1995 Warwick Corvette Refinish

[BassChap]

Hi All,

I am in the middle of the refinishing project of my 1995 German Warwick Corvette. I bought the bass back in 2006 or 2007 and at that time, it already had a sweat stain above the neck PU and slightly around the volume knob. I guess the bass had seen a period of low waxing/playing ratio in its history. I am quite good with woodworking projects and after reading through the Warwick Refinishing threads here on TalkBass, I decided it was time to give The Lady some thorough TLC. [BTW: two informative threads are: this one and that one]

After solving another long-time handicap of The Lady, previously unknown to me (link), I am well into the sanding phase now.

The photos have been taken after sanding the original finish off using 180 grid sand paper. The plan is to sand it further using increasingly finer grain sand paper. Then, a number of Tung oil layers rubbed back with fine grain steel wool after each layer. Then some layers of Warwick’s bees wax and more elbow grease. Can’t wait to see her shine!

Then a question: A small part of a knot is visible at the joint of two of the body pieces. It was already visible under the original finish, however it has become more pronounced after sanding. See the first two photos and this one:

What do you guys think: leave it as a beauty-spot or put in some extra work to cover? There must be some finisher’s trick with wood dust. However is it worth the effort? I am leaning towards the beauty-spot approach, however, any TB wisdom is appreciated.

Cheers, BassChap

 

[ICM]

Subscribed!

 

[Duplo42]

That is a tiny spot - I say leave it or even make a narrow thumb-rest bar extending from neck- to bridge-pickup?
Nice work btw!

 

[joeyl]

Then a question: A small part of a knot is visible at the joint of two of the body pieces. It was already visible under the original finish, however it has become more pronounced after sanding. See the first two photos and this one:

What do you guys think: leave it as a beauty-spot or put in some extra work to cover? There must be some finisher’s trick with wood dust. However is it worth the effort? I am leaning towards the beauty-spot approach, however, any TB wisdom is appreciated.

Cheers, BassChap

I would leave it alone. It will possibly blend in again when you do the tung oil

regarding tung oil with steel wool: I avoid steel wool because the bits break down and get everywhere and sometimes lodge in the wood where they make rust stains. I would use synthetic steel wool instead

 

[bassingeorge]

subbed

 

[BassChap]

New pictures. This is the body after three layers of tung oil. Quite happy with the results so far!

Off now to add another layer!

Cheers, BassChap.

 

[BassChap]

The project is progressing slowly. Left the six layers of tung oil to cure for a looooong time. I will finish it off with two layers of Warwick's bees wax soon. In the meanwhile, I gave the fingerboard, frets and nut a good treatment. Cleaned the fingerboard using a credit card, Dunlop’s Lemon Oil and an old T-shirt. This also removed lots of finger poo and green stuff from the fret edges. Forgot to take a picture of how bad it was. Sorry. Then polished the frets and nut with 00000 grade steel wool after masking the fretboard with masking tape. Great results. The neck is as good as new.

 

[SirMjac28]

Looks great and I always loved that nut design.

 

[ilikebass7]

Beautiful. Have refinished a few Warwicks similarly and it was totally worth it.