Professionally Refinished Basses

[WoodyJ]

This is a "pawnshop wreck" 1968 Precision that Pat Wilkins restored and refinished for a previous owner. In the past, someone had painted it rattle can metalflake blue over a lot of road wear.

When I bought it from a fellow TB-er a few years ago, Pat had restored and refinished the body back to it's original sunburst finish but the neck was still original and was pretty dinged up all over. A few weeks ago I sent the neck to Pat for a proper refinish to match the beautiful job he did on the body. I received the neck back a few days ago and it is stunning. Unfortunately, my camera has decided to stop downloading, so for now, here are front and rear body shots of Pat's work that were taken by the PO before I acquired the bass. I'll upload a full body shot as soon as I figure out why my camera won't cooperate. It's the nicest sunburst refin I've ever seen. I've also since replaced the incorrect later pickguard shown with a much more era-correct one from Tony at Pickguardian.

 

[9mmMike]

Firemist Silver by John Kallas and a LPB (body only) by Krishna at the Guitar Garage.

 

[Joey3313]

Marty Bell did this one for me:

And I tried to have him copy it in sparkle format when he did mine.

 

[friskinator]

And I tried to have him copy it in sparkle format when he did mine. View attachment 514554

These are 2 of the coolest refins I've ever seen. If I ever get one professionally done, I'd be tempted to duplicate one of these!

 

[funk7856]

Firemist Silver by John Kallas and a LPB (body only) by Krishna at the Guitar Garage.View attachment 514552

That Firemist Silver is stunning. Great color.

 

[maxschrek]

Jay Kolanda at NTL Guitars in Nashville overhauled and reshot this in trans-cherry for me. I'm very happy with it.

 

[Brad Johnson]

We do finish/refinish and structural work/mods on non-Brubakers too. Here's a mid 70's Fender P bass that the owner modified:

Same body, replaced the top, rebuilt the controls, cleaned up hardware, burst finish, etc. Original wiring wasn't functional, rewired as volume, tone, pickup selector, series/parallel switching for each pickup. Also replaced pickups.

Currently working on a 70's Fender Jazz that faced an angry girlfriend back in the day and lost... among other things.

 

[Ghastly]

I can attest to the amazing Marty Bell. I'm just finishing up a great experience having a sparkle refinish done by this professional. I've seen the pics but still waiting for the package as we speak. He told me he was backlogged, but to go ahead and send my parts and he'll work on them when he has time. He had to strip old finish and do some filling, etc. A week after he got my packages (to the day) he has sent photos and is ready for return shipping! It looks exactly as I imagined and I couldn't be happier.

 

[Orlan]

Is this nitro finish? It Is just perfect.

John Kallas removed the (incredibly tough!) poly over black finish off this 32" MIJ P and applied the beautiful Burgundy Mist:

View attachment 2341073

View attachment 2341074

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[Gilmourisgod]

Having tried my hand at finish work, and found it by far the hardest part of building a bass from scratch, I have great admiration for anybody who can do this well. It's a Science and an Art, and takes a level of care and patience I apparently lack! The burst finishes in particular are really hard to do well, gorgeous work on that P bass.