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SR500 Fragile finish


Guest MoJo
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I quite fancy an Ibanez SR500 (although I am tempted by Grangur's SR740), but the finish on most used SR500's seems to wear off really easily. Can the finish be removed and the body refinished? Has anyone attempted this?

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Yup, I did this on one a couple of years ago. Not hard to do - one advantage of the original finish is that it's relatively easy to remove when you want to :unsure: :)

I refinished mine in Tru-Oil - another relatively fragile finish, but one that can easily be refinished again...

Upside was the dark brown which I didn't like much is just a stain, and the body underneath was a much nicer, lighter colour, tho not a ton of grain.

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Certainly have. I've had a couple of Ibby SRs previously & had GAS for another, so picked up a very cheap beater SR500, which looked like this:



The old finish came off very easily. It's soft mahogany underneath & it was a good opportunity to practice steaming out the numerous dents & gouges in the wood - which went surprisingly well. This was my first go at an oil refin and I'm made up with the result:



This was done with Colron natural Danish Oil, applied with a microfibre cloth. Lost count of the coats, but 20+, with a final sand back with very fine paper before the final coat.

The finished bass looks so much better than with the original brown slop, and it's far more hard-wearing.

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[quote name='Bassassin' timestamp='1476441087' post='3154305']
Certainly have. I've had a couple of Ibby SRs previously & had GAS for another, so picked up a very cheap beater SR500, which looked like this:



The old finish came off very easily. It's soft mahogany underneath & it was a good opportunity to practice steaming out the numerous dents & gouges in the wood - which went surprisingly well. This was my first go at an oil refin and I'm made up with the result:



This was done with Colron natural Danish Oil, applied with a microfibre cloth. Lost count of the coats, but 20+, with a final sand back with very fine paper before the final coat.

The finished bass looks so much better than with the original brown slop, and it's far more hard-wearing.
[/quote]


Nice work ;)

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[quote name='Bassassin' timestamp='1476441087' post='3154305']
Certainly have. I've had a couple of Ibby SRs previously & had GAS for another, so picked up a very cheap beater SR500, which looked like this:



The old finish came off very easily. It's soft mahogany underneath & it was a good opportunity to practice steaming out the numerous dents & gouges in the wood - which went surprisingly well. This was my first go at an oil refin and I'm made up with the result:



This was done with Colron natural Danish Oil, applied with a microfibre cloth. Lost count of the coats, but 20+, with a final sand back with very fine paper before the final coat.

The finished bass looks so much better than with the original brown slop, and it's far more hard-wearing.
[/quote]

Ha! Brown slop. :lol:

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Seeing Jon's SR there, who would ever want the brown one?

I think I'd have gone for a satin or matt finish, but hey! It's looking great.

[quote name='MoJo' timestamp='1476437413' post='3154247']
I quite fancy an Ibanez SR500 (although I am tempted by Grangur's SR740), but the finish on most used SR500's seems to wear off really easily. Can the finish be removed and the body refinished? Has anyone attempted this?
[/quote]
Have another sneaky peak..

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[quote name='MoJo' timestamp='1476437413' post='3154247']
I quite fancy an Ibanez SR500 (although I am tempted by Grangur's SR740), but the finish on most used SR500's seems to wear off really easily. Can the finish be removed and the body refinished? Has anyone attempted this?
[/quote]

Go for Grangurs 740. That bass blows any SR500 out of the water. I had a 500 and while I liked it, these older MIJ Ibanez basses are the real deal (have two MIJ Prestiges myself)

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[quote name='Paulhauser' timestamp='1476453169' post='3154473']
Go for Grangurs 740. That bass blows any SR500 out of the water. I had a 500 and while I liked it, these older MIJ Ibanez basses are the real deal (have two MIJ Prestiges myself)
[/quote]

Actually I'd probably agree - my previous SRs were fretted & fretless MIJ SR800s, early 90s Fujigen builds, and both gorgeous, immaculately put-together basses. I'm more of a fan of the P/J setup than the Barts in the 500.

[quote name='Grangur' timestamp='1476450179' post='3154430']
Seeing Jon's SR there, who would ever want the brown one?

I think I'd have gone for a satin or matt finish, but hey! It's looking great.[/quote]

I had no idea it would turn out so shiny - the tin describes it as satin so that's what I expected. Very happy though, I like shiny things!

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[quote name='Bassassin' timestamp='1476472298' post='3154708']
Actually I'd probably agree - my previous SRs were fretted & fretless MIJ SR800s, early 90s Fujigen builds, and both gorgeous, immaculately put-together basses. I'm more of a fan of the P/J setup than the Barts in the 500.
[/quote]

I had a MIJ SR400. I couldn't fault it in terms of build quality, but I found the DXP and DXJ pickups lacking definition and the pre-amp less than musical.

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Oddly I've always liked the sr500 fragile finish. When they get a bit of wear on them I think it looks good although maybe the wood underneath is a little too light a colour. But Certainly better than fake relicing etc imo.
As already said they can be very easily stripped and oiled or even painted if you don't like it.

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[quote name='Bassassin' timestamp='1476480805' post='3154764']
Well, there's a little bit of wear - and then there's this:

[url="http://s1276.photobucket.com/user/LanterneRouge/media/Ibanez%20SR500/sr500original02_zpsww0scrli.jpg.html"][/url]

Think I did the right thing...
[/quote]

I actually rather like that. A used instrument so to say. I would of probably refinished too but it does have a certain charm.

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