steviedee Posted January 23, 2018 Posted January 23, 2018 (edited) I’m looking to have the neck of one of my fretless basses epoxied (?) . I would love to do it myself but alas I am hopeless! Scotland preferably but could post the neck I suppose? Advice gratefully received! Edited January 23, 2018 by steviedee Quote
EBS_freak Posted January 23, 2018 Posted January 23, 2018 10 hours ago, steviedee said: I’m looking to have the neck of one of my fretless basses epoxied (?) . I would love to do it myself but alas I am hopeless! Scotland preferably but could post the neck I suppose? Advice gratefully received! When you say epoxied... are you looking at boat epoxy like Jaco, or polyester like Pedulla? If it's the latter (which I actually think is better), then people like Bow Finishes, Sims etc... can sort you out. I've tried to find some examples of the type of finish you can expect with poly - As you can see, they look identical (and sound pretty much exactly the same as the epoxy equivalents) to the HG Thor necks - which seems to be the benchmark for epoxy necks. Make sure you post the before and after if you have it done! Quote
Rumple Posted January 23, 2018 Posted January 23, 2018 I've can't help with neck Epoxy but I can highly recommend the lads at Bow Finishes (Finishing?) as mentioned above by @EBS_freak they did a superb job on a body for me a few years ago. Quote
EBS_freak Posted January 23, 2018 Posted January 23, 2018 (edited) Yeah - it's Bow Finishing. I was being lazy it would seem! Top chaps. PS - make sure, whatever you have done, you have the neck radiused and polished also. Edited January 23, 2018 by EBS_freak Quote
steviedee Posted January 23, 2018 Author Posted January 23, 2018 54 minutes ago, EBS_freak said: When you say epoxied... are you looking at boat epoxy like Jaco, or polyester like Pedulla? If it's the latter (which I actually think is better), then people like Bow Finishes, Sims etc... can sort you out. I've tried to find some examples of the type of finish you can expect with poly - As you can see, they look identical (and sound pretty much exactly the same as the epoxy equivalents) to the HG Thor necks - which seems to be the benchmark for epoxy necks. Make sure you post the before and after if you have it done! Hi Chaps that looks ideal to be honest I only knew about epoxy but polyester looks great. I suppose the only caveat would be the cost, its not a particularly expensive bass. But I'll drop them a line ! Quote
steviedee Posted January 23, 2018 Author Posted January 23, 2018 That bass looks fantastic I should add! Quote
EBS_freak Posted January 23, 2018 Posted January 23, 2018 (edited) What bass are you having doing? Presuming it's a bolt on? If it's only a fingerboard, as opposed to a whole neck, I can't imagine it being silly money. As I say though, make sure it's not just being sprayed, it needs to be radiused and polished. Edited January 23, 2018 by EBS_freak Quote
BassBus Posted January 23, 2018 Posted January 23, 2018 12 hours ago, steviedee said: Scotland preferably but could post the neck I suppose? If you can get yourself to Edinburgh have a word with Chris McIntyre. https://www.mcintyreguitars.com/ 1 Quote
steviedee Posted January 23, 2018 Author Posted January 23, 2018 53 minutes ago, EBS_freak said: What bass are you having doing? Presuming it's a bolt on? If it's only a fingerboard, as opposed to a whole neck, I can't imagine it being silly money. As I say though, make sure it's not just being sprayed, it needs to be radiused and polished. It's a good copy of a famous bass! Bolt on and decent quality and I had it professionally defretted and added set of Barts. I've spent more than it's worth in monetary terms but I like it! Quote
steviedee Posted January 23, 2018 Author Posted January 23, 2018 33 minutes ago, BassBus said: If you can get yourself to Edinburgh have a word with Chris McIntyre. https://www.mcintyreguitars.com/ Will do I work in Edinburgh so handy. I actually have a very good luthier I use but he just wasn't keen on doing this! Quote
EBS_freak Posted January 23, 2018 Posted January 23, 2018 35 minutes ago, BassBus said: If you can get yourself to Edinburgh have a word with Chris McIntyre. https://www.mcintyreguitars.com/ Good shout. Make sure it's defo a polyester finish that he puts on though - other finishes will not be hard enough. Quote
EBS_freak Posted January 23, 2018 Posted January 23, 2018 2 minutes ago, steviedee said: It's a good copy of a famous bass! Bolt on and decent quality and I had it professionally defretted and added set of Barts. I've spent more than it's worth in monetary terms but I like it! Doesn't matter what it's worth. If it's your go to bass, it's your go to bass! 2 Quote
EBS_freak Posted January 23, 2018 Posted January 23, 2018 Trying to find you some polyester examples! 1 Quote
Marc S Posted January 23, 2018 Posted January 23, 2018 2 hours ago, EBS_freak said: Doesn't matter what it's worth. If it's your go to bass, it's your go to bass! +1 to this. Just as long as you're not planning to sell it - cos that's when you don't get your money back However, if spending the money has made your bass just the way you want it.... then great I mean, you could spend a lot more on an upmarket bass, only to find you don't like it anywhere near as much as you like the one you currently own Let us know how you get on BTW. Best of luck with it Quote
converse320 Posted January 24, 2018 Posted January 24, 2018 I watched a chap on youtube doing this with cyanoacrylic glue = superglue. Is this better or worse than the other finishes mentioned? Quote
fleabag Posted January 24, 2018 Posted January 24, 2018 I'm suspicious that super duper glue isn't a hard enough finish for fretless. Mine was done with epoxy 2 pack Quote
Manton Customs Posted January 24, 2018 Posted January 24, 2018 16 minutes ago, converse320 said: I watched a chap on youtube doing this with cyanoacrylic glue = superglue. Is this better or worse than the other finishes mentioned? It's not quite as hard as Epoxy and can be a pain to get a decent finish with it without witness lines appearing where the layers meet. It's also a bit more brittle than Epoxy....Still a hard enough coating to use though. Quote
bartelby Posted January 24, 2018 Posted January 24, 2018 (edited) 36 minutes ago, fleabag said: I'm suspicious that super duper glue isn't a hard enough finish for fretless. Mine was done with epoxy 2 pack This is the test run I did on my defretted Warwick. In the summer I'm going to sand it all back and redo it. It plays perfectly well as it is. But having gone through the process I know I can do it better. In this photo I hadn't gone through all the grades of wet and dry, nor polished it. I play it with roundwounds on and there's barely any marks. When I redo it I'll be putting on 10 - 12 coats of glue, sanding back after every 4 coats. EDIT: just found a photo of the board after it'd had been polished: As you can see I'd gone through the glue on the edges of the board. One of the lessons learned. EDIT2: I should point out this was using a £3 bottle of superglue from Toolstation. Edited January 24, 2018 by bartelby Quote
fleabag Posted January 24, 2018 Posted January 24, 2018 I didnt do mine. I sent it to someone to make sure it was a pro job. I've learnt a lesson working on my own basses with anything thats serious. Quote
bartelby Posted January 24, 2018 Posted January 24, 2018 (edited) If it wasn't for the fact that the Warwick was pretty much worthless when I acquired it, I wouldn't have buggered about with it so much. It was the least I've ever paid for a bass, with the exception of my £35 Harley Benton deko and my £80 Aria SB Elite. But the point is, superglue is a viable coating for a fretless board. Edited January 24, 2018 by bartelby Quote
Grangur Posted January 24, 2018 Posted January 24, 2018 Just now, fleabag said: I didnt do mine. I sent it to someone to make sure it was a pro job. I've learnt a lesson working on my own basses with anything thats serious. #MeToo Having had a Wishbass (fretless) that I leveled the fingerboard on, and played some good and bad fretless basses, I think I'd get a good luthier to remove the existing fingerboard and fit an ebony one. If you don't get the fingerboard really, really, seriously flat, there will be irregularities in the mwahh. I even had a Squier VM fretless and wasn't happy with the fingerboard. When I removed the strings and ran my fingers down the FB I could feel very slight undulations; and when strung you could hear it. If you're going to do it, do it right. (If you're a PITA perfectionist, as I am) Quote
Grangur Posted January 24, 2018 Posted January 24, 2018 2 minutes ago, bartelby said: If it wasn't for the fact that the Warwick was pretty much worthless when I acquired it, I wouldn't have buggered about with it so much. It was the least I've ever paid for a bass, with the exception of my £35 Harley Benton deko and my £80 Aria SB Elite. Fair point, you do have to weigh the cost of the luthier work against the value of the bass. Quote
bartelby Posted January 24, 2018 Posted January 24, 2018 1 minute ago, Grangur said: Fair point, you do have to weigh the cost of the luthier work against the value of the bass. Totally. I had quotes between £250 and £350 for the board to be coated. I paid £100 for the bass. Which is why it's always been the bass I practice stuff on. I've defretted it, refretted it and defretted it again and stained it black. When I redo the board I'll sand back the body and do something else to it. Quote
mcnach Posted January 28, 2018 Posted January 28, 2018 On 1/23/2018 at 13:24, steviedee said: Will do I work in Edinburgh so handy. I actually have a very good luthier I use but he just wasn't keen on doing this! Then go to Chris McIntyre. You won't regret it. Great guy to chat with too... although I always feel guilty from taking him away from his work Quote
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