Refinishing

bSaRSvS · #1 02-17-2009, 09:32 PM

I have this 1977 Anton Schroetter West German plywood bass the school was going to chuck, and I am curious about refinishing it, what finish would I use for the body and scroll, and then what for the neck? I'll post pictures but you can imagine it looks like any bass that's been through a public school for 30 years. A free bass was a free bass.

eh_train · #2 02-17-2009, 11:22 PM

HI

If you search refinishing - it has been discussed plenty - you'll see that it's a huge job that usually devalues a bass. Since your bass cost $0 it would be hard to devalue, but why cause yourself unnecessary grief and long hours of work?

I suggest washing it with liquid soap and water - you'd be surprised how many students each lunch while playing bass - drying it, then going over it with tung oil and VERY fine steel wool. The oil will darken the exposed wood and bring some life back to whatever finish is still on it. The whole process could be done in a day.

There are other products to rejuvenate the existing finish as well, which others might suggest...

Cheers,

Paul (eh_train)

**Matthew Tucker** · #3 02-18-2009, 02:43 AM

I think, a 30 year old knocked around ply bass won't be devalued much. In fact, I think if its otherwise sound, but looks horrid, you can give it a new lease of life ... BUT ... its a horrible, messy, time-consuming job to strip the old finish.

you can finish it with whatever you like. depends what you want to achieve

if you like varnish, use varnish. If you like paint, use that. if you like cheesecloth, use that

But if you ever want to SELL it to someone else ... stick to the simple traditional finish, unless you're really confident. You'll find heaps of threads on varnish if you search.

But Paul is right, start out by cleaning up what's there, and see if has any mojo left.

MollyKay · #4 02-18-2009, 05:21 AM

Hello…I’ll throw my two cents in having done a few of these projects. Here is a thread from a year ago that you can read about our journey to strip and refinish a Kay bass. Towards the end of the thread is a photo bucket slide show with over a hundred step by step pictures. Refinishing is a messy, smelly, time consuming labor of love.

Hope you find the thread helpful and can make an informed decision to proceed or play the bass as is.

Rare Kay TV-1 Bass

draftsmann · #5 02-18-2009, 05:22 AM

I finished a new (bought in-the-white) bass with Tru Oil, which is sold by gun shops for stock finishing. This was on the recommendation of one of the esteemed luthiers (which I am emphatically not!) on this forum.

I managed to achieve a very pleasing finish - it took an awful lot of time and patience though.

I think the real buggerance factor for you is not so much applying the new finish as removing the old and preparing the surface for the new finish. If you don't do that well, it will never look good. It seems to me there has to be some risk of sanding through the outermost laminate. I can't offer any useful advice on how to avoid that other than being very careful indeed, and possibly using scrapers.

You might be sorry you started the job!

Good luck

bSaRSvS · #6 02-18-2009, 03:33 PM

Thank you for all this advice, here are some pictures of the thing.

I wouldn't care what it looks like, but I want to play in a college orchestra, and I guess there is a cosmetic policy.
I looked at the Tru Oil. That stuff looks pretty cool.
As far as time, I don't own a bow or have new strings, so I have some time before I accumulate 300ish dollars. Till then I'll just continue borrowing a different functional school bass.

bassist14 · #7 02-18-2009, 03:43 PM

this bass looks ok. no need to refinish.
have you ever seen a really old (200 years +) bass?
cleaning, polish and evreything is fine.
maybe you could repair the chipping on the front, but thats not a major problem.

Don Higdon · #8 02-18-2009, 04:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bassist14

this bass looks ok. no need to refinish.
have you ever seen a really old (200 years +) bass?
cleaning, polish and evreything is fine.
maybe you could repair the chipping on the front, but thats not a major problem.

To paraphrase, OK is in the eye of the beholder. I would have no compunction about refinishing that bass. I refinished an abused Tyrolean and increased its sale value.
Harvie S gigs and records on a refinished Kay. I don't think anyone would call it "devalued." It looks great and sounds great. Michael Moore had a refinished Kay. The other posts' devaluation talk sounds a bit precious to me.

ctregan · #9 02-18-2009, 05:23 PM

I think it looks great as is.

If you strip the bass, you may remove the painted purfling.

forester · #10 02-18-2009, 05:44 PM

+1 and under no circumstances remove the stenciling on the back! take it to the nearest autobody shop and have it shot with clear..you have an urban treasure

**Matthew Tucker** · #11 02-18-2009, 06:00 PM

SNAP!

Mine's a humble Roderisch Paesold, 1974, a nice jazz bass, despite the painted-on purfling. I would say that it is an identical model to yours, and the wear pattern in the upper bout is IDENTICAL to mine, same yellow groundcoat coming through; Paesold bought the brand Schroetter in the Seventies. Some of the Schroetter line is made in China, and there was a Schoetter shop in the US that sold this label too i believe. Boosey and Hawkes bought Paesold in the early 90's i think.

I'm replacing the top because it is delaminating, but other than that, the wear show's its been well used, has a mojo all of its own. Not refinishing this one. Looks quite nice when photographed carefully.

Just fix those ply edges, they are ugly. If you fix them, the rest will look after itself.

simonwilmer · #12 02-18-2009, 07:04 PM

Nice bass Mathew ,Id like to find something like this ,Id prefer something like this to the carved Gliga Im contemplating , you just cant get this look and feel any other way .

james condino · #13 02-18-2009, 07:11 PM

Refinish?????? That bass is just starting to get to the point where I'd be OK taking it out in public. If the folks you want to play with are more concerned about how your bass looks than your chops, find another group to play with!!!!

j.

bSaRSvS · #14 02-18-2009, 08:07 PM

Ha wow, you gotta love what 30 years of belts do to finish.
And like I said before, I couldn't really care either way what it looks like, but college orchestras do. So far I'm thinking, if i don't completely refinish the bass, I am gonna need to refinish the neck and scroll. I woke up this morning to a pile of old varnish underneath the scroll. Also the neck was sprayed with some cheap clear coat at some point. That's gonna need to change ha. School instruments have such crazy stories. This one had been in the school attic with no weather control for 6 years. The strings are so false they move a quarter tone if i let them ring. Its covered in swear words too haha.