kent04 Posted January 5, 2016 Share Posted January 5, 2016 Bought a 1988 L4CES and absolutely love it, seller had it priced really low, im assuming because of the appearance of the clear coat on the head stock. big chunks flaked off at first, its been slow going since. i pulled out the machine heads and continued to scrape. underneath the clear coat the head stock looks great, mother of pearl inlay is clean, i plan on applying a new clear coat once finished Any Advice to getting off flaky clear coat quickly? or should i just keep at it gingerly? Any Preferred clear coat for refinishing? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
j45nick Posted January 5, 2016 Share Posted January 5, 2016 It sounds like a surface prep/bonding issue. If the coating is peeling off cleanly, I would continue with that method, very carefully. I've seen photos of similar problems with other headstocks over the years, notably on Advanced Jumbo guitars. Since you're just going to be re-doing the headstock, a spray nitrocellulose lacquer is what you want. I used to use Deft, but that seems to have been re-formulated as a polyurethane. Stewmac is generally my source for anything to do with guitar maintenance. The link below takes you to their aerosol spray lacquer page, as well as showing other useful links associated with finishing and refinishing Stewmac lacquer Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kent04 Posted January 5, 2016 Author Share Posted January 5, 2016 It sounds like a surface prep/bonding issue. If the coating is peeling off cleanly, I would continue with that method, very carefully. I've seen photos of similar problems with other headstocks over the years, notably on Advanced Jumbo guitars. Since you're just going to be re-doing the headstock, a spray nitrocellulose lacquer is what you want. I used to use Deft, but that seems to have been re-formulated as a polyurethane. Stewmac is generally my source for anything to do with guitar maintenance. The link below takes you to their aerosol spray lacquer page, as well as showing other useful links associated with finishing and refinishing Stewmac lacquer quick and informative! how do you do it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
j45nick Posted January 5, 2016 Share Posted January 5, 2016 quick and informative! how do you do it? There are "how to" links on that webpage that give better instructions than I ever could. Fortunately, it's not rocket science. Once thing I would really caution about is to mask off everything except the area you are working on, and work in a clean, well-ventilated (but not windy) location out of direct sunlight. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kent04 Posted January 5, 2016 Author Share Posted January 5, 2016 There are "how to" links on that webpage that give better instructions than I ever could. Fortunately, it's not rocket science. Once thing I would really caution about is to mask off everything except the area you are working on, and work in a clean, well-ventilated (but not windy) location out of direct sunlight. i meant, how do "you" do it, meaning you're response time although, the dynamics of operating a spray can might be different now than in the days of my youth Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
j45nick Posted January 5, 2016 Share Posted January 5, 2016 i meant, how do "you" do it, meaning you're response time although, the dynamics of operating a spray can might be different now than in the days of my youth Sorry, I misunderstood. Too much time on my hands right now, and it give me a break from the things I should be doing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kent04 Posted January 6, 2016 Author Share Posted January 6, 2016 New machine heads are coming in tonight and im about finished with scraping the head stock Opinions: does anyone see any complications with using an oil based lacquer like min-wax for the Head Stock? i can go to Lowes and avoid shipping time for "instrument" specific lacquers its just the head-stock, no tonality issues. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
j45nick Posted January 6, 2016 Share Posted January 6, 2016 New machine heads are coming in tonight and im about finished with scraping the head stock Opinions: does anyone see any complications with using an oil based lacquer like min-wax for the Head Stock? i can go to Lowes and avoid shipping time for "instrument" specific lacquers its just the head-stock, no tonality issues. Not sure about compatibility, even after reading contents and MSDS. I note that the Minwax clear gloss spray lacquer contains acetone. My concern would be how any overspray or leakage under masking tape might impact on the nitrocellulose lacquer used by Gibson on the rest of the guitar. Why take the chance? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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