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Refinish?...

G

Groovin_Joe

May 12, 2002
250
4
Kanata, Ontario. Canada
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#1
I have been recently refinishing a mid 80s tele for one of my guitar players and I am now feeling more upset with the colour of one of my basses. I don't like black basses, yes I did get one and it is now very worked in and I love the sound and feel. It is a MIM jazz v now with nordys. I was wondering what the likely hood would be that the wood under the black would be decent to have "naked".

Should I just do it? And deal with it or relic it or something like that?

Opinions...
 
#2
Rap on it with your knuckles to try to determine the density. It would be especially helpful to have similar instruments (with exposed grain patterns) nearby to compare.

If it seems like a pretty tight grain, I say go for it. If you think it may be a loose grain, I'd try to live with it or plan to paint it another solid color. Just my $0.02.
 
#3
it's Alder, it all depends on what you expect. It's not going to be a 1 piece slab with wild grain, it's Alder, it's going to be tan with little grain, and probably a 3 piece, but if you do a nice finish, it can still look cool. Just don't expect something you are not going to get.
 
#6
When you hold it at certian angles in the light, can you see lines in the wood under the black finish? If you can, these are the joins in the wood. Sometimes they are real obvious.
Many times you wont know what kind of grain matching you have till you remove the paint job. Good luck man
 
#7
Jeez. It's like ya gotta explain everything, lol!;)

The relative rings per inch of a species is often referred to as 'tight' or 'loose.' See ref. 1.
Link Removed

So...Find some alder, decide at what grain density it looses its appealing look. (Now maybe this is just me, but I think wood with a low ring count (loose) looks terrible on an instrument body when compared to a nice, tight grain pattern.)

Step 2. Knock on wood.:p Internalize the sound of a specimen that is too loose, good enough, and exceptional. If your bass, by comparison of the sound of your knocking, seems like it would be an unattractive density for a natural finish, maybe go another route. If you don't attribute grain density to aesthetic beauty, please disregard.
 
#9
Bold approach. I like that.

I don't try to describe sounds in words anymore; it's a lost cause. The only accurate conveyance of a depiction of multiple simultaneous sine waves (other than ears and a brain) is in frequency-amplitude-time charts.

Going around and knocking on wood is where the ears and brain come in. It's not a scientific means to express the abstract nature of sound; but it often works better than trying to internalize an understanding based on mathematical expressions.
 
#10
type C basses said:
Bold approach. I like that.

I don't try to describe sounds in words anymore; it's a lost cause. The only accurate conveyance of a depiction of multiple simultaneous sine waves (other than ears and a brain) is in frequency-amplitude-time charts.

Going around and knocking on wood is where the ears and brain come in. It's not a scientific means to express the abstract nature of sound; but it often works better than trying to internalize an understanding based on mathematical expressions.
Click to expand...
I REALLY don't follow. Reading your posts so far has been the equivalent of reading this:

"I'd like to play cowboys and indians, but I don't think they play football in Calcutta".

So many strange things I don't know where to start...
 
#12
Beej said:
I REALLY don't follow. Reading your posts so far has been the equivalent of reading this:

"I'd like to play cowboys and indians, but I don't think they play football in Calcutta".

So many strange things I don't know where to start...
Click to expand...

I can't tell if that is a compliment on my intelligence or some sort of insult. I'm going to assume it's a compliment and bite my tongue until another post. All I can say is, if you don't understand something and you have a thirst for knowledge, Google is an invaluable resource.
 

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