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The Hossenfeffer Bass Build
- Thread starter Gilmourisgod
- Start date
After some touchup and insanely careful level sanding of the headstock edges, I'll call it as good as I can make it, still a bit of witness line visible on close inspection. I'll always see every flaw, of course, but I can live with it for a first paint job. The whole body is now dry-sanded up to 4000 grit with Abralon pads, I'd describe it as a shiny satin, reflects light nicely in a soft-focus way. Having never done this, does it look like I can proceed to buffing out with some Maguiar's? I'm not sure I need the Medium Cut stuff, maybe just go straight to Fine Cut and Swirl Remover? I'm going to get some foam pads from Autozone I can chuck into my cordless drill to buff it out. Any advice on that process appreciated. Having gotten this far, I'm pretty paranoid about burning through, anybody do this by hand with compound and a cloth instead?
Done it by hand a couple of times, little elbow grease and microfiber cloths you can bring it up nice.
Pretty easy to machine buff through the color on the edges.. at least for me.
Pretty easy to machine buff through the color on the edges.. at least for me.
Looks good. I usually use the swirl remover then mirror glaze. Foam pads on the drill. Keep the speed down. I try to have the drill turning so it spits the compound away from me as I start buffing.
Depending on how deep the cutaways are, I might use the Meguires compounds by hand. I had a bass body with deep cutaways and wasn’t paying attention and had the plastic disc on the back of the pad hit the other side of the cutaway. That was an occasion for new swear words. If I’m going by hand I just use a clean cloth and work it vigorously then wipe with another cloth and always use separate cloths or buffing pads for that matter for the different grade compounds.
Good luck, you’re almost there.
Depending on how deep the cutaways are, I might use the Meguires compounds by hand. I had a bass body with deep cutaways and wasn’t paying attention and had the plastic disc on the back of the pad hit the other side of the cutaway. That was an occasion for new swear words. If I’m going by hand I just use a clean cloth and work it vigorously then wipe with another cloth and always use separate cloths or buffing pads for that matter for the different grade compounds.
Good luck, you’re almost there.
I'm leaning strongly towards hand-buffing it. I have very little experience with buffing pads except some bad amateur auto-body work 100 years ago. If the suspense is killing me, I can always try a foam or wool bonnet, but I bet I won't. Too much time and too many setbacks endured, time to play it safe and FINISH THIS THING!
Super! It’s got such an inviting vibe.
Congrats!
I wouldn’t do anything else but put it all together, get your set up dialed in and enjoy playing it
.
Congrats!
I wouldn’t do anything else but put it all together, get your set up dialed in and enjoy playing it
.
Wow that was worth waiting for! Looks fan-freakin-tastic, I love it... 
drool 
drool 
Freekmagnet
Commercial User
That's looking great! You must be really excited to finally see this come together.
Buff it by hand... something will go wrong if you use a hand drill.
Watched this video and ordered some Maguiar's Fine Cut and Swirl Remover. Wish me luck!
Great job with sanding her so smooth!) Fingers crossed for the polishing!
) Fingers crossed for the polishing!
You’ll do well. If you sanded up to 4000 it shouldn’t take too much work to get it done, even by hand.
In the interest of full disclosure..... you can see them right along the edge of the headstock at transition from flat top/bottom to headstock edge at the "hook". I'm pretty sure I'll cut through to colorcoat or bare wood if I as much as breathe hard on them, so.... Invisible! I'll go with that, a little squinting or soft-focus camera work and its gone. Sigh...
Gotta say....I think that you're being really hard on yourself.....
Now I see them (barely) but I had to search! Still looks great!
Realize that while you evidently can't unsee them, they are really not apparent to those who cannot unsee them. I'm the same way, any bit of work consists of all the terrible flaws I know about, the whole is very hard for me to see when I know all the things that went wrong.
