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I recently acquired a sweet 1959 Gibson LG-1. The original owner painted the top red. He doesn't remember what kind of paint it was, but it was a rattle can 30 years ago. Not a bad job, but...

I understand acetone will tell me whether the paint is nitro or poly, but what product can I use to safely remove the paint without harming the spruce? I'd like to return the top to either its original 'burst, or maybe an amber'd clear. If nothing else, I may just paint the entire thing Johnny Cash black nitro...

Any paint guys here to provide some advice?

Cheers - JR

A few ways to go on this. I assume you just want to do the top and not the entire guitar. First you could use a heat gun and heat the finish and peel it off carefully with a plastic scraper . Pros are no chemicals, cons are you could scorch the wood and soften glue joints. Second would be a chemical strip. I like Kleanstrip KS3 for a chemical strip. Pros, quick and eats any finish, even epoxies. Cons, Nasty stuff!, will eat plastic/celluloid so watch bindings and rosettes. Either way I would pull the bridge and only use the methods above to within comfortable range of the edges ( don't want to remove any finish from the sides) and work out to the edges and into the fretboard with a very sharp scraper. A chemical strip will need more prep work like sanding then perhaps a careful job with the heat gun. Of course the option I would likely choose is to simply scrape it all off with a sharp scraper and prep from there as a normal build. Pros, no chemicals, no scorching. Cons, a good bit of hard work, but hey if it was easy........

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Brian

You never know what you are capable of until you actually try.

https://www.howardguitarsdelaware.com/

Brian always gives good advice!

Thanks. I have a couple StewMac scrapers, but of course the top has a belly so it may make it difficult to get right... and I only have experience scraping trim/binding. I may start with the scraping method, then if that proves too challenging, I'll go chemical keeping in mind the advice on the binding (although it could stand replacement).

I appreciate the shared knowledge!

Cheers - JR

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Its going to depend on how the PO prepped prior to spaying. If they simply sanded the original finish to key it in then perhaps chemical removal will be OK. If they stripped, chemical stripper will probably stain the spruce red as it softens the paint and it works into the wood. I would not use a heat gun as it has too much potential to ruin all the glue joints, both at the bracing and down the centre of the plates and bridge plate. If you have time, go at it easy with a good sharp scraper and then follow up with abrasives. At least start that way to get some idea of what you are working with.

Edit: Just read ur post re scraper...try rounding off the corners of a single edge razor, burnish the edge and give that a go. Also grab a few glass bottles and smash them, pick out broken pieces the size and shape to the job at hand they work great as scrapers.

Cheers

Kim

I like the broken glass thing, I'll give that a try sometime. Scraping in the bellied section is just a bit harder on the old hands. You need to flex the scraper real hard and work pushing away from you. Then the scraper will form an arc and only touch down in the center.

_________________
Brian

You never know what you are capable of until you actually try.

https://www.howardguitarsdelaware.com/

You'll love it Brian, fresh broken glass makes awesome scrapers but its an art to break them to produce the bits that are most useful (you'll see what I mean) but you get pretty good at it after a while. I first started using glass this way when I was an 8 yo prepping up cow horns prior to polishing out with abrasive and compound. I use to make graceful looking part A slots into part B type animal like penguins and giraffes and such and sell them to get money to finance the fire crackers, air rifle ammo and smokes that allowed me to terrorise the neighbour hood and kill innocent things while looking really cool at the same time. Anyhow when I finally got released I started using glass as scrapers on wood and found it worked really, really, well.

Cheers

Kim