I while back I was given this Samick P bass by a friend who's wife had passed away as he knew I had tried to play bass a while ago. He had repainted it for her and its been sitting in a stand for a while being unloved but my daughter has just started to learn the double bass and I have been picking it up to try and teach myself again and also play along with her whilst she practicing as she's been learning to play little riffs/patterns and bounce between the other kids in her class and I do the same.
Anyway I've noticed the paint has started to go sticky and make a bit of a mess, so I thought it was sufficient time since its been mine that my mate wouldn't mind me removing his homemade refinish. It's an Indonesian made Samick Model Special -B/DB, not a particularly high end instrument but sounds OK and the neck is straight and feels nice. I've never really been a fan of plain jane P basses so thought whilst I refinished it I would also mod it a bit.
I stripped it down the other night and worked out its only plywood and could see some remains of the original finish under the bridge, so I thought I'll try and see what a little bit of acetone does to the awful pink paint.
It must be some sort of enamel as after only a short time its starting to look like this and the original finish seems to be impervious to the acetone. A bit of googling and lateral thinking I've worked out the /DB in the model name must be dark blue. So I will continue to keep stripping it back to the remains of the original, I've been discussing refinish colours with my daughter as I may give it to her if she keeps up with double bass and we will probably paint it something along the lines of a LPB or ice blue. What I'm not sure about is what sort of paint to use as this stuff didn't really bond well to the original.
As far as mods go I have a set of what I think are original Model J's, I remember buying them second hand in the 90's so not sure where the changeover is between original and later versions, they don't have any labels on the bottom. So as the bass will be blue I might as well go for a Tony Franklin style and add the Model J bridge pickup and a 3 way switch. But rout the body to take both J's and then have the option of experimenting later as PJ or JJ and change pick guard to suit. What I can't decide on is whether to go with a 60's or 70's position for the J pickup? I'm probably never going to play in a band at my age so I guess it doesn't really matter that much. Also does anyone have any comments on how well the Model J 6.425K will go with the original Samick P which is 8.24K?
Anyway I've noticed the paint has started to go sticky and make a bit of a mess, so I thought it was sufficient time since its been mine that my mate wouldn't mind me removing his homemade refinish. It's an Indonesian made Samick Model Special -B/DB, not a particularly high end instrument but sounds OK and the neck is straight and feels nice. I've never really been a fan of plain jane P basses so thought whilst I refinished it I would also mod it a bit.
I stripped it down the other night and worked out its only plywood and could see some remains of the original finish under the bridge, so I thought I'll try and see what a little bit of acetone does to the awful pink paint.
It must be some sort of enamel as after only a short time its starting to look like this and the original finish seems to be impervious to the acetone. A bit of googling and lateral thinking I've worked out the /DB in the model name must be dark blue. So I will continue to keep stripping it back to the remains of the original, I've been discussing refinish colours with my daughter as I may give it to her if she keeps up with double bass and we will probably paint it something along the lines of a LPB or ice blue. What I'm not sure about is what sort of paint to use as this stuff didn't really bond well to the original.
As far as mods go I have a set of what I think are original Model J's, I remember buying them second hand in the 90's so not sure where the changeover is between original and later versions, they don't have any labels on the bottom. So as the bass will be blue I might as well go for a Tony Franklin style and add the Model J bridge pickup and a 3 way switch. But rout the body to take both J's and then have the option of experimenting later as PJ or JJ and change pick guard to suit. What I can't decide on is whether to go with a 60's or 70's position for the J pickup? I'm probably never going to play in a band at my age so I guess it doesn't really matter that much. Also does anyone have any comments on how well the Model J 6.425K will go with the original Samick P which is 8.24K?
