chrisdaman Posted February 10, 2012 Share Posted February 10, 2012 I've tried searching, but nothing much helpful comes up i'd like to paint / spray my bass (blue one on the left) [url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/whiningroots/6043236304/][/url] [url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/whiningroots/6043236304/]2's company[/url] by [url=http://www.flickr.com/people/whiningroots/]Chris Watts Photography[/url], on Flickr now ideally, however tacky it is, i'd like to spray it matt / satin black, or matt white, but i've got a couple of questions 1. would it be easiest to take the guitar apart? i've not done anything like that before, how hard is it? 2. Sand the body back to wood or sand, prime and re-paint? 3. I'd also like some neon strings, but do they affect the sound? in all honesty the bass cost me £80, so it's no biggy, just gone off the blue, i know black would be easier as it wont show anything underneath Cheers Chris Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lettsguitars Posted February 10, 2012 Share Posted February 10, 2012 (edited) Black is hard to paint. Shows all imperfections badly. You can't paint a guitar without taking everything off first. You will have a hell of a time sanding that polyurethane finish off. In fact no matter what you do it will be a down right beast to get off cleanly. The best way would be to get a polyurethane spray paint from b&q and spray over the existing finish. About 10 coats should do it following the manufactures guidelines regarding cure time etc. Rub the peaks off with wire wool, then tcut. Or summat. Edited February 10, 2012 by lettsguitars Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nibody Posted February 10, 2012 Share Posted February 10, 2012 1. Relatively easy on a P Copy. You need to remove the strings (obviously!!)neck, bridge, pickups and scratchplate. Depending on the routing you may have to de-solder the pickups from the potentiometers - probably not though. 2. Results are proportional to the amount of work put in and time. I did a cheap body and it worked quite well though there were lesons I learned afterwards such as using a propper grain sealer. Tried doing one Matt black a few years ago and it came out rubbish 3. Ive no idea Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarkG3 Posted February 10, 2012 Share Posted February 10, 2012 Hi mate, No idea about the strings as I haven't used them however go into the build diaries and look for my first build squire/fender - that's something I have just completed that may give you some ideas in pictures. Taking the bass apart is easy, but just remember which screws go in where so they fit back in when you put it together again! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lojo Posted February 14, 2012 Share Posted February 14, 2012 My first homemade bass was black Hammerite, but I wouldn't recommend it Good luck and put it on the build thread Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EmmettC Posted February 14, 2012 Share Posted February 14, 2012 I used uv strings for 1 gig, they look great and sound fine, but the coating is slightly sticky or tacky, so they hurt by fingers. I took them off after that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Truckstop Posted February 14, 2012 Share Posted February 14, 2012 I found while attempting to refinish my jazz that you need to have the patience of a saint. Here's some tips I picked up, it's not a 'How to...' but just a bit of info that might help: Getting the original finish off is a complete arse-ache but needs to be done. It's just the best way to do it! Use lots of Nitromors (paint stripper; Homebase, B&Q etc; you need the red tin, not the normal green one) and FOLLOW THE INSTRUCTIONS! Hopefully should come off without too much trouble, but if it doesnt work, you'll have to break out the powersander (you could try sanding it all off manually but, um... I wouldnt) and it'll take a while to get all of the old finish off. The wood underneath should already be sealed. If you can get the finish off using nitromors, then the sealant won't be affected by it and you could apply primer straight away. However, if you have to go the power sander way, then it's likely you'll need to apply sealant again in case you've taken it all off. Don't expect it to take, like, a day, it takes a good week or two to get it perfect. Everytime you spray a coat, you need to sand it down again until it's perfectly flat (funnily enough, this process is called flatting) before applying another coat. You'll need more paint than you think you will, so get an extra can just in case! Practice spraypainting on a piece of wood before you begin. If you've never used spray cans before, it really doesnt work how you expect it to, you need to practice to get the distance right. Not so close that it builds up and runs, but not so far away that the paint dries before it hits the wood. It just takes time and practice! From other people's experiences, I would not refinish in matt black for the reason that once you actually start using the bass, it'll go glossy where you rub on it (fnarr fnarr) and then it'll just look patchy and rubbish. But, by all means if that's what you want, then go for it! If it does go rubbish, then at leastmyou'll have the experience to refinish it again! Hope this helps Cheers Alex Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
charic Posted February 14, 2012 Share Posted February 14, 2012 Matt white! Nice! Good luck with it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mart Posted February 14, 2012 Share Posted February 14, 2012 [quote name='Truckstop' timestamp='1329207977' post='1538621']....Practice spraypainting on a piece of wood before you begin. If you've never used spray cans before, it really doesnt work how you expect it to, you need to practice to get the distance right. Not so close that it builds up and runs, but not so far away that the paint dries before it hits the wood. It just takes time and practice!....[/quote] +1 to all that Truckstop said. The only thing I'd add is that, in my experience, you need to keep the can moving quite fast across the bass. At first I was trying to be very precise and putting the paint on exactly where I wanted it (just next to the previous bit I'd painted). But that meant I was going too slow and getting too much paint on one spot, which leads to runs. After I twigged this I started doing very quick runs starting a few inches to the left of the bass and ending a few inches to the right. If you're quick and only leave a very small amount of paint on, then you'll be able to go back over any missed patches after a few minutes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigRedX Posted February 14, 2012 Share Posted February 14, 2012 I'm pretty sure that somewhere on the Manchester Guitar Tech site (which pretty much everything you need to know about guitar refinishing) there's a statement to the effect that if you don't like the colour of your instrument it's nearly always more effective in terms of time and money to replace it with one who's colour you do like, rather than to go to all the effort of refinishing it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
charic Posted February 14, 2012 Share Posted February 14, 2012 [quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1329209331' post='1538645'] I'm pretty sure that somewhere on the Manchester Guitar Tech site (which pretty much everything you need to know about guitar refinishing) there's a statement to the effect that if you don't like the colour of your instrument it's nearly always more effective in terms of time and money to replace it with one who's colour you do like, rather than to go to all the effort of refinishing it. [/quote] Not quite as much fun though is it I've always been interested in refinishing basses and once I have a garage/shed then I'll be having a little bit of fun Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jerry_B Posted February 14, 2012 Share Posted February 14, 2012 Then again, it might not be too hard to source a black body that fits the bill. That way you always have the option of going back to the blue body if you change you mind. Or you can sell it to cover the costs of what you spent on the black body. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thunderider Posted February 18, 2012 Share Posted February 18, 2012 personally...id strip hard ware off....take neck off take the body to a proper woodfinisher/french polisher.....get them to d all the work,finish it with a pu paint....iwth ur time and paint probly wouldnt be that much more.....£25 a sq meter..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GT40Graham Posted February 19, 2012 Share Posted February 19, 2012 Personally I wouldn't sand off the existing finish as it will be much easier to get a smooth and level surface using that as a base. It wil be much, much harder to get the wood smooth and level after stripping the paint off as most paint strippers will affect the wood in some way or another by making the grain swell. You will then have to redo all the work that has already been done by the original painters so why bother? Sand the existing finish to give the new paint something to adhere to and then use a suitable primer before applying the colour coats. You will need a lot of coats and you must sand down between each and every coat with fine wet and dry (always used wet). To polish the paint, get an electric buffer as used by car refinishers and use that with cutting paste. Take your time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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