Here's a little backstory on why I did it. TLDR, pics are below.
Last year I bought a OLP Musicman for really cheap (always liked the tone of my friend's, so I wanted my own.) and the previous owner had refinished it himself.
After having it for a few weeks, I realized that my pants would stick to the lacquer when playing on my knee, and my arm would stick to the top while playing. Also there was ripples and cracks in the finish, and around the control plate there was some solder stuck in the finish as well. Looked like a complete rush job with no care taken.
so I began researching how to fix it. Finally I decided to undergo refinishing. Something I've never done before.
Pics and process explained, I'm only going to show the front during this to cut down on the amount of pictures. (before and after at the end):
Disassembled and taped up
Stripping
Mostly stripped
Finished stripping
Sanding started
Bleaching (Sodium Hypchlorite mixture)
Finished bleaching and cleaning the bleach out of the wood. also finished sanding from 60 all the way to 320 (didn't skip any grits)
Started dying (I started on the back so I will show you the back here)
If you'll notice, due to this being a cheap bass, they used about 5 or 6 different pieces of wood to make up this body. So the dye absorbed differently... Hated it at first, but gives it character in the end.
Dry
Sanded the middle out to begin burst.
First bursting attempt.
I did multiple dyeing sessions on front and back. to obtain the color and depth I was looking for.
Front. I did one more session of dyeing to fix some uneven drying and stuff.
After this I begin spraying lacquer... I didn't get any process pictures of the lacquer because I was more concerned about getting it done quickly, but with care. I had some blushing issues but Behlen's Jet spray fixed that no problem.
I used 3 cans of rattlecan Deft Lacquer, 26 (maybe more) coats.
After I finished with that, I let it cure for about a month, maybe more.
Then I started wet sanding. Started with 400, and went up to 2000.
My original plan was to buff out to a mirror shine, but I ran into some complications. When I began buffing, I started to burn through the remaining lacquer (started on the back thank God) I used the Mcguiars fine-cut cleaner followed by the swirl remover 2.0.... So rather than risk burning through the lacquer on the front, I decided to leave it with a matte finish.
Swirls from sanding are visible, but at the same time, I was going for a unique guitar, and I think I obtained it. not to mention, I did this by myself. and I'm damn proud of what I have!
Thanks for reading
Finally, before and after!
I also used Krylon Fusion to paint the hardware. I went with a part chrome, part black hardware color scheme and I like it!
Here's the back:
Other fixes:
The guy's wiring of the pots was really bad also(no cap on the tone pot either), so I put all new pots, output jack, and wiring in it. Sounds 100% better than before...
Last year I bought a OLP Musicman for really cheap (always liked the tone of my friend's, so I wanted my own.) and the previous owner had refinished it himself.
After having it for a few weeks, I realized that my pants would stick to the lacquer when playing on my knee, and my arm would stick to the top while playing. Also there was ripples and cracks in the finish, and around the control plate there was some solder stuck in the finish as well. Looked like a complete rush job with no care taken.
so I began researching how to fix it. Finally I decided to undergo refinishing. Something I've never done before.
Pics and process explained, I'm only going to show the front during this to cut down on the amount of pictures. (before and after at the end):
Disassembled and taped up
Stripping
Mostly stripped
Finished stripping
Sanding started
Bleaching (Sodium Hypchlorite mixture)
Finished bleaching and cleaning the bleach out of the wood. also finished sanding from 60 all the way to 320 (didn't skip any grits)
Started dying (I started on the back so I will show you the back here)
If you'll notice, due to this being a cheap bass, they used about 5 or 6 different pieces of wood to make up this body. So the dye absorbed differently... Hated it at first, but gives it character in the end.
Dry
Sanded the middle out to begin burst.
First bursting attempt.
I did multiple dyeing sessions on front and back. to obtain the color and depth I was looking for.
Front. I did one more session of dyeing to fix some uneven drying and stuff.
After this I begin spraying lacquer... I didn't get any process pictures of the lacquer because I was more concerned about getting it done quickly, but with care. I had some blushing issues but Behlen's Jet spray fixed that no problem.
I used 3 cans of rattlecan Deft Lacquer, 26 (maybe more) coats.
After I finished with that, I let it cure for about a month, maybe more.
Then I started wet sanding. Started with 400, and went up to 2000.
My original plan was to buff out to a mirror shine, but I ran into some complications. When I began buffing, I started to burn through the remaining lacquer (started on the back thank God) I used the Mcguiars fine-cut cleaner followed by the swirl remover 2.0.... So rather than risk burning through the lacquer on the front, I decided to leave it with a matte finish.
Swirls from sanding are visible, but at the same time, I was going for a unique guitar, and I think I obtained it. not to mention, I did this by myself. and I'm damn proud of what I have!
Thanks for reading
Finally, before and after!
I also used Krylon Fusion to paint the hardware. I went with a part chrome, part black hardware color scheme and I like it!
Here's the back:
Other fixes:
The guy's wiring of the pots was really bad also(no cap on the tone pot either), so I put all new pots, output jack, and wiring in it. Sounds 100% better than before...
