No matter what I'm painting, the tape comes off as soon as the paint is applied. You have to be careful with the tape as it has wet paint on it. Been burned too many times otherwise.
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Rattle Can Refinish Club
- Thread starter redlikejazz
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- club
I just learned the hard way that it might be better not to tape off the other cavities at all, or if you do, at least to remove the tape when the finish is still tacky, but in any case not to wait until it's cured. If you wait, then the tape is hard to remove without causing any chipping, and even if you're successful, you'll be left with a very fragile edge, and then when you go to install pickups, you might chip the edges. I know thisbecause I just had this problem, and I ended up sanding the finish on the edges of the cavities flush to their walls in order to prevent any further chipping - but it was a difficult process. Lesson learned!
re: fragile edges, have seen some folks recommend a thin coat of CA glue over the edge to toughen it up a bit
I had this thought too, but I don't know how to "handle" taking the false neck off whilst keeping my hands off the wet body.
Unless you're painting an instrument with no pickguard covering the cavities, I don't think it's necessary. Just go slow when removing and you'll be fine.
Sorry, I meant for the neck cavity. I'm not taping off the pickup/electronics cavity
Good point, I hadn't thought about that one yet. I suppose it might be possible to just carefully break the seal of the tape around the edges of the neck pocket, and leave removing the tape completely for later.
In my last post I wrote about how I stuffed up by spraying a coat less than 24 hours after the original coats the day before. Minutes after applying the second coat the paint seemed to crinkle in a weird way.
I did a bit of sanding yesterday and saw something interesting.
This is the back of the bass and you can see the curve where there was a bit of a paint slag from trying to spray too much on one coat. If you zoom in you can see a bit of a pattern where I've only sanded down a little.
This closeup shows the pattern a lot more. It's almost as though the coat I sprayed, and the resulting crinkly appearance, is a crystalline sort of structure. I'm wondering if anyone here has enough chemical knowledge to explain what happened.
I wet sanded with 400 and will hit it with a final couple of coats when the weather warms up before doing a final clear coat.
I did a bit of sanding yesterday and saw something interesting.
This is the back of the bass and you can see the curve where there was a bit of a paint slag from trying to spray too much on one coat. If you zoom in you can see a bit of a pattern where I've only sanded down a little.
This closeup shows the pattern a lot more. It's almost as though the coat I sprayed, and the resulting crinkly appearance, is a crystalline sort of structure. I'm wondering if anyone here has enough chemical knowledge to explain what happened.
I wet sanded with 400 and will hit it with a final couple of coats when the weather warms up before doing a final clear coat.
Yeah. Sounds like a job for a pair of tweezers or an X-acto knife
Been trying to stick to an arbitrary "rule of 3," 3 coats a day, 3 days dry time before more coats.
It looks a little uneven 3 coats in, I think it will fill in, but when should I think about sanding between groups of coats?
It looks a little uneven 3 coats in, I think it will fill in, but when should I think about sanding between groups of coats?
Looks like the grain isnt filled, maybe. Sand it smooth and spray another coat. Rub the primer into the bass while it is still wet then give it a light sand to smooth it out once it dries. Could also have been too heavy a coat of primer applied. Those two things are what has caused issues for me in the past.
What type of primer are you using? The Duplicolor primer filler seems to work the best on the projects I have done.
I used that Zinnser primer. This was over the original finish that I sanded way back, so I don't think it's the grain.
I ended up sanding it back 220 -> 400 and starting the color coats. Now that I think about it it probably wouldn't have hurt to spray another primer coat, but here we are.
I'm willing to bet I just sprayed it on too thick, and probably went over some already drying areas. This stuff dried really quickly.
Color coat is coming along nicely.
However, I did discover a low spot in my primer where I had a rough spot. Best I can tell is it's on the corner edge of my block and it just got low.
What's the best way to fix it? Tape off and fill with paint? Sand everything down (not terrible since I want to sand back some orange peel)? A combination of both?
However, I did discover a low spot in my primer where I had a rough spot. Best I can tell is it's on the corner edge of my block and it just got low.
What's the best way to fix it? Tape off and fill with paint? Sand everything down (not terrible since I want to sand back some orange peel)? A combination of both?
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Can't say I notice too much difference filling it in with 3 coats of paint, but I wonder if that's because I got some surrounding area to sand back with it.
Any ideas? Hopefully don't have to strip and start over, but I guess if I did...
I'm no expert, but I think it's going to take a lot of paint coats to fill that gouge. I'd likely roughen in and around that spot with sanding, then fill with Bondo. Prime and paint just that area, then recoat it all once more.
I had also considered doing that as well, since I already got some wood putty to fill gouges earlier, just wasn't sure how well it would go on over the paint. Thanks!
*almost* tempted to strip and start over one more time now that I have my technique down, but...
So far, carefully level-sanding with a sponge seems to be getting it out. I guess because I just bit into the primer layer, it wasn't as deep as I thought it was. Will level-sand the whole top to make sure it blends in well.
Monday's coats are a little less cured than I had hoped they would be, so I'll give it a 2-week cure once I put the final color coats on before clearcoating
I've posted this question in a few spots (first over on the JMJ Mustang bass thread where I was redirected to the luthiery forum where it was suggested I post something here) So, apologies if this not an appropriate place for this question.
So, anyhow, I'm a bit of a modder for all my instruments. I always have been. And I have a Fender Justin Meldal-Johnsen Road Worn Mustang bass that I've been thinking for a long time about turning it pink. Shell pink.
I have some hesitation here, because as much as I'm not crazy about the current color (it's fine, it's just not mine, you know?) and I really don't care for how many pressure dents are put randomly all over- I do love the feel of this finish. It feels soft and satiny, and I love the checking lines throughout it. I'd be sad not to those under my fingers when I pick this bass up. I'm also a little nervous about how to handle refinishing around the string-through ferrules in the body. I'm guessing those would be difficult to manage taking out without taking some wood with it, and taping around them seems tough, too.
At any rate, I've been trying to figure out how I want to approach this- since I honestly rarely have a day pass that I don't pick up my JMJ (even though I have a few other great basses in rotation, this one is my daily player), I don't really want to have it out of commission for a long time for a full - down to the wood and fill in all the nicks, etc refinish project. So- that leaves a few options: scuff up the current finish, roughly fill the dings, spray seal, and build up from there for a shell pink is one option. Another is to really lean into the road worn look and not even bother to fill nicks/dings- maybe even jaggedly tape off some of the areas of wear around the edges, on the upper forearm area, etc, and let that show through. Make it look like it was hastily refinished over the blue at some point in the past and now it's worn through the refinish and the old finish...
Thoughts? I'm open to any and all ideas. I fully get that this type of project is not going to be to the liking of a lot of other folks. I get that, but I also don't really need to hear that from everyone. Constructive feedback is super appreciated, though!
So, anyhow, I'm a bit of a modder for all my instruments. I always have been. And I have a Fender Justin Meldal-Johnsen Road Worn Mustang bass that I've been thinking for a long time about turning it pink. Shell pink.
I have some hesitation here, because as much as I'm not crazy about the current color (it's fine, it's just not mine, you know?) and I really don't care for how many pressure dents are put randomly all over- I do love the feel of this finish. It feels soft and satiny, and I love the checking lines throughout it. I'd be sad not to those under my fingers when I pick this bass up. I'm also a little nervous about how to handle refinishing around the string-through ferrules in the body. I'm guessing those would be difficult to manage taking out without taking some wood with it, and taping around them seems tough, too.
At any rate, I've been trying to figure out how I want to approach this- since I honestly rarely have a day pass that I don't pick up my JMJ (even though I have a few other great basses in rotation, this one is my daily player), I don't really want to have it out of commission for a long time for a full - down to the wood and fill in all the nicks, etc refinish project. So- that leaves a few options: scuff up the current finish, roughly fill the dings, spray seal, and build up from there for a shell pink is one option. Another is to really lean into the road worn look and not even bother to fill nicks/dings- maybe even jaggedly tape off some of the areas of wear around the edges, on the upper forearm area, etc, and let that show through. Make it look like it was hastily refinished over the blue at some point in the past and now it's worn through the refinish and the old finish...
Thoughts? I'm open to any and all ideas. I fully get that this type of project is not going to be to the liking of a lot of other folks. I get that, but I also don't really need to hear that from everyone. Constructive feedback is super appreciated, though!
.In your position I'd probably buy a second hand Bronco bass dirt cheap and use that body. That way you could always put it back to stock if you wanted.
Alright so I can't seem to get my final coats of paint to turn out quite as flat as I'd like, I keep getting some dust/dirt and just enough orange peel that it bugs me.
Since I'm going to clear coat it, how/can I wet sand it smooth, like 400->1000 grit and just clearcoat over it?
Since I'm going to clear coat it, how/can I wet sand it smooth, like 400->1000 grit and just clearcoat over it?
