Removing Oil Finish, Anyone Did This?

Hi,
I have a maple Streamer with a Honey Oil finish. The body has a lot of scratches on it, and I like the natural look of maple.
How hard is it to remove the oil finish, and what is the best way?
Sanding by hand, or with a machine?

 

Hi Erik,

If it has the classic Warwick honey finish, it's more of a satin finish than a natural oil (wax) finish. Just a few months ago I took off the honey finish from a '98 FNA. Came out great.

Best way is just by hand. It'll take a casual day of sanding. Depending on the wood type, it'll be tough to completely remove every bit of stain from some of the wood grain. With flame maple, the flame parts of the wood seem to be the stain a little more. Regardless, it comes out great. Very doable.

Start with a 120 grit and progress to a near 400 grit, to get a smooth finish. Just be careful not to take off too much wood. Post some before and after pics. We love pics

Here was my recent before and after... You'll notice just a slight tinge of orange still in the flames, but it came out really nice.

 

Thanks for the quick reply
This is the before picture; the finish looks the same as your FNA.
My Streamer is from ‘05

 

Nice. Yeah, yours is a little less on the orange side than the FNA, so whatever stain has soaked in deeper, it should be a little less noticeable in the flame. Also, there's no need to fully remove all electronics, pups etc. You can do a good enough job by simply removing knobs, neck, bridge/tailpiece, and pulling out the pups just enough (if there is a little bit of slack in the wires). Put some tape in the pup cavities to prevent dust getting in where it shouldn't etc.

Go for it....and keep us up to date

 

some more before pictures :

So it's better not to use a sanding machine?
because when watching the Warwick factory movies they use machines first and later sanding by hand.

 

Oh you certainly could use a sander. Just gotta be careful not to take off excess wood. When you see the builders using sanders, it's usually in the process of a rough finish, where excess wood needs to come off, to achieve the final shape. When they get close to that final shape, they begin with hand sanding. Typically. Of course, feel free to do it how you see fit. I wouldn't use a sander, because I don't want to change the body shape even a fraction. Hope that makes sense.

It only took me roughly 4-5 hours of hand sanding over the course of a day, to finish it. Up to you

 

I don’t want to change the body shape either.
That’s the reason I bought the Streamer, I love that shape !