possible refinish

[Billy K]

got a 2010 Highway One P in Red and it got pretty boogered up already so thinking about refinish. does anyone know how the wood looks under the red?sanding it down and doing a natural wood finish maybe a option. other wise I may send it out to a pro paint shop if I can find one here on the west coast and have it done. If someone did theirs in natural I would love to see how she looks thanks

 

[Billy K]

so any shops out west that do refinish/paint? I need to get her done

 

[Static119]

You could refinish it yourself pretty easily, it'd also be fun to show off if it comes out nicely.

 

[CultofJay]

Well, the Hwy1s are made of alder so stripping it and doing a natural finish might not look so hot. Ash guitars are usually what you see with a trans or natural finish because of the good looking wood grain. Alder is just kind of uniformly beige. Refinishing it yourself is fun if you have the time and patience to do it...not to mention the space. No idea who you could send it to out west, but if it's a bass you don't want to potentially mess up then I'd take to a pro.

 

[bwoodman]

The Highway 1s have that thin, flat lacquer finish, so they get beat up pretty easily. Unless you like the idea of taking on a refinish project, you could send it to Marty Bell in San Diego - www.martybellfinishing.com - or just buy a body from Warmoth and have them do a natural gloss finish. A refin will cost around $300; a Warmoth with finish will be around $500. I have no idea what that grain looks like if you stripped the H1 body, but it would cost you very little money + your time to find out. If the grain is nice, there are some good water based satin clears out there that can be sprayed and are very durable - since lacquers are not very durable and polyesters are nasty to spray.

 

[Marton]

Sell the body, buy another one with thick poly finish. It will be cheaper than a pro refinish, and will look better than a homemade refinish.

You could also continue to play your bass and don't bother about scratches and such. If you play a bass regularly, it will have some dings and battle scars some day or another.

 

[johnk_10]

i agree that alder isn't the prettiest wood to use for a natural finish, but if the piece of wood in nice, and you put an amber tint in it, IME, it can look pretty good.

here's a few pics '59 style p bass that i built for a friend that wanted a natural finish on an alder body (with a rosewood neck and parchment pickguard), even though they didn't offer a natural finsih back then. i shot it with 10 coats of nitro, and put an amber tint in the first couple of coats.

 

[Billy K]

now that look great something I was thinking about.I redid one guitar an Ibanez and the spray laquer just stayed soft for a long time and showed marks like from the guitar stand andone time I put it down on a towel it showed that too.So that is why I thought a pro job would be better they have some sort of hardener in the spray the stuff out of the can sucked

 

[thehurlatron]

http://www.wilkinsguitars.com/


Pat Wilkins is the man for a refinish.