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Finish Suggestions Please!

gruvit

gruvit

Gold Supporting Member
Jan 14, 2009
433
334
Richland, WA
#1
I bought a Ibanez BTB515 off of ebay a few months ago and it ended up being far more beat up than the photos displayed so I decided to refinish it. I've already stripped most of the finish and am getting to the point of thinking about what's going back onto it. I really like oil finishes but the body is mahogany and I'd be worried about it dinging too easily. I was wondering what I could use that would give the look and feel of an oil finish but something more durable, if there is such a product.

The other thing is that I will probably be selling it once it's finished as I only have the means to keep one bass and would rather keep a non-fiver. With that in mind, I have to try and figure out what other people would be interested in as well, since I probably wont be keeping it anyway. So what kind of finish would the good people of talkbass look for on this bass?

Doesn't really have anything to do with the finish but I ended up reshaping some of the parts/rounding some edges here and there and I think it looks MUCH better. I'm excited to see the final product!
 
#2
Mahogany usually have very little grain pattern and may not look great with a clear finish. Since you are going to sell it, I would paint it a solid color that is popular, like white. The paint from auto parts stores is easy to use and is Acryllic lacquer which is very easy to correct any application mistakes. I use Dupli Color a lot and they have a very wide range of colors. If you wish to clear coat the color they also have a good lacquer clear.
 
#5
If you want the satin-y look of oil, try applying a satin wipe on poly. It will give you a dent resistant finish, that looks more like just wood, and doesn't have the ypical shine you get form poly.

PS Mahogany looks awesome, shut yo mouth! lol
 
#8
Oh boy. Wipe on poly, yes, been there, done that, but 62Bass got me hooked on using varnish instead and now there's no going back to poly for me anytime soon! Do a search for my recent Blueberry bass build thread and you'll see the whole process beginning to end, on a mahogany-bodied bass.

Lonnybass
 

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