carlsim

That is a very good idea! I need to see how nice I can make the rout (probably going with copper foil tape) and luckily, I can make one at work with the laser cutter... sounds like a plan. It's gone to the local luthier for it's refinish - he is going to do a very subtle darkening of the grain and wood before it's refinish so will see how it comes out.

i will Double check the measurements - nice one!

Thanks @AndyTravis I think you are on the money, a darker tint to it will bring the grain out a bit. Plus all the other natural stingrays out there are just lacquered so this will make it kind of unique! it’s the black hardware issue I’m having trouble with!

To be honest I’m 95% set on a natural finish, slightly toned down and high gloss. I’m not a fan of trans colour finishes to be honest, and I think it’s too nice a grain to cover up.

The guy doing the refinish will be doing further finish sanding so that’s my bit done for now and time to pass it across.

Sanded back to the wood - that sealer coat was a b**** to sand through - I was instructed to do the sides by hand to avoid taking too much wood away. That took hours!

Original paint work - you can certainly see the duff job of the original rattle can job….

So after a successful strip and refinish using Tru-oil of an Xotic a while back, I recently acquired a very reasonably priced Stingray 5 from @wordsetcetera for the pure reason that the finish was in a bit of a sorry state. It would appear that someone had gone over its original trans red finish with a solid red rattle can finish (which wasn’t perfect but not too bad) and then lacquered it. Unfortunately, due to some rigorous polishing the lacquer was peeling off and it had started to look a bit sorry for its self. I took a punt for this reason with an original intention to do another tru-oil refinish and job done. But, I started thinking about colours and asked the BC community about ideas of colours and what they think looks good with a stingray. There were some excellent ideas and some of the colours from The new special series are amazing. However, after stripping the guitar I have decided that a natural finish is going to be the way to go. It was originally a trans red finish so I had an idea that grain would be nice, but now it’s back to the Wood. I think it’s definitely going to be a natural finish. I’m quite lucky that I live quite near a talented luthier and he’s going to do a high gloss nitro finish for me. We did discuss the idea of a dirty stain, which involves staining the wood and then sanding back to make a slightly darker look especially on the grain and I think this could be quite cool. I have been painting stripping and sanding over the last few weeks (fitting this in between other jobs) and it’s now ready to go off to be finished. I wanted to give it a more modern look as well and I think the black hardware on the new special series look really good. A natural finish stingray with a maple neck, looks great with a black scratch plane and I think this would be aided with black tuners, a black bridge and black knobs. My biggest issue is where to source these! Schaller make some black tuners which would fit nicely and a slightly lighter than the originals. But Ernie Ball don’t allow you to buy replacement bridges in different colours. I can get original music man tuners but they don’t supply and send to the UK. I do have family in America who could buy them for me and post them but I reckon it will be close to 200 quid. My question is this - can I have a chrome bridge changed to black? I don’t think powder coating would work as apparently it’s quite a thick coating. I did look into anodising but apparently the biggest problem is getting the chrome off. Anybody tried anything like this? Does anybody have a stingray five Black bridge they’d want to swap for a chrome one? Doubtful, I know but always worth an ask! I do think the black hardware would improve the look no end so I will definitely be doing this. Other than that is a non-original music man bridge but I don’t know which one would fit and I don’t want to drill extra holes. Feel free to weigh in on the colour options as well - I’m not 100% on the natural finish if someone has some other ideas but the grain looks great. I’d rather not cover it! Will post updates when the refinish process starts… Carl.

Will post a few pics a bit later with the progress - have stripped all the horrible rattle can paint and original finish and am now sanding through the sealer coat to get back to the wood. Front and back are back to the wood, I just need to do the sides and a few little nooks and crannies and then I can start doing some finish sanding before it goes to the local luthier for its refinish. Having seen the wood now, I think I am going to be boring and go for a natural finish - it's a lovely 2 piece matched grain and would be a shame to hide it, but I am going to speak to the guy about doing what he called - a dirty stain. Staining the wood darker, sanding it back but allowing some of the stain to remain. It should look a bit a smidge darker and it will hopefully bring the grain out and make it pop a bit more. Am doing a bit of sanding later so will upload some pics.

Will post a few pics a bit later with the progress - have stripped all the horrible rattle can paint and original finish and am now sanding through the sealer coat to get back to the wood. Front and back are back to the wood, I just need to do the sides and a few little nooks and crannies and then I can start doing some finish sanding before it goes to the local luthier for its refinish. Having seen the wood now, I think I am going to be boring and go for a natural finish - it's a lovely 2 piece matched grain and would be a shame to hide it, but I am going to speak to the guy about doing what he called - a dirty stain. Staining the wood darker, sanding it back but allowing some of the stain to remain. It should look a bit a smidge darker and it will hopefully bring the grain out and make it pop a bit more. Am doing a bit of sanding later so will upload some pics.

thanks for all the comments guys… I went and saw a local luthier today - Carl Munson at Munson Guitars who is ten minutes down the road from me and with me stripping the current finish, he is going to do a very competitive refinish for me. He was keen to do a natural finish (gloss nitro finish) and I do like the idea, but it all depends on what I find underneath the paint. he also showed me about a ‘dirty stain’ natural finish - staining the wood with a dark stain then sanding back to make it pop a bit more as a natural finish. I would be worried about it being too light and boring so anything to bring the grain out a bit more can’t be a bad thing. Will be stripping it towards the end of August so will update and make a build thread so anyone interested. thanks!

Wow! Lots of comments, and some great ideas for the colour. I have been looking at the EB catalogue and I do like the look of what I think they call HD yellow? With the black plate and black hardware, it looks pretty cool… plus a solid colour will be cheaper! although I wonder what that would look like with a metallic finish?? I’m going to strip it first and see what the grain looks like and go from there… I will upload some pics of how it transforms, although won’t be for a little while as I need it for a few gigs first…

Hi all, I'm shortly going to be stripping and refinishing a Stingray 5. I picked it up quite cheap as it needed a refinish so I am going to be sanding and stripping it myself and then sending it on to someone for a refinish - unless i sand back to the wood and it has a lovely grain then I may consider a tru-oil finish with a poly top coat for a glossy finish. So basically, the (colour) world is my oyster... what would you have? It has a maple neck and fingerboard, natural headstock and currently sports a black scratchplate. I would like to change the hardware for black lightweight options as I like black on a SR5 and it looks a bit tired. With a fresh finish, I would prefer it to look nice and new. So... i don't want a plain black or white finish, if I go solid colour, something funky could be desirable... I do like the look of the new Kiwi Green colour which is now available... What combinations look good in your book for a SR5?

Hi all, I'm shortly going to be stripping and refinishing a Stingray 5. I picked it up quite cheap as it needed a refinish so I am going to be sanding and stripping it myself and then sending it on to someone for a refinish - unless i sand back to the wood and it has a lovely grain then I may consider a tru-oil finish with a poly top coat for a glossy finish. So basically, the (colour) world is my oyster... what would you have? It has a maple neck and fingerboard, natural headstock and currently sports a black scratchplate. I would like to change the hardware for black lightweight options as I like black on a SR5 and it looks a bit tired. With a fresh finish, I would prefer it to look nice and new. So... i don't want a plain black or white finish, if I go solid colour, something funky could be desirable... I do like the look of the new Kiwi Green colour which is now available... What combinations look good in your book for a SR5?