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Roscoe Club
- Thread starter JOME77
- Start date
I actually purchased one of the older Standards and it had an issue with peeling and flaking all over the body. I was told they used a combination of products that apparently didnt mesh and he was going a different route. He refinished under warranty.
Hi Steve-
By chance I happened to see these messages about refinishing your Roscoe. I've had experiences using most of this stuff. Mineral oil will bring out a nice gloss and darken things up a bit, but it's going to be temporary and short lived. If I read it correctly, you're interested in going up to a high gloss finish from your current finish, is that right?
Lon
Mineral oil wont last. You run the risk of it mixing with whatever is currently on there and simply not penetrating. If your trying to get it to a shiny place there are some "building products" you can apply. This process does take time as you typically sand a portion off and then apply the next layer. Also finishing will be fun. A lot of companies use hi speed buffers. $400 doesnt seem terrible from Roscoe but im sure it would take forever to get it back Could you find a local cabinet shop ? They spray for a living. Also some automotive guys could do it.
I would like it to look nice - and maybe get some protection from further drying out. I realize mineral oil is temporary, and the Howard’s is a process as well. $600 doesn’t scare me (finish and shipping) but 6 weeks is a long time.
I hesitate to do local as I am not confident in the rebuild after it gets stripped of electronics for the finishing process. These “wipe on” things I can do without taking it apart.
Honestly Steve I would strongly advise against a wipe on finish without disassembling everything and securely mounting the body in a jig that allows you to fully handle the instrument without actually "handling" it. Finishing is the bane of all woodworking. Attempting to apply level coats with knobs, pickups and hardware in the way is going to be next to impossible - so is scuff sanding in between coats, and buffing and polishing at the end. I've seen too many projects in the Luthier's forum go completely off the rails once things go into the finishing stage...guys are left with a sticky, blotchy mess that only creates more problems than they ever had to begin with.
Compared to finishing, the rebuild is going to be surprisingly easy and there are plenty of resources that can help you. I think your biggest obstacle would likely be re-soldering the pickups to the preamp harness, but any good tech could do this if you're not comfortable. Or you could fly out to San Diego with the thing and we can put it back together here by the tiki bar
Honestly Steve I would strongly advise against a wipe on finish without disassembling everything and securely mounting the body in a jig that allows you to fully handle the instrument without actually "handling" it. Finishing is the bane of all woodworking. Attempting to apply level coats with knobs, pickups and hardware in the way is going to be next to impossible - so is scuff sanding in between coats, and buffing and polishing at the end. I've seen too many projects in the Luthier's forum go completely off the rails once things go into the finishing stage...guys are left with a sticky, blotchy mess that only creates more problems than they ever had to begin with.
Compared to finishing, the rebuild is going to be surprisingly easy and there are plenty of resources that can help you. I think your biggest obstacle would likely be re-soldering the pickups to the preamp harness, but any good tech could do this if you're not comfortable. Or you could fly out to San Diego with the thing and we can put it back together here by the tiki bar
I appreciate your input and expertise as you’ve built more than a couple basses. At this point, I’d like to just “refresh” the look, maybe give it a small amount of protection/moisture.
I was thinking just a bit of mineral
oil on a rag wiped over the body would be easy and not hurt anything. Maybe I should DM you.
If it were a quicker trip, or cheaper flight, I’d love to visit San Diego.
Mineral oil ain't gonna do s$#t beyond making it look nice for a few hours. I think stopping that wood from splitting further is important. Would be better to suck it up and send it to Keith to do it right. He'll also fill where the wood has split so it doesn't get worse, and it'll look better than new.
To add to that, it sounds like the finish that yours has was early on, and was abandoned for something better for a reason. Between that and the cracking, it's obvious that your bass needs a more protective finish
Yeah, it’s not like it’s falling apart but I want to preserve it as it’s my #1. I should probably just send it in and get it done. It’ll help preserve it and it should look amazing. Wonder if it’ll change the sound?
I do have a friend who used to play but quit years ago. He has a couple Yamaha 5’s (TRB and Nathan East) that he said I could use anytime. I’m sure I could get buy with one of those for a couple months.
My wife joked that I should buy another 5 to use while this one gets worked on.
I do have a friend who used to play but quit years ago. He has a couple Yamaha 5’s (TRB and Nathan East) that he said I could use anytime. I’m sure I could get buy with one of those for a couple months.
My wife joked that I should buy another 5 to use while this one gets worked on.
Hey, Steve - I don't want to rain on your parade... but in addition to fixing the splits in the top (which you should indeed have that work done), you're also going to want to look at stabilizing your humidity situation wherever you store the bass most of the time. What's happening is the ash back is swelling/shrinking with the seasons at a different rate than the laminates in the top. So the ash swelled by taking on humidity (probably in the summer) more than the top, and the top had no choice but to split since it's glued to the ash and had to move with it. The swelling ash basically pulled the laminates apart when they didn't swell to the same extent as the ash.
There are inexpensive humidifiers you can get that spray fine water mist into a room as needed, though you have to stay on top of keeping water in them to fuel that mist. Here at Rocket, we have a humidifier integrated into our HVAC system so that the entire building is humidified on demand. That unit is plumbed into the water supply and drainage system so that we don't really have to think about it. It really only runs during the winter when the heating system (we're on a heat pump) sucks all the moisture out. That's a much more costly approach, but it's a sheer delight to not to have think about refilling a humidifier reservoir every couple/few days. I did that for several years when I first bought Rocket, and it was a big pain in the butt all winter long. The alternative was to have tons of fret sprout issues which we quickly tired of fixing prior to shipping instruments. The whole-building humidification system is possibly the best $6-8k I've ever spent. It also makes your heat more effective in winter, so it might save you a little bit that way over the years. A lower temperature in winter is more comfortable when the air isn't bone dry.
That's my $0.02 anyway. Good luck!
There are inexpensive humidifiers you can get that spray fine water mist into a room as needed, though you have to stay on top of keeping water in them to fuel that mist. Here at Rocket, we have a humidifier integrated into our HVAC system so that the entire building is humidified on demand. That unit is plumbed into the water supply and drainage system so that we don't really have to think about it. It really only runs during the winter when the heating system (we're on a heat pump) sucks all the moisture out. That's a much more costly approach, but it's a sheer delight to not to have think about refilling a humidifier reservoir every couple/few days. I did that for several years when I first bought Rocket, and it was a big pain in the butt all winter long. The alternative was to have tons of fret sprout issues which we quickly tired of fixing prior to shipping instruments. The whole-building humidification system is possibly the best $6-8k I've ever spent. It also makes your heat more effective in winter, so it might save you a little bit that way over the years. A lower temperature in winter is more comfortable when the air isn't bone dry.
That's my $0.02 anyway. Good luck!
I guess another possibility is that the top shrunk more than the ash back. That would have happened in the winter. Either way, you've got two woods that are glued together but shrinking/swelling at different rates. To prevent a recurrence, you need to stabilize the humidity year round. We shoot for 30% humidity inside Rocket regardless of the season.
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Hi Greg, nice to hear from you. It’s been a while. Yeah, I’m aware of all that. We have huge extremes here in North Dakota - in both temperature and humidity. Unfortunately, my house is old and keeping all that constant is tough. I’ve always been surprised that I never really touch the truss rods. I know that’s different than the top/body situation.
I’m thinking that I should just send it in, get a gloss finish on it and be done. I’ve always thought that since some people have been getting gloss finished standard plus basses that mine would look have looked awesome if it are available back when I got it 10 years ago.
I’m thinking that I should just send it in, get a gloss finish on it and be done. I’ve always thought that since some people have been getting gloss finished standard plus basses that mine would look have looked awesome if it are available back when I got it 10 years ago.
North Dakota winters without humidity. . Arizona summers same. . Plenty of areas in the world like that. Simplest solution is to humidify the instrument in the case. Digital hygrometer to measure. Something like Dampit to humidify. Easy and cheap, too. Plenty of classical, acoustic, and jazz guitarists use them.
We use an inline humidifier in our house in the winter. It's really good for human skin as well as wooden instruments. No itchy skin with dry patches, fret sprouts, or cracking and de-laminating wooden instruments. Before that, I used Dampit products. They definitely work : )
We use an inline humidifier in our house in the winter. It's really good for human skin as well as wooden instruments. No itchy skin with dry patches, fret sprouts, or cracking and de-laminating wooden instruments. Before that, I used Dampit products. They definitely work : )
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I have debated that. I don’t want to mess with filing the nut though. I wish it were easier to go back if you don’t like it.
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A hipshot bass x-tender is a quick and easy fix (and easy to reverse), but you do have to transpose your fingerings.
I’ve used them before. The problem is I need more than a low D. I need a C and C# for 2 songs. If I just needed a D I’d ba all x-tender. Or even just detune manually. It doesn’t take long to step on a tuner pedal. I actually do do that for a couple songs if there’s no time to swap basses.
You can get them down to C (i think that's why they changed the name from d-tuner
), so that's not an issue. They even have them now with double stop levers, so you could get D and C.Not as much fun as a new bass though
Life could be worse than having to play a nice Yamaha for a coupla' months
