So recently, I bought a Squier affinity jazz bass off of a friend for twenty bucks (his dad had bought it for him a few years earlier, and he never bothered to learn how to play it) and I decided, hey, why not give it a sweet refinish job with whatever I can find in my parent's garage? That way, I don't have to waste any money on it, because I am constantly broke.
I found both black and white spray paint, so I figured I'd go with the black pickguard/white body color scheme that I'm so fond of. I started out by attempting to sand off the finish (probably a mistake), and when that wasn't fast enough, I happened upon a blowtorch, which I lit up and went to town with (definitely a mistake). It turns out that if you're trying to remove paint by burning it off, you must follow these two rules:
1. A t-shirt wrapped around your mouth doesn't cut it, and-
2. You really can't just light it on fire, then walk away to get a sandwich or whatever and expect the job to be done for you.
So needless to say, a lost a few chunks of wood from the back of the bass, but whatever. It's mostly on the back, and I did a much better, more even job with the other side. Next came the spray painting.
Painting the body white went off mostly without a hitch, but when it came to painting the pick guard black (because simply going out and buying a black one would be the coward's way), I accidentally tore off the nozzle, sending a spray of black paint all over me, the bass, and the rest of the garage. Of course, this couldn't deter me, either, and I simply washed up and re-coated the body. Then came finishing.
I was lucky enough to find a can of spray polyurethane, which went on evenly, felt great, looked wonderful... And was mostly gone, leaving me only enough to coat the pick guard. For the rest of the body, I was forced to use this crappy $5 spray lacquer that was sticky, goopy, and almost completely depleted, which I attempted to compensate for by holding the can very close to the body and disregarding the instructions. Oh, and I also neglected to clean the dirt and miscellaneous bits of whatever off of the body beforehand, leaving the bass with the most uneven finish possible. Needless to say, it looked pretty horrible.
Of course, I could re-do this whole job, but that would require money and time that I'm not willing to spare. So I've just declared this my designated punk bass, and I'll just let the finish rub off and plaster it in stickers and hopefully no one will notice.
TL;DR: I tried to refinish a $20 bass for no money as haphazardly as possible, and it turned out horribly, but I don't care because I'll just abuse it and pretend this never happened.
So anyway, does anyone else have any hair-raising stories of refinish jobs gone wrong?
I found both black and white spray paint, so I figured I'd go with the black pickguard/white body color scheme that I'm so fond of. I started out by attempting to sand off the finish (probably a mistake), and when that wasn't fast enough, I happened upon a blowtorch, which I lit up and went to town with (definitely a mistake). It turns out that if you're trying to remove paint by burning it off, you must follow these two rules:
1. A t-shirt wrapped around your mouth doesn't cut it, and-
2. You really can't just light it on fire, then walk away to get a sandwich or whatever and expect the job to be done for you.
So needless to say, a lost a few chunks of wood from the back of the bass, but whatever. It's mostly on the back, and I did a much better, more even job with the other side. Next came the spray painting.
Painting the body white went off mostly without a hitch, but when it came to painting the pick guard black (because simply going out and buying a black one would be the coward's way), I accidentally tore off the nozzle, sending a spray of black paint all over me, the bass, and the rest of the garage. Of course, this couldn't deter me, either, and I simply washed up and re-coated the body. Then came finishing.
I was lucky enough to find a can of spray polyurethane, which went on evenly, felt great, looked wonderful... And was mostly gone, leaving me only enough to coat the pick guard. For the rest of the body, I was forced to use this crappy $5 spray lacquer that was sticky, goopy, and almost completely depleted, which I attempted to compensate for by holding the can very close to the body and disregarding the instructions. Oh, and I also neglected to clean the dirt and miscellaneous bits of whatever off of the body beforehand, leaving the bass with the most uneven finish possible. Needless to say, it looked pretty horrible.
Of course, I could re-do this whole job, but that would require money and time that I'm not willing to spare. So I've just declared this my designated punk bass, and I'll just let the finish rub off and plaster it in stickers and hopefully no one will notice.
TL;DR: I tried to refinish a $20 bass for no money as haphazardly as possible, and it turned out horribly, but I don't care because I'll just abuse it and pretend this never happened.
So anyway, does anyone else have any hair-raising stories of refinish jobs gone wrong?
It was just the standard black finish/ white pick guard deal. Nothing special, and for 20 bucks, there was no way I could leave it as is.
