possible to remove cracked clear coat (Conklin bass), and redo its natural stain?

[Graham Monette]

Hey guys. On my Conklin GT7, the clear coat seems to be grenade fragile. Any slight bump and it'll crack the clear coat. Whats worse is that these cracks are easily spread. I how have several cracked areas around its output jack.

Here it is now with its (pencil lead thick) clear coat.



What I want is to remove the clear coat and end up with this.
Does anybody know of how to attain this stain? or would I have to potentially send my body over to Ritter to get them to do it?

http://www.ritter-basses.com/ritter-...latelounge.htm



Thank you for taking the time to read this, and offering any help or advice.
-Cheers

[ehque]

That's not really a stain, but a really highly figured piece of wood under some ritter finishing pixie dust.

You probably wouldn't be able to duplicate it since the top on your Conklin isn't near that same standard. And i don't think Ritter just finishes other people's basses. You may want to try asking them, but this probably isn't something you can do at home.

[Zooberwerx]

Personally, I would do nothing at the moment and allow the existing clearcoat to take the brunt of abuse for the next few years. I recall seeing refin. processes that utilized wiping stains to attain the desired two-tone / 3-D effect. Seems to me that the varied grains / densities of quilted hardwoods demo different rates of absorption. Might want to check with the guys at the Luthiers' Corner.

Riis

[Graham Monette]

^ Okay thanks. I contacted Ritter, and yeah Jens said he doesn't touch guitars from different companies

Any leads on these said wiping techniques? sounds very interesting.


Thanks a LOT for both your responses btw, that really helps