Club Moollon

[lala]

I mean the natural. I love Inca Silver, but not with a maple neck. cheers!

 

[briandavismurph]

I mean the natural. I love Inca Silver, but not with a maple neck. cheers!

Oh agree totally, didn't realize it was not rosewood

 

[lala]

The color looks great on that natural wood. Take off the rest of the gold and sand out the chinks and oil it. Dare to be different.

This would not be such a controversial idea, as I have found several images of Moollon's in "natural".
Unsure if YJ has done it on alder though...

 

[franklindayala]

Hello all,
New subject. I would like to conduct an informal poll. I hope you don't mind. I just purchased a Classic P with 3/4 of it's finish stripped off. It was gold. You may have seen the listing. I knew what I was getting into, as I am a woodworker, and have sprayed nitro, and have built a few guitars and basses. The body is alder. Although the stripping was done haphazardly and without stripping skills applied, now that it's in my hands, i can see that I can sand all of the offensive cuts and bruises out, as well as chemically strip the remaining gold paint without much effort. So, I have two choices in my mind about how to finish this bass:
1. Attempt to give it a natural finish, medium brown, which can be sketchy with alder.
2. Spray nitro in my choice of color, which at the moment is Desert Sand.

I plan to re-use the anodized pickguard.

What opinions do you have about my choices, or other choices and considerations?

Below is a photo I just took of the victim, sitting next to my Fiesta Red Classic P

Andi, please chime in if you're so inclined.

THX!!View attachment 4934161

Natural Finish like Mo Foster's bass.

 

[lala]

Natural Finish like Mo Foster's bass.

That looks great. I can’t get a good look at the wood grain. Is it ash or alder? On my phone it looks like alder. Finish looks more matte than gloss?

 

[lala]

That looks great. I can’t get a good look at the wood grain. Is it ash or alder. On my phone it looks like alder. Finish looks more matte than gloss?

Actually, I now see some sheen. Not matte, but satin. That’s interesting.

 

[lala]

I just read about his bass. He bought it as a new bass in 1974 in Atlanta, called it the perfect bass. He has since changed and added pickups, as well as the bridge. I have a 1975 P bass in natural finish as many were. It’s definitely ash, so I’m sure his is as well. It will remain to be seen whether the alder Moollon can yield an attractive natural finish. I’m going to give it a try, and if it doesn’t look great, I can then easily spray a color over it. There is a kind TB’er who commented that I should perhaps send the body out to be sprayed by a pro, to help add or retain value to the bass. I did some research, and it appears there is only a couple of dedicated guitar painters where that could matter. One is Pat Wilkins, who works near my home, but Pat doesn’t spray nitro. That would mean shipping to someone, adding to the cost of the refinish. So, I don’t think sending out would add enough value to make it worth it. Rest assured, I have a great and pricey spray gun, a small homemade spray booth, a pricey buffing machine, and all the sandpaper, polishing compounds, and chemicals required to do a good job painting. Open to different opinions on that.

 

[briandavismurph]

have you considered Tru-Oil?
Many in this group, myself included have had good results.

 

[lala]

Nice! Yes, I have used Tru oil on a relic'd finish I did on a brand new body for a bass I built during Covid. First time I tried relic'ing. I liked it a lot. Still have a good amount left over. Did you tint the oil, or stain first?

 

[briandavismurph]

Nice! Yes, I have used Try oil on a relic'd finish I did on a brand new body for a bass I built during Covid. I liked it a lot. Still have a good amount left over. Did you tint the oil, or stain first?

I mixed artist oil paint [see photo] with the tru-oil for a color coat. Then I went plain Tru-oil over that, 20 or more coats with 400 grit in between coats

 

[lala]

OK. I also tinted Tru-oil for finishing the maple fingerboard on mine. A touch of amber artists oil tint.
I'm surprised about your sanding between coats. Do they recommend that, or was that your special hack?

 

[briandavismurph]

OK. I also tinted Tru-oil for finishing the maple fingerboard on mine. A touch of amber artists oil tint.
I'm surprised about your sanding between coats. Do they recommend that, or was that your special hack?

I noticed surface imperfections between coats, by rubbing my hand or a piece of cloth over the finish. The sanding between coats knocks these little tiny needle size bumps down, and smooths the overall finish.

 

[lala]

How long did you wait before sanding coats, and what did you do on the final coat?

 

[briandavismurph]

How long did you wait before sanding coats, and what did you do on the final coat?

if I remember 2 coats a day and then done. no further effort needed.
The "sanding" is very, very light, more like a massage

 

[lala]

if I remember 2 coats a day and then done. no further effort needed.
The "sanding" is very, very light, more like a massage

Yeah. I suppose with too much pressure it might heat up and gum up.

 

[kenny ames]

Hello all,
New subject. I would like to conduct an informal poll. I hope you don't mind. I just purchased a Classic P with 3/4 of it's finish stripped off. It was gold. You may have seen the listing. I knew what I was getting into, as I am a woodworker, and have sprayed nitro, and have built a few guitars and basses. The body is alder. Although the stripping was done haphazardly and without stripping skills applied, now that it's in my hands, i can see that I can sand all of the offensive cuts and bruises out, as well as chemically strip the remaining gold paint without much effort. So, I have two choices in my mind about how to finish this bass:
1. Attempt to give it a natural finish, medium brown, which can be sketchy with alder.
2. Spray nitro in my choice of color, which at the moment is Desert Sand.

I plan to re-use the anodized pickguard.

What opinions do you have about my choices, or other choices and considerations?

Below is a photo I just took of the victim, sitting next to my Fiesta Red Classic P

Andi, please chime in if you're so inclined.

THX!!View attachment 4934161

How does it sound as is??


If it sounds killer, I’d leave it as is. Tone, tone, tone. Esthetics be damned.

If your going to hit it with something, I’d go with natural nitro. Believe YJ does 20 coats.

I think it looks great as is.

Put a nitro burst on it, it’ll look like every other burst out there.
Enjoy.

 

[lala]

I’m with you. The bass sounds great and plays great. As expected, a beautifully shaped neck and the great pickup. As far as the body is concerned, it really can’t be left as is as far as I’m concerned. It just looks abused and sad, as opposed to played-in and road worn. I think I will sand smooth, seal, and shoot some slightly tinted nitro for a few coats, then shoot several coats of clear. See how that looks. I’m definitely torn between buffing the clear to gloss or making the top coat matte or satin.

 

[lala]

The back of the neck was also sanded down by the previous owner. They didn’t really finish the job, and the portions of the neck still retaining YJ’s nitro feels better than the sanded neck parts, so I will probably remove the tuners, tape off the sides of the neck, and refinish the entire back on the neck in tinted nitro matching YJ’s headstock front and fingerboard. So in the end the neck should look the same as when it left Korea. The body, a little more unique.

 

[kenny ames]

DO post picks of the finished product.

 

[lala]

DO post picks of the finished product.