Parallax
New Member
Hi everybody!
First thread here, and since I've been seeing a lot of people hesitating to refinish their RG7321 due to the aspect of the wood and so on, I decided to give it a go!
A month ago, I was on the verge of selling it, but on the spur of the moment, decided to give it a new look. A month later, I can't even think about letting it go!
Anyway, I started without really knowing what to expect, by stripping it off with a standard electric sander. First mistake here : unless you want to spend an awful amount of time sanding, this is definitely not the right solution. After a few try, I just succeeded in getting through the layers of paint, but the sealer was awfully thick and hard to remove.
Few days later, I borrowed a heat gun from a friend, and even if the job was messy, it worked a lot better. A couple of hours and a few sandings later, I was pleased to see that the wood was not so lame. First thing I wanted to do was to go bevel on the horns and the bottom. I used a dremel for that, and it worked fine.
At first, I wanted to stain the entire body, but I quickly changed my mind to limit the staining to the top. I went to the hardware store, but living in western France, I had a hard time finding the right dye since they were all kinda suited for furniture work and everything. I eventually bought a dark anthracite dye, having the Paul Waggoner signature in mind. Even though the process turned out quite good, I wasn't 100% satisfied with the result. There was indeed a kind of glittery reflect that I was afraid I would quickly get fed up with.
So.. I started all over again. I came back to the hardware store, and picked up a sweet and dark wenge finish. I taped everything off again, and got back to staining. I don't regret doing that again, since I am now 100% happy with the result! I did a total of five layers of stain to get to a decent color. I then picked up two varnishes : the first one was a light oak stained varnish, the second one a clear lacquer. I did another six thin layers of varnish, with light sanding between each coat.
It was a huge relief to see how it turned out. It was now time to focus on the electronic and pickups part. I decided to go with a Pegasus/Sentient kit that I bought for a hundred bucks on the french craigslist. They were almost brand new, i thought it was a pretty decent deal! My dad gave me a hand wiring everything up, and we were glad to hear that there was not a single interference, not even a single buzz when we plugged the guitar in!
It was time to reassemble everything and to bring the guitar to my local guitar store to get it set. They did a great job, and the guitar sounds massive. In conclusion, I am really happy with how these little mods turned out, 10/10 would do it again!
Some quick and simple advices :
1) Don't bother with a sander at first. Use a heat gun with a sharp scraper and it will do!
2) If you only want to stain the top of you guitar with a clear delimitation, tape is ok but it might not be efficient. I recommend to stain the top first, then to sand the sides and to varnish the whole guitar after.
3) Cavities for the pups might be to deep if you change them. I used a kind of polystyrene foam and it worked fine.
Thanks for reading everything, and please feel free to contact me if you have any questions for your own 7321!
First thread here, and since I've been seeing a lot of people hesitating to refinish their RG7321 due to the aspect of the wood and so on, I decided to give it a go!
A month ago, I was on the verge of selling it, but on the spur of the moment, decided to give it a new look. A month later, I can't even think about letting it go!
Anyway, I started without really knowing what to expect, by stripping it off with a standard electric sander. First mistake here : unless you want to spend an awful amount of time sanding, this is definitely not the right solution. After a few try, I just succeeded in getting through the layers of paint, but the sealer was awfully thick and hard to remove.
Few days later, I borrowed a heat gun from a friend, and even if the job was messy, it worked a lot better. A couple of hours and a few sandings later, I was pleased to see that the wood was not so lame. First thing I wanted to do was to go bevel on the horns and the bottom. I used a dremel for that, and it worked fine.
At first, I wanted to stain the entire body, but I quickly changed my mind to limit the staining to the top. I went to the hardware store, but living in western France, I had a hard time finding the right dye since they were all kinda suited for furniture work and everything. I eventually bought a dark anthracite dye, having the Paul Waggoner signature in mind. Even though the process turned out quite good, I wasn't 100% satisfied with the result. There was indeed a kind of glittery reflect that I was afraid I would quickly get fed up with.
So.. I started all over again. I came back to the hardware store, and picked up a sweet and dark wenge finish. I taped everything off again, and got back to staining. I don't regret doing that again, since I am now 100% happy with the result! I did a total of five layers of stain to get to a decent color. I then picked up two varnishes : the first one was a light oak stained varnish, the second one a clear lacquer. I did another six thin layers of varnish, with light sanding between each coat.
It was a huge relief to see how it turned out. It was now time to focus on the electronic and pickups part. I decided to go with a Pegasus/Sentient kit that I bought for a hundred bucks on the french craigslist. They were almost brand new, i thought it was a pretty decent deal! My dad gave me a hand wiring everything up, and we were glad to hear that there was not a single interference, not even a single buzz when we plugged the guitar in!
It was time to reassemble everything and to bring the guitar to my local guitar store to get it set. They did a great job, and the guitar sounds massive. In conclusion, I am really happy with how these little mods turned out, 10/10 would do it again!
Some quick and simple advices :
1) Don't bother with a sander at first. Use a heat gun with a sharp scraper and it will do!
2) If you only want to stain the top of you guitar with a clear delimitation, tape is ok but it might not be efficient. I recommend to stain the top first, then to sand the sides and to varnish the whole guitar after.
3) Cavities for the pups might be to deep if you change them. I used a kind of polystyrene foam and it worked fine.
Thanks for reading everything, and please feel free to contact me if you have any questions for your own 7321!
