Interesting Poly-stripping technique

James · Post by **James** » Sun Feb 23, 2014 11:10 pm

I stripped a poly finish from a a Squier Vista Musicmaster using nitromors. It came off incredibly easily. Fuck sanding a finish back to wood.

Bacchus · Post by **Bacchus** » Mon Feb 24, 2014 1:16 am

I was about to mention nitromors too. Never not been able to melt something with nitromors and patience.

NickD · Post by **NickD** » Mon Feb 24, 2014 7:39 am

Old Nitromors was fine, new Nitromors couldn't strip a stripper in a strip club. We stripped the doors in our kitchen and we had to buy some new Nitromors halfway through - we ended up doing a lot more sanding.

JohnnyTheBoy · Post by **JohnnyTheBoy** » Thu Feb 27, 2014 12:14 am

NickD wrote:Old Nitromors was fine, new Nitromors couldn't strip a stripper in a strip club. We stripped doors in our kitchen and we had to buy some new Nitromors halfway through - we ended up doing a lot more sanding.

I had the same experience with Nitromors..I stripped the lacquer off alloy wheels which was a breeze with the old stuff, infact you could see it working in front of you...i too had to get another can which wasnt a patch on the old...it seems theyve taken out a key ingredient which makes it work as well...

cur wrote:
Josh wrote:
edit: heard somewhere they stopped using it b/c it was bad for the environment. at least in mass quantities. any clarification on this?
Most paints have changed due to their volatiles over the years for this very reason.

^This....
In the 80's some of the hazardous ingredients were replaced as paint manufacturers became more environmentally aware..
Nitrocellulose coatings are no longer employed on a massive scale, owing to restrictions on the use of products that contain volatile organic compounds...
The binding agents in nitro are susceptible to weathering, and that was one of the reasons they developed alkyd resin, poly and 2k acrylic poly..the guitar industry stopped using it mainly due to the cracking and yellowing effects over time, hence switching to poly finishes..These paints dried quicker and allowed dust and sagging to be polished out..

lorez · Post by **lorez** » Thu Feb 27, 2014 9:05 am

benecol wrote:jive turkey.

Dave · Post by **Dave** » Thu Feb 27, 2014 11:15 am

NickD wrote:Old Nitromors was fine, new Nitromors couldn't strip a stripper in a strip club. We stripped the doors in our kitchen and we had to buy some new Nitromors halfway through - we ended up doing a lot more sanding.

Likewise, I've had success with Nitromors though it is still a mission getting back to wood or the sealer coat. Purely sanding it would be incredibly difficult, lengthy, and potentially disastrous - I've seen friends attempt it before, not one of them finished the job.

I did notice last time I was in a hardware shop there is now a Nitromors specifically for poly, though i haven't tried it.

luciguci · Post by **luciguci** » Tue Mar 04, 2014 5:28 pm

Ooh, I'm definitely gonna try this hairdryer and pancake flipper method on my Squier Cyclone. iI tried to get a start on it by sanding but it took way too fucking long so I just gave up after an hour of getting nowhere.

stewart · Post by **stewart** » Tue Mar 04, 2014 5:35 pm

i wonder if this would work on that fullerplast shit. i have a duo-sonic body covered with it and the only thing that would even look at it is a heat gun. horrible stuff.

NickD · Post by **NickD** » Tue Mar 04, 2014 6:41 pm

Dave wrote:
NickD wrote:Old Nitromors was fine, new Nitromors couldn't strip a stripper in a strip club. We stripped the doors in our kitchen and we had to buy some new Nitromors halfway through - we ended up doing a lot more sanding.
Likewise, I've had success with Nitromors though it is still a mission getting back to wood or the sealer coat. Purely sanding it would be incredibly difficult, lengthy, and potentially disastrous - I've seen friends attempt it before, not one of them finished the job.

I did notice last time I was in a hardware shop there is now a Nitromors specifically for poly, though i haven't tried it.

I've sanded a couple of guitars all the way back to bare wood, but it was really hard work.

brainfur · Post by **brainfur** » Thu Mar 06, 2014 6:18 pm

i use whatever spray paint is cheapest OR i leave the poly on

DGNR8 · Post by **DGNR8** » Fri Mar 07, 2014 1:14 am

Fucking Shad wins again.

I just stripped a poly this weekend using a heat gun on low and and finished in a half hour. I left the sealer coat because I read that Fullerplast was essentially an early urethane. I don't know the chem, but I have done it several ways and like that the best. I did sand it a bit, which smelled like melted plexiglass and made a fist sized pile of dust. The body is level and the wood is untouched.

I got better as I went, pointing the nozzle at the scraper blade to help heat from under the paint, and also at an angle toward the spot I was working on, hovering at about two inches from the surface. The guy on Stewmac got a big tortilla of purple off, but for me the pieces ranged between 2-3 inch leaves.

The biggest variables are the the age of the paint and the colors. My first refin in 2006 was a MIM CAR, so the paint was thicker, and I was clueless. On that one I left a few scorch marks, but on this one I had zero. I am sure that Fender changes its formulation from time to time, to increase efficiency or whatever. They might also try to get away with more in other countries. I always wear gloves and a vapor respirator. No paint on earth is healthy unless you have some Aztec berry juice.

theshadowofseattle wrote:ITT: a bunch of shortscalers huff hella paint, a 14 year old repeats info he believed 100% unquestioningly having read it on a website for blues lawyers, and a telecaster turns into a kool sonding coffee table.

That 225 grams of finish is nuts though. I thought lobsterbacks used metric.

Bacchus · Post by **Bacchus** » Wed Jan 07, 2015 9:04 pm

Bumping this to include a new link the thread originally linked in the first post.

NickS wrote:
benecol wrote:It was me that posted it - seem to remember it was a Baja tele. Hectic this morning (dropping the kids off early to see a panto) but I'll have a gander later this morning.

EDIT: have PMed Dez, but for those interested here's a link to the thread where the bloke appears to have deleted the thread I linked to.
Rehosted >here<

jcyphe · Post by **jcyphe** » Wed Jan 07, 2015 9:06 pm

I've done the hair dryer and scraper for years cause a heat gun gets too hot and plastic/polymers and high heat does funky things.

Rox · Post by **Rox** » Thu Jan 08, 2015 1:03 am

You can use chemicals There are some killer paint removers that can eat polyurethane off of wood ( can also eat your skin too if you're stupid about it ) . As for poly covering up shitty wood that is a bunch of shit . Even if you have a 3,4, or even 5 piece body .. The beauty of wood grain is all preference . Paint remover and sand paper works best.