Removing 70s /80s poly without removing any original wood

jakeolly · February 5

Hi folks
I have a guitar that has some refin from 70s/ 80s and i want to remove the poly and refin in nitro. Whats the best way to remove it . I dont want to remove any of the wood
if its chemical stripper what is the best one/ method ?

drofluf · February 5

I used a hot air gun and scraper to take the poly off my Baja Telecaster. Was surprisingly easy, think I'd got most of it off in half an hour

jakeolly · February 5

Thats Helpful, thanks mate

JD50 · February 6

I removed the finish on a late 70s Musicmaster using Superdrugs extra strong nail varnish remover and a microfiber cloth, took a couple hours to rub it all off , that was after attacking it with a heat Gun which did sod all....

SteveRobinson · February 6

JD50 said:

I removed the finish on a late 70s Musicmaster using Superdrugs extra strong nail varnish remover and a microfiber cloth, took a couple hours to rub it all off , that was after attacking it with a heat Gun which did sod all....

You'll have been left with the sealer coat then, or was it a refinish?

JD50 · February 7

SteveRobinson said:

JD50 said:

I removed the finish on a late 70s Musicmaster using Superdrugs extra strong nail varnish remover and a microfiber cloth, took a couple hours to rub it all off , that was after attacking it with a heat Gun which did sod all....

You'll have been left with the sealer coat then, or was it a refinish?

Correct, still have sealer coat

GoldenEraGuitars · February 7

SteveRobinson said:

JD50 said:

I removed the finish on a late 70s Musicmaster using Superdrugs extra strong nail varnish remover and a microfiber cloth, took a couple hours to rub it all off , that was after attacking it with a heat Gun which did sod all....

You'll have been left with the sealer coat then, or was it a refinish?

The sealer coat is where the fun starts

ALR · February 7

I refinished a 1997 Squier YN Series Strat last year and had to remove all the poly. As described above, I removed the majority of it with a heat gun, but eventually used a Random Orbital Sander and some sandpaper up to (I think) 320 grit to get every last trace of the old finish off (except for cavities). It's a little more work but I think the results are worth it.

There's a 3 part Stewmac series about refinishing with aerosols which I followed pretty much to the letter. It took a long time and was a lot of work, but the results were definitely worth it!

JD50 · February 7

GoldenEraGuitars said:

SteveRobinson said:

JD50 said:

I removed the finish on a late 70s Musicmaster using Superdrugs extra strong nail varnish remover and a microfiber cloth, took a couple hours to rub it all off , that was after attacking it with a heat Gun which did sod all....

You'll have been left with the sealer coat then, or was it a refinish?

The sealer coat is where the fun starts

The sealer coat is clear, so guess you can spray over the top

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Removing 70s /80s poly without removing any original wood

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