Rattle Can Refinish Club

[Skyl3r]

I figure I'd share a second project I've been working on here. I bought an unfinished bass body from an eBay seller (Rosser Guitars) and was actually very pleasantly surprised. It looks to be a really nice piece of wood.
Downside is it's ash and has deep grain. I've never finished a bass body from bare wood, so this is an interesting challenge. I thought I had filled the grain sufficiently, but as soon as I started spraying primer, it became very clear that there was missed spots. My gameplan right now is to keep spraying and sanding and try to fill what's left with paint. Here's some pictures of the bass.

Spoiler

This is how it arrived, nice piece of wood in my opinion.

Deep grain though.

After grain filling and sanding.

After a couple coats of primer. You can kind of see the grain that wasn't filled popping out:

(I have no affiliation with the seller, and I'll remove the name if it's a problem)

 

[Dave CALEYRON]

Here's the new one of my herd, a Harley Benton Pb 20, initially black, and now vintage white (even though it looks more like an oly white on the pics). Two cans of acrylic paint, and here it is ! I reshaped the headstock, tinted it, added a tortoise pickguard and a thumbrest, a vintage Fender Japan bridge , flat knobs and Fender 9050.

 

[ERIC31]

Has anyone painted a bass to look like a natural wood finish? If so, did it workout and look good? What did you use?

 

[reddog]

I have old woodwork, painted with a feather, to imply grain.

 

[CatchaCuda]

Which readily available, non-catalyzed, spray paints do you members feel are most durable?

 

[deff]

Which readily available, non-catalyzed, spray paints do you members feel are most durable?

Under Common accessible paints. Fusion by Krylon.

 

[bound'n'blocked]

I've had good luck with Duplicolor and Rustoleum. Im not a real big fan of the Krylon spray tips, but the paint is good. The Testors stuff for models is always good. I really like their clear coats. Their "wet look" clear lacquer is great.

BnB

 

[CatchaCuda]

Under Common accessible paints. Fusion by Krylon.

I've had good luck with Duplicolor and Rustoleum. Im not a real big fan of the Krylon spray tips, but the paint is good. The Testors stuff for models is always good. I really like their clear coats. Their "wet look" clear lacquer is great.

BnB

Thanks guys, I've had issues with some paints in the past. Mostly rustoleum. I'll keep digging in this thread and see what else I can find.

 

[JIO]

Has anyone painted a bass to look like a natural wood finish? If so, did it workout and look good? What did you use?

Invalid Link Removed

 

[CatchaCuda]

Johnson Jazz bass. Years ago, I was bored and tried "swirling" parts of it. That truss rod eventually failed. I received a replacement fender type neck that had a horrendous back bow, would not straighten. Now I'm piecing it back together with a fretted Glarry neck.

I needed to glue veneer to the sides of the pocket to get a fender (& Glarry) sized neck to fit. Sanded it down, starting with 60 grit (body was rough, lots of dings). Sanded progressively up to 400.

Sprayed lightly with Krylon primer. I see some minor imperfections, more sanding in my future. I'll clean up the cavities before the next coat of primer too. I suppose, if it's worth doing...

The plan was to gift it BACK to whom I got it from. For a multitude of reasons, she doesn't want it. I'll find someone to give it to. Someone will accept my Johnson.

 

[burl0029]

Someone will accept my Johnson.

Hey-ohhhh!!!

 

[burl0029]

 

[Big Boz]

I finally got around to making the headstock cover to match the carbon fiber esque pick guard. It really tied it all together.

View attachment 3533697

If you decide to keep the carbon-fiber pg, it might look good with a carbon-fiber hs face. (within the blue perimeter) I think you can get that (thin) material at auto-stores.

 

[bound'n'blocked]

Been working on this on off and on since last spring. Painted it last week. It's not factory perfect, but I'm happy with it. Paint is Krylon Shimmer Black for a base coat with Testors Iridescent glitter, sprayed on heavy and wet while the base coat was still damp. I also put a coat of Testors glitter sealer on, that knocked back the glossiness a little bit, but I still plan to buff it out...

BnB

 

[CatchaCuda]

Moving along pretty well. Could use more clear, a final sand and then the fun part- buffing. I used Krylon grey primer, satin burgundy and gloss clear.
Looks red at some angles, yet a deep maroon/ burgundy at others.

I wound up sanding after half of the color coats, not something I typically do. Then again, I sanded after using nearly 1 can of clear. Sanding during clear is something I never wanted to do. Some dust and my furry dog wound up in it though , that's what prompted so much gentle wet sanding.

Who knows, maybe getting it flat so many times may benefit the end result. I promise to use a proper camera on the finished product.

It's nothing fancy like those ^ flake and sparkle finishes, but I'm enjoying it. Thanks for sharing your advice and projects TB!

 

[Stumbo]

Who knows, maybe getting it flat so many times may benefit the end result.

Sanding the shine off between coats gives a surface for the next coat to "bite" on and obtain a proper bond for long-term reliability.

 

[JIO]

View attachment 3616549 Moving along pretty well. Could use more clear, a final sand and then the fun part- buffing. I used Krylon grey primer, satin burgundy and gloss clear.
Looks red at some angles, yet a deep maroon/ burgundy at others. View attachment 3616556

I wound up sanding after half of the color coats, not something I typically do. Then again, I sanded after using nearly 1 can of clear. Sanding during clear is something I never wanted to do. Some dust and my furry dog wound up in it though , that's what prompted so much gentle wet sanding.

Who knows, maybe getting it flat so many times may benefit the end result. I promise to use a proper camera on the finished product.

It's nothing fancy like those ^ flake and sparkle finishes, but I'm enjoying it. Thanks for sharing your advice and projects TB!

Looks like a nice red.

 

[JimmyM]

Yay! I finally get to join the club! Yesterday, my greatly modded 76 Precision body with the 83 neck looked like this:

Today, thanks to a can of Krylon satin enamel, some sandpaper, a file, and a concrete sidewalk, it looks like this:

And here's the rest of it:

Was going for more of a distressed look than an actual relic. And though some might consider it a distinction without a difference, this is the exact look I was hoping for, and I did it in less than 24 hours. Though I don't mind the unfinished look too much, my wife says I'm a winter skin type and I look a lot better with black basses. I agree, and I am so stoked that it came out almost exactly as I pictured it!

 

[JIO]

good work!

 

[bound'n'blocked]

Not a bass, but I finished this up over the weekend. Testor's Holo-flake over Krylon Black Shimmer basecoat.

BnB