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Hey

Theres a used 98 MIM tele for sale at a good price at the local guitar store and i'd like to buy it today but It's purple.

I dont like purple but how hard is it to remove the original paint? or at least just remove anough to be able to paint it again?

Repainting wont be a problem.

I think MIM are said to to have a pain-in-the-ass-to-remove finish...

Sandpaper and Elbow grease.

Depending on what you´re spraying, you may be able to get away with just scuffing it... I usually prefer to strip the paint all the way and spray my own from the ground up

Hammer and chistle!

The thing about import guitars is that forien counrties do not have the environmental standards that exsist in Europe and the US. They shoot some pretty serious materials on those guitars because it's hard as heck and they are durable throughout manufacturing and shipping.

Most strippers won't budge a lot of those finishes and a heat gun is a pain in the butt. I find even sand paper is a MAJOR chore to get down to the wood.

Scuff it, prime it and paint over it.

I'm for what Robert said.A while ago someone brought me an MIM strat to repaint,he had removed most of the finish.But the small bits that were still in the cavities were a nightmare to dig out.You almost needed an air chisel.
I would even go so far as to run the damn thing through a surface planer set for 1/32quot;-(I'm almost not kidding those finishes are thick and damn near bullet proof)

I refinished one recently and it is very labor intensive. The urethane they use is tough as nails. Good luck with what ever you decide tro do....Joe

I refinished my James Burton Tele cause I didn't like the Candy Apple Red. Basically I just hit it hard with 200 grit sand paper. It didn't take all of the finish off but it thinned it out a lot. I then used the remaining finish as a base coat and shot nitro lacquer in spray cans from the Guitar ReRanch over it. One can of color, one can of clear and let it cure for just over week. After wet sanding and polishing, this is what I ended up with.

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If your painting a color coat over it I wouldn't worry about stripping. Just thin the Poly out as much as you can and then use it as a base coat.

The finish is essentially a plastic coating on some of these guitars! The finish on my Ibanez (seen at left, used to be all black) was a pain to remove. It took an orbital sander with 80 grit about 2 days to remove. Horns were done with a drum sander. The finish that sanded off sanded more like plastic than it did paint. If you're going for a solid color finish then I agree with the previous suggestions of scuffing the finish, priming, and painting. I figure, if a finish is that tough to remove, it ought to make a decent base. It would also save you from having to prep the wood had you taken the finish off to wood.

To be honest, I'd just live with it. I'd rather live with a purple paint job than go through all the trouble of taking it off.

Or, you can do what my bassist did. He found a MIM Jazz bass that he loved the tones from, but hated the blue finish. He then proceeded to take the pickguard off and cover the whole front face of the instrument with small, 1/2quot; yellow happy face stickers, and then replaced the pickguard.

When he told me he did this, I thought he was nuts, but it actually looked pretty cool.

Hey Guys,

Thanks for all the help here.

I went and bought the guitar and decided I'll just live witht the purplish- bluish finish that it has.

I think i'm gonna cover it with stickers though

I'll probably post some pics soon!

i tried. pain in the ass. mine looks like crap now. oh well, its a beater anyway!

i guess the poly on american strats is considerably thinner and more breathable since i bought my am dlx strat with a few chips on the butt end of the body (for a 100 dollar discount-floor model!) they go down to the wood, but the layer of polyurethane is quite thin. I could probably chip all the paint off with one of those lemon zest peeler things, but i wont do it...lol!

is it that dark purpleish blue metallic? man that color rocks IMO...i'd just leave it.

-Mike


Originally Posted by XSSIVEis it that dark purpleish blue metallic? man that color rocks IMO...i'd just leave it.

-Mikeyeas it is.

Yeah, i'm gonna leave it.

good choice, i would just leave the finsdih as it is. Adding sticker is a nice touch if you really dont caref or the guitar all that much. or maybe give it a relic job by allwoing the guitar tio become your beater.


Originally Posted by strat_mastergood choice, i would just leave the finsdih as it is. Adding sticker is a nice touch if you really dont caref or the guitar all that much. or maybe give it a relic job by allwoing the guitar tio become your beater.It's pretty beaten up. Lots of little dents and chips and stuff and a hole on the bottom cutway where someone tried to put a strap pin.

the neck is the sameway (its totally playable though)

I think all the little abuse marks just add to the guitar and i'm not the type who gets mad over dents and paint scrapes and stuff so i'm liking it.

Anyway the guitar plays nice and sounds nice. I just need to put some new strings on it and maybe put some better pickups in it.

If I'm remembering correctly, that quot;purplequot; is really their version of quot;midnight bluequot;. Does that help? I always thought it was a pretty cool color. That's my next Tele color, anyway. With a white pearloid pickguard.