Refinishing a stained body

guitarcookie1

I have a Guitarbuild Strat body that I finished a few years ago in a white stain (Crimson guitars wood stain & finishing oil).

I’d like to refinish it using a black wood stain (probably Crimson guitars or Wudtone as I’ve used them before). 

How much of the old colour/stain would I need to remove? All of it back to bare wood, or just enough to take the top surface off?

Not going for an immaculate finish or anything, just a colour change. 

TTony

I'd not use Wudtone over an existing finish - I've found that product to be very sensitive to the surface it's applied to.

Applying black stain on top of white stain shouldn't be a major issue - eg there are various Crimson YT vids showing how they build up sunburst effects by using one colour on top of another.  However, the more white you remove, the more black the final colour will be (as opposed to grey!).

*BUT*, I'm guessing you're going to need to remove all of the finishing oil otherwise that'll stop the black getting into the wood.    That might well be the trickier bit, depending on how far it penetrated into the wood, through the original white.

guitarcookie1

TTony said:

*BUT*, I'm guessing you're going to need to remove all of the finishing oil otherwise that'll stop the black getting into the wood.    That might well be the trickier bit, depending on how far it penetrated into the wood, through the original white.

I thought that might be the case, how do you know when you’ve gone back far enough? 

TTony

guitarcookie1 said:

TTony said:

*BUT*, I'm guessing you're going to need to remove all of the finishing oil otherwise that'll stop the black getting into the wood.    That might well be the trickier bit, depending on how far it penetrated into the wood, through the original white.

I thought that might be the case, how do you know when you’ve gone back far enough? 

It’s the point that’s just before you’ve gone too far.




Trial and error.  Every piece of wood is different.  The way that you applied the existing finish is likely different to the way that someone else would have done it.

Sand back until it looks and feels clean.  Try some of the new colour.  If the result is as you want, carry on staining.  If the result is not as you want (eg uneven or blotchy), then sand some more.