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G'day. Hoping someone in the GTA has some helpful suggestions for me here.
I have a guitar I'm thinking I'd like to have refinished. It's an Eastwood Studio 6 that I scored via Craigslist recently. It's a pretty cool guitar and feels solid enough but there is a sloppy finish flaw on the left edge of the headstock that kind of sucks and the whole guitar (basically a slimmer take on a LP with P-90s) is TV yellow... I'm not too fond of bright and flashy guitars but the thing feels very good in my hands and I scored it for a good price. I'd like to maybe have it stripped and just a fairly austere satin finish applied for a more natural look. Much depends, of course, on the appearance of the wood beneath. I'd like a good job but I don't want it to break the bank. Anyone know a trustworthy refinisher who does good work?
I know... with these kinds of things you don't really know what you're in for until you strip the commercial coat off and see what's beneath. Maybe it's plain ugly grain... or dead boring. I don't mind if it takes time to figure it out... it's like a puzzle. I also know that if you want it good and you want it cheap you can't reasonably expect it to be fast. Hell, I don't even want it cheap - I just don't want it to be insane. I was thinking of the satin finish because I have a Godin Exit 22 with a fantastic finish... it's quite beautiful in an understated way. The Eastwood body is (probably) basswood as opposed to the Godin's mahogany.
I asked my local go-to guitar tech guy but I gather he's not especially into refinishing guitars like mine and he only knew of some high-end paint guy who does really sophisticated stuff - and it's very expensive. I'm looking to simply ditch a second-rate finish and replace it with something fairly unremarkable but solid.
Any suggestions and personal experiences would be welcome - cheers. I've never taken a guitar to be refinished so I'm definitely in newbie territory here.
Max
I have a guitar I'm thinking I'd like to have refinished. It's an Eastwood Studio 6 that I scored via Craigslist recently. It's a pretty cool guitar and feels solid enough but there is a sloppy finish flaw on the left edge of the headstock that kind of sucks and the whole guitar (basically a slimmer take on a LP with P-90s) is TV yellow... I'm not too fond of bright and flashy guitars but the thing feels very good in my hands and I scored it for a good price. I'd like to maybe have it stripped and just a fairly austere satin finish applied for a more natural look. Much depends, of course, on the appearance of the wood beneath. I'd like a good job but I don't want it to break the bank. Anyone know a trustworthy refinisher who does good work?
I know... with these kinds of things you don't really know what you're in for until you strip the commercial coat off and see what's beneath. Maybe it's plain ugly grain... or dead boring. I don't mind if it takes time to figure it out... it's like a puzzle. I also know that if you want it good and you want it cheap you can't reasonably expect it to be fast. Hell, I don't even want it cheap - I just don't want it to be insane. I was thinking of the satin finish because I have a Godin Exit 22 with a fantastic finish... it's quite beautiful in an understated way. The Eastwood body is (probably) basswood as opposed to the Godin's mahogany.
I asked my local go-to guitar tech guy but I gather he's not especially into refinishing guitars like mine and he only knew of some high-end paint guy who does really sophisticated stuff - and it's very expensive. I'm looking to simply ditch a second-rate finish and replace it with something fairly unremarkable but solid.
Any suggestions and personal experiences would be welcome - cheers. I've never taken a guitar to be refinished so I'm definitely in newbie territory here.
Max