How to Remove Guitar Paint
- 1). Remove all the hardware from the guitar body. If the neck is a bolt-on variety, remove the screws from the back of the neck where it joins the body and remove the neck. Put all the hardware in a small box.
- 2). Lay the guitar body on newspapers on a worktable in a well-ventilated area. Pour a small amount of the chemical stripper into the can. Using the paint brush, coat the entire surface of the guitar with the stripper and let dry for 15 minutes.
- 3). Scrape from the top down with the paint scraper on one side of the guitar using short strokes, always with the grain of the wood. Wood grain always runs lengthwise on guitars. Scrape away approximately six inches at a time, letting the gel-like substance fall on the newspapers. Work your way all around the guitar body.
- 4). Turn the guitar over, coat with stripper, wait 15 minutes and scrape the paint off the back.
- 5). Turn the guitar body over again. Examine it for areas where paint remains, like inside curves and places where the scraper cannot reach. Apply more stripper to these areas and wait 15 minutes.
- 6). Scrape the remaining paint out of the cracks and curves using the wire brush and the sharpened stick. Let the guitar body dry for an hour. Sand the guitar body with 100 grit sandpaper by hand.
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