Stripping a (guitar)body

robdynamite

So i've acquired an old gear4music strat. I'll be honest, it's pretty garbage. But i'm considering stripping it and making a cheapish partscaster with the body and having a crack at making a guitar from scratch. My main question is, how do i go about stripping the paint? It looks very plastic-like and the body is bizarrely light so i'm not sure a paint stripper may be a good idea, is sanding the best option?

Adam_MD

I've stripped a few poly bodies now and without doubt a heatgun is the way to go.  You'll spend a lot longer sanding than if you use the gun though you need to be careful to keep it moving so you don't scorch the wood.  

NPP

cheap heatgun is the way forward. Other methods are simply too much hard work. I think there are a few progress pics in the thread in my signature.

As @Adam_MD said, keep it moving, don't scorch the wood, once you get a feel for it, even thick poly will come off very quickly.

robdynamite

nice one, thanks for the advice. Heat gun worked a treat although some of the finish was pretty resilient. Sadly I did scorch it in a few spots as it just wouldn't shift until it was too late. But I'm assuming a good sand down and some filler in the dents/chips and it won't be noticeable once it's painted?

Adam_MD

Pics are obiligatory dude :-)

Corvus

Try steaming dents first, low power soldering iron, damp rag etc. Then a good filler for anything left (i.e. not p38). Maybe finish with light skim of Dolphin Glaze, for any big/wide dings but not needed for the usual sort of little dents 'n dings.

edit - actually Dolphin Glaze is great for small dinks. It's very fine, doesn't shrink and isn't porous. When sanded well it lies nice & flush so no witness marks, rings etc, through the paint.