Strip finish, re-do in tung oil?

[gearHed289]

The guitarist in the cover band I play with has an old Gibson "the Paul" Les Paul guitar. He's thinking of stripping it down and doing an oil finish. Any tips, tricks or things to watch out for? Thanks guys.

[Basvarken]

If I was planning to strip it and refinish I would refin it in a solid color. It is not the prettiest slab of wood...

[Pilgrim]

I would suggest only that he take his time, do his homework and not do a hack job on the refin. Doing it well takes significant time and work. That instrument is worth doing right.

[Granny Gremlin]

Oil is easy, just a matter of patience.  Luckily sanding this is realtively easy (flat top vs arched/carved).

My tips (I do all my instrument projects, as well as other things, in oil - often with stain underneath).
- ignore those saying to use only 'pure' tung oil.  It is harder to work with (mostly the viscoscity) and therefore harder to develop that top coating finish you want on a guitar.  Use any 'polimerized' tung oil (e.g any that does not explicitly say 'pure' on it - Circa 1850, Minwax Tung & Teak, anything called 'Dannish Oil'  etc).  You would just have to prep pure oil anyway so save yourself the trouble.  The only real need for pure is if finishing a food prep surface such as a salad bowl or cutting board
- remember to raise the grain and do a second fine sanding
- first coat just slap it on there heavy (use a brush).  Use elbow grease until it is ALL soaked in (as opposed to wiping off the excess) - friction/heat allow it to penetrate.  I prefer a cloth vs a sponge for this part after the initial brush on). The first coat is key to building up a good finish.  For successive coats I just use the cloth to both apply and rub in.  The most important part that people, ahem, gloss over or skip mentioning altogether in online how-tos I have seen, is the rub in part (it does usually say so on the actual product instructions tho)
- after the 2nd/3rd coat buff lightly (don't strip it) with 0000 steel wool before each additional coat.
- the more the merrier; you can keep going until you get the gloss level (within reason - it's oil not lacquer after all)/surface buildup you desire, but only if you buff in between (or it won't get glossy and will actually start to look bad after additional coats). Like throw a coat on in the morning before work, and another before bed for a week or 2
- if you like a natural finish but want a more robust finish, you can do a single coat of oil to pop the grain and darken the wood, and then go over it with poly (give it a good 48 hours for the oil to cure properly before poly)

edit (forgot):  tung oil also makes for a great grain filler - wet sand with it and get a super smooth surface.  Even better if you wet sand with it after staining (if staining; you'd need to stain again afterwards, but you fill the grain with stained sawdust).

[Dave W]

What's wrong with the finish now? Unless it's in a lot worse shape than it appears, what does he hope to gain by refinishing in another clear finish? If he just wants a matte finish, why not just degloss the existing finish? That's a lot simpler.

If he is going to do a strip and refin, I agree with Jake, don't use a pure tung oil. It's extremely slow drying and offers much less protection to the wood than a tung oil-based varnish.

[Highlander]

Am I right in saying that once "oiled" it is the Devil's own work to re-fin them again...?

[Rob]

If I was planning to strip it and refinish I would refin it in a solid color. It is not the prettiest slab of wood...

Vote 2

[amptech]

If I was planning to strip it and refinish I would refin it in a solid color. It is not the prettiest slab of wood...

Vote 3

I've had one of these, sold it a couple of years ago. I fell in love with it in a small guitar shop in Amsterdam.
However it never sounded right, replaced pickups and so on but it never rang like I wanted to.

Walnut is beautiful, but I came to the conclusion that before I'd be happy with this I'd probably ruined it.
So I put the original pickups back on and sold it before I refinned it..
Maybe that wood colour just don't sit well on a les paul. Might look good right on a, dare I say it, Warwick.

It's a rock-solid 70's Gibson, but for my part one of the few instruments I never regretted selling.

[gearHed289]

Thanks Granny, I'll pass that along. FYI - the guitar in the picture is not his actual guitar, I just Googled it. He's had his for well over 20 years, and it's seen better days. Mostly sits at home since he bought a nice cherry burst Standard many years ago, but I guess he wants to freshen the Paul up.

[Pilgrim]

Thanks Granny, I'll pass that along. FYI - the guitar in the picture is not his actual guitar, I just Googled it. He's had his for well over 20 years, and it's seen better days. Mostly sits at home since he bought a nice cherry burst Standard many years ago, but I guess he wants to freshen the Paul up.

I don't think you go wrong to use the same finish as it was made with.

[Dave W]

I don't think you go wrong to use the same finish as it was made with.

The original was nitro.

[gearHed289]

The original was nitro.

That's what we had assumed. I'll see him next week and get a better idea of what he's trying to accomplish, but I think his main question was about removing the nitro.

[patman]

guitar looks fine as is...

[Dave W]

That's what we had assumed. I'll see him next week and get a better idea of what he's trying to accomplish, but I think his main question was about removing the nitro.

Nitro can be removed with lacquer thinner. Not necessarily so today, since the undercoat may not be nitro, but I don't think he'll run into trouble with a guitar that old. Lacquer thinner is nasty stuff but it gets the job done.

If he wants to refin in nitro (e.g. Reranch or Stew-Mac rattlecans), keep in mind that new coats of nitro melt into the coat beneath. If he can sand the existing finish smooth, he can refin in nitro without stripping.

[amptech]

..And if it´s a worn finish - he can spray a couple of coats of nitrocellulose sealer, and then sand level and overspray.