Semi-vintage beater. Refinish?

[tomteriffic]

I have a line on a small-guard 1963 SG Junior that I can pick up at a livable price. It's pretty much like my first "good" electric guitar so I'll admit to some sentimentality. Still, it's a decent deal. It's all there (whammy has been taken off and the holes plugged but all the parts are there, not a bad thing in my book), everything works, it sounds rude and plays very well. Frets in good shape (probably a fairly recent refret), etc.

But

The finish on the body has been mauled. There's not that much that goes through to the wood, but loads of dings, scrapes, gouges and you name it. At some point, it looks like somebody went over the worst of the mess with a pretty close shade of red nail polish that shows up pink if you get the light right. The whole thing looks like some sort of 3-D topographic map. The back of the neck has been sanded but I can live with that. My old one had a bad case of "sticky neck" and I hated it anyway.

Anyway, you get the idea. It's a good player with a terrible finish. If I get it, I don't know that I'd be parting with it any time soon, (see sentimentality comment above), but if I were to get the body refinned, considering the shape it's in now, how much damage would I be doing to the value? No I'm not going into numbers, it's a price I can live with, all things considered.

Discuss.

TIA

[Punkavenger]

Tru-Oil is irreversible, is it not?

I'm not sure what you mean by irreversible. Its more of a varnish than oil but you could >>> A. Easily re-strip the guitar if you decide you dont like the tru oil finish and finish it with whatever product you desire. B, Add more coats of tru oil if you want a glossier finish or to touch up scratches etc.. C. Also I believe you can put a sealer (possibly even just shellac) over the tru oil and then finish with a more traditional coating

[Roshark]

Photos please . The rule of thumb is refinishing will cut the value in half on a vintage guitar . That said there are some people that have the ability to do a refinish where experts can't tell for sure . Quite a few vintage guitars get sold off as being original when in fact they are refins . Buyers and sellers may or may not know . It is defiantly buyer be a where .

[Bobby Marshall]

Here is an older Gibson with a worn away finish. So are you saying this guitar is worth more as is and if it were refinished it would reduce the value?

[kenjones]

I also vote for the Pelham Blue. My understanding of doing an oiled finish like Tru-Oil® is that it "gets in the wood" and cannot ever be completely removed.

[Caddie]

probably the same ol' cherry transparent.

With sparkles?

Only if you can find matching stretchy pants. With bright red smoochy lips on the backside like in Rocky Horror PIcture Show

[gtone]

Tru-Oil is irreversible, is it not?

Tru-Oil is essentially a polymerized linseed oil. As such, it slowly builds up a layer of varnish on the surface of the wood in successive layers. Unlike poly or lacquer based finishes, it's pretty damn hard to f*** up unless you try pretty hard. If you still manage to botch it up, level sand it back to where you need it to be. With enough layers, you can wet sand it up to about 1800 grit, use polishing compound/buffer and get a pretty high gloss finish also.

Stupid easy stuff to work with. Notwithstanding, if you want to "reverse" it, you can use horse liniment or a furniture stripper to take it down, hit it with a shot of naptha after to raise the grain and sand it back. It's actually probably a little easier to reverse than most lacquer finishes and infinitely easier to reverse than a poly finish.

[gorch]

Damn, three pages of reading and he didn't buy it yet!

In terms of color, go sea form green. We had it discussed here. It is natural.

[hamerhead]

Here is an older Gibson with a worn away finish. So are you saying this guitar is worth more as is and if it were refinished it would reduce the value?

That's perfect as is, regardless of 'value'.

[tbonesullivan]

So, what does this thing look like anyway? I would say refinishing depends entirely on how bad it is. Also, I like tru oil, but only on maple necks. LIKE BUTTER. On a more open grained wood, I don't think it has the same appeal.

[cmatthes]

I'm not a fan of Tru-Oil at all, but different strokes...

[tbonesullivan]

I'm not a fan of Tru-Oil at all, but different strokes...

I like it on Music Man necks. And gunstocks. And furniture. But mostly EBMM necks.

[tomteriffic]

It took a while, but here's a few shots, accenting the litany of sins. It still plays and sounds great and the only functional change I intend is a Pigtail intonatable bridge.

But, in all, still a pretty cool ride...

[hamerhead]

Hell yeah!

Leave it. It deserves to show off it's battle scars.

[murkat]

nothing wrong with that finish.

a good cleaning and buff out will make you giddy.

[crunchee]

Looks better than many it's age, IMO...especially since it looks pretty much unboogered as is. All it needs is what Murkat recommends.

[Bobby Marshall]

Everything you see as wrong with this sg is what a buyer will see as mojo. But don't ever sell it. I bet she kills. I have her sister and she is a rock god.

[Steve Haynie]

Leave it alone.

[mrjamiam]

Not nearly what I was imagining. I also say leave it, or buff it out like murkat says.

[tbonesullivan]

Yeah, I was imagining something more like that Les Paul. For a guitar of that age, that is how it should look, unless it was a case queen.

[Stike]

Fucking leave it be.

[cmatthes]

Totally agree. I wouldn't touch a thing on that one.

[Biz Prof]

Now that I've seen it, I concur with others here. Leave it as-is.

You'd be surprised how many blistering riffs and solos that guys like Jake E. Lee and Carlos Cavazo recorded with a guitar much like yours. SG Juniors are uber cool, and it looks like you have a good one.

[elduave]

The talk up did not match the pic. Leave it. Interested 'cause I have an L6S coming with similar (but much more apparent) issues.

[marcnorth]

I say leave it too, it looks to be in pretty good condition.

[Jeff R]

I take back my suggestion as well. I'd leave that as is, without hesitation.