My recently aquired 1939 Vega console steel came in its very nice original case. Unfortunately, a previous owner has spray painted the case grey (how can one like the art deco aesthetics of the guitar and not the beautiful laquered tweed of its case!?). The paint looks like this:
Here one can see the tweed on the un-painted inner edges of the case (it must have been sprayed with the case shut):
And Folkway Music has one with an un-sprayed tweed case:
My question is: Can I strip this grey paint off the case and uncover the laquered tweed without damaging it? If so, how? Advice and tips would be highly appreciated!
Short answer: probably yes but is it really worth the mess, smell and volatile chemicals to do so? Maybe better to re-spray it a preferred color or better, just have a new case made?
A longer answer: It will depend on the solubility of the paint versus the original clear coating, which is most likely nitrocellulose lacquer. You will want to see if the spray paint can be dissolved in something that won't affect the lacquer at all, or as quickly. The key to controlled cleaning of ANYTHING is doing small spot tests in inconspicuous areas. Using cotton swabs, you can try varying mixtures of mineral spirits (white spirit in the UK) and denatured ethyl alcohol, both comparatively low in toxicity, but use proper ventilation always and avoid skin contact. White spirit is the "weaker" solvent for most paints; start with that and see if by mixing in increasing proportions of the denatured alcohol you can find a mixture that moves the paint but not the original clear coating (which you can test separately where it is exposed on the inside.) The alcohol itself may not even do the trick, depending on the binder and age of the paint. There are may other possible solvents (including substituting the more noxious lacquer thinner for the alcohol in your tests with white spirit) but this simple combination might be a place to start. If in the end the spray paint requires a solvent that unavoidably affects the original clear coating, you might still be able to remove the whole mess, but the gray pigment will unavoidably get worked into the fabric. You can tell your friends the effect is highly desirable "patina." Maybe they will buy it.
It's a nice case, so perhaps worth a try. If it's easy, that's great, if not, you can save the effort for the spraypainted 1959 tweed Bassman. Good luck.
Never had much luck using alcohol or mineral spirits for removing a finish. You may wind up using a strong solvent (if it's available there) like MEK. If it takes the paint off, and removes the lacquer from the tweed, you can re-spray the tweed with lacquer.
MEK should be used with rubber gloves in case you are sensitive to it, along with good ventilation.
I use a lot of it, like for cleaning paint guns etc, and cleaning other things. Smelling those fumes for 50 years is why I'm crazy enough to get involved with steel guitars.
Thanks everyone for the advice! I will have a think about the worthwhile-ness of trying to strip the grey paint. It for sure is a shame that such a nice case was just sprayed with grey paint (that has come off everywhere where it's worn - there are also gaffer-taped areas, on which the paint comes off when scratched).
Not wanting to take this far off topic, but someone reading may have this situation. I bought a 1954 dual eight Fender and the tweed case was very spotted and mildewed. I scrubbed the case down with a strong Clorox and water solution and set in the sun for a few days. Naturally, this bleached out the tweed. I then went to a paint store, carrying a Fender tweed case that was in good shape. Using their spectrum analyzer, they mixed me an amberish stain that closely matched the Fender's original.
After applying this and letting it dry thoroughly, I used a sanding sealer and a few coats of clear lacquer. Most folks think it is the original finish on the case.
