Advice/ Tips for painting a bass yourself (Cheap/Poor guy content)

[aaronhutson]

Okay so i bought a new bass that I wanna make my own. Its nothing special, but i dont want to trash it or mess it up. I have painted a guitar before but i rushed it so i got a little orange peel on the side.

The thing is, i dont have the right tools or the money. So I am gonna use spraypaint. I did it before by using several layers and then a few poly urithane coats. So maybe if i do more, lighter coats i wont get the orange peel?

Heres a pic of the bass.Attachment 216462

Attachment 216463

I am looking to do the same color, just make it newer and cover the dings and scratches from the previous owner.

Is it possible?

Heres what I know:

1- take everything off (hardware, neck, electronics, everything)
2- Sand with high grade sand paper to get it down to the base
3-wipe with rag and warm water to clean dust and nasty off
4- lots of very thin layers of color
5-a few (5 or 6?) layers of clear coat


What do you think? Any advice would be awesome!

Whats the best spraypaint? Or a way to jerryrig a sprayer with some better paint?

Anything helps!

[slaphappychappy]

i've spraycan painted 2 basses. one came out really good, i took my time. allowed a couple hours between coats, and for the top coat i left it for about a week before i went over ith several coats of clear. i gave the top colour coat a very light sand with the finest grit paper i could get, and barely put any pressure on, just to even out the paint.
as long as your clear, and colour are the same types of paint, eg : acrylic and acrylic, or enamel and enamel, it should be fine. The paint i used on both occasions was a cheap $2.50 a can acrylic. one was red, and the other was matt black. The red came out really well. When i painted the matt black bass, i rushed, and as a result the finish was turds. BUT, i'm am sure there will be plenty of other opinions on here, and maybe some more helpful than mine. Oh, and to get the initial original paint off, I used paint stripper.

[aaronhutson]

Originally Posted by slaphappychappy

i've spraycan painted 2 basses. one came out really good, i took my time. allowed a couple hours between coats, and for the top coat i left it for about a week before i went over ith several coats of clear. i gave the top colour coat a very light sand with the finest grit paper i could get, and barely put any pressure on, just to even out the paint.
as long as your clear, and colour are the same types of paint, eg : acrylic and acrylic, or enamel and enamel, it should be fine. The paint i used on both occasions was a cheap $2.50 a can acrylic. one was red, and the other was matt black. The red came out really well. When i painted the matt black bass, i rushed, and as a result the finish was turds. BUT, i'm am sure there will be plenty of other opinions on here, and maybe some more helpful than mine. Oh, and to get the initial original paint off, I used paint stripper.

Any pics?

[walterw]

advice? don't bother.

unless you're a master builder with all the right gear, it'll never look as good as it does now.

it'll be hours of work and hassle just to end up with something uglier (and worth less) than you have now.

now if your actual goal is to become good at painting these, then sure, sacrificing this one is worth it as a learning experience.

[slaphappychappy]

ill have a hunt through my pictures and see if i can find one of the red one. The finish was good. I will point out, as ^^^^^above me said, you can't expect a factory finish.
I will also advise you that its takes alot of effort to get a half decent finish. You have to be very careful with your coats of paint, keeping all movements even and about 30-40 cm off the wood. Depending on how porous the wood is, you may need to prime it first.
You have to do each stroke with the can a continous one from left to right, or right to left depending on if you are a lefty, or righty. You need to slightly overlap each spray.
I gave it a go with spray cans cos I have painted cars before. Have a look on you tube or something first, and watch somebody painting a surface and decide if you want to do it. There is nothing worse than ending up with runs.

You could also try using a bit of polish to fix the finish already on the bass. You'd be surprised what a light cut and buff can do to a guitar's paint, as usually, they have thick coats on them.

[joe vegas]

go for it. i did 2, back when, and they turned out very nice.

** sand and prep the body,
** GET SOME PRACTICE WOOD and PRACTICE A BUNCH, so you have the right pressure and distance,
** LIGHT coats, with the motion as described by Slaphappychappy (above),
* very light sanding to even out the anomalies, as mentioned above,
** several light clear coats to finish. with an overnight drying time between coats to be totally safe.
good luck!

[Pilgrim]

1) Buy Dan Erlewine's book on guitar repair.
2) Read everything on Reranch.com
3) Read Walter's note above....

And decide whether you want to put 30+ hours into making it look great. For a first time, that's probably what it will take.

[OPBASSMAN1994]

Primer, furniture approved paint, and poly coating. Works for me.

[fhm555]

No matter how good a job you do of applying the finish, if your surface prep is crap so will be the final product. Chips, scratches, etc, have to be filled and/or sanded out and the entire surface leveled. Any dips, bumps, etc, will not only look bad up close, they will also cast funny shadows when hit by light from different angles, which will make them noticeable from quite a distance. This also goes for the rounded edges of the body. If you mess up the tangential areas where flat surfaces transition to curves or cut a goofy line in a radius while sanding, it will show 10X once painted.

Not saying it's hard or requires a lot of skill, but it does require some knowledge so if it's you first time it may be best to think of it as two separate jobs. Forget the finish and concentrate entirely on surface prep. Once you have that right and complete, then start thinking about finishing.

[SurferJoe46]

1) TOTAL cleanliness - no oils, waxes or silicons in the area or rags that were used for other purposes are allowed.
2) Wash and scrub your hands and don't touch your face while you are working on the paint job - human oils are very nasty in the paint job.
3) No smoking - tobacco oils again!

Orange peel occurs for any one or two of several reasons::

wrong temperature
old paint
too fast of a flash point eg: low temp reducer in a hot temperature application
application was too close/heavy
overall contamination from air, solvents or old surface sealers, etc.

There are more reasons for orange peel like wrong air pressure, 'fan' is too large/small, wrong reducer for the temperature at time of painting, insufficient reducer in the mixture, old catalyst, ... etc, etc, etc.

Spray cans try to cover for most all those conditions - but they are not foolproof.

Here's the kicker: Fender (for instance) uses polyester-based paints, not polyurethane. Polyurethane will never achieve the depth and clarity that polyurethane can or will.

Besides the fact that polyurethane will never have the hardness that polyester will, polyurethane will react badly with most guitar hangers and stands if they have foam to protect the finish.

Using a very fine sandpaper before each application is OK if the paint can re-melt or burn into the last coat - but polyurethane is dry and sealed once it fires off and it won't be bonded to well by a coat of itself again if you wait too long.

Better to use no finer than 220# wet/dry paper (180# is better) to prep for the next coat to give the new application something to bite into.

When you use wet/dry paper, put a couple of drops of dishwashing liquid detergent (NOT SOAP) in the water to help break the surface tension and clean the surface being sanded, plus it makes the paper last a lot longer.

DETERGENT is your friend here to remove any oils and contamination from the surface to paint.

I like to use iso-alcohol to finally clear the surface before painting IF the lower paints/primers are not affected by it. Test it first.

NEW RAGS are another friend for reasons already stated. Old rags - no matter how many times they are washed will not be safe to use. Silicon in drier sheets and fabric softeners are a bad thing to get into your paint, so a washed rag is suspect at least.

If you insist on wiping the surface just before you paint it - us an official tack-rag. That's what it's designed for.

Keep your hands off the surface! Don't breathe over it, and don't cough in the same area or direction.

Build a handle (like a stick) that you screw into the neck pocket to keep your mitts off the body!

If you use rubber gloves (you should) DO NOT GET THE SILICON DUSTED TYPES! Silicon will destroy the paint job!

I've painted cars that if you stood over it to apply the flat surface color - were contaminated by any 'stuff' from your hair - dead skin cells (dandruff) and other human detritus can ruin a job too!

Some paints are very touchy - Some can be applied on an oil slick in the ocean - so there's rules, and then there aren't.

[senorblues]

After it dries, polishing compound from the auto parts store can be your best friend.

[aaronhutson]

Okay well i know more now.. If i dont like it, can i sand it down and do it again?

[SurferJoe46]

Ummmm - maybe.

Actually sanding it bare isn't always a good idea if the existing surface is decent enough and it's still tightly adhering to the under-surface, in this case wood.

Old paint is the best primer of all.

[aaronhutson]

Originally Posted by slaphappychappy

There is nothing worse than ending up with runs.

Aint that the truth!