Making a beauty out of a beast..

kydnav · #1 11-02-2006, 03:28 PM

Or atleast, I hope so.
After getting myself a fretless Dean (secondhand) I decided the paintjob was so bad I wanted it replaced. Getting it done by a shop would've costed me more than the bass originally was so now I'm trying it myself.

So yesterday I got the electronics out, got the neck off, etc.
after 2 days of sanding I'm here:

(it was red before this and if you look carefully you'll see it was black before that.)

So tomorrow I'm going to work on sanding the sides and the white spots.
But what's bothering me a bit is the pinkish 'lines'. If you look at the back picture you'll probably see what I mean. Will that just go away if I sand it a bit more or is that just going to stay?

Anyhow. I'm planning on making some pictures to follow my process so I'll probably just keep posting them here..

Anybody's got some extra stuff I should watch out for?

joeyl · #2 11-03-2006, 08:36 AM

well I did that before: I had a J bass body that was given to me, it was bluish white, I wanted it natural. I used a paint stripper, let it sit on there for a few minutes, and scraped the paint off with a plastic scraper, that would have saved you 2 days of sanding. What you need to be careful is not to gouge the body with too coarse sandpaper, because these will show once you refinish , what color are you going for? if it is solid then it does not have to be perfect since you can fill the scrapes

MeYHymN · #3 11-03-2006, 09:38 AM

If your going to paint it, it shouldn't be a problem. I had a helluva time getting the black paint off so I could stain my BTB. The reason you have the pink lines is the sides of the grain draw in more paint/stain than the face of the grain. I would suggest using a primer/sealer before repainting. Even if the color is darker the red could possibly show through causing the top coat to be shaded differently than the other regions.

kydnav · #4 11-05-2006, 01:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by joeyl

well I did that before: I had a J bass body that was given to me, it was bluish white, I wanted it natural. I used a paint stripper, let it sit on there for a few minutes, and scraped the paint off with a plastic scraper, that would have saved you 2 days of sanding. What you need to be careful is not to gouge the body with too coarse sandpaper, because these will show once you refinish , what color are you going for? if it is solid then it does not have to be perfect since you can fill the scrapes

Well, I was thinking about keeping the wood color... But that doesn't match my neck at all.. So I'm thinking about making it the same color as the neck (quite grey-ish) and making some kind of symbol or something on it..

Eric Moesle · #5 11-06-2006, 12:49 PM

You need to do a LOT more sanding before you are ready to put a finish on that wood. You need to sand over all of those sanding scratches that don't follow the grain. ALWAYS sand with the grain whenever possible. You've got them going all sorts of directions.

kydnav · #6 01-04-2007, 10:03 AM

Well, it's all done (for a while allready but I was too lazy to post anything

Well, it used to look like this...

Front with the primer
Back with the primer
Then there was the first coating
Picture 1
Different angle&lighting
Then I taped what I wanted to keep red and sprayed it all metallic black
here it is hanging in the sprayroom with the paint still wet
When the paint was dry I took of the 'stickers' and got this result:
Front
Front 2
Back
After that the varnish (??) was put on and it came out like this (not that much of a difference but it makes the metallic of both colours stand out just that little bit more)

Then it was put together and for some reason my electronics were busted so I decided to take it to a shop and get it fixed, a week later he sounded better than ever

Don't have any pictures of the entire bass put together though...

XansNiceSweater · #7 01-04-2007, 03:03 PM

That's offensively nice. What kind of paint did you use!?

Eight Thumbs Up!

kydnav · #8 01-04-2007, 03:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by XansNiceSweater

That's offensively nice. What kind of paint did you use!?

Eight Thumbs Up!

Thanks alot, I'm just glad it all turned out okay considering it was my first (and definitely not my last) attempt at redoing a bass

Just regular metallic carpaint

(the two bassclefs actually stand out even better than in the picture)

XansNiceSweater · #9 01-04-2007, 03:21 PM

-random southern accent- I gotta get me summa dat.

kydnav · #10 01-04-2007, 03:33 PM

Put together:

Pickups are going to be replaced as soon as I have the money for it... Any suggestions on what type I should get?

jondog · #11 01-05-2007, 01:14 PM

That looks fantastic! You used auto paint from a spray can? What did you use for the top clear coat?

kydnav · #12 01-05-2007, 01:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jondog

That looks fantastic! You used auto paint from a spray can? What did you use for the top clear coat?

Nope, I got the paint from the dad of a friend of mine (works at a car workshop) and could use the spraygunthingey at school (the same that guy from the car workshop uses)...
And I didn't do the top coat myself, the dad of that friend did it, he said it would be a waste if I made it look pretty and used the coating you can buy at shops and wanted it to have a really good coating so he offered to do it

jondog · #13 01-05-2007, 01:32 PM

Oh . . .

I was thinking about going to an auto repainting shop like Maaco and seeing how much they'd charge me to have them do a bass in a color they are already doing a car in. Like they could hang the bass near the car and spray paint on it at the same time. I'd think it would be cheap . . .

kydnav · #14 01-05-2007, 01:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jondog

Oh . . .

I was thinking about going to an auto repainting shop like Maaco and seeing how much they'd charge me to have them do a bass in a color they are already doing a car in. Like they could hang the bass near the car and spray paint on it at the same time. I'd think it would be cheap . . .

Most places probably would even do it for a couple of beers

Demon · #15 01-05-2007, 02:43 PM

Thas not a beast, tis is.

joeyl · #16 01-05-2007, 06:28 PM

looks nice but I would have avoided spraying the neck pocket. But obviously it still worked for you.

thanks

Yell03SpecV · #17 01-05-2007, 11:55 PM

This is why everyone who does any sort of refinishing should own an HVLP gun.

With a bit more attention to detail, that would look better than OE.

Still, great job for a first-timer, and good luck in the future!

kydnav · #18 01-06-2007, 01:40 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Yell03SpecV

This is why everyone who does any sort of refinishing should own an HVLP gun.

With a bit more attention to detail, that would look better than OE.

Still, great job for a first-timer, and good luck in the future!

Yeah that's the thing I used, an HVLP gun..
and what's OE?

LiquidCougar · #19 01-07-2007, 06:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kydnav

...and what's OE?

Original Equipment.

kydnav · #20 01-08-2007, 10:33 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by LiquidCougar

Original Equipment.

Now that actually makes sense!