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Refinishing poly to nitro

#21
Bumping with a question. I've been looking at some Squiers and while I like the instruments I'm not usually fond of the colors. If the solvents in nitro are bad for poly then that's not a good option, but what if you spray a layer of primer over the poly and then nitro color of choice before the nitro clear coats?

I stripped one P bass body already and the poly on the Indonesian Squier did not want to come off with heat, in fact when it did come up it pulled up chunks of wood with it (soft wood I presume). I ended up chemical stripping it then had to fill the holes; in retrospect I'd have rather rattle canned nitro over the poly.
 
#22
Webtroll said:
Bumping with a question. I've been looking at some Squiers and while I like the instruments I'm not usually fond of the colors. If the solvents in nitro are bad for poly then that's not a good option, but what if you spray a layer of primer over the poly and then nitro color of choice before the nitro clear coats?

I stripped one P bass body already and the poly on the Indonesian Squier did not want to come off with heat, in fact when it did come up it pulled up chunks of wood with it (soft wood I presume). I ended up chemical stripping it then had to fill the holes; in retrospect I'd have rather rattle canned nitro over the poly.
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The nitro wont touch the poly finish
 
#26
nutdog said:
I stripped poly using a heatgun and putty knife. It was a pain but it worked. The poly had several chipped places. If your finish is smooth it would be much easier to paint over it. The reranch cans worked great. But if you're going over poly might as well use poly.

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Click to expand...

Do you have to sand the glue/ clear layer underneath the poly till bare wood? If so, does the grain need to be filled there after?
 
#27
My advice and I'm sorry if I sound like a defeatist. You can sell you sunburst Jazz Bass body and get some British pounds for it and then buy an already finished seafoam green Jazz Bass body. Warmoth has 'em for $295 in their Show Case section of their website.

For the time and effort and expense to refinish your Squire J Bass body, it just ain't worth it! (The end result of refinishing a bass body stands a great chance of turning out less than good.)

Invalid Link Removed
 
#28
ruthlessace said:
Do you have to sand the glue/ clear layer underneath the poly till bare wood? If so, does the grain need to be filled there after?
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I can only speak of this one experience. There wasn't really a clear layer underneath. All the paint came off with heat/putty knife. I did have to sand to get it smooth. There were a few scratches still in it.

The reranch instructions said I would need to use grain filler and I did. It specifically mentioned basswood. I had never done this before and didn't really understand the process. The instructions also said the filler and sand/sealer would fill in deep scratches. It didn't. I didn't wipe enough of the excess off and the sanding of the filler was a major pain.

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Again, I was learning on the job. I should have sanded a lot more but put paint on and it looked terrible.

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Those scratches came from sanding off the excess filler.

At that point I asked for help on the forum. They said basswood didn't need filler. Some woods do, some don't.

So I sanded it all off with 220, then hit it again with 3something or other for good measure. No filler.

Came out nice. There is one spot in the seam that is visible that could have used filler but it is covered by the pickguard so I didn't worry about it.

IMG_1031_zps05279bcc.jpg
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Here's a thread about the bass, and there is a link to the reranch forum in the first post that details my agony and eventual triumph.

http://www.talkbass.com/forum/f8/fender-nutdog-signature-precision-lyte-983519/

TLDR: :confused::bawl::help::hyper::bassist:
 
#29
I've refinished 3 basses so far, and all came with poly finishes from the factory. Like many have said, there's no need to strip the old finish - just scuff sand the gloss, then primer, paint, and clear. The real work is in the wet sanding and polishing, but if you want pro-looking results, getting those final steps correct is crucial.
 
#30
friskinator said:
Like many have said, there's no need to strip the old finish
Click to expand...

I stripped for 3 reasons.

  1. The original finish had several chips that would have required some sort of repair prior to painting.
  2. Part of the nitro allure is the way it wears. Turdburst showing through roadworn Daphne = bad mojo.
  3. Weight. I don't know how much a poly finish adds, but I'm sure it's something.
 

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