64 Strat body arrived, but what to do about the refinish?

[Voxshall]

So I got my strat body which has been refinished in Olympic white nitro back in 1969, so has some seriously cool mojo on it, but someone sandpapered the white finish badly, so it looks like a botched paint job. So do I sand out the sanding scratches so the finish looks professional and respectable but risk sanding away some well earned rock n roll mojo in the process, should I leave it as is, or do I risk it for the biscuit and sand off all the white finish to hopefully leave the original sunburst finish underneath or whats left of it as it has some serious wear "could have a Rory strat on my hands. Someone botched sanded hacked at the finish under the scratchplate and spilled over the sides, so I did a bit of quick sanding to check out the sunburst underneath and it looks promising so far. What would you guys do?

The finish looks to be white, red sealer type color, white, grey, sunburst in some places but in others its just white then wood, so mysterious.









The guitar came to me like this....



and then I did a little quick sand tonight to leave this....

[calling card]

I'd try and remove that white very delicately and get some idea of what that burst looks like, archeology. Talk to a painter perhaps. With just the right kind of thinner might be able to soften the top coat enough to rub off, problem being if it too softens the coat underneath. Scotchbrite & thinner of some sort perhaps.

[Delayman]

I have no expertise in guitar finishes, but looking at what you found under the pick guard I’d risk trying to gently take the white off. To me it looks rough as is, so might as well go for rough but original mojo....

[NippleWrestler]

Keep going. You've done great so far.

[mrmofo]

put a guard on it and see what it looks like. leave it as is, white guitars Rock!

[AiRdAd]

Given that it's a 1960's body, I'd seek professional advice from one of the good Luthiers. Two options could be to either try and return the body to sunburst, or if that's not possible, do a while relic paint job over the sunburst. This can look really cool, and you have wear marks showing through to the sunburst (like it's got now.) Again considering that it's a 60's body, it's worth doing nicely - so if know one can do it locally, someone like MJT would be the ones to go for.

[Voxshall]

I'm really not interested in a new refinish or reliced guitar for this one would rather have the natural mojo collected over the years on the white finish or have the original finish but the issue I'm having is the wear marks spotted all over the guitar I'm uncovering them not creating them through my sanding, they look a bit unnatural.

At first I wanted to leave the body white as is, but uncovering the sunburst the original finish feels so organic and if I uncover a completely worn away guitar sunburst is definately the finish you want to have for that. I'll take it to a few pro's and see what they say

[mrmofo]

maybe, instead of sanding it. give it a good clean with a non abrasive (if you haven't already)

Brasso or Silvo is great for guitar finishes (I`m sure Nitro is ok but if I`m wrong then someone will come to the rescue)

[StrummersOfThunder]

Inomce stripped off aboit a metric ton of black paint from a sunburst hofner bass whilst preserving the sunburst remarkably well.
It took forever. Gentle scraping , cauitious use of a heat gun and even a little thinner. But you have to be VERY careful. Worst case scenario you go for a refund and relic to your liking if it all goes tits up

[calling card]

You could try window cleaner, soft option, 40 year bake on that paint though, might soften it. Work on a small area on the back.

Next option move up a gear or two with acetone. Caveat; I've never tried acetone on nitrocellulose. See below..

Bought the ticket - no turning back option is lacquer thinner, this WILL re melt the paint, dab a small amount onto a cloth, proceed with caution.

[GrantB]

If the white comes off easy enough with gentle manual abrasion that's the way to go. Anything wet on there (thinners etc) is going to move that white paint into the nicks and grain of the exposed wood and look like a milky mess. Don't!

It's always a tough one when the finish it this messed with.

[rickenbackerkid]

I'd keep going as you are. Even if you can't get all the white off, it looks amazing and hooray for genuine wear, not fake relic!

[Danger Mouse]

I'd personally bolt a neck onto it and chuck some hardware at it and enjoy as it is, it looks fecking awesome.

[Voxshall]

I compared it to all original 64 and a 63 today, was fun times. Was told the chip in the pickup cavity often happened at the factory with the way they where routed my mate had an all orginal 63 (now sold to a guy 8n england) with the exact same thing in the exact same place.

[Voxshall]

Haven't tackled the paint in the chips yet or given it a polish, but I'm happy with the back.