63 finish Archeology

[Dan castree]

Hi All, I recently acquired a lovely refin 63 strat, the finish isn’t great and I intend to strip it and get something more pro done in the near future, other than the refin it appears all original even with untouched solder joints other than to those needed to take the Guirar apart. What is bugging me is that below the red overspray there is what appears to be three more paint layers ( thin black, then a thicker yellowish layer followed by a final metallic base-coat, all of which I’m assuming are an older refin but would love to hear thought in this just in case (sanity check) I’d hate to strip any original finish. Also to note , although the red overspray covers the whole guitar, I can’t find evidence of the older paint layers in the cavities. Advice and all advice welcome pics attached

 

[D7alt]

Very cool looking Strat, congrats!
Are the inlays clay dots?
Is the fretboard brazilian rosewood?

 

[Bazz Jass]

Just leave it. It looks great and has history enough without adding to it.

 

[Dan castree]

Hi All, I recently acquired a lovely refin 63 strat, the finish isn’t great and I intend to strip it and get something more pro done in the near future, other than the refin it appears all original even with untouched solder joints other than to those needed to take the Guirar apart. What is bugging me is that below the red overspray there is what appears to be three more paint layers ( thin black, then a thicker yellowish layer followed by a final metallic base-coat, all of which I’m assuming are an older refin but would love to hear thought in this just in case (sanity check) I’d hate to strip any original finish. Also to note , although the red overspray covers the whole guitar, I can’t find evidence of the older paint layers in the cavities. Advice and all advice welcome pics attached

Very cool looking Strat, congrats!
Are the inlays clay dots?
Is the fretboard brazilian rosewood?

Tbh I’m not sure on the rosewood, I was wondering what the body and board where, the dots are indeed clay

 

[gwilde]

Looks great to me, congrats. I'm in the leave it alone camp too.

 

[StratUp]

How old is the refinish?

 

[Will Lefeurve]

I can’t find evidence of the older paint layers in the cavities.

If that's actually the case, the chances are it started off its life as a Sunburst. That would explain the black where it is.. the cream/white is probably the base coat. Probabilities are high I'd have thought.. said the man wearing a yellow duster and sunglasses on a winters night at sea..

 

[Scott Baxendale]

It’s possible the original finish is under the red paint. I’ve restored guitars in the past that have had the original finish oversprayed. I spent several weeks slowly wet sanding off the overspray to expose the original finish which I was able to bring back to life. This is a painstaking process but could be worth it depending on the condition of the original finish underneath. It could also be a total waste of time.

I would recommend getting it refinished back to original specs.

 

[EyeLikeTortoise]

If you're not happy with the finish and it's non-original, I would get it re-finished. I have had a couple Pre-CBS guitars with poor non-original finishes re-finished and I was happy with the results.

 

[Tone Brothers]

What’s the serial number if u dont mind? I sold a very similar one about 2 years ago. Will have to look but I have photos of refin process at Montreal Guitar. Thanks,

Roman

 

[richardb64]

OP, got any better pictures?

 

[Leosignedmyguitar]

Just leave it. It looks great and has history enough without adding to it.

Agreed, the yellow seen under layers is body filler. You might not like what you find lurking below the surface. Sometimes it's better to deal with the devil you know. It's quite likely you'd lose more body contours in the finish process too

 

[guitarchaeologist]

If that's actually the case, the chances are it started off its life as a Sunburst. That would explain the black where it is..

How so? A sunburst wouldn't have black around the trem cavity.

 

[Will Lefeurve]

How so? A sunburst wouldn't have black around the trem cavity.

You are of course right.. and I'm talking out of my ...........

 

[Wound_Up]

How so? A sunburst wouldn't have black around the trem cavity.

Dammit. I guess I better read better next time. I just spend 5 minutes looking at vintage sunburst trem cavities, wondering why none of them had black around them.


Probably because you said they "...wouldn't have black around the trem cavity".

Not that they would.

Lol