Refinish Project: Flea's Spin Art Fleabass (PICS)

[rossiman]

SKIP DOWN FURTHER ON THIS PAGE TO SEE FINAL RESULTS

Found myself a black fleabass last week...and black is just to plain and dull for my taste, so I sanded it down to do my first refinish!....Then I was looking how he had a handful of his Fleabasses spin painted by Damien Hirst, one of which he uses live....So i thought it would be a cool project to tackle!
Did the headstock first to test out paint and finish (varathane crystal clear gloss brush on polyurethane)..... added a custom decal i made on photoshop reminiscent of the Flea/Hirst logo (except substituted Hirst with my last name) and so far have finished spin painting the back and front of the guitar with a seam running along the side (based on pictures, I noticed thats how the Flea/Hirst ones are)
Dont know if I will use the brush on poly though for the body because i just dont want to easily mess it. Give me your feedback/advice!

[ThaLowEndTheory]

That's pretty dang cool.

[bassteban]

WAAAY cool- I will say I had the same idea a good 20 years ago but never acted on it. Nice!

[mdogs]

Yes, definitely cool!!!!!!

[gordon5377]

Very cool, and a great and unique idea. Just a question though: did you have a lot of sanding to do to level the paint? Looking at your last pic (the bass back) it looks like there are a lot of levels. I just wondered how they looked as you worked back down to a level finish?

[DiabolusInMusic]

That turned out pretty darn awesome.

[J. Crawford]

Need a how to video, very cool.

[inate_hex]

looks cool. ive heard u shouldn't paint the neck pocket tho

[BenBL]

Damn, that's awesome. I've always wanted to splatter paint a bass. That spin painting is something I've never seen before.

[rossiman]

after on and off work, going back and forth between with clear coat to use, and having some issues... I finally finished it! some little flaws here and there but eh, it was my first time. Also I attached an acoustic guitar I did (much easier because I only did one surface and used the pour on envirotex resin rather than auto spray max 2k) feedback appreciated!

[Chef FourString]

Nice job, sir. Very nice.

[gordon5377]

Originally Posted by rossiman

after on and off work, going back and forth between with clear coat to use, and having some issues... I finally finished it! some little flaws here and there but eh, it was my first time. Also I attached an acoustic guitar I did (much easier because I only did one surface and used the pour on envirotex resin rather than auto spray max 2k) feedback appreciated!

SICK . . .


and that in no way is a bad thing! Taking some of that purple from the acoustic and adding it to the Flea would be the only thing I would do differently. Nicely done!!

[drummer5359]

I would so rock that.

[ynot12]

Very nice. So was it sanded smooth or left alone?

[SLaPiNFuNK]

That's hot right there!

[TheEmptyCell]

Very cool. Do you just put the thing on a lazy susan and spin it or some sort of pottery wheel contraption that spins when you press a pedal, or is there some secret piece of gear? I'd like to see a swirl finish applied over a spin art finish.

[Chef FourString]

Originally Posted by TheEmptyCell

Very cool. Do you just put the thing on a lazy susan and spin it or some sort of pottery wheel contraption that spins when you press a pedal, or is there some secret piece of gear? I'd like to see a swirl finish applied over a spin art finish.

Considering how badass that thing is, I would say he used the revolution speed of the sun. On the sun.

[rossiman]

I ended up just inverting a cordless drill and vice gripping it down to a platform. Then I found the center of a board, put a screw through it and wood tee, and tightened that into the drill. Then i found different ways to secure the bass to that board.....
When I did the guitar I thought I could just remove the neck...turns out acoustic guitar necks are complicated to remove...so because the weight of the neck made it unbalanced to spin paint the center of the body, I had to counterweight the back with a 5 lbs weight....long story short, the thing became a MASSIVE propellor...and right when I finished it, I can it one last spin...and the screw had enough and snapped off. The guitar went flying off and stopped abruptly on my pinky, which is now Broken ha. Ill look for a better way next time thats for sure

[the wako kid]

thats pretty amazing. I want that finish.... I am impressed sir.

[jlepre]

Very 60ish. I like it.