Refinishing a Fender Player Stratocaster Body: Stripping Old Paint, Staining, and Oil Finish Coat 

Heat gun definitely! Looks great

Thanks from Western Australia ... have a 'Cimar' bass from the 80's ... all these years later I find out that it's actually a decent make. Stripped the paint off and considered repainting, but after this video I'm going down the staining path. I'm lucky - it's a one piece body ! I guess I'm going to have to do some serious sanding to bring out the natural wood look, but your method looks very achievable for an amateur like me - appreciate it cheers :)

Just wanted to say I stripped a guitar using a hair dryer instead of a heat gun and on Max heat settings I was able to strip it pretty easily and it never came close to burning anything.

With a 5 piece body I would have gone for a paint finish over a sealer coat, I was expecting it to look like the side of a shed but it turned out better than I expected it to.

When Fender buids a guitar body, they look at how many pieces and the grain. When the wood is not so pretty and more pieces used, these are judged to be "Paint Grade" bodies. So if you have a painted guitar it is a sign that a woodgrain finish is not the best choice to do.

Thanks for the content. I liked the result. I'd suggest dying the body with some coats of aniline diluted in water instead of denaturated alcohol, so you got more control over blotching as it evaporates slower, sanding lightly between the coats, and then applying the top coat. That would emphasize more the wood grain.

Hmmm 5 pieces of wood! Gotta love Fender Mexico sometimes! I bet it's not advised as 5 piece!

Great video, came across your channel after the pangu explorer kit. But I have a question. I have a epiphone les paul body with matte black that is showing lots of wear and tear. Would you assume that to be a poly finish? I'm not quite sure how to tell finishes on a guitar. Never refinished a guitar and only done kits.

I just got finished stripping a 2006 MIM "FSR" or 60th body (two-pot, no pickguard, rear routed electronics pocket). I bought it bastardized with a VERY crappy repaint that someone did on it (think "8th grade art class meets SouthPark Sexy Woman"). Taking the the original coating (underneath the paint job) took less hour, only one burn mark that will be covered by the bridge. The trick was to put the gun on high, keep it about 8-9 inches away from the body, keep the gun moving, and heat up larger sections at one time as evenly as you can. As the finish starts to raise off of the body, I took a plastic razor blade (in a holder) and starting scraping it off. It then comes off in larger sections. Just remember to keep the plastic razor blade out of the path of the heat gun. Unfortunately, I have you beaten in the "pieces" department. This one is made out of *6* pieces of alder. 😕 You'd think, even for a MIM, if it's a limited/special run, they would have done a little better....

attach a MIA large headstock Strat neck to it, then drop in Mexican electronics. You've now created a homemade Highway 1 Stratocaster! :) (Seriously, I have a 2nd Gen Highway 1 HSS. It plays great, and it's a great mod platform)

I would actually like to see one done with the chemical process, just to be able to compare it to the heat treatment method.

Kool vedioo just found my matc😮😮h for an all rose wood neck that leather dye seems like good stuff thank you Sir you know what your doing 100% confidence..confidence in what your doing imo is when you know you have arrived...RocknRollflat5 😮

Sealerdo a barn caster and leave the lines, in fact, make them deeper. I did one.

The first time I took a heat gun to a Mexican body the entire finish cracked like the shell of a hard boiled egg and fell off instantly. I laughed so hard when I realized that body was made out of 9 pieces....9 damn pieces. The second body I did I ran into the same issues to had. I got lucky once 🤣

Chemical strippers won't work on urethane finishes. I've used the strongest chemical stripper available to consumers, and let it sit for 2 days, and it did nothing. Heat and scrape is the best choice unfortunately.

I learned this lesson. The Mexican stratocaster hides a more desired body with a high possibility of less pieces. 5 is up there with Squier. Some used sandwiches. You'd think a usa guitar would do more like 2 or 3 like the Mexican stratocaster. Lol😊

Why not use wood filler instead of superglue?

5 piece body? 🤨

Synthetic_POLY_Drag nightmare impossible other words more hateful😔