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thunder 1 finish

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Post by IanO Mon Feb 07, 2011 12:50 pm

I'm seriously considering refinishing my 'natural' thunder 1 to finish similar to the les paul studio (stain but apparently no lacquer)- I like the wood of the thunder but not the colour.
Has anyone ever stripped the finish from one of these. Is it going to be elbow grease or chemicals? Any info would be gratefully received.
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Post by grogg Mon Feb 07, 2011 1:34 pm

I have, elbow grease. With using chemicals you cpuld end up with random stains you dont want.
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Post by IanO Mon Feb 07, 2011 3:28 pm

Cheers Grogg....I had a horrible feeling that would be the answer. It' out on loan at the m, but will start when I get it back. Pics when done...if successful!

How did you finish yours? Was it a restoration?
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Post by Westbone Mon Feb 07, 2011 3:31 pm

There's plenty of topics on here as regards refin.
Why's your avatar got a pic. of a strat, Where's your Westone??
Jeses! those focus or was it f---us as these cars were known colour doing, looks radioactive. Very Happy Very Happy
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Post by Barry Mon Feb 07, 2011 3:39 pm

The finish on a Mats defies you to remove it! It's tough as nails and absolutely no fun to tackle.
If it's any consolation, the clear Thunder finish may be marginally easier to remove than the full out catalyzed polyester paint found on the Specs and Panteras. I say "may" in the context of taking it down a bit to level it off and then rebuilding with a similar finish.

But in your case, changing to a matte (as opposed to Mat) colour, all bets are off. You'll need a massive amount of sanding to find enough open grain to allow penetration. It isn't impossible, but it's not easy. Mats did some beautiful transparent colored finishes on these guitars and others, but the colour was in the finish, not the wood.
Bummer eh? Neutral

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Post by grogg Mon Feb 07, 2011 3:52 pm

I got mine back to the wood, it wasnt easy.
Finish, I used a, cant remember, have to come back in a min.
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Post by grogg Mon Feb 07, 2011 4:10 pm

Here you go:-
The finish I used was nitrocellulose lacquer high gloss 70% from wood finishes direct, its slightly off a full gloss finish, if you want that they have a higher gloss (90%) version. Lost count how many coats but more than 10.. To see what it looked like and it is still really good have a look here:-

http://forum.westoneguitars.net/t441-thnuder-1a-bass-restore

I would have liked to have stained as you are thinking but the damage to the wood was too much. I remember cutting pieces of ash veneer as near as I could match the grain, filling the holes and laying the veneer on top. Then again making maple sawdust to fill the holes in that bit and the darker wood Im afraid I used crayon. Took a lot of time and complaints from the Mrs but I found it cathartic, ended up with a nice bass that will never ever ever achieve a value remotely near the effort but its mine.
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Post by IanO Mon Feb 07, 2011 4:22 pm

Bless my ten toes you like a challenge Grogg. My thunder has a small area just above the strings between the p/ups - looks like someone has dug a plectrum in. I'm not going for a perfect finish-the biggest damage is a perfectly triangular dig made when i dropped a pedal on it-but it's all part of it's history.

Westbone-The strat avatar came about as I only joined recently and whilst commenting about my strat on another thread, felt it would do 'til I got my Thunder 1 back and did the business on it - watch this (or that) space!
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Post by The Chad Tue Feb 08, 2011 10:26 am

That bass looks fantastic, great job! I'd love to see a Thunder with a different finish. If anyone could do it, looks like you'd be the one.
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