About stripping guitars

[S. Cane]

I often see old guitars that have been stripped off their finishes at some point and were played that way. Also, artists like John Lennon kind of made a point of stripping their guitars and leaving the wood naked and unfilled, or just stained.

So, was it some sort of "trend" back in the 60s and 70s?

 

[Ed Driscoll]

I often see old guitars that have been stripped off their finishes at some point and were played that way. Also, artists like John Lennon kind of made a point of stripping their guitars and leaving the wood naked and unfilled, or just stained.

So, was it some sort of "trend" back in the 60s and 70s?

I think you just answered your own question. Pretty much anything the Beatles did became a trend:

In early ’68, The Beatles headed to Rishikesh, India, to study transcendental meditation with The Maharishi and friends, including Donovan Leitch. There, Donovan convinced the trio to sand the finish off their instruments, telling them how a guitar sounds better without a heavy finish. After returning to London, during sessions for the self-titled “white album,” Lennon and Harrison sanded their Casinos. Lennon primarily played his newly stripped Casino for the sessions. Harrison said that once they’d removed the finish, they became much better guitars. “I think that works on a lot of guitars,” he explained. “If you take the paint and varnish off and get the bare wood, it seems to sort of breathe.” With the completion of the white album, promo clips were filmed for the single “Revolution”/“Hey Jude.” The clips showed Lennon using his natural Casino.

I think it was part of their "back to nature" approach as a reaction to psychedelia; recording more live, stripping down the artwork from the complexity of Sgt. Pepper to the simple, likely Kazimir Malevich-inspired White Album cover, etc. And I suspect when it comes to guitar tone, it's very much a placebo, but to each his own.

 

[S. Cane]

And I suspect when it comes to guitar tone, it's very much a placebo, but to each his own.

Me too.

Lennon even had his Les Paul Jr. stripped soon after he had an extra pickup installed.

 

[Xpensive Wino]

I confess that I acquired a stripped Les Paul in my heyday. :dang

There was a cottage industry going stripping guitars in those days.

Did it help the sound? Can't recall.

 

[Tom Wittrock]

For my first Les Paul I specifically sought out a stripped one. I wanted a 68 already stripped, so I could have my brother burst and 'bucker it. :ganz

It turned out great! :dude:

 

[S. Cane]

I remember a couple of artists doing this.

I can list Lennon and his stripped Casino and Les Paul Jr (the one I mentioned above, he played it on Madison Square Garden concert, 1972) and Paul Kossof and his stripped burst (though I can't say if it was all stripped off its finish or if it was just the top)...

Also, a couple of friends of mine who were on the road back in the late 60s and early 70s own SGs and Fender basses that had been stripped back then...

Any more examples?

 

[J T]

Bonnie Raitt's Strat is bare wood.

 

[Elmore]

Mick Ronson's Les Paul Custom.

 

[MeHereNow]

Tom Scholz' Les Paul is stripped

 

[0 2339]

"Fast" Eddie Clarke let people sand down his strat and applied linseed oil.... rip

 

[S. Cane]

I'm not sure if Harrison's RW Tele he used by 1969 was naked wood or if it was finished.

The reissue Fender released a while ago has a "satin" urethane coat, which I think kinda feels like Gibson's "faded" finish...

 

[AA00475Bassman]

I had a single cut 50's special in the 70's bare wood , really nothing out standing in sound my skill set could obtain !