| I owned an original Dano bass when it was new in 1960 and currently own one of the reissues. It's a very cheaply made instrument. The top and back are made of tempered hardboard, which is also known as Masonite and a few other names. Paint will stick to it just fine and I've painted many Masonite panels with no problems as long as they're clean and primed properly. The very early ones were spray painted with a rather cheap looking paint. The reissues, which your friend probably owns, are now finished with a very tough catalyzed finish, so I'm not surprised he had trouble with paint stripper. It won't touch that stuff. And as he found out, sanding it all off is next to impossible because the outside smooth surface is just a thin sheet of paper bonded to the inside stranded core with a phenolic resin. it's so thin it's easy to sand right through it.
You can repaint it though. You should wash it down thoroughly with mineral spirits (Varsol or some other paint thinner) to remove grease, grime and wax. Then give it a very light even sanding with 220 grit sandpaper to rough up the old finish enough for your new paint to adhere. You should use a good sealer/primer like BIN before you paint. Use two coats of the primer and sand lightly after each coat to give a perfectly smooth surface. It should then take any good finish paint you decide to use, either water based or oil based, after you've prepared it this way.
Last edited by 62bass : 09-24-2007 at 09:42 AM.
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