layer. I then think I finally hit the wood, but now I gotta go back to Home Depot to get a power sander . Just a headsup to people/wondering if this should be happening.

[MKGBass]

I haven't worked with any Ibanez's but the white dust is probably the lacquer coating. This would also account for the ineffectiveness of the paint remover, as the lacquer would prevent it from actually getting to the paint. Don't quote me on that, as I do not know how Ibanez finishes their instruments.

[Daniel]

That would make sense, but damn, that was a ton of lacquer lol.

[CoolJay]

How long did you leave the paint stripper on the guitar before you scraped it off? I had really good results with leaving it on longer than the directions said....and I only had to use the stripper 2 times, but even after the first time, you could see the bare wood.

Maybe you sohuld leave it on there longer??? Or maybe you're right....maybe Ibanez uses an insane amount of clear on their guitars. Who knows. Either way....if you're getting the paint off, then you're doing it right.

Jay

[Devon Headen]

I had the same problem with a guitar I was stripping...I broke down and used a belt sander for the majority of it. Gotta be extremely controlled if you use one, though. I knew I was going for a solid color, so I knew I could fill any screwups with Bondo. Just getting the last bit of finish off with a razor blade tonight.

[projectgongshow]

Buy a mouse sander at canadian tire or wallmart, use 80 for the whole thing, the little attachment will go the inner horns, but be very carefull not to sand the wood down, serious it will work, take about 4 hours to do. Been dar done dat. The sander is about 35 bucks, do it outside, wear a facemask. as for finishing them, never got that far yet, just know how to sand em, good luck and have fun staring at the guitar for awhile while ya sand er, its not that exciting do it in a couple of days becasue you might screw it up if you loose your consentration.

Laterz!

[Southpa]

I stripped an Ibanez Roadstar (stratocopy) a few years back. I'm not really sure what was coating the wood, way too thick to be laquer. It was about 1/8" thick in some spots (original finish). I had good success with a hot air gun. Just heat small areas to soften the finish and then scrape. The guitar was much lighter afterwards.

[GuitarMaestro]

The guitar was much lighter afterwards.

[Daniel]

Is it okay if I just sand it down with the power sander and when I hit the wood/grain I just start doing the sanding by hand, so I don't screw up?

[musicdr]

Ibanez has 2part polyurethane as a clear.I had best results with the heat gun method.

[Devon Headen]

Heat gun works well, but you have to be careful not to burn the wood too bad.

[syxxstring]

Ibanez has 2part polyurethane as a clear.I had best results with the heat gun method.

I second the motion, ive done a few Ibanez's now and the gun is your best friend.

[LGM Guitars]

Ibanez actually uses a two part polyester finish, not polyurethane. The polyester is nice in a large factory because it works well with an electro static booth, the downside is it is more brittle (chips easier) and doesn't adhere well to certain types of finish (swirls) as well as polyurethane. However, it is nail tough. I've always just sanded the bodies, the truth in refinishing a guitar, is if the original finish is in good condition, you are way further ahead to sand the original finish smooth and use that as your base. By going to wood you are wasting time (unless you want a natural finish).

Why do I say that? well, lets think about it.

1. You won't get a better adhering surface than the thick poly sealer that the factory uses over the wood before priming, if you sand to the primer you will have a perfect smooth finish to spray over.

2. If you do sand to the wood, what is your first step? Fill all that grain with another type of sealer or clear exactly the same as Ibanez does.

3. As soon as you hit wood, you are altering the shape, hopefully not by much, but the potential is very high, the wood is VERY soft compared to that sealer.

4. As soon as wood is exposed you expose the potential for oil, moisture, dirt, whatever to get into the wood again, your guitar body is the most vulnerable before you get finish on it.

So, the long and short of it is, unless the finish needs to be removed, it is better to use it as your prep/prime base. Think about a car, if a new car is repainted, they almost never sand it back to metal again

[MKGBass]

4. As soon as wood is exposed you expose the potential for oil, moisture, dirt, whatever to get into the wood again, your guitar body is the most vulnerable before you get finish on it.

He couldn't be more right. I sanded a guitar to the wood for refinishing once, sprayed it, and hung it up (a mere 8" from the workbench). When I came out, to my horror, the guitar had fallen, and an entire chunk of the body had chipped off. I partially attribute this to cheap wood, but on the other hand, i should have stopped at the base coat.