Sanding Swamp Ash

[jesterbass]

I'm not sure I understand the goal here though - are you trying to spot-sand the scratches and then just spot-repair the finish and blend into the original finish? Or totally strip and re-do it?

Strip the whole thing (losing scratches and dents), then refinish with Tru Oil describes it best.

A word of caution for everyone because many people replied with their reservations and because it's not good spreading false information to people building and repairing basses. While my source was trustworthy, I do not work in the Warwick factory, so the process might have been different in actuality. For example they may have added something to the wax (as suggested here) or did something else differently. When I have a bit more time to proceed, I will take a couple of pics of the pickup cavities. If I remember correctly they clearly show application of something that was wax-like. I want to thank everyone for their suggestions, ideas and recommendations.

 

[jesterbass]

It is indeed wax-only. They give you a little tin of wax to keep the finish topped up.

Warwick recommends using their surface finisher on their natural oil finish basses (not colored oil finish). It's for purely aesthetic reasons as it offers a nice sheen (I think it's also a bit of a marketing trick). So the fact that they supply a beeswax does not mean the bass is finished with beeswax (or that it isn't finished with it).

 

[jesterbass]

Swamp Ash is an open pore wood. The Warwick wax finish will always be embedded in the open pores. No matter how much sanding you will never get all of the wax out of the wood unless you plan on resculpting the entire body. Thankfully Tru Oil contains mineral spirits which is a great wax solvent. You may want to cover the body with mineral spirits and rub the mineral spirits off the body vigorously. Do this two or three times then apply the Tru Oil.

Thanks. This is precisely the kind of concern I made this thread for. Absorption, how deep, how persistent.

 

[Loopy3]

Thanks. This is precisely the kind of concern I made this thread for. Absorption, how deep, how persistent.

Most of the wax will be in the softwood ( darker grain ) and as you wash the body with mineral spirits the wax will be diluted more and more directly related to how many mineral spirit washes you give the body.Three washes will be fine and concentrate vigorous rubbing on the soft wood. Read the mineral spirit can and follow directions for ventilation and rag disposal. Let body dry over night, then apply Tru oil, sand after first coat of Tru oil with 400 - 600 grit using Tru oil as the lubricating diluent. Recoat to hearts content.

 

[AndyPanda]

If I were looking to buy, I'd pay less after you "fixed it" than I would to get it as it is now. So unless you just want to do it for fun, I don't think it's going to bring you any more money in the sale.

Somewhere I saw a video about finishing wood by using beeswax and a burnishing tool (bundle of broomstraws) to rub the beeswax and the friction melted it into the grain of the wood and burnished the surface. It left a gorgeous finish that is easy to touch up .... but I can't find it now. This video shows similar:


The earlier tip about steaming out the dents/scratches is a good tip.

 

[jesterbass]

If I were looking to buy, I'd pay less after you "fixed it" than I would to get it as it is now. So unless you just want to do it for fun, I don't think it's going to bring you any more money in the sale.

Somewhere I saw a video about finishing wood by using beeswax and a burnishing tool (bundle of broomstraws) to rub the beeswax and the friction melted it into the grain of the wood and burnished the surface. It left a gorgeous finish that is easy to touch up .... but I can't find it now. This video shows similar:


The earlier tip about steaming out the dents/scratches is a good tip.

Thanks for the video. Note that he mentions heat as a requirement for wax to enter the grain. According to this, melted wax would make sense as a finishing method.

 

[Beej]

I think @rudy4444 has some experiences with wax finishes.

 

[jesterbass]

So I made the time to disassemble the bass and took some pictures. I had forgotten I shielded the pickup cavities with conductive shielding paint but there's also the neck pocket, jack and bridge cavities. Now I am not a guitar finishing expert but by the looks of it I believe that whatever they put on the body had high viscosity, thick consistency. Otherwise it would have been more runny down the cavities. You can also see the color change from hay to a nice amber like color:

 

[jesterbass]

If I were looking to buy, I'd pay less after you "fixed it" than I would to get it as it is now.

Are you sure??? :-D I do a pretty good job if you give me some Tru Oil. This RockBass here used to be red and pretty beat up: RockBass Corvette 4. Both neck and body were restored, and Tru Oil worked wonders on coarser grained alder, it has this amazing sheen now. I 'll admit that the wax finish on the one I'm tackling now will be much harder to top, it looks pretty damn good.

So unless you just want to do it for fun, I don't think it's going to bring you any more money in the sale.

For certain the learning, experience and fun are always important factors for me. I just wish I had enough free time at the moment because if I do it, it seems it will involve more work than I thought.

 

[AndyPanda]

I'm not implying that you would do a bad job. I'm just saying I'd rather get a used bass in the condition it is in than one that the previous owner has sanded and refinished .... not to mention how often I see a used bass that the previous owner has just replaced the bridge, tuning machines and pickups before putting it up for sale and it would have been worth more to me if they'd left it alone.

 

[guts]

AndyPanda totally correct. If you ever plan on selling that bass it is a bad idea to sand the finish down.

If it were me and I never planned on selling it ever, I still wouldn't sand off the finish.

Scratches and dings are normal and not a problem. They're literally inevitable. You don't sand off all of the original finish just because it gets a little scratched up over time, that's a terrible idea. Otherwise you're going to be in a constant state of refinishing your bass for the rest of your life. Your bass is fine. I can't even see the scratches in the pictures you posted, and even if I could I would tell you that your plan is a terrible one.

Leave it alone.

 

[jesterbass]

Leave it alone.

This is in fact what I am going to do. The steam trick has worked wonders, took almost everything off. The ash and current finish responded very well to that. Areas that looked shinier/greasy (e.g. slap area) responded great to some very fine steel wool, and no damage was caused. The finish is now very nice without marks, except a couple of very minute ones.

However, there are 2-3 fairly large areas where the color is visibly lighter, looks more like the underlying ash. What I am going to do is try the melted wax thing on them, just out of curiosity. Someone mentioned earlier that a wax finish is receptive to such touch-ups. It should work, at least in theory. I'll try not to make a mess, then I'm putting the bass together again and doing a final setup.

The whole idea with this is that, in my experience, a buyer is much more likely to pull the trigger on an instrument they 're interested in if they see that it looks in pretty much immaculate condition, especially first person. I'm not selling a vintage instrument so that its original pickups/tuners/whatnot give it increased value. I guess it depends on the situation and what someone's looking for.