I’ve decided to take on a guitar
re-finish project. I’ll try to take pictures along the way and post them here
along with descriptions so you can see what it’s like for a non-professional to
try something like this. It seems to be a pretty easy process: remove all the
hardware and electronics from the guitar, strip the existing finish off, and then
apply a new one. There. That’s easy. Mmhmm.
Although I’ve only played a PRS once, it
felt good and I’ve wanted one for a while anyway just because they look nice
and they have a good reputation. After some research, I decided on the SE
Korina singlecut because it’s more affordable and I won’t freak out if I really
fuck it up. It retails at roughly $600 online but I was able to find a used one
on eBay for far cheaper. The initial bidding began at $369. I was the first to
bid and I put in $370 because I am a nice person.
There are many reasons I went with the
Korina aside from affordability however. Reviews say it is a solid guitar and PRS does a good job with their Korean made guitars. Korina wood is close in tonal characteristics to mahogany. Many say wood does
not have a big effect on sound but that’s an argument I can’t participate in.
Other reasons I decided on this guitar:
- Passive pickups. My other guitar has actives so this will be a nice change of pace. There’s a good chance I will upgrade them to seymour duncans later.
- The PRS bridge is a wrap-around tailpiece that doesn’t have a separate saddle piece for string length adjustment. Perfect intonation may be sacrificed, but I prefer this for aesthetic purposes on this guitar.
- The body, neck, and headstock don’t have binding. The newer models have it but the serial number indicates this guitar was made in 2009 when they weren't binding the SE line. I like some binding but I think it would only complicate things when I strip and re-finish. And since my goal is to have a natural looking guitar with a dark finish, I thought white binding along the neck would contrast the overall look and subtract from the simplicity.
- The inlays. Most PRS guitars have the signature “birds in flight” inlays which look great. This Korina has crescent moon dot inlays which look just as sweet. They aren’t as iconic as the birds but they are classy and perhaps just as unique to PRS
- The guitar comes in a natural finish. If it was coated in a solid color then I couldn’t be sure what the grain looks like underneath until I stripped it. I shouldn’t have to worry about uncovering any secrets I can’t see from the onset.
- The body and neck are both made of korina. I want one shade over the entire guitar. If the top had a veneer different than the back of the body or the neck was an entirely different species, it’d be nearly impossible to match up stains and I’d probably have to get a lot more creative in selection. A guitar entirely made of the same wood type will maintain the consistent look I’m shooting for.
Okay, that's the guitar. Now a few thoughts on what I'll end up doing. I'll have to get full-fledged plan eventually.
My goal is to get rid of the vintage amber and go for a darker shade. There are a few things I’ll be changing once I get
the new finish on:
- I’ll definitely replace the white pickup rings with black ones.
- I might black out all the other hardware: black Grover tuners, black tailpiece, black volume and tone controls. I’m still undecided on this and I’ll have to make the judgment once I know what the finished guitar will look like.
- Strap locks
A few thoughts
- I will be sanding because it’s the cleanest and most fool-proof way of doing it. I won’t say “easy” because I’ve read that it is a LOT of work to sand the old finish off. Luckily, this guitar supposedly has a thinner finish than usual. My main area of concern is sanding along the edge of the fretboard. It’s made of rosewood and has dots to mark the frets. I’d rather not get that marked up and have to re-finish that as well but from what I’ve read, it’s too difficult to try to avoid that and tape won’t go very far. They say it’s best to just sand the back and sides of the neck like normal and go back and re-finish any part of the rosewood that got seriously nicked up.
- I want to remove the paint on the headstock as well but this is covered in black so it will undoubtedly take much more work than the body or neck. Once I get the guitar I will have to examine it to see how much will have to come off. I’m also assuming it is korina directly underneath but I’ll have to verify that.
- Once I get it down to smooth bare wood, that’s when I will have to figure out the best options for preparing and actually staining the wood. There is the question of whether to fill the pores. That I will have to look into more.
- Then my biggest concern is the method of staining/dying the wood and what shade to go with. I’ve read that finishing oil is very easy. Ideally, I’d be able to run a few trials on a sample of korina but I don’t know how accessible that wood is.
That’s all I can think of for now. Surely, once I begin, I will come across many unforeseen issues but hopefully I can figure them out as I go. My dad has a shop full of tools and he has some good know-how on woodworking so everything should turn out okay.
For reference, these are the first articles
I read on sanding off a finish. I will use these along with a few other sources
to figure out the best approach to begin.
Step One: Win the eBay auction.
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