Painting a bass?

[Ross]

Right, I'm buying one of these "build your own bass kits" without instructions, the body is unpainted and it's a cheap kit so I doubt I'll keep the grain.
I'm pretty confident with the electronics and all the other bits and bobs, however I've never painted a bass.
I know vaguely what I need to do, smooth finish, lots of light coats of primer until a good solid coat, then lots of light coats of paint, lots of light coats of lacquer til it's nice and smooth.
Do I need to sand in between coats?

Now I hear polurethane is the best for lacquer but what about paint and primer?
And masking? I want to put a very sarcastic note on the back, what sort of tape should I use for this.
I plan to spray a base coat of white on just a patch on the back, for the note, mask it off, then spray on the black, would this be the best way?

If anyone has a guide it'd be much appreciated.

[skankdelvar]

Someone more knowledgeable than me will probably be along later, but my 2p.

Spray can sanding sealer is useful to stick over the bare wood. Dries quickly, then you give it a quick sand to level off any minor imperfections. Primer over that. I wouldn't mix poly and nitro, unless the nitro's going over the poly.

Nitro is a bitch anyway - very smelly in enclosed spaces and takes weeks to go off, IME. It also has a tendency to orange peel unless the temp and humidity are around the mfr's recommended tolerances. Check out this lot for nitro product and info [url="http://www.reranch.com/"]http://www.reranch.com/[/url]

Low tack masking tape is best whether poly or nitro. I used the normal stuff on a nitro surface after 2 months and managed to peel off right down to the primer.

If and when you need to sand, IMO wet and dry paper is best. The problem is that the DIY sheds like B&Q tend not to stock the finer grades you need for the later passes. For these, you need to go to a specialist DIY or woodworking shop. Finest grade wire wool is good for the very last pass.

TBH, if you use poly and go the multiple light coats route, you shouldn't need to do too much sanding anyway. Lots and lots of info on all this stuff if you google it.

[dougie]

[quote name='skankdelvar' post='1193475' date='Apr 9 2011, 02:12 AM']Someone more knowledgeable than me will probably be along later, but my 2p.

Spray can sanding sealer is useful to stick over the bare wood. Dries quickly, then you give it a quick sand to level off any minor imperfections. Primer over that. I wouldn't mix poly and nitro, unless the nitro's going over the poly.

Nitro is a bitch anyway - very smelly in enclosed spaces and takes weeks to go off, IME. It also has a tendency to orange peel unless the temp and humidity are around the mfr's recommended tolerances. Check out this lot for nitro product and info [url="http://www.reranch.com/"]http://www.reranch.com/[/url]

Low tack masking tape is best whether poly or nitro. I used the normal stuff on a nitro surface after 2 months and managed to peel off right down to the primer.

If and when you need to sand, IMO wet and dry paper is best. The problem is that the DIY sheds like B&Q tend not to stock the finer grades you need for the later passes. For these, you need to go to a specialist DIY or woodworking shop. Finest grade wire wool is good for the very last pass.

TBH, if you use poly and go the multiple light coats route, you shouldn't need to do too much sanding anyway. Lots and lots of info on all this stuff if you google it.[/quote]
Spot on Skank,ive only recently started painting my own guitars but have many yrs experience painting cars/bikes etc,i use both gun and sometimes aerosol and both can give great results.like any refinishing 99% of the end result is preperation,anyone can apply paint,basically as long as you apply coats thinly and avoid runs any surface (slight)imperfections can be rubbed out with compound(avoid crap like T Cut etc,a descent one is Feracla)or if you`ve made a total c*** of it just re flatten it with 800 grade wet/dry paper.when sanding try to go as much with the grain of the wood as possible,i personally try and avoid power sanders and spend the extra time doing it by hand.as Skank says,from bare wood its imperitive you use some kind of sealer,read the can before buying make sure its compatible with whatever top coat your using(most car paints in aerosol are acrylic.,for the finish apply as many coats laquer as you can be arsed doing,more laquer....deeper the overall finish looks,experts reckon you shouldnt buff or use rubbing compound on guitars after laquering for about 6 months,my opinion is thats bollocks and have hit laquer with a soft compound just after a month or so.
i posted elsewhere that ive a few excellent guitar painting books in pdf format,only way ive been able to send them is through windows live messenger,if you use it pm me yer addy and i`ll send you them.

Edited April 9, 2011 by dougie