The Steel Guitar Forum

My bias is to preserve the original finish when possible, but I'd be interested in any opinions on this one. It came to me with a coat of brown something brushed over the original finish. I've spent some time mechanically removing some of the brown, and here is what it looks like so far:



I probably won't be able to get every last bit of the brown off this way, as it sticks too tightly to places where the original finish is worn off. It appears that some of the original finish is coming off as well, leaving a mottled appearance. Here is another view (I should be able to get most of the remaining brown coat off):



Unfortunately, the areas not pictured are actually in worse shape, either from wear or from preparation for the brown stuff. Other than in the neck areas most of the edges have no finish.

What do you think?

Seeing as how the original coat seems SO bad, I'd be tempted to dip-strip it, clean up the edges, and refinish with a nice warm buttercream , covered with nitro.
I'd bet you can find repro decals, better still would be to have your local auto pinstriper actually paint the decal on the front, before the final nito coat.

I've already got an exact replacement decal, so that's not an issue.

I don't know if any of us will live long enough to see vintage Fender non-pedals ever get anywhere remotely near the ballpark value of a vintage Tele or Strat in original condition, so if it were me I'd go for the re-finish and get it looking really slick.

I'm with Mark, you can make that baby look awesome.

Thanks for your thoughts. Since it's a 56, maybe I should go with Surf Green.

Without being able to completely get all the brown out / off, I'd say go for a nice refinish.

Looks like it's time to separate the necks and get out the stripper........
Not a very nice job to do, but it looks like the best option.
I haven't tried it on a guitar yet, but some furniture re-finishers have a stripping tank for furniture re-finishing, which should work OK on that.
I did have some interior house doors stripped there, with good results.

Make it PRETTY - REEEEAL PRETTY - For all of the above reasons mentioned - DB

I know of a couple of guys that would have a ball with it the way it is and make great music, But I think it's got to look good to make it feel good. Then It sounds good. Dennis

Always refinish if you are going to play to an audience.
Never let people know that steel guitar players are so prone to the abuse of their instruments.

Refinish it.

Lynn,

Since you have the decal, re-finish in the original transparent blonde color. Don't hide that nice piece of ash. She will look stunning. I will go on record again about my distaste for a re-finned guitar. But....you are repairing the damage done by another individual. She needs your help. It can only help the value of this one. My '56 Deluxe 8 & '56 D6 SM are this color. I think it is very tasty looking.

Best,

Rich

I agree with Rich..Let that wood be seen.Blonde all the way..

Looks like a very nice guitar. Too bad someone tried to 'improve' it with a coat of paint.
I am going to differ with all the other options expressed this far. You can never put Humpty together again. Do your painstaking best to restore the original finish, and the original decal.
Fifty years from now, your great grandchildren will thank you for your patience and foresight.

The collector's value is already trashed on that one. Refinish it to improve it's value as a player's instrument. If you leave it with that trashed finish, it will have the lowest possible value. Collectors will devalue it substantially for its destroyed finish. And players will devalue it for its ugliness. There's no way to improve the value now for collectors. But players will value it more as a beautiful refurb. Players need those old Stringmasters too.

I've done pretty much all I can with it assembled, so I pulled the necks apart:



I want to remove as much brown as possible before making a final decision.

Hopefully this is the low point as far as appearance goes for this project. It looks like the previous owner just slapped that polyurethane on with wild abandon.

Strip it down and completely refinish it. Stewart McDonald sells everything you could possibly need to refinish. You can get the Nitrocellulose Lacquer, you can tint it any Fender color you want. You can also get all the information and supplies from Re-Ranch.

http://www.reranch.com/

Just a little information investigation on your part, and you can make it look like a brand new guitar, and it's a lot of fun in the process.


Rocky

I am a firm believer that the ONLY time a refinish is acceptable is when an instrument has ALREADY BEEN REFINISHED POORLY. This instrument definitely has already been refinished poorly, but with the original finish still underneath (in poor condition), I would say this is a judgement call. I would be tempted to leave what's left of the original blond, but I don't think anyone will think less of you for reviving this one. Just make sure this time the guitar is done right!

Food for thought, playing the Devil's advocate angle for a second:

Every year in early August in Reno, Nevada they hold Hot August Nights where hundreds and hundreds of car collectors descend on "The Biggest Little City In The World" driving and displaying their pride and joy.

My wife had never been so we went up this year, and had a great time. It's fun to check out the cars and talk to the owners about the work they put into these beauties.

I'm trying to figure out from a cultural standpoint, why is it perfectly acceptable to restore to original condition a once funky looking 1956 Chevy Bel Air, but it's become totally uncool to restore a 1956 Tele or a Stringmaster (in original condition, unlike Lynn's), that looks like it got dragged a mile down the road attached by a chain to the back of a pickup truck?

And the whole thing has even gone so far that one can buy a brand new Stevie Ray Vaughan replica Start that appears to have been recovered in the rubble after the atomic bomb was dropped on Nagasaki, but one would never pay big money for an old Chevy with that appearance, even if the engine was in good condition.

I've gone as far as I can peeling off the brown finish, and basically what I have now is a worn original finish where many of the wear spots are covered in brown urethane:





Unfortunately it looks worse in person than in the photos. I'll have to set the hardware back in place and see how it looks then.

One thing that concerns me is that with the clear coat gone from much of the surface, there is no longer a hard finish protecting a relatively soft wood from dings.

Refinish! What Mark said makes sense to me. If it was never painted, I'd leave it. If you can get EVERY bit of the brown off, maybe leave it. But if you can't, it already was refinished like Chris said. So that "leave it all original" business gets thrown out the window, because it's NOT all original anymore. Think about it. It will be worth more, and look better, refinished just like the original. Instead of poorly refinished and incompletely de-finished.

I'll have to set the hardware back in place and see how it looks then.

It looks like most of the brown areas will be covered by the hardware. I think you'll be pleasantly surprised by how good it looks when the bridge plates, fretboards, and tuner pans are in place.

I've got no problem with funky looking old steels. A professional refinsh will cost hundreds of dollars. You could always sell that triple, and buy another in excellent condition if the looks bother you...Jerry

Maybe you could just apply clear coat and be happy with that. It looks pretty OK to me. BTW, what's the scale length of this one?