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P bass respray.... how easily done?

C

cameltoe

Nov 12, 2008
46
4
Cornwall, UK
#1
I know this has probably been asked beofre and I did use the search function but got fed up after 10 mins of finding nothing.

I traded in my old ESP ltd bass a few months back for a new('08) MIM P bass. Before trading in, I was thinking of either Jazz bass or P bass, but didn't want a white or black version of either! When I get to the shop, the guy offers me a straight trade on either the Jazz or Precision he has there. The Jazz is white, the Precision is black! Anyway, I tried them both, but fell in love with the way the P felt, so took it home.

So now I have a bass I'm really happy with (although I may swap the pickup and bridge at somepoint in the future-not sure yet) but it's black, and I really didn't want a black P bass!

I've changed the pickguard, but it hasn't helped much, it's still very obviously a black bass :hmm:

So, I have a friend who works at a body shop, and is an experienced sprayer. I can get 1/4 litre of new water based base coat for about £9, in any colour I want, and I'm sure he'll have plenty of lacquer. I'm tempted to have him respray the bass while I go away in a couple of weeks, but i'm not experienced with building or dismantling guitars, so I wanted to know how hard or risky a job it would be, to remove the neck and then re-bolt it up after spraying.

I'm more than capable of doing this myself so long as it's a straight forward unbolt/bolt up job, but I've no idea whether removing a neck requires anything other than that, any special skill, or adjustment. Can I ruin the bass or the neck by doing this? I don't want to affect the basses playability at all.

The worst thing that could happen is to give it ago, then afterwards the bass just never 'feels' right again.
 
#2
Hey cameltoe, (never thought I'd address a person by your user name, that was fun!) I say go for it, take pictures from a few different angles, focusing on the neck allignment side to side looking striagt at it and the the angle the neck meets the body looking from the side. If you like the way it plays now just pay attention to those alignments. You can always correct any slight missalignments this way. The only thing you need to do is desolder the electronics and remove them. Again take pictures and pay attention to how everything is routed. You will have your pictures if something comes loose, or you need to reconnect. Good luck, and be kind to your cameltoe:D
 
#4
randbguy said:
Hey cameltoe, (never thought I'd address a person by your user name, that was fun!) I say go for it, take pictures from a few different angles, focusing on the neck allignment side to side looking striagt at it and the the angle the neck meets the body looking from the side. If you like the way it plays now just pay attention to those alignments. You can always correct any slight missalignments this way. The only thing you need to do is desolder the electronics and remove them. Again take pictures and pay attention to how everything is routed. You will have your pictures if something comes loose, or you need to reconnect. Good luck, and be kind to your cameltoe:D
Click to expand...

Genius advice. Go by everything this guy said.
 
#6
You cannot refinish a wood instrument without first sealing the wood or the woodgrain will come through the paint. I have done this, and learned from the experience.

There is considerable information available at Reranch.com...but here's the short version:

- Strip everything off the body, then strip the finish off the body. This is WORK with poly paint.
- Sand meticulously to achieve an extremely smooth, clean finish.
- Seal the wood with a filler/sealer designed for that use - I suggest buying from Stew-Mac online.
- Sand lightly again.
- Prime - sand again.
- Spray at least 2-3 finish coats, then finish wet sand using mineral spirits with (in sequence) 1000-1200-1500-2000 wet & dry sandpaper. A 9V battery makes a good sanding block on the flat areas for this process.
- Do a final polish with 3-M Finesse-It II machine polish, or an equivalent VERY mild automotive polish.
- Re-assemble.

This is not a trivial process if you want a really nice final finish. If you don't care about bumps, chips and finish flaws including grain rising and becoming visible through the paint, you don't have to do all this. Figure 20+ hours of work. I'm completely serious.
 
#7
That's cool, I'm aware of the work involved in that sense, although I'm not sure why I'll have to strip it back to bare wood? Maybe I'm a bit too stuck in the automotive-respray frame of mind, but a flatten back to a smooth base on the black would act as a good enough base for any colour I might want on top?

Even so, my main area of concern is the removal and reattachment of the neck. I've no idea how many variables there are when reattaching the neck. I've not done it before, but if it's 4 bolts holding the neck on, isn't the neck just going to go on the same way it came off? Where is the adjustment for alignment, etc?
 
#8
Removing the neck and putting it back on is a completely painless procedure. Don't worry about it. On older fenders you often would have to loosen the neck and tilt it back just to even make simple truss rod adjustments. It's highly unlikely that it will be an issue at all. Just don't get finish down in the neck pocket! Remember to tape it off.
 
#9
The neck is the easiest part of it. Remove strings, then four screws and the neck plate, and it's off. Putting it back on is easy - just make sure to tighten it with the strings aligned well on the fingerboard if there's any slack in the neck pocket.

You CAN paint it without refinishing - in that case, consult your body shop friend about prepping the surface so the paint adheres (probably just a light sanding to get a paint-friendly surface), and make sure to get chemically compatible paint. If you're covering poly, then lacquer isn't going to work.

But you still need to remove the neck and completely strip the hardware and electronics, then make sure there are no chips, dings, etc. The top coat only looks as good as the coats underneath.

I'm not one who thinks that a couple more coats of paint will make a big difference in the instrument's sound. Others may opine that you're smothering the sound. YMMV.
 
#10
nice one, cheers!

I would take the original black back quite far, but i wouldn't want to go back to bare wood.

I can't see that it would make a huge amount of difference to the sound. If that was the case, I'd better upgrade my flimsy bent metal bridge at the same time, which I was considering....
 
#13
I did think that!

I changed the pickguard to a gunmetal grey one, by covering my original white pickguard with signmakers vinyl. Looks quite good. I'm now tempted by a metal pickguard (see my other thread) but need to know if it will fit my MIM.

The thing about a black and white fender to me, is, when i was at school, everyone who had a guitar had a black Squier with white pickguard. Everyone, even myself. And the ones that didn't, had a black Squier copy, some dodgy korean make, that looked exactly the same, with white pickguard. Therefore when I see a black-with-white Fender, it does very little for me. I loved the way mine played though, so I had to have it.

I think I may just customise the crap out of it, the respray idea is still ongoing, but spraying with a two-pack automotive paint may not be as bullet-proof as the old poly coat that's on there
 
#18
Pilgrim said:
Maybe white pearloid - or black pearloid - or something from W-D?

Invalid Link Removed

Lots of cool choices there.....I wonder how a checkerboard PG would look?
Click to expand...

Wow, I'm glad I read this thread. I'm refinishing my MM4, and replacing the PG. This company is only about 30 minutes from me, so I can hopefully take my pg to them, and compare different materials firsthand.
 

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