I've been wanting to refinish (naturalise) my MH-400 for some time now. Finally found some time to do it, plus lurking around here was a big motivator ![Smile :) :)](data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7)
Started off with some research, found some good examples here (MH-250) and here (MH-1000).
Learning from what happened with the ascender's MH-250,
i decided to try and preserve the quilted maple top, as i had a rather nice piece.
So sanding the front was out of the question. Luckily my dad runs a furniture factory, so he managed to dig up some old lacquer stripper.
It's about 4 years old, so it's lost some of its strength, which is why i had to do multiple coats of it.
For those not familiar with this type of stripper, it attacks lacquers and dyes but leaves the wood intact. You apply it, leave it on a couple of hours then scoop it off.
Tried it out on a piece of parquet :
, worked well so i moved on to the back of the guitar.
The guitar looked like it had grown some new lifeforms on it.
When cleaned, this is what you're left with :
Recorded a sample of the process for those interested in it :
www.youtube.com/embed/7EFg9jJMwcU
Started off with some research, found some good examples here (MH-250) and here (MH-1000).
Learning from what happened with the ascender's MH-250,
![16awfmt.jpg](http://i28.tinypic.com/16awfmt.jpg)
![wa0kzc.jpg](http://i39.tinypic.com/wa0kzc.jpg)
So sanding the front was out of the question. Luckily my dad runs a furniture factory, so he managed to dig up some old lacquer stripper.
![so9wy8.jpg](http://i40.tinypic.com/so9wy8.jpg)
It's about 4 years old, so it's lost some of its strength, which is why i had to do multiple coats of it.
For those not familiar with this type of stripper, it attacks lacquers and dyes but leaves the wood intact. You apply it, leave it on a couple of hours then scoop it off.
Tried it out on a piece of parquet :
![2eztzf7.jpg](http://i43.tinypic.com/2eztzf7.jpg)
![2w7iih3.jpg](http://i44.tinypic.com/2w7iih3.jpg)
The guitar looked like it had grown some new lifeforms on it.
![vg3hpj.jpg](http://i44.tinypic.com/vg3hpj.jpg)
When cleaned, this is what you're left with :
![2v93bsn.jpg](http://i40.tinypic.com/2v93bsn.jpg)
![9l9vn4.jpg](http://i40.tinypic.com/9l9vn4.jpg)
Recorded a sample of the process for those interested in it :
www.youtube.com/embed/7EFg9jJMwcU