Concord 1 strip down and repaint.

I was fortunate enough yesterday to pick up a Concord 1 1984 via Gumtree Glasgow for £30 (including a small practice amp and lead). Unfortunately it has been resprayed metallic purple!!!!!!!! The paint job in its self is actually OK, its just a bit "in yer face" The purple colour just doesn't stop at the bodywork. The pickups, tone and volume knobs, pickup selector switch and even the screws that hold the scratch plate in position are purple.
The guitar was originally black and I would like to return it to its former glory. Both volume and tone pots will be replaced thanks to "Spares"
Any thoughts on how to strip the purple paint job? I thought Nitromores for the body but I am unsure about the reaction of this on the purple pickups!
Fraser
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There is nothing glorious about black. In your face metallic purple is a million times better. Hell, flat brown is better than black. Just not black, there's eight billion boring black guitars. Stand out!

Yeah, what Warrn said, north-west-one. Black is OK but can be a little flat looking, especially with a rosewood fretboard; maple looks a lot better but you don't always get that combo. My Concord II is black with a rosewood board but it kinda makes for it with a huge white pick guard which breaks up the blackness and adds a lot of visual interest. But in the end, it's still black and white!

BTW, great buy! Let's have pic or two, eh?

Paint stripper will "melt" all plastic parts.

Westbone wrote:Paint stripper will "melt" all plastic parts.

Dontcha hate when that happens?
You can try adhesive remover; it's "supposed" to remove the paint without damaging the plastic. Otherwise a light sanding and repainting over the purple is about all ya can do.

I bet the metallic purple is awesome.

OOOH! Metallic purple sounds good to me!

Clean everything else up and leave the purple where it is, much more interesting than boring old black! Errgghh!

How is it I can never find bargains like that? You can always send it to me if you want, now that I've finished my floors, I'm bored and need something to do to keep me out of mischief! Hint, hint!!!

Well done there and get some piccies up quick smart please!

Polly

Here it is then. Purple or what!

Actually...not that bad! I was expecting a lot worse.
I don't care much for the pups and knobs in purple tho'!

I'd concentrate on cleaning them up and leave the rest of the body as is, assuming it's done well. BUT, go easy on them knobs...they're originals and you don't want to bugger them up! The after market replacements are OK but not as good quality (he said, speaking from recent experience).

It does look like you may need a fret dressing or even replacement, the bottom end is well grooved. How's the top look?

Cool!! I like it!! Maybe the knobs and pup covers are a bit OTT, but otherwise, very cool... and Concords did come in a sparkly metallic blue from memory!!

Actually, I like the p'up covers too.....

I can sum up my feelings on this in two words:

DO WANT.

Nice guitar mate, I'm liking the colour too!

If you want to remove the paint from the pickups and knobs you could try wiping them with a rag soaked in paint stripper or thinner, just keep checking that the plastic isn't being damaged.

It's far safer than dunking them in something that's going to destroy the plastics in minutes. I just hope the plastics haven't been roughed up with some wet'n'dry!

DAN.

Thanks for your response's. I am warming to the colour and will probably leave well alone just in case of damage. The frets are pretty worn up top as well. First thing though is to get the electrics replaced. The cost of fret replacement is scary so I will leave this until a later day. (When the lottery pays out.)

Well, the strat knobs could be prised off and cleaned up simply because if it goes pear shaped, after-market knobs are a dime a dozen, really! So, what do we think would be a suitable replacement for these knobs?

Rewiring it would be a doddle...

http://www.westone.info/wiring/c1/index.html

...I've just redone my strat and whacked in some mods to boot - star grounding, replaced some caps etc. and if I can do it, my friend, so can you!!

You Jammy B*****

I live in Bothwell and check Gumtree daily. Was it stuck in with a house clearance or something? I would strip it and start again. My method was Lidl paint thinners and a few sharp Stanley's. As everyone says, watch how you treat the plastic with thinners.

If you make a mistake on the plastic, let it harden and polish with P1500 wet and dry and then T cut.

Give me a call or a PM if you want to talk about it.

Graham 01698 854815

hoax wrote:...Give me a call or a PM if you want to talk about it...

Um, not wise to publish yer phone number for the world Graham

Great paint job!...Me like....

I've been wanting to do one in purple for a while now.... love the look. Nice job.

P.

Well, the latest on the Concord 1 is that David at "spares " has forwarded the required bits and the guitar now has 500k volume and tone pots and plays really well. The worn frets are not causing any problems.(Yet). This was my first attempt at full scale electrical surgery and the soldering wouldn't win any prizes but the guitar works so I am pretty chuffed. The 500k's replace the original 250k ones and a new 47nF capacitor was also replaced.
Once again thanks for the comments and advice.
Fraser

Good for you, man; see - not so hard now was it?! The more I look at the Concords, the more I like the early ones; straight cops of the strat and tele set-up but with original designs - fabulous!!!

corsair wrote:Good for you, man; see - not so hard now was it?! The more I look at the Concords, the more I like the early ones; straight cops of the strat and tele set-up but with original designs - fabulous!!!

Like This?

Yep; exactly that!! Hey, 'bout time you did a photo essay of all your guitars, there, Barry, doncha think; I know I'd like to see 'em all!! I'll just beetle across to "Member's Westones" and wait for said pix, shall I?!

corsair wrote:...'bout time you did a photo essay of all your guitars, there, Barry, doncha think...

Ya know, it sneaks up on ya!
Since you mentioned it I did a count (on my fingers) and I actually have 10 Mats guitars now!
They make up more than half of my collection of 19! 5 Vantage and 5 Westone.

Can't buy any more....unless I take off my shoes 'n' socks!