Remove car paint without destroying the finish underneath

FatPete

I have an Hagstrom HIIN (or most of one) that I'm trying to get around to restoring. Some teenage fool sprayed the headstock face with metallic blue car spray over the transparent red (that I assume is nitro).

Any suggestions apart from careful sanding?

GoldenEraGuitars

Is there anyway of contacting the company to find out it is actually nitro? 

Its entirely possible the blue is sitting on top of the red (totally separate layer).

FatPete

Well it's definitely a separate layer. I'm reasonably sure said teenage fool just sprayed rattle can car spray straight over what was there, though it is possible that a 'key' was sanded first. I'm not able to travel the 30+ years back to ask me him.

mistercharlie

If it’s poly or something like that underneath, maybe a solvent like acetone might do it?

rexter

Wetsand very carefully with a very fine grit, like 1200+ - I would use white spirit as a lubricant as you don’t want water swelling the tuner holes.

seen lots of examples where gentle slow sanding has got people back down to the original finish beneath a layer of amateur refins.

in case it is nitro beneath I would stay clear of using a chemical stripper, even acetone as it would probably remove the original paint too.

had a vintage hagstrom Viking I was never sure if it was nitro - didn’t have any crazing etc which I always thought was weird for such an old guitar

Corvus

If it's urethane/two-pack the rattle-can paint will wipe off with celly thinners without harming the underlying colour or clearcoat - don't use acetone. And don't try that if the underlying paint is nitro/celly.. 
Go quite wet at first to get the worst off, well-cured urethane/two-pack is very inert but still don't hang about long with the wet rag stage just in case. Then damp rags to mop up the last little bits, under a good strong light you'll see the straggler bits. Damp cloth to finish then a polish.
Very messy smelly unpleasant ol' job but do-able. Mask, gloves, ventilation etc.

FatPete

Thanks for the suggestions. I don't think there's any crazing, but it has a few dings - possibly folks would be able to tell what type of finish it is by how they look?

GoldenEraGuitars

Upload a picture. As has already been said, approach with caution. Take the sanding slowly and use a flat edge to keep it level as you sand. 

You should, once the colour has been removed, be able to further wet sand the original finish to a nice shine then buff

Corvus

@FatPete pics may help, but still don't take a diagnosis over the web as gospel. If there's a discreet place like in a cavity, you could test there.
I really don't see how sanding is going to be practical, 1k is horrible to sand and the danger of going through on an edge, plus having to polish the whole body after. Loads of work. If it is 2k/urethane underneath the thinners wipe works fine, I've done it 2-3 times, it is unpleasant but much less impact on the thing.
With the age of this one (early 70s?) it could be old polyurethane, or nitro (both affected by thinners), or urethane/2k, which normally doesn't care about thinners.

WezV

I was going to suggest testing in a discreet area too. its the only way to be sure

I have successfully stripped a few amateur refinishes with stripper and thinners, but in these cases being able to keep the original finish was a bonus I wasn't expecting

ICBM

I'm fairly sure old Hagstroms are not nitro - the European manufacturers moved on from such a poor, expensive and un-durable finish much earlier than the American ones - but as already said, approach with extreme caution and certainly don't take my word for it!

timhulio

I have a whole bunch of old Hagstroms and can confirm they do not have nitro finishes.

Corvus

If not nitro it could in theory at least still be polyurethane which isn't solvent safe - though looking at pics they do have the look of 2k clear / aka urethane, which is all but safe - different beast despite name similarity. Still, test a bit before going full at it.

Re dinks I should say if its clear-over-base (clearcoat over base colours), and dinks crack right through the clearcoat, avoid sloshing solvent around those because that underlying colour is solvent based and will surrender quickly.

FatPete

Thanks again. Having found the bits with a view to taking some pics and had a proper look, it's a) clearly some sort of poly, and b) in poorer condition than I remembered.

@timhulio Don't suppose you have a pile of spare parts?

timhulio

Sadly not. I had a few parts but now I'm not actively collecting Hagstroms I sold most of them off. What are you looking for?

FatPete

timhulio said:

Sadly not. I had a few parts but now I'm not actively collecting Hagstroms I sold most of them off. What are you looking for?

Pickups, pickup rings and knobs.

FatPete

I think my query is answered - thanks. Here's what the poor old thing looks like anyway.

Corvus

It should wipe off but for the bare wood dinks, the dissolved stuff would stain that unless you sealed those first really carefully. Wonder why someone'd do that, it's covered the logo up ..

FatPete

Corvus said:

It should wipe off but for the bare wood dinks, the dissolved stuff would stain that unless you sealed those first really carefully. Wonder why someone'd do that, it's covered the logo up ..

Strangely enough, it didn't have a logo. I used to work with a chap who'd been sales director for Selmer (Hagstrom's UK importer in the 70s) who said he'd never seen one without. I suppose a previous owner might have scraped it off if they were applied on top of the finish(?) I don't there's a serial number on the neck plate either though, so maybe it was a second or something.