1964 Mustang

[my65pan]

Hi Guys, I have a question. My friend has an old Mustang (1964 model) he bought new when he was a kid. When he was a teenager he stripped the body and painted it white with some kind of epoxy paint. The guitar is all apart right now, the neck has never been messed with. My question is: If it were yours, how would you go about putting it back together? Refinish the body and neck? Just the body? I don't think the epoxy paint is going to come off easily, so it'll probably have to be a solid color. He wants to keep it and keep whatever value it has left intact.



Mark.

[Plugger]

Sounds like a cool restoration project. I think my approach would be to refinish just the body with a period correct colour, or even the original colour, if that is known (shouldn't be too hard to figure out, since he bought it new.)

I'd leave everything else alone, since it sounds like everything else is original to the guitar. Then you'd have a pretty nice piece, I think. My guess is that the value would be be improved (it's still a refin, but a much more desirable refin, IMHO.)

I'm not sure whether the improvement in value would cover the cost of the refin if it was done professionally and well, but it may well do, and if he intends keeping it, it's kind of academic anyway.

Then there's the satisfaction of restoring a beautiful object to it's former glory: Priceless! (as they say in the Mastercard ad.)

-Mark

[my65pan]

Turns out he didn't get it new. He got it in '75, and someone had painted it black over the original white paint. His dad painted it blue for him with a paint brush because it looked so crappy. When he was a teenager he stripped it back down to the wood and discovered an ugly piece of wood, which explains the original solid color. He put ultra white epoxy appliance paint on it at that time and it has been that way since. I think he should sand it smooth and use the existing finish as a base to shoot the original color back on.

[pc]

TTIUWP, Mark.

(This thread is useless without photos. )

I'd refin the body and leave the neck alone. Sounds like a fun project.

[my65pan]

I'm working on pictures. The wheels turn slow sometimes:-).

[Kap'n]

When he was a teenager he stripped it back down to the wood and discovered an ugly piece of wood, which explains the original solid color.

Yep, probably three pieces, the two outer ones are light, and the center one is a darker, greyish wood, which is pretty hard.

Sounds like a good project. Phtots would be good.

[telecast]

Make sure whatever he uses to finish it will bond to the epoxy.

If it were me, I'd use a heat gun and get that epoxy off the wood, then start over. Since he's finishing in a solid color it won't matter if he scorches the wood a little.

[Fripperton]

Let me add to the refin the body only to a period correct color crowd but I would also consider a Fender color that wasn't normally available on these like Foam Green, Burgundy Mist, or Shoreline Gold. Since the original color's gone you might as well get it done in a color you like and keep the instrument special to you. There are plenty of Mustangs in reds, whites, and blues

[my65pan]

Sorry it took so long for the pictures, my buddy was out of town. Here's the link:

http://community.webshots.com/album/550314424SVGAww