New at refinishing

[brentonkim]

Hello,

I was wondering how complicated would it be for a person that has no knowledge of any luthier work or wood work, to do a refinish. I've always loved the look of a dark wood stain, such as walnut, and I am contemplating on doing so to my bass.

I have a few questions, and it would be awesome if you could help me out a bit.

First, how difficult is the process?
What are some necessary tools, or helpful tools? (maybe a palm sander?)
Do different woods stain differently, or look better with different stains, (for example, my bass is made out of basswood, would walnut look rich in texture?)

And lastly, I do not understand the hair pictures. Can someone explain this to me? haha, I've kind of figured, it's a stress issue, where you show your hair when you started, and when you're finished? I really do like to look at the luthier form, and it just makes me itch to do some wood work, haha. This is honestly, probably my favorite section of this forum, just saying.

Anyways,

Thanks,

Brenton


OH! And I do plan to practice on some beat up Squire Stratocaster body I found in my garage, before I touch my bass, haha.

[Evil Undead]

I refinished a guitar a while ago, check out the pictures in the gallery and the blog on my website (below)
Not sure if it will be of much use but might be!

[bassphase]

You definitely want to practice a LOT before you refinish your bass.

Try removing the old finish with a citrus paint stripper. If your bass has a poly finish or undercoat you will likely have to sand it off. Be prepared for a lot of work. If your current bass is painted it will probably not have a very interesting grain pattern. Most of the nicely grained body woods are reserved for natural or translucent finish. Don't use "stain". The stain at the hardware store has pigments that are far too coarse for fine woodworking. Use a quality wood dye or even artists translucent colors thinned and applied in several coats until you achieve the color you want. You need to practice this step as its very easy to streak the wood and not get an even color. Then apply whatever clear coats you've decided on lacquer, poly or oil finish. Dyes can be found in better woodworking supply houses or almost any luthier supply source such as Stewart McDonald or Luthier's Mercantile.


Good Luck

bob

[Hookus]

There are some good guides in the stickies as well. Excellent guides, actually.

[oldrookie]

I just finished my first refinish. Very little finish work experience. Used this section of Talkbass, the http://www.tdpri.com/forum/finely-finished/ and the Luthier's Tip de Jour videos on Youtube to figure out what I was supposed to be doing.

I would suggest doing a lot of reading before launching off into the process. There are a lot of ways of doing each part of the job (stripping, grain filling, adding color and then clear) and a LOT of opinions about the right way to do this.

You need to figure out what you have the tools and skill to do based on what you want the final product to look like.

Don't be intimidated. Most of the mistakes you will make are correctable. (I had to strip it back down to almost the beginning because I missed a step between staining the body and adding lacquer. The lacquer starting wrinkling stain as soon as it hit. Frustrating, but it still turned out okay.)

If you want a total noob's story of refinishing...my thread is "a slow refinish of an '89 Peavey Fury." Trust me...if I can do this, you can too.

Possible inspiration shot:

[SDB Guitars]

Originally Posted by oldrookie

Fantastic work. Better than *my* first lacquer work...

[Evil Undead]

Very nice job. Definitely way better than mine. I used a brush on lacquer *facepalm*

[brentonkim]

Originally Posted by SDB Guitars

Fantastic work. Better than *my* first lacquer work...

Oh god, your bass is exactly what I want my bass to look like. haha, I love wood grains, makes me so happy, haha.

Thanks for all the advice!

I appreciate it,

Brenton

[oldrookie]

Originally Posted by Evil Undead

Very nice job. Definitely way better than mine. I used a brush on lacquer *facepalm*

I did too. I ended wiping it all off with lacquer thinner. Added a day or two to the process.

I made a lot of mistakes doing this. When I said most mistakes he will/might make are correctable I speak from experience. I had to correct mine, several times

And, thanks guys. Glad you like the bass. May be hooked. Already thinking about another project. Maybe a blackburst on a jazz?

[Evil Undead]

My next project is going to be a white jazz with a black PG... now to find a money tree....