78 Gibson Grabber Refinish

dbhokie · #1 05-31-2011, 06:22 AM

I recently acquired a 78 Gibson Grabber and started refinishing it. I am refinishing it for myself as I never plan on getting rid of it. It came very roadworn, with a lot of deep scratches and gouges in the white paint. I am going to keep all the hardware, refinish the body, the neck, refret it, remove the rust from the hardware, buff it, refinish the plastic, clean all the electronics and put it back together.

EDIT: I was having a problem finding the sharable link on Flickr, here are the pics.

[url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/dbhokie/sets/72157626850041836/]78 Gibson Grabber Refinish - a set on

Before by dbhokie, on Flickr

Lots of dings by dbhokie, on Flickr

Before by dbhokie, on Flickr

Initial Paint removal and first sand by dbhokie, on Flickr

After Sanding Sealer by dbhokie, on Flickr

dbhokie · #2 05-31-2011, 07:20 AM

I realize I don't have the photos here, but if you check the flickr link they are there.

I started out by applying Kleen stripper to the bass, I went through about five rounds of this with a toothpick, scraper, nylon brushes, and a roll of paper towels. After getting it almost totally down to bare wood, I sanded with 120, 220, 320, 400, and 600. Between each sanding I wiped it down with a tack cloth wet with mineral spirits. I then applied sanding sealer and wet sanded with 600

BassCycle · #3 05-31-2011, 07:35 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dbhokie

It seems I am quite limited in the photos I can post here, so you can see the progress here:

You can post as many images as you like by linking directly to the images in you flicker account. You just need to click the "Insert Image" icon and paste the url for you image into it. Your flicker account seems to hide the image url somewhere.

dbhokie · #4 05-31-2011, 08:01 AM

Alright, fixed now.

EDIT: I plan to next apply Tung Oil, wait 24 hours, wet sand 600

Apply Tung oil, wait, sand 1200

Apply Tung oil, wait, sand 2000

Rinse and repeat again and again until I get desired finish.

I am reconditioning the plastic now as well, I'll post pics soon. I have removed all the frets on the fretboard and am stripping it down as well.

What is a topcoat that I can apply over tungoil to protect, or just keep adding more and more tung oil?

BassCycle · #5 05-31-2011, 12:18 PM

Grabber, that's the one with the sliding pickup, right? What a cool concept. Slide the pickup into your desired sweet spot. I'm suprised no one else has done that. I played one back in the day. They sound pretty cool.

dbhokie · #6 05-31-2011, 02:26 PM

It is, and suprisingly it really does give you a lot of tone adjustment due to that, not to mention you can adjust it for style of playing and move it a bit more towards the bridge for slap etc.

dbhokie · #7 06-01-2011, 06:55 AM

But I really have been looking around and failed to find, I like the Tung Oil thus far, but will it be hard enough as a finish by itself? Do I need to put something else over it? Should I use Tru-Oil for the final couple coats? Does anyone have any suggestions?

Also, I have defretted my neck, should I use a laquer reducer or stripper, or just sand down lightly until at wood?

Since the fretboard is slightly grooved, I would guess I should run over that with a radius sanding block to make sure I don't screw up the radius?

Does anyone have any suggestions about how to repaint the logo after I sand it off the headstock? Does a manufacturer have stencils for that sort of thing?

SGD Lutherie · #8 06-01-2011, 08:03 AM

Try Watco Danish oil for a finish. If you get enough coats on it forms a nice hard finish. Similar to Tru-Oil, but easier to work with. You really didn't need sanding sealer, and hopefully you wont have adhesion problems.

Leave the front of the headstock alone. You wont find any Gibson decals. If it's dinged up, touch up the dings and then wet sand it smooth with some 600 grit and then spray some clear over it. You can get some rattle can lacquer from Stew-Mac or from many paint stores.

Are you planning on leaving it fretless, or are you going to refret the neck?

dbhokie · #9 06-01-2011, 08:46 AM

My original intent was to fret the neck. I am open to making it fretless, as I don't have a fretless bass at current.

The frets came out easily and there were no chunks out of the board, the board is a bit grooved, as I think you can see above so it will have to be sanded down some regardless.

I figured I would try to refinish it and then seat the new frets and trim them, though I may have to score through the finish to get back to the original cuts to hit the frets into.

It seems to be adhering well so far, I suppose since I used an oil I should have just let it soak into the wood...was this a bad enough mistake to resand and restart?

I have read through the hack-defret tutorial, and I appreciate the wealth of knowledge so many of you have to offer, but if I were to make it fretless I am not sure what sandable filler would be wise to use.

You would use the Danish oil over a Tru-Oil topcoat?

Thank you so much for your help, I am enjoying this completely and am truly excited at finishing, I just don't want to screw it up.

dbhokie · #10 06-06-2011, 11:29 AM

Well I will post pictures again soon, but it is going well.

So far I have removed all of the frets from the neck. All of the hardware was plated chrome so I have done what I could with it. I have sanded down the neck and fretboard, I have been using a utility knife to clean out the frets, I have applied 6 coats of Tung Oil thus far to the body and 2 to the neck. Instead of repairing a crack in the pickguard, I ordered one a blank from Stew Mac and have replicated the pickguard exactly. The other plastic pieces I have sanded down with 0000 steel, and refinished with orange-glo, they look brand new. First application of Tung Oil I buffed, then wet-sanded with 600, I did this three more times, then did it again and wetsanded with 1200, repeated once with 1200, and well that's where I am at.

I am trying to take alot of pictures of a poor man refretting the neck, as I haven't seen too much info on that here, and so am trying to compile my own noob tutorial to be critiqued.

I will post progress pictures tomorrow, but I think everything is looking great

Superdave · #11 06-06-2011, 08:20 PM

Good to hear you're refretting it! Are you planning on going natural, with the tung oil stain and everything?

dbhokie · #12 06-07-2011, 06:07 AM

I am going natural all around, the wood-grain is just so pretty. To be honest, I'm not sure I like paint unless it has some transparency to it anyways. Just like in my house, I bought it, there was carpet everywhere, pull the carpet up and there is oak underneath...what? Why?

I took some pictures but forgot my Camera, I'll try to remember tomorrow, I ended up taking pictures of the logo, and SN and everything and have been vectorizing them to print out some vinyl stencils so I can re-add them exactly as they were afterwards.