Stripping & refinishing a Fender RW

copacetic · October 10, 2014, 03:28:55 PM

I have a Fiesta Red Fender Road Worn (fantastic bass by the way, I never liked the idea of artificial aging, but after playing it, it definitely felt like home. this was 4 years ago now). Well I never really cared for Fiesta Red, but as I said the bass itself feels great and sounds even better. Soo what I like to do is a basic finish strip and just keep it 'natural' for now. Is this a matter of just getting some fine sand paper and 'sanding away' or what would be an alternative? I might like to do a Tobacco burst finish in the future but for now the natural appeals to me. The neck is rosewood fingerboard.

Pilgrim · October 10, 2014, 04:42:03 PM

Be aware that any Fender body painted a solid color may be that way for a reason - the wood may not have great grain.

Aren't those Nitro finish? If so, any decent paint stripper would be my first step, followed by light sanding before sealing the wood.

Carlo will be along with much more comprehensive info!

Lightyear · October 10, 2014, 05:41:16 PM

If it is indeed nitro then a can of lacquer thinner, some 0000 steel wool and pile of rags and you are in business. Pilgrim is correct - the ugly wood often gets the solid colors.

Dave W · October 10, 2014, 10:35:42 PM

According to the specs, the body is finished in "Road Worn® Nitrocellulose Lacquer" and the neck is "Road Worn® Urethane". No idea how these differ from regular nitro and urethane, and who knows what kind of undercoat you might find.

amptech · October 11, 2014, 03:03:03 AM

Just stripped a 75 P bass, it had the thickest sealer I´ve ever seen. Sanding it down would take too much time and it would be a dirty job. I was lucky though, had a beautiful ash body - owned it since ´92 and always thought it was alder.
Guess it would have been natural or sunburst if this lump of wood was one piece, but just under the control cavity you can see the joining of two pieces.

After trying a couple of thinners unsuccessfully, I ended up using a hot air gun carefully with a scraper.

One can always leave the sealer on, if the colour removes easily with thinner, but in this case there was wood repair involved. (Filling a J routing - who would have guessed

)

I´ve seen good results with sanding only, but for myself I get best results not sanding until all paint is removed from the instrument.

dadagoboi · October 11, 2014, 05:51:56 AM

Yes, it's impossible to tell what's under the 'nitro'. Could be polyester primer, that's what Fender is using now under their paint finishes, at least the Indonesian ones. Sanding or lacquer thinner? I don't think so. I'd give rattlecan Klean-Strip a shot if it was me doing the work.
http://www.homedepot.com/p/Klean-Strip-18-oz-Stripper-ESR72/100135467
I get mine at Wally World.

As to the wood, I agree...who knows? I doubt it will be pretty and probably 3 pieces.

I suggest you buy a body to your liking and switch parts. Lots of sources for that and you can sell the original body to cover some of the cost. Well worth it vs the time and effort to redo IMO.

Pilgrim · October 11, 2014, 10:26:24 AM

I will offer this note of caution: if a great bass is the sum of its parts, I would be reluctant to start swapping parts.

If you strip it and the wood looks like poo, you can refin in a solid color and everything should be good.

patman · October 11, 2014, 01:12:12 PM

If it ain't broke, don't mess w/ it

copacetic · October 11, 2014, 03:22:32 PM

Thanks guys. All points well taken. I thought about the just sell the body and get one more my preference in terms of finish. However I do know and believe the sum of the parts makes this bass what it is. Now we won't get into how that stripped finish will effect the sound because I think Uwe is still just a bit north of here going jamming in Marks attic.

Highlander · October 11, 2014, 04:29:15 PM

Quote from: patman on October 11, 2014, 01:12:12 PM
If it ain't broke, don't mess w/ it

Sh1t... now I know where I went wrong...

If you did acquire another body, you need not fin it but you could just try it with the parts and see how it works un-fin'd, in the buff, so-to-speak... if it's a no-go, out she goes, with minimal expenses ...

drbassman · October 11, 2014, 08:45:34 PM

If it ain't broke don't fix it.

chromium · October 13, 2014, 01:16:56 PM

If it's any help, I posted a summary of my BaCHBird refin here...

I had stripped that bass down to the bare wood. Really had no idea what I was doing when I started, but thanks to the Reranch tutorials and all the collective experience here I think it came out really nice for a first time effort.

I'd recommend that if you do strip the body down and leave it natural that you at least clear it to protect the wood... else it will probably end up getting blotchy (from sweat, oils) like my Aria SB-Elite:

Stripped that one when I was 19-20, and I just didn't know any better.