Strip or not to Strip

BassGreaser · #1 06-17-2010, 08:17 PM

I have a Strunal 5/20 hybrid that has been a great bass for me for the past 5 years. Now I know it's definitely not the best bass out there, but it's my bass. It has the thick hard finish on it and for the past serval years I have been thinking about getting the finish stripped and having an oil vanish applied to get the best possible tone out of this thing. What do you fellow DBers think if this idea is it worth it?

Jazzdogg · #2 06-17-2010, 08:43 PM

We'll be in a better position to help if you provide more information.

What kind of wood is it?
What kind of experience do you have doing this kind of work?
Do you have the necessary tools?

BassGreaser · #3 06-17-2010, 08:44 PM

oh I wouldnt being doing the work myself.. I would take it to a pro

longfinger · #4 06-17-2010, 08:51 PM

Did you get a rough quote from said pro about the time and price involved?

BassGreaser · #5 06-17-2010, 08:55 PM

not yet.. I am still undecided about have it done.. I guess what I would like to know is would my bass benifit greatly and inprove the tone if I have it done?

BassGreaser · #6 06-17-2010, 09:01 PM

Strunal's site says my bass has a hand carved solid spruce with laminated aningre, swelled back and has a polyurethane finish

Jake deVilliers · #7 06-17-2010, 09:16 PM

I'd say try refinishing the top and see how you like the result. Taking that armour plating off there should open it up noticeably.

Good luck!

BassGreaser · #8 06-17-2010, 09:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jake deVilliers

I'd say try refinishing the top and see how you like the result. Taking that armour plating off there should open it up noticeably.

Good luck!

armour plating haha I like how you put that.. it is in a way.

MIKMAN · #9 06-18-2010, 02:11 AM

Allow me to add my knowledge about this specific bass. It is a well made hybrid and the polyurethane varnish chokes the sound. One of my friends has the same one and after stripping it and varnishing it with oil varnish he noticed a tremendous improvement
in terms of volume and complexity of tone. As i remember the sound was a bit "pingy" and after the varnishing it became warm and deep.
The whole process was performed by a violin luthier in Greece with excellent results. He stained the tonewood with golden brown stain
and varnished it with a smooth satin oil varnish.
If i were in your shoes i'd try to find a decent double bass luthier to do it.
Mike

Ed Fuqua · #10 06-18-2010, 06:39 AM

I think Jon Packard (Pacman) did something like this himself, you should sound him...

longfinger · #11 06-18-2010, 08:17 AM

Here's a thread on a similar subject. The photos have been removed, but I recall the visual difference was striking between the before and after photos.

Bass Refinishing Completed!

BassGreaser · #12 06-18-2010, 09:23 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MIKMAN

Allow me to add my knowledge about this specific bass. It is a well made hybrid and the polyurethane varnish chokes the sound. One of my friends has the same one and after stripping it and varnishing it with oil varnish he noticed a tremendous improvement
in terms of volume and complexity of tone. As i remember the sound was a bit "pingy" and after the varnishing it became warm and deep.
The whole process was performed by a violin luthier in Greece with excellent results. He stained the tonewood with golden brown stain
and varnished it with a smooth satin oil varnish.
If i were in your shoes i'd try to find a decent double bass luthier to do it.
Mike

Mike,
Thanks for the info it makes me feel hopeful about this idea

arnoldschnitzer · #13 06-18-2010, 10:46 AM

I agree you should have a pro do the finish work. However, you could save a lot of money by doing the stripping yourself. It's relatively easy, but messy, smelly and time consuming. Citrustrip is one of the less toxic yet effective products for that purpose.

Mr. Mig · #14 06-18-2010, 10:50 AM

Let a pro do it.

BassGreaser · #15 06-18-2010, 11:03 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by arnoldschnitzer

I agree you should have a pro do the finish work. However, you could save a lot of money by doing the stripping yourself. It's relatively easy, but messy, smelly and time consuming. Citrustrip is one of the less toxic yet effective products for that purpose.

arnold i will be moving out to Philly in a few months
and I was actually going to contact you to see if you would be willing to to the process on my bass and see how much it would cost.

longfinger · #16 06-18-2010, 11:26 AM

Wow. There you go. Word from a Master.

So if you do decide to do this, please document all the before, during and after states of your Strunal with photos, controlled audio recordings and even a spread sheet of money and time spent. Sometimes to know if it's worth it, somebody just has to decide to do the experiment, record and track all the relevant data, and then come to a conclusion after it's all done. And then share the data so others can learn from the experiment.

I'd be very interested to know how this turns out.

BassGreaser · #17 06-18-2010, 11:44 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by longfinger

Wow. There you go. Word from a Master.

So if you do decide to do this, please document all the before, during and after states of your Strunal with photos, controlled audio recordings and even a spread sheet of money and time spent. Sometimes to know if it's worth it, somebody just has to decide to do the experiment, record and track all the relevant data, and then come to a conclusion after it's all done. And then share the data so others can learn from the experiment.

I'd be very interested to know how this turns out.

Long that is a great idea.. I will do just that. i am very interested in seeing how this bass sounds with it fully opened up and putting out the best sound it can, and one of the main reasons why I want to keep this bass is it doesnt feed back at all even using my Underwood pickup right into an old Ampeg B25b tube head playing with louder groups, and I tend to have a nice deep sound going through an amp.

Eric Hochberg · #18 06-18-2010, 02:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BassGreaser

one of the main reasons why I want to keep this bass is it doesnt feed back at all even using my Underwood pickup right into an old Ampeg B25b tube head playing with louder groups, and I tend to have a nice deep sound going through an amp.

Might that change when you alter the finish and make the bass more resonant...?

BassGreaser · #19 06-18-2010, 02:29 PM

possible.. but I'm willing to deal with that

powerbass · #20 06-18-2010, 06:32 PM

not the same animal BUT, I made my own fretless electric bass. Before I put any finish on it I strung it up and played in unplugged. I loved the acoustic sound, I could hear the wood talkin. Then I proceeded to spray lacquer on it, just a few coats, restrung it - lost all that woody sound. So I stripped all the finish off and applied 1 good coat of oil/varnish. Now I'm happy because I like the sound and feel of the instrument much better. I like wood