Refinishing only the back?

OshKoshJoash · #1 02-24-2009, 07:47 PM

Recently got my hands on a Modulus Q5, and while I love the bass, it's got some aesthetic flaws. I'll probably replace (or replate) the bridge. The front and the rest of the bass is basically flawless, but the back has several dings/scratches on it. They're not just surface scratches, as my fingernail can feel the ridges of the scratches.

Out of curiosity, would there be any way to refinish only the back of the bass? The front of the bass is trans black and the side and back is black. I'm not exactly sure if its feasible since the finish is poly and not nitro.

piperwarrior197 · #2 02-24-2009, 08:24 PM

Pee on it

Pilgrim · #3 02-24-2009, 10:20 PM

Nope. There's no good way to finish half a bass - somewhere there will be a line of separation between new and old finish, and it's going to be a lot less appealing than a couple of scratches. Most practical to live with it.

However - I DO know of scratches in poly that have been filled with superglue, and then a razor blade has been used as a scraper to remove the excess - after which the finish was re-polished.

Check page 3 of this thread at the Bass Outpost:
http://bassoutpost.com/index.php?topic=440.30

OshKoshJoash · #4 02-25-2009, 02:04 PM

hey Pilgrim, thanks for that tip! i'll try that out tonight.

Pilgrim · #5 02-25-2009, 04:02 PM

Hope it works for you. I have a really nice Lyle bass with a poly finish and a big scratch on the front - I plan on using that trick to fix the scratch. Note the details in that thread about bending the very tips of the razor blade so they don't create new scratches.

selowitch · #6 02-25-2009, 04:43 PM

I believe it is possible to do this on certain new instruments designed from the beginning to allow for a different finish on the back. If I'm not mistaken, you can do this when there's a well defined edge to work with, such as binding, between the faces and the sides of the instrument. I think this has been done by Warmoth on several occasions. Also, some non-bound instruments have been done this way with a burst finish on a carved maple top; if, say, black is the outermost color of the burst, then it is possible to allow the black to bleed over from the other side to complete the burst on the face. It looks really cool.

Doing this on an existing instrument as a refinish would be dismissed by many as impossible; however, almost anything can be done somehow if you wave enough money in front of a person's face -- but watch out, the results can be unpredictable and/or scary. It would involve a hell of a lot of masking and would be rather error prone. You are almost certainly better off starting with a bare body.