Finished with the refinish.

I'm a woodworker, and I felt like this bass (Ibanez BTB845V) deserved some hand finishing as it clearly hadn't gotten much if any at the factory. There was way too much stain on this one for me and I wanted to also upgrade the electronics. I certainly didn't hate the tone of the stock Barts, but when I took it apart to fix a noisy pot I was a bit disappointed in the quality of the electronics and more disappointed in how "crammed in" everything was. So I took all the finish off, exposing the gorgeous mahogany back, recontoured the body to smooth the uncomfortable edges and put an oil finish on it. I also replaced the "off shore" Barts with US Barts. I like it a lot better and it is far more comfortable to play.

 

Before, the mahogany wings were painted an opaque, not quite black. I don't mind sanding.

 

As I remember, with the headstock I just used a Scotchbrite to take the gloss on the existing finish down to match the more satin appearance of the oiled body.

 

Yes, that's exactly it. I just got as close as I safely could to the logo, but didn't do anything at all within the logo and it looks OK.

 

If you're not going to refinish the whole thing, but only recontour that Marquis de Sade signature edge, I don't think it will take that long at all or be that difficult. Getting through whatever film finish that was on it was no big deal but you're going to sand through the stain as well, so without refinishing at least the entire front, you may or may not like the aesthetics of the outcome. Sanding and recontouring WERE the refinish, really (preparation always is, really). Applying Danish oil is so simple, fast and fool proof. That part of it probably took less than 15 minutes for both coats, not counting curing time, which wasn't much here in the Mojave. As you may know, oil finishes are generally super easy to repair should the need arise and I think that the bass looks infinitely more high end with the oil finish than it did from the factory.

 

That is a sweet looking finish for sure, and I do love translucents to pop the grain. Given that the front of the bass has ash showing as well as whatever burl they used for the top (poplar I think?) I was afraid that they wouldn't take any stain in a uniform manner, so I just went with the oil. Additionally, I don't have the skill set or experience to pull off an awesome finish like that green one in any case. Damn it, Jim! I'm a bass player, not a magician!