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Not sure what to do with this refin


Stu-khag
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Hello. Picked this up today. It's my dream bass bar the finish. Looks like someone has had a go with their airfix painting kit and sander. I have some bio ethanol and some nail polish remover that managed to move some of this paint with some elbow grease but any tips on how to remove it all with a bit of ease would be great. Ideally I'd like to see what it looks like with the original paint and maybe just polish up rather than do a refin at the mo.

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Edited by Stu-khag
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A dream bass indeed..! What a shame, though, for the finish. To judge from the photos, I'd say that there's not a lot of good to be done with messing about any further, and perhaps quite a lot of harm. My advice, then, would be to play her 'as is' until such time as you can take her to a decent luthier for a refin. An instrument of that quality is worth the expense, and really needs to be stripped back correctly. This would involve removing all the hardwear, and would not be a job for the kitchen table unless you're already experienced in such projects. No, if she's structurally sound, and plays well, play her 'as is', and get a couple of quotes from competent folks for a proper restoration. I can't see your location; maybe someone could give a recommendation or two if that were known..?
Hope this helps; I'm a big fan of semi-acoustic instruments (see my avatar..!), and would hate to think of yours being spoilt for a ha'porth of tar.

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The nail polish remover is simply acetone. As the nail polish remover hasn't harm the finish, then buy acetone which is way far cheaper and purer, so you can finish the job. I've done this on some aerosol paint weirdos work and it's been working fine. All you'll need to do is a bit of polishing afterwards.

If you go the acetone road, first try on a hidden surface and second work outside because of the vapours...

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thanks for the replies. I managed to actually peel some of the paint by picking it!

will look out for some pure acetone. 

It really does need to come off. I dont intend to do much afterwards.

I should add its a chinese gibson copy. I think I'd prefer if it didnt say gibson on the headstock really!

 playing wise its really nice, the intonation is good without any adjustment and no bad parts neck wise. I'd always intended buying an epi rivoli or guild starfire but this was just too much of a bargain

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  • 1 year later...

I thought I'd reopen this thread.

I tried various stripping products including acetone and got off most of the yucky paint. so much of the body had been badly sanded that any hope of patching it up just seemed pretty pointless. 

As I had some time on my hands I went in and sanded the front and back with a low grit. 

I've left the sides and neck (the sides have been  badly sanded but only roughly.

Not sure I can face doing them!

here's a pic of it, managed to stop going through original sealant, the white patches are where the previous owner and probably me sanded through. 

any ideas what I should do next? I figure I need to go through a few grits to make it nice and smooth. I was thinking maybe stain it a vintage red and lacquer it. or stain and oil?

I have ideas of maybe changing the decal to chibson also.  

WhatsApp Image 2020-05-08 at 15.26.41.jpeg

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Whatever you do, don't try and stain it.

Stain works by soaking into the wood. That wood has previously been finished, so unless you sand down to the point where all the finish has been removed from the wood, you're going to end up with an uneven blotchy finish where the stain penetrates differently from area to area.

The top is almost certainly ply, so you're likely to sand through at least the top layer of ply before you remove the finish.

If you want to keep the grain, I'd opt to spray a topcoat the colour you want.

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cheers john. I think it would be a shame if I lost the grain as it does look quite nice in certain light.

If i was going for a solid colour I'd probably want to go for something completely different. 

going to have a look at some vintage cherry red colours.

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