Repairs to a Warwick "Oiled" body - help please

[Grangur]

Hi there,
I've recently bought a [url="http://basschat.co.uk/topic/247269-warwick-corvette-std-ash-price-drop-350l-sold/page__fromsearch__1"]Warwick Corvette[/url] from Ordep of this parish. I love the bass. It sounds great etc, etc,.

The body is in need of some love. So I looked it up on Warwick.de and they describe the bass I have as:

produced: 2004-11-03

Description:
Corvette Standard, 4-string
Ocean Blue Oil finish
Swamp Ash body
Ovangkol neck
Black hardware

I already have a Streamer in flamed maple in oil finish and I'm happy about how to fix that up, but looking at the dings in the Corvette, I recon someone has lacquered the body of this. It doesn't look like plain oil to me.

What I'd like to know is; is this normal for Warwick's "Ocean Blue Oil finish" ?
What would anyone here recommend to do to fix this up?





I appreciate the other option is to leave it and accept it as "character" and a roadworn look; which isn't totally out of the question.

Thanks in advance.

Rich

[hamfist]

It certainly does look Lacquer-like.
The word "oil" can actually mean things in terms of guitar finishing. Even if you are more specific and say "Danish oil" it can mean many different things. Many oils are in fact a mix of oils and varnish, so over time basically will become a varnished finish. I suspect this is the case with your bass.
Not quite sure the best way to repair it. One option is to sand the body down enough to take off the "varnish" but leave the stain, and then do a Danish oil (Colron) and Wax (Briwax) finish over the top. THis type of finish is a complete piece of cake, takes only 2-3 days and looks awesome. The only risk as I see it is that you might end up taking off more of the stain whilst sanding than you had hoped for.
All I can say is that the one stained Warwick body that I have refinished, the stain went really deep.
If you did take off more colour than you wanted you could always re-stain with some blue, which would not be that difficult.
A lot of this depends on how experienced and confident you would be doing these things.

Have to say I love the Warwick trans blue finishes !!

[Grangur]

Many thanks. Good point about the oil/varnish thing. I'd not thought about it but it could be like a "tru-oil" type thing.

You've a good point about sanding. If it does remove a lot of the blue, then if the blue stays in the grain and I only remove blue from the top of the wood, that too could look good. It would also make it a bit unique.

Last night I also discovered it also needs a new just-a-nut. So this will be getting a new brass one. So, it's looking like this one's going to get some "love" at last.

[jerseytrev]

hi i have a oiled corvette too , and yes it does look like someone has put a lacquer on it . looks like it reacted with the oil hence the peeling . i would try and remove the lacquer as it would only be surface depth ,and re oil it .
i use the warwick wax on mine to keep the finish good .

[goblin]

Yep, they're a fine lacquer that goes on top, which explains why my 1996 blue one polished up rather nicely Lightly rub it back and then re oil, and it'll be good as new

[throwoff]

Do not apply oil to any Warwick Coloured Oil finish!

They ARE lacquered as well, putting oil onto the lacquer will likely ruin it!

The Warwick user manual and site both say to never wax/oil the coloured oil ones.

[Grangur]

Many thanks guys. I guess it looks like the lacquer is one that was applied at the factory. It's just unfortunate that someone in it's history didn't take enough care of this particular one. On the back is has some writing in Chinese, so all in all it's got "character".

Throwoff; thanks, but unless the lacquer of off completely I wouldn't use oil on a lacquered bass; it may not harm it, but it would make a bit of a mess, to say the least. I think I'll start off by stripping the body down and sanding down the areas with loose lacquer, and see what happens. I may end up with a Corvette in "roadworn" style.

Whatever happens I'm sure it'll still sound great when it's finished.

[jerseytrev]

so the coloured ones are different to mine then , mine came with the warwick folder containing handbook ,tools and warwick wax polish plus duster with instructions to wax every few weeks over the oiled finish .
yours should look ok as a roadworn model .

Edited October 27, 2014 by jerseytrev

[Grangur]

Yes, I've also got a natural streamer and a Tobacco oiled one. Both are actually oiled.
"Blue oil" it seems, isn't oil at all. The blue colour is stain with lacquer over the top. Tonight I scrapped the dings and removed the loose lacquer, then sanded it. I then applied soft wax furniture polish. It looks good. I'll post pics tomorrow.

[tauzero]

[quote name='Grangur' timestamp='1414400715' post='2588828']
Last night I also discovered it also needs a new just-a-nut. So this will be getting a new brass one. So, it's looking like this one's going to get some "love" at last.
[/quote]

Thomann do a Just-a-nut 1 clone - [url="http://www.thomann.de/gb/abm_6240_webster_nut_bass.htm"]http://www.thomann.de/gb/abm_6240_webster_nut_bass.htm[/url] although you'd have to check the width.