Would You Refinish This Guitar?

[erikzen]

I recently bought a Fender Coronado II. I was able to get it relatively cheaply because the back has been painted black with a paint that has a texture to it. It feels like plastic. The job itself doesn't seem like it was too bad. It's worn now but it was evenly and neatly applied. There is no black paint anywhere on the binding.

The rest of the guitar is in fair to good shape. Besides the back, the rest of the finish is nicked up. It looks like a guitar that has been played for most of its life. Still, the finish is in pretty good shape. Not too much fading or chipping. The hardware appears to be original. Electronics are all working. It's possible the pickguard might not be orignal. There is a mark underneath it, from what looks like some adhesive. It seems like something was removed and not very cleanly. Also, I have not seen a picture of a Coronado with a black pickguard, which this one is.


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While I bought this guitar to play, I wouldn't want to further hurt the value of it. Since the back of the guitar is basically trashed, would it make sense to refinish it? I don't particularly mind the black, it's kind of cool in a way, but if I had my choice, that wouldn't be it. I'd like to either match the original (faded?) finish or give it some kind of contrasting finish. Will that further hurt value?


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by , on Flickr


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[evilLordJuju]

You do see quite a lot of parted out coronados on ebay. maybe i'd just get a body and swap all the components over?

[mike_C]

nope.

[mrblanche]

I wonder what that paint is hiding!

[erikzen]

[erikzen]

I had a thought. Maybe it's some kind of sound dampening paint. Someone could have painted it on to reduce feedback. Not a terribly great idea but it must have been done long before the guitar could be considered vintage.

A little back story, at least as I was told by the previous owner:

The guy I bought the guitar from, bought it in Australia, in 1985 when he was 15 years old. The guitar already had the black paint on the back at that point.

According to him, the guitar was used by Steve Kilbey of The Church for some solo Sydney shows in 2003. The previous owner's brother was friends with Kilbey and he asked to borrow the guitar.

Fast forward to the present and the previous owner moves from Sydney to Brooklyn, NY with guitar in tow and sells it to me.

[Mgeek]

Looks to me like the original paint is still under the black

I've had some success removing one layer of paint, whilst retaining the original before. Really high grade wet sanding and you can't really tell it was overpainted.

[guitarist09]

I would definitely refinish that.

[Phizix]

I'm guessing that paint is there to keep the back from getting scratched up by belt buckles?

Don't think you could hurt the value with a refin unless you completely ruined it. No collector would want a guitar with that black paint on the back.

If it were me I'd try to get that black off the back first, if it somehow gets screwed up its still just the back. The rest of the guitar looks too good to refin.

[Mgeek]

[BluesHawk]

[guitarcheology]

I am willing to bet that black paint will come off with some mineral spirits and elbow grease without disturbing the underlying finish.