Andyjr1515

The clear-clear varnish is here but I won't be spraying it today. One of the 'joys' of clear nitro is that it is affected enormously by moisture in the air - it goes milky which is guaranteed to ruin your day - and, even though it has brightened up a touch in the last hour, there was just too much in the air to risk it. So, in a guitar builders' version of 'talk amongst yourselves', here is something completely different I've been waiting for a spare hour to get sorted: I'm planning to offer up my camphor single-cut for sale at the forthcoming South West BassBash and there's one thing that has been bugging me. It is fitted with a DiMarzio PJ set, which sounds great but there has always been a problem with volume balance. Basically, the P pickup has always been too quiet. "Just raise the pickup" Well, easier said than done. It was spec'd to have fully covered pickup and, while the bridge cover doesn't interfere, the neck cover would if it was any higher. And so I spent a happy hour this morning taking out the Dimarzio, fitting a Seymour Duncan SPB-2 Hot for PB (similar EQ as the standard SD p/up but almost 2X the output) in the neck position and then balancing the two pickups by adjusting the bridge p/up height: Done - and what a difference: A few tidy up jobs still to do before the Bash but that's the sound sorted

This ^ Bear in mind that pretty much any mod reduces the resale value, however well it's done.

Thinking about it...most of my builds look better in the dark

Ah...but you haven't seen it in the dark

Actually, one isn't enough so here's another one

And so...to the colour. As I said above, the 'clear' coat can make a difference. Manchester Guitar Tech offer not only the Shell Pink, but also a lightly tinted clear finish that adds a touch of older varnish browning. Problem is, that with clear-clear final varnish, it looks pink and with the tinted-clear, which I did on the hatch to test, it was heading much more towards flesh/peach. So my question to @Happy Jack was 'Which do you prefer?' Never as simple as that... Another challenge. "Well, it will never be seen in daylight, so choose whichever looks best in the low / coloured lighting of our gigs..." That evening, I turned the lights down low and compared the clear-clear body(pinkish) with the tinted-clear hatch (peachish). Hmmm...the pink body looked like a white bass in low light. But the peach hatch looked pink!! I took a punt and sprayed tinted-clear over the body. But, to be certain, I needed a better test. That Saturday Night Fever dress up and disco light kit that MrsAndyjr1515 bought me when we were still on speaking terms... At last! So I donned the white suit, dyed my hair, got all the floor stuff down and plugged in, parked the painted bass up against the included Bee Gee's framed picture (it's the Deluxe disco kit) and turned the lounge lights off and the disco lights on! Yup - it was pink!!!! So here it is, looking decidedly peachy in the daylight, with just the clear-clear coats left to do:

It's looking good! Lucky break that it would chip off

The clear coat will actually determine the final depth and tone of colour but shell pink is certainly the plan. I've got a good feeling about it too

Well, no cigar yet...but close Final pre-paint carve work was to inset the jack plate: Then trial 2 with the primer and pink: The back is completely grain-free now. At first glance, the top looks OK too: But there's still a bit of grain showing: But that's it I will be able to fill and sand that back and then start on the final coats. Oh, and headstock

Love the black and natural. Very classy indeed. Great finish job

This is 3/4 through sanding: Basically, anything shiny means the sandpaper hasn't got to that level yet: So most of the grain is clearly filled, but here are some dints that either need sanding down to or filling more. Once all the shiny bits are gone all over, I'm reapplying finishing epoxy, albeit thinner...wiped on with a lint-free cloth: Later this evening, when the top is handleable, I'll wipe a coat onto the back too and leave it overnight for, hopefully, a final filling-sand tomorrow.

Teeny, teeny (we're talking dust-like) spheres of plastic that you mix into the epoxy as a very lightweight filler. The advantage is that they sand extremely easily and smoothly in addition to being very light weight. The disadvantage is that I suspect they are within the group of micro-plastics that the world is realising could become a significant ecological problem...

Yes - any major filling, they recommend micro-balloons.

First coat for top and sides done, using a handy cottage cheese container and sponge brush. Decent stuff to apply - just got to see how well/easily it sands down. I've worked it into the grain and finished cross-grain. Hopefully, that will maximise the grain fill and will also give me a ripple indicator of when I'm down to the level when doing the wet-sanding tomorrow. The epoxy will take around 3 hours until it can be handled and then I'll flip it over and give the back the same treatment.

Aberrations sanded away (leastways, I hope ); Finishing Epoxy arrived; hatch sanded curved and flush; CA hardening reapplied: So nothing for it, time to brush on the finishing epoxy and see if it does the business! It's quite quick curing so I am hoping to get all sides covered over the day. Rubber gloves and squeegees at the ready!!

Visitor stuff all done and so, hopefully, I can start on the home straights! Finishing Epoxy arrives tomorrow, all the 'reveal' coat aberrations are photographed and noted, including stuff that shouldn't have got through the 'pre-paint feel test' like this: But mainly the grain sink like this, which is what the finishing epoxy will be used for to level it all out: Also ordered is a jack plate, that will be recessed into the body - the recess also needing to be done before the final paint job. The hatch will also be final sanded, and similarly epoxied to ensure that it is flush and grain-free before painting both the body and the hatch. And also, the white paint on the headstock front needs to come off ready for its pink make-over. And so, ready for the epoxy arriving, the body is currently being sanded back to the wood, sorting the non-grain aberrations as I go: Most other stuff (screw inserts, hatch magnets, etc.) will be done after painting. Assuming there is some remaining dry weather in the coming week or so, the progress should accelerate a bit from now on

This is a nice bit of wood! I have a good feeling about this project

Hi That's what I have found to be the most successful. There are challenges - it needs to get pretty hot to soften enough for the scraper to get the coating off, but you have to avoid scorching the wood underneath. So I find sweeps across a small to medium area to slowly warm it and not holding the heatgun static in one place too long. Take your time at the edges and cutaways for the same reason. Also care with the scraper - don't dig into the wood. Again, patience is your friend here. Given that the pieces are so easily cracking away, you might find that the top layer actually does come off fairly easily. For the sub layer of primer, don't use the heat gun - move onto sanding block/orbital sander. It's hard work - take a couple of days over it so you don't have to rush and dig in or sand something you don't want to! And yes - we are all very interested how it goes

An update: I'll be bringing my 'same woods and proportions as a Thumb but, wisely, a different shape' fretless (more conveniently known as the SWAPAATBWADS Fretless) and 'Kert's' Single Cut Camphor bass - which may have different electrics or different pickups to last time or maybe the same...who knows! I certainly don't will have a Seymour Duncan 2-band EQ with Dimarzio PJ pups and - note the unique chance to buy a 'No Treble' Bass of the Week winner - will be For Sale for a mere king's ransom (other royal ransoms considered too) !

I'll be bringing my 'same woods and proportions as a Thumb but, wisely, a different shape' fretless (more conveniently known as the SWAPAATBWADS Fretless) and 'Kert's' Single Cut Camphor bass - which may have different electrics or different pickups to last time or maybe the same...who knows! I certainly don't

Pretty sure it's OK. Soon find out! I will be doing a small test on a spare block before I commit, but I think it will work OK. That dark grain on the paulownia is turning out to be very much like the grain in ash...and we all know how hard that is to achieve a sink-free result! I'm pretty sure that however much sanding is involved, those grain lines will continue to show unless the filler is something as hard and stable as something like epoxy. It doesn't really matter so much with clear natural finishes because your eye sees the grain and a bit of sinkage looks OK. But that's not the case with solid colours, as @JPJ rightly points out earlier. Could be worse...could be gloss black (a pet hate in the the painting world, as I'm sure @JPJ would agree )

Rest of this week/weekend will be progressively filled with family stuff ("Yes dear, I will try to get that pink off the dining table before the visitors come" ) But before then, I will be able to get this back to the wood and order what I will be using as the grain filler...which will be finishing epoxy. I'll probably use Z-Poxy Finishing Resin, which I have used before in my distant past and should add a touch of further surface toughening as well as allowing me to sand down to a 'proper' grain-free finish ready for the actual finish paint coats.

So, hang on, what's this?? Is it done????? Nah! Nowhere near. This is my sacrificial try-out using the extra tin of primer and shell pink that ordered for this very purpose. Look closer, my preciouses... Yes - it's awful at the moment: But actually in a different way to that which I was expecting. The missed sandings at both cutaways are amongst the sorts of things I was fully expecting . But the thing I was certain was going to be an issue, that the top and bottom curves were bound to be lumpy all over the place, well...they're both fine But the degree to which the grain is still showing, I wasn't expecting so much Some, yes, but I thought that the CA had seemed to have done a reasonable job of filling most of the general grain...but clearly not reasonable enough! Anyway, all of that will be easier to sort than the lumps and bumps that I was expecting - so I reckon it's a win Next step is: a full photo shoot so that I can see 'in the pink' every blemish that needs sorting; sand back to the wood (easier and quicker than you would think); re-sand the bits that need re-sanding; grain fill with something a little bulkier; repeat the CA treatment; start using the cans of paint that I didn't set out to sacrifice in the first place.

Using those first CA coats as 'reveal coats'. I sanded back any dints and cross-sandings I could see and then sis a general fine sanding. Then a (probably) final CA covering. **One thing worth flagging - apart from the PPE and ventilation requirements, the application cloth scraps get VERY hot. I'm talking smoking hot! Smoking hot while stuck to the protective gloves you are wearing!! You have been warned! I reckon this is not a process anyone should try unless they really know what they are doing and have all of the precautions in place...** But the result is, in this instance, what I was after. That wood surface is significantly tougher than before and the surface is smooth and ready for the first primer coats of nitro (and that's another process that no-one should try unless they are aware of the hazards and required precautions ) :

Loads more sanding today - and because the weather was OK, was able to do some of it outside which gave me much better light to look for aberrations in the surfaces. This seemed to be getting there: With a bit more room to focus the camera, it was also easier to get a proper view of the cross-section shape: Even with oblique light, I got to the stage of not being able to see any lumps and so, what the heck, let's have a drop of CA glue on it : I'm really liking this method...this is after just two very thin coats: Just a couple of small scratches I've missed, so tomorrow I will sand those and also do a general light sand all over and give it another coat and see if it's ready for a primer coat of nitro...