Refinish jobs gone wrong

[Evilpenguin556]

So recently, I bought a Squier affinity jazz bass off of a friend for twenty bucks (his dad had bought it for him a few years earlier, and he never bothered to learn how to play it) and I decided, hey, why not give it a sweet refinish job with whatever I can find in my parent's garage? That way, I don't have to waste any money on it, because I am constantly broke.

I found both black and white spray paint, so I figured I'd go with the black pickguard/white body color scheme that I'm so fond of. I started out by attempting to sand off the finish (probably a mistake), and when that wasn't fast enough, I happened upon a blowtorch, which I lit up and went to town with (definitely a mistake). It turns out that if you're trying to remove paint by burning it off, you must follow these two rules:

1. A t-shirt wrapped around your mouth doesn't cut it, and-

2. You really can't just light it on fire, then walk away to get a sandwich or whatever and expect the job to be done for you.

So needless to say, a lost a few chunks of wood from the back of the bass, but whatever. It's mostly on the back, and I did a much better, more even job with the other side. Next came the spray painting.

Painting the body white went off mostly without a hitch, but when it came to painting the pick guard black (because simply going out and buying a black one would be the coward's way), I accidentally tore off the nozzle, sending a spray of black paint all over me, the bass, and the rest of the garage. Of course, this couldn't deter me, either, and I simply washed up and re-coated the body. Then came finishing.

I was lucky enough to find a can of spray polyurethane, which went on evenly, felt great, looked wonderful... And was mostly gone, leaving me only enough to coat the pick guard. For the rest of the body, I was forced to use this crappy $5 spray lacquer that was sticky, goopy, and almost completely depleted, which I attempted to compensate for by holding the can very close to the body and disregarding the instructions. Oh, and I also neglected to clean the dirt and miscellaneous bits of whatever off of the body beforehand, leaving the bass with the most uneven finish possible. Needless to say, it looked pretty horrible.

Of course, I could re-do this whole job, but that would require money and time that I'm not willing to spare. So I've just declared this my designated punk bass, and I'll just let the finish rub off and plaster it in stickers and hopefully no one will notice.

TL;DR: I tried to refinish a $20 bass for no money as haphazardly as possible, and it turned out horribly, but I don't care because I'll just abuse it and pretend this never happened.

So anyway, does anyone else have any hair-raising stories of refinish jobs gone wrong?

[Smokin' Toaster]

I can't imagine why this didn't work out better for you. At least now you have a punk respiratory system to go with your punk bass.

[fourstringdrums]

This is a joke right?

[Philonius]

No pics, no refinish job gone horribly wrong.

[Klopp18]

Originally Posted by Philonius

No pics, no refinish job gone horribly wrong.

Yup. Its an epic story!

[Evilpenguin556]

Originally Posted by fourstringdrums

This is a joke right?

I wish. I will most likely re-re-finish it in the future, and make an honest attempt at making a decent looking bass and fixing my mistakes, but for now, I have this.

To be fair, though, this was my first re-finish attempt, and I didn't really expect to be successful (else, I would have made a more careful, calculated attempt). I just wanted experiment a bit and see what I could do with what I had, and also figure out what works and what doesn't for my self, so that the next time I take a go at it, I'll be better prepared and hopefully produce something I can be proud of.

Edit: Pictures forthcoming.

[SamanthaCay]

Originally Posted by Philonius

No pics, no refinish job gone horribly wrong.

+10000000000000000000
I once sprayed a bass body by mistake with crackle lacquer. (a special mix designed to check as it cures)
Needless to say I was a bit surprised when it came time to buff.

[Evilpenguin556]

Alright, here it is. I'm not done putting it back together, and this was taken with a webcam, so you can't really see the gritty little details, but this will give you a basic idea.

Front:



Back, where the most damage was done:



Close up on the back:



Close up on the front:

[Klopp18]

WOAH! lol. That thing is ugly! But for 20 bucks? Awesome!! What color was it before?

[4001]

I bet it looks better in a natural wood finish.....

[BigGuns]

Yep, first thing I go for when sandpaper is too slow: BLOWTORCH. Lol.

[4001]

It's called paint stripper. Put it on, wait awhile, scrape it off with a putty knife.
Repeat, sand, seal, clear and done.

[Evilpenguin556]

Originally Posted by Klopp18

WOAH! lol. That thing is ugly! But for 20 bucks? Awesome!! What color was it before?

That was my thought exactly. It was just the standard black finish/ white pick guard deal. Nothing special, and for 20 bucks, there was no way I could leave it as is.

[rhockens]

A friend of my refinished his Gibson SG in the following manner:

He was dying his leather guitar strap with some black liquid shoe polish. Said shoe polish was set with the cap off atop his guitar which was balanced on his lap.

The instrument was instantly refinished when the shoe polish tipped over.

[scottbass]

Originally Posted by Evilpenguin556

It was just the standard black finish/ white pick guard deal. Nothing special, and for 20 bucks, there was no way I could leave it as is.

So you changed it from black body/white pickguard to white body/black pickguard? Wow - that was creative...

C'mon...I'm just messing with you. In all truth, I might have done something similar about 40 years ago, except I think I probably used lead-based orange house paint. And then I tried to paint freehand paisleys on it...

[Philonius]

Ahhh, to be young again. Great learning experience, but remember what Ben Franklin said:

"Experience keeps a dear school, but fools will learn in no other."

[Edward G.]

Originally Posted by Philonius

Ahhh, to be young again. Great learning experience, but remember what Ben Franklin said:

"Experience keeps a dear school, but fools will learn in no other."

Who does Ben Franklin play with?

[professor_bills]

Thank you so much for this post
I was thinking of redoing my Squier Pbass just for fun
Now I will leave it alone

[TripleDouble]

I "refinished" a mim jazz when i was much younger, I sanded (or maybe filed(?)) chunks right out of it inside the horns. I gave that bass to a friend in disgust, and whenever he plays it in public I want to throw up

[Derock85z]

For future reference if you want to do this to another bass, the best surface to paint on is an already painted surface. Basically paint will stick to paint better than wood. All you would've had to do would've been to scuff the surface with a red scothbrite pad, clean with with wax & grease remover and spray it.

It take less than 15 minutes to sand and prep a painted body for paint. The only time that doesnt apply is if it has multiple coats of spray paint on it, then the best thing to do would be to wet sand or strip it by chemical, burning paint off is a bit hazardous especially if it has a catalyst in it, which I'm sure the factory coat did .