Unmatching a headstock!

[Waddycall]

I really dislike colour matched headstocks and my highly customised Ray34 has one (black). How feasible is it to strip the paint and refinish clear with a new set of decals ? I’m pretty good with sandpaper but wonder how deep into the grain the black paint might go?

[neepheid]

18 minutes ago, Waddycall said:

I really dislike colour matched headstocks and my highly customised Ray34 has one (black). How feasible is it to strip the paint and refinish clear with a new set of decals ? I’m pretty good with sandpaper but wonder how deep into the grain the black paint might go?

 

Eminently feasible. I'm guessing it's a maple neck. The finish won't seep far into maple. You won't lose too much wood when removing the finish.

[yorks5stringer]

You could just buy a very thin piece of laminate (ash/oak/maple), glue it on, shape and then do your decal and refinish......

[rmorris]

10 hours ago, Waddycall said:

I really dislike colour matched headstocks and my highly customised Ray34 has one (black). How feasible is it to strip the paint and refinish clear with a new set of decals ? I’m pretty good with sandpaper but wonder how deep into the grain the black paint might go?

 

tbh I'd likely 'work on' overcoming a dislike of colour matched headstocks.

After all, you can't really see it when you're playing 😀

of course YMMV. 

It should work out fine to strip I think.

I'd normally caution that it will affect resale value potential  - but since you state that it's highly customised that may not be relevant.

[Waddycall]

8 hours ago, rmorris said:

 

tbh I'd likely 'work on' overcoming a dislike of colour matched headstocks.

After all, you can't really see it when you're playing 😀

of course YMMV. 

It should work out fine to strip I think.

I'd normally caution that it will affect resale value potential  - but since you state that it's highly customised that may not be relevant.

Don’t really want to overcome it,  I enjoy tinkering with stuff and making it mine - for fun. 

[Paul S]

I dislike red guitars with a passion.  For some reason I bought a red Fender Precision Lyte with faulty electrics and decided to refinish it.  I remember why - it was cheap  Precision Lyte basses have matching headstocks so I decided to refinish in the body black and remove the red on the headstock and finish in clear.  IME a little red paint goes a long way but it actually came off just fine and I did what you are intedned to do - had a new replica decal made that included the original serial number.  Couple of coats of clear, job done.  Looked good, in fact.  Unlike the body refin - I ended up handing it over to @Andyjr1515 who worked his magic on it.  Sold on since, of course.

Edited January 31, 2022 by Paul S
To make sense.

[Maude]

On 30/01/2022 at 11:20, Waddycall said:

 I’m pretty good with sandpaper but wonder how deep into the grain the black paint might go?

 

It'll more likely than not have a coat of sanding sealer (like clear primer) on the wood before the black was applied, so the black shouldn't have gone into the grain at all. 

 

IME the face of a headstock is easy/quick to do because of the small size, you don't get bored of all the contours and edges like a body, so don't end up rushing it, then subsequently wishing you'd spent more time doing it properly. 

 

Top tip when lacquering a headstock face. Mask everything you need to but leave about 5mm down the sides until last. Once everything but this area is masked, run a length of masking tape around the perimeter of the headstock but about half a mil down the side of the headstock, rather than try and get it exactly on the 90° of the face/side. It is infinitely easier to get a nice line this way. Once lacquered but still wet, CAREFULLY peel that last strip of tape off that you put on, the wet lacquer edge will flow out and not leave you with a sharp masking edge, as it would if you let it dry first.