Tuning the finish

[warwickdread]

heyy guys,
i have played a pretty nice squier jazz bass in metallic black for years now, it was my first bass.. in winter im gonna get my warwick thumb and the time to pimp up my j-bass has come.
what i was wondering is how it would look like to get the finish off so i have the normal wood underneath and just draw and write on it. i really want it to be a personal artwork and something special since it was the bass i started playing with its kinda important to me.
any1 has any experience with that kind of work? would love to hear some comments!
thank u!!

 

[Pedro]

One of my guitarists completely covered his guitar in comic strip, which looked pretty cool and can, with a bit of cleaning, be removed so the guitar is returned to its original condition. There is probably some pics of it on our myspace link below.

What kind of wood is the fender squire made out of? Obviously the grain of the wood will determine how 'nice' it will look stripped off, although 'nice' is obviously completely subjective. Once you've found out take a browse through the warwick products to see different wood grains, if its made of alder than it'll look like the Streamer Standard (I think!). Ofcourse, if you're going to completely cover it in your own art then this doesn't necessarily matter.

Last thing to think about is the fact that once you've stripped all the paint off i don't know if it'll be possible to get it back to how it is now, you yourself admit that it's 'pretty nice' so make sure you defo wanna deface it before you get the paint thinner out and get started. :d

 

[Ali]

I tried this many years ago with my first bass, also a Squire. Its not just the paint that's a problem, there is a thick hard coat of lacquer to contend with. I used thinners and Nitromors to no avail. Its pretty impossible to remove all lacquer and paint and still get a decent finish. After using an electric planer and belt sander I found that the two pieces of wood used for the body were different colours and not at all aesthetically pleasing. I hasten to add it ended up in the bin. I should take Pedro's advice and cover what you've got.

 

[Grgzilla]

I'd relic it before removing it completely.
The finish is very thick & it's going to be a bastard of a job to get it all completely off.If you do remove it,wear adequate protection,you dont wanna inhale any of that dust.