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does anyone have any idea how much it might cost to have an AVRI jazzmaster body stripped and refinished? i don't know much about this sort of thing, but in my little bit of research, i understand that the AVRI's are a pain to strip due to the poly coating. i certainly don't want to do it myself, but i'm curious how much this might cost to have done in the end, with the refinish being lake placid blue.

Hi - sorry that this is not the most helpful reply, as I have no idea about cost of refins, but AVRIs are nitro not poly...in case that helps with you talking to people who might do it for you. There's no reason you can't strip it yourself.
What colour is it at the moment?

As far as I know, you don't have to strip the body, just key the paint that's already there.

Sell body you don't want. AVRI bodies go for a bundle. Buy one the colour you want.

Sell nice expensive AVRI guitar. Buy one the colour you want.

Arr, that poly AVRI lark is propaganda put about by those upstart thinskin guitars.

it seems i misused the term poly, as i thought that was the sealant or whatever that they supposedly pile on. i wasn't kidding when i said i don't know anything about this sort of stuff. but essentially my understanding is that there is some coat of something or other that has to be practically melted off or something before they can really get the guitar down to the original wood.

melted off with paint stripper, which you can buy from a hardware shop. it's not something you should have to pay someone to do, but i suppos it depends how willing you are to get your hands dirty.

what bothers you so much about the finish that you want it redone, if you don't mind me asking?

it isn't that i'm unwilling to get my hands dirty, but rather that i just don't want to fuck anything up. i also lack a suitable workspace for that sort of thing at my house, though i do have a friend whose garage i could use i reckon.

i have two AVRI's, one in white and one in sunburst, and also a lake placid blue body from a japanese jazzmaster, which i believe was a '66 reissue. the strap slipped off of the white jazzmaster recently and it fell onto my pedalboard and put a pretty solid gash in the front of the guitar. i typically care very little about aesthetics or wear & tear, but for some reason this nick bothers me so i thought maybe i'd just have the body refinished and sell the japanese body.

if i could find a brown tortoise pickguard for the japanese body, and if i knew what components would or wouldn't fit, then ideally i suppose i would just swap the guts and neck from the white AVRI with the japanese body, and sell the white body for whatever i could get it for.

any advice?

The colour coat is poly, the clear is nitro.


This is fact.

Are you doubly, doubly sure Hurb? Have I had socks on the bottom of my guitar stand al these years for no reason?

You'll still want the socks on there if the clear is nitro. It's the clear they're there to protect. Plus it can look good, depending on your taste in socks.

But but but how will my vintage mojo escape from the wood within over the years? My switchtip was already discolouring nicely.

If I remember correct, the undercoat is poly, while the colour and clear are both nitro.

like stated before the base coat is a lacquer friendly poly.
if you want to re-finish it, just spray on top of the og color.
but like stated before, avris are pretty easy to come by so unless you want it to be yellow, you might as well just sell it and score a color you want.

alright, the situation is this - opinions are greatly appreciated!

i have a '62 AVRI jazzmaster (olympic white), and i'd prefer it to be lake placid blue. not really thinking it through, i bought a japanese jazzmaster body (i believe it's a '66 RI) in lake placid blue. as far as i can tell, i have two options, but i don't know enough about this sort of thing to decide which is more cost effective.

1) i offload the japanese body, and have my AVRI body refinished in lake placid blue, and reassemble everything, and voila - a lake placid blue jazzmaster with brown tort, just as i want. if this route, approximately how much would it cost to have the body refinished in lake placid blue, and who should i let do this?

this is where my lack of knowledge kicks in:

2) if the '62 AVRI components (neck and all hardware/pickups) will fit into the japanese body without any need for modification (keep in mind it's a '66, though i don't know if that makes a difference), then i could just swap everything out from the AVRI to the japanese body, and track down a japanese pickguard for it, and sell the AVRI body.

the third option would be just to buy parts over time to assemble an entirely new jazzmaster from the japanese body, thus keeping my white AVRI, but this is obviously the most expensive route, and would amount to my 3rd jazzmaster which i'd have a hard time justifying.

anyone have any ideas, suggestions, or recommendations? thanks again.

Shoot the LPB over the white. Fender did this. Would be cheaper/less fuss.

does that mean to refinish the white in LPB?

benecol wrote:But but but how will my vintage mojo escape from the wood within over the years? My switchtip was already discolouring nicely.

If I remember correct, the undercoat is poly, while the colour and clear are both nitro.

lol @ Tim getting all upset over paint. Do you like it? Is that all that matters?

come on guys, you're crushing my dreams.

I NEED ANSWERS.

You can remove the nitro clear coat with acetone, available at your local hardware store. The acetone will disolve it quite easily, but do this outside as the fumes are nasty. You could then just put primer over the current colour coat and paint over that.


The Jap Jazzmaster body should fit AVRI parts. Some screw holes might have to be filled and re-drilled a few millimetres off in one direction or another. You'll save yourself most hassles by buying a Japanese pickguard, which should fit perfectly.

joshua wrote:does that mean to refinish the white in LPB?

yes.