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Need a bass painted!

lowendgenerator

lowendgenerator

All panic, no disco.
Mar 26, 2006
3,104
91
48
CHI/NWI
#1
This was the most relevant thread I could think of, if it's inappropriate, I'll kill it.

I've got this Deluxe Jazz in that hideous (IMO) banana cream finish. It's in good condition, so I think I'd like to spray over it vs. stripping it and applying a whole new finish. My shop teacher once tried to tell me "The best primer is an old topcoat". I'm thinking seafoam or another pastel shade of green.

Anyone in the midwest feel like shooting some color for me?

Here's what it looks like now...

DV016_Jpg_Large_511595.341.069_vint_white_rw.jpg


...and here's what I'm thinking...

[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]

I don't dare try this myself, the last time I painted something it turned out horrible.
 
#2
Not in the midwest, but Pat Wilkins will do a fantastic job for you. He did a couple of my personal instruments (Fender Bass VI and a Fender XII) and they both came out stunning.

Pat Wilkins Custom Guitar Finishing Services

No affiliation, just a happy previous customer.

Here's pic of the Bass VI in Ice Blue Metallic:

Link Removed
 
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#8
sj_bass said:
I've seen (and felt) some of Marty's work: it is very impressive. And looking ata his price list, it is very reasonable!
Click to expand...

Am I missing something? For 300 bucks, I can ditch this body entirely and pick up a Warmoth body in the color of my choosing. I know these guys are top dogs at their craft, and if I was having a $2000 guitar refinished, it would be money well spent.

I wonder what the auto body shop down the street would charge me if I did all the prep work and supplied the paint. It's the actual application and buffing that I fail at.
 
#9
lowendgenerator said:
Am I missing something? For 300 bucks, I can ditch this body entirely and pick up a Warmoth body in the color of my choosing. I know these guys are top dogs at their craft, and if I was having a $2000 guitar refinished, it would be money well spent.

I wonder what the auto body shop down the street would charge me if I did all the prep work and supplied the paint. It's the actual application and buffing that I fail at.
Click to expand...

LOL. Not sure why but that cracked me up. Maybe cuz I feel the same way, and that's why I've been holding off. I'm almost ready to get some sandpaper and a spray can, but I LOVE this bass to much to take a chance, aside from the finish. I'm waiting for the right inspiration, the right moment, or the right person who'll do it at a price that seems do-able. For me.

Not that I don't think these guys should charge what they do. I can respect that, and if I painted basses well I'm sure I'd charge the same or more. I just don't want to pay it right now.
 
#10
Going the Warmoth route and getting a replacement body is not a bad option if the cost of a paint job is too much. You could also part out the old body to recoup some of the cost. I got a Warmoth body a few years ago and the quality was second to none. They even include the weight on the website so you can pick one to suit your tastes.

Back to the paint job, it is not as easy as it looks. I've done the ReRanch nitro on a cheap bass (SX shorty Jazz) for my son and while it came out OK it is far from perfect. And don't discount the prep work. Any minor imperfection will be magnified once you put the paint on. There's a reason these guys charge what they do.

Good luck, no matter which way you go.
 
#11
Should have said... Does anyone in the midwest feel like doing 10 hours of tedious work for next to nothing. These threads are hilarious. Need work done by skilled professional but have no money. If you don't have money play the cream bass and love it. Or take the time to learn and do the paint yourself. I know that's how I ended up here. I wanted something I couldn't pay for. So I learned to do it myself.
 
#12
Why does it cost so much? Materials, time, facilities. We weren't given our shops, and we weren't given the skill to finish an instrument. It takes time and money. You can spend the time and money to learn for yourself what is involved, or you can pay someone else to put the 15 hours of prep, spray, and finish time.
If the cost seems too great, maybe Warmoth would be the best option.
 
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#13
headlikeahole said:
Should have said... Does anyone in the midwest feel like doing 10 hours of tedious work for next to nothing. These threads are hilarious. Need work done by skilled professional but have no money. If you don't have money play the cream bass and love it. Or take the time to learn and do the paint yourself. I know that's how I ended up here. I wanted something I couldn't pay for. So I learned to do it myself.
Click to expand...

Amen.

Musiclogic said:
Why does it cost so much? Materials, time, facilities. We weren't given our shops, and we weren't given the skill to finish an instrument. It takes time and money. You can spend the time and money to learn for yourself what is involved, or you can pay someone else to put the 15 hours of prep, spray, and finish time.
If the cost seems too great, maybe Warmoth would be the best option.
Click to expand...

Amen.
 
#15
This is one of the larger areas where you get what you pay for.

Having shot cars and trucks and even earth-moving rolling stock (when I was gainfully employed) and even now when the mood hits me - I've been shooting a few basses lately. However I haven't painted a D9 or a Bobcat in fifteen years.

I've parlayed that now into painting guitars and basses, and although I don't do it for a living (retired) or profit (I don't have to pay taxes this way), I do one or two a year for fun and camaraderie.

Or beer and a steak - repeatedly.

While I don't personally see it as highpockets with charging $300.00 - $500.00 for a bass paint job (that's cheap in my book) - it's not just the materials, although that can be expensive too. It's the painstaking labor and minutiae repairs to the body that make it so expensive.

If you DO get a new bass (the best way) or have one painted, you will be staring intently at every nook and cranny of it looking for the bang-for-dollar and making sure you got the best job possible.

So - since a bass or guitar is small in relation to, say - a car or truck - you'll find any tiny-microscopic flaw so fast that you'll see it as a huge eyesore every time you look at the instrument.

That's the hard part - making it 100+% for the end user's idea of a great finish is a lot of work!

That's where the money you spend, goes.
 
#17
I just did a re-fin without a paint job, and I can tell you from personal experience, finishing is a bee-atch. I think I spent about 2 months on it...sanding down the old finish, filling pores, sealing, coat after coat...fixing rub through...waiting for coats to dry well enough to sand...fixing rub through again...(how on earth do the pro's do it?!?!

I was quoted $500 for a white burst and finish...and now I think after I've done just a finish myself, that that price was way too cheap.

Finishers, my hat is off to you. Whenever I see a real nice glossy finish on a custom instrument from now on, I'm going to bow to it!
 
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#18
The guys that will do a great job will not do a quick sand and spray job because there reputation is on the line.
They only do things the "right' way.
Someone may do this for you but it may not turn out as good as you might expect. Also, unless you are spraying it with cans you can easily spend $100-150 for materials (assuming you use primer, subtract 30 bucks if not). This is because you have to buy 1/2pints or pints of paint, clear, and primer.
 
#19
I bought a Squier VM Fretless Jazz bass with what can best be described as a citrus paint job. I'm not remotely concerned - it feels and sounds right, and the aesthetics come second for me.
I'd be tempted, on a quiet weekend, to pop the neck, PG, control plate off, tape up or pull the pups and go at this body with some sandpaper followed by some rattle cans of something vaguely pretty or robust or both. It might cost me 8 hours and $30 but it couldn't possibly leave the instrument any worse off.
Bass guitars are like automobiles to me - the engine and brakes have to be good. I like air conditioning and a nice stereo. But, really, I don't give a tinker's curse what the paint job looks like. That's for those who are watching - not listening....
 
#20
lowendgenerator said:
I've got this Deluxe Jazz in that hideous (IMO) banana cream finish.
Click to expand...
DV016_Jpg_Large_511595.341.069_vint_white_rw.jpg

Your hideous banana cream finish is actually a replica of faded olympic white from the sixties. Get the headstock painted to match, a new decal and a more reddish guard and you'll have a cool looking "one off" vintage looking Deluxe Jazz. I suggest speaking with TB'r JohnK_10.

Here's a 1966 Fender Electric XII in Olympic White.
Fender%20Electric%20XII%20Olympic%20White-1966-133447.jpg

All IMO, of course.
 

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