Roughing up finish to use as base coat???

I am about to dig into a refinish project. The bass is currently a natural finish, which I am attempting to make into a wine - ish (reddish brown) stain. I had originally planned to just remove the clear lacquer finish, stain the wood, then re - lacquer the bass. However, I have had a few people recommend attempting to utilize the original finish as a base coat, then spray the StewMac tinted cherry and red mahogany aerosol lacquers in alternating coats until the desired color is achieved, then clearcoat it. My question is, what is the best for roughing up the original lacquer? Sandpaper or Scotch pads? And if sandpaper, which grit would work best for this application? I have had a suggestion of 300 - 600. Wet or dry? The finish IS in good condition, except for a small spot on the upper horn where it appears some wood putty or something was used to fill a small hole or ding on the front of the bass body. I am hoping that will become a non - issue when I get the first coat of tinted lacquer on it. Any advice would be appreciated, so thanks in advance!

 

Thanks for the suggestion. Hadn't thought about cleaning/degreasing the finish. Now I just have to figure out a good, portable hanger that will hold the entire bass securely (it's a neck through) for spraying, but then allow me to move it in and out. I will, unfortunately, have to do the actual spraying outdoors, then move it inside to dry between coats.

 

Thanks for the suggestions. It hadn't occurred to me to de-grease it first. Appreciate the advice.

 

I bought some 320 and 600, so I should be good. Finding Naphtha is proving more difficult in my small town. Only found 1 old rusty can on the shelf of local hardware store, and it was quite pricey. (I kid you not, the entire top of the can was completely rusted brown.) May have to go into Lansing tomorrow.

 

Yes, Thank you. I am wondering if I am going to get a color to my liking... By combining the red mahogany and cherry, I doubt I will get a "wine" color. Not without some blue added into the mix. Unfortunately, I cannot fine a "wine" colored lacquer aerosol. In fact, the ones from StewMac are the ONLY tinted aerosol lacquers I have found.

 

I saw the Gibson Heritage/Cherry red. Sounds similar to the StewMac cherry, if a bit cheaper. Like I said, I'm afraid I won't get a very dark finish, since the wood is ash. Was hoping to darken it by alternating the cherry with coats of red mahogany. If I can't get anything remotely close, I may give up and end up painting it a wine/burgundy color. Any idea of a good source of aerosol paints in a wide variety of colors?

 

Thank you, Beej!

 

Yeah, that SG (EB) bass is beautiful (actually one of the basses on my bucket list), and I would be thrilled to get a color similar to his finished product, maybe a shade darker. I am hoping these spray lacquers will get me in the ballpark. I realize he went down to bare wood and applied actual stain to get his effect, and I will likely get something slightly different - since I will NOT be starting with bare wood, but rather spraying tinted, translucent lacquers over the roughed - up, existing finish. I guess I'll find out once I get into it! Thanks again.

 

So, I got the Heritage Cherry from Reranch, sprayed about 6 to 8 coats to get a nice deep red, then sprayed one coat of clearcoat - only to have it blush to a milky white! I now realize that the humidty in Michigan summer is WAY too high for spraying clearcoats. So far I have brushed some lacquer thinner on the back of the neck, and it has (of course) re-melted the lacquer to a wet gloss. I am just waiting to see how it looks when dry, before attempting to do the body. I heard this method was basically the same as buying "Blush Remover" in a spray can. I also read that I may be able to get away with just spraying a fresh clearcoat over it in low humidity, and it will likely melt the previous coat back to clear. But I thought I'd give the thinner a chance first. Unfortunately it has seemed to take a slight bit of the color away in a spot or two. I am hoping it won't be as bad if I use a very small amount of the thinner on the body. Ugh! No one said this would be easy!!! (By the way, the color I got was almost exactly the same as the Gibson SG basses in Heritage Cherry, or my Spector Euro in Black Cherry. I was spraying it on ash, FYI.)