Fender Telecaster refinishing suggestions

Paul_C

lovestrat74 said:

If you wanted to keep it natural here's mine. Originally a butterscotch (plastic!) Baja tele. Stripped, oiled and waxed...

I've just bought (*sigh*) an unfinished swamp ash body so I can turn my Player Tele into something like that.

Yorkie

This was my first build. I had a badly mistreated poplar body lying around, but it had too many wounds to even attempt a natural finish; previous owner had partially removed the butterscotch paint, drilled lots of holes through the body, installed an incompatible bridge (too narrow) and misaligned it completely, then gave up on the project. I bought a new bridge, jack plate, control plate, and a 5-way switch (the bridge pickup has normal and hot modes), and repaired the body. Then I bought a can of Lake Placid nitro from Northwest Guitars. This was the result:



And yes, I firebranded the headstock  
My daughter picked the name. She said it was something I had stitched together, so there you go. 



The nitro paint I got from Northwest Guitars was incredibly easy to apply – even a complete fool like myself was able to get nice results. 

Best of luck with your refinish, 
Jon

Middaparka

@Yorkie That’s a really nice finish job,

I’m torn between the “natural” oil finish and a rattle can nitro finish, although I suspect the natural approach would be easier/more realistic.

I’m a few sanding sessions in and the body isn’t looking too bad, although I’m still working through the some of the primer coating in the cut aways and there’s a few gouges that I suspect might need a bit of filler.



Still, time will tell.

Yorkie

Middaparka said:

@Yorkie That’s a really nice finish job,

I’m torn between the “natural” oil finish and a rattle can nitro finish, although I suspect the natural approach would be easier/more realistic.

I’m a few sanding sessions in and the body isn’t looking too bad, although I’m still working through the some of the primer coating in the cut aways and there’s a few gouges that I suspect might need a bit of filler.

If the body had been ash or something else and it hadn't had so many battle scars, I would have gone for a natural finish. 

Take your time on the cutaways, my finish cracked on both initially because I had failed to remove a little bit of paint. 

Yorkie

Middaparka said:

That body is screaming for a tan!!  

jimification

If it helps, I've used Steve's (Manchester Guitar Tech) rattle can nitro finishes several times and they are excellent. You absolutely can get a "shop" level finish. It's just dependent on good prep, patience and careful sanding.

I spray mine outside (in a well ventilated shed) It's a much easier process IMO if you wait until the weather is warm and dry.