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The "Praguar" refinish and upgrade.

#21
^^That's pretty much my plan... I don't have a router, just a Dremel with a router bit which I am none too handy with.
PRODUCTION NOTE:

This thread's gonna be in a coma because my 6-year-old daughter is on spring break next week and sadly there will be no time for sanding or other sundry bass-damaging for a week or so. You're all welcome to hang out here while I'm gone but try not to break anything. By the way, y'all should totally "StalkBass" Hopkins' stuff; some of his refinish jobs are nothing short of staggering.
 
#22
Habilis said:
^^That's pretty much my plan... I don't have a router, just a Dremel with a router bit which I am none too handy with.
PRODUCTION NOTE:

This thread's gonna be in a coma because my 6-year-old daughter is on spring break next week and sadly there will be no time for sanding or other sundry bass-damaging for a week or so. You're all welcome to hang out here while I'm gone but try not to break anything. By the way, y'all should totally "StalkBass" Hopkins' stuff; some of his refinish jobs are nothing short of staggering.
Click to expand...

HAHA

Thanks man, but everything I have finished thus far has been my own builds. I don't do alot of refinishes. But thanks for the complements :bassist:

Thanks
Paul
 
#23
JIO said:
w/o routing, just cut a piece of rectangular wood that will fill it in tightly using carpenters wood glue to cement it in. Fill all remaining gaps/spaces w/Bondo. Done.
Click to expand...

A few years ago I filled in an entire rout with bondo, it still looks fine. You just have to fill in the hole slowly, so you don't get a ton of air pockets in the bondo. I know its not the right way to do the job, but it was on a cheap guitar, that just needed a cheap fix for a friends rattle can paint job.
 
#25
OK, briefly back with an update--pics later.

1) Finished removing 97% of the original paint.

2) Sanded the hell out of it with 400 paper.

3) Cut a wee block of wood, glued it into the J-bass pickup slot with Loctite, filled the rest with Bondo.

4) Used Bondo to fill in numerous divots made with the aforementioned Infamous Torture Wheel.

Currently sanding Bondo down, looking for where I might need to apply a second round.

In other, non-wood-butchery related news, I have received the Squier Classic Vibe bridge I ordered off eBay, and the American Standard P-Bass Pickup I bought from fellow TBer Bassfreakah. I have 2 questions about these items:

1) The Squier CV bridge is about 1/4" - 3/8" wider than the bridge the bass came with. Provided I can align it properly with the old bridge holes, etc. (admittedly, a BIG proviso, given my ineptitude) are there insurmountable reasons for not putting it on? I love the weight and solidity of the CV bridge but if it is going to render the bass unplayable then I will forego using it.

2) I need to order 2 new pots (V & T) to replace the stacked VT/VT pots this bass came with. In words amounting to no fewer than 15 and no more than 1000, would someone please explain to me the merits of 250K pots vs. 500K, and the importance or lack thereof, of using a specific manufacturer? I could spring for authentic Fender pots, but is it really necessary? Are they really twice as good as, say, Allparts?

Thanks, all. Pictures forthcoming.
 
#26
Hopkins said:
A few years ago I filled in an entire rout with bondo, it still looks fine. You just have to fill in the hole slowly, so you don't get a ton of air pockets in the bondo. I know its not the right way to do the job, but it was on a cheap guitar, that just needed a cheap fix for a friends rattle can paint job.
Click to expand...

The mighty Bondo is not to be discounted! Like duct-tape it's one of those products that is eternally useful! (use sufficient ventilation thou...)

Also, a tip for leveling is that for the last layer to fill the cavity- spread it evenly over the edges and wait for that moment when it just sets-up. Use one of those snap-blade retractable utility-knife blades (by itself) to slowly slice the softish material along the surface clean and flat in one movement. Once it fully hardens, minimal sanding is all you'll need.
 
#29
I was just struck by the fact that we often use the word "minimal" when we mean "very little," as opposed to "the least/smallest amount possible." I am guilty of it as well, and will try not to use it that way any more. But this kind of distracting thought is the reason I never get anything done...
 
#30
Habilis said:
I was just struck by the fact that we often use the word "minimal" when we mean "very little," as opposed to "the least/smallest amount possible." I am guilty of it as well, and will try not to use it that way any more. But this kind of distracting thought is the reason I never get anything done...
Click to expand...

Yes, semantics - but you're being hard on yourself, I bet you get certain things 'done'.., but just very little! ;)
 
#31
JIO said:
The mighty Bondo is not to be discounted! Like duct-tape it's one of those products that is eternally useful! (use sufficient ventilation thou...)

Also, a tip for leveling is that for the last layer to fill the cavity- spread it evenly over the edges and wait for that moment when it just sets-up. Use one of those snap-blade retractable utility-knife blades (by itself) to slowly slice the softish material along the surface clean and flat in one movement. Once it fully hardens, minimal sanding is all you'll need.
Click to expand...

I've never used Bondo on a guitar, but I used to do a good bit of amateur auto-body work and (on the advice of professionals) never worked Bondo at all after it fully hardens. Once it's set, it's ready to do anything but paint. Yeah, you can sand it after it hardens, but it is so much harder to do!
 
#32
sounds like lots of fun guys. More power to you!!!!!Last christmas I bought the short scale verson of that bass you are working on for my 7 year old girl. It turned out being a great little bass, my 15 year old girl and her friends come over and play drums(another story) and bass all the time. I have a peavey 210 keyboard amp she runs the bass through. it sounds great and all the kids love it and i think it keeps them out of trouble. I even have an old strat I let them use also. So its all in good fun!!!!
 
#33
About the pots you can use noble 250K pots will work just fine. or you can get the p bass wiring kit at stu mack for 15 bucks comes with everything you need.
 
#34
OK, some updates. Have finished sanding down bondo'd body and have added 1 layer of sanding sealer. Unfortunately, the way I did it, I ended up with some spots on the edges where the sealer formed drips that hardened into bumps, which, when I sanded them off, left bald spots in the sanding sealer. So, I decided to go high tech! Using a $3.49 Lazy susan device from the hardware store, scrap lumber, and a bunch of leftover deck screws, I have built the Rotisserie Chicken Style Bass Holder so that I can spin that mess around as I am applying various goopy gloops. So, now, layers 2 and 3 of the sanding sealer have been applied. BY the way, Bondo is super great. Someday, perhaps I will make an entire bass out of Bondo...
 
#35
IMG_1116_zps40996988.jpg


^^Front

IMG_1117_zps6e0e748d.jpg


^^back
 
#37
First of all, I learned that most clichés are clichés for a reason. In my case, haste makes waste. I was itchin' to keep going with this project so I followed the advice at ReRanch and went to Home Depot to buy Parks brand Sand and Sealer. The ReRanch site says that their lacquer-based SnS is available there for $15 a gallon. Now, maybe that is the case in some places, but I live in California, where the laws regarding toxins in the environment, which some call enlightened and forward-thnking, and others call draconian, and so it's quite possible you can't get it in CA. In any event, I sprung for the Parks water-based SnS at $30 (!!!) a gallon. And of course when I got home I see that ReRanch sells a spray can of lacquer-based SnS for $10. Sigh...

I hope to do this again, so maybe I'll use that SnS again, but I wince when I think of the fact that I could have bought the paint, sand-n-seal, and maybe the clear coat all for what I paid for this big jug of stuff I may never use again. Oh, well.
 
#38
Well, below are two quick photoshop mockups using images stolen from the Squier website. The first one is what I expect I'll end up with--not much different from a stock Squier VM jag except the color, pickguard and single pickup. Plus the headstock will either still say "Squier Precision" as it does now, or be painted blue to match the body.

dreampraguar_zpsd8c8cc17.jpg


The image below is what I would LIKE to end up with--a sort of "tele-Jag-cision"--but the cost of either getting a custom pickguard made or getting the tools to make my own, and the cost of a tele-style maple board neck takes this project waaaaayyy out of "Fixit fun" and into what my gardening friend calls an "$80 tomato" (as in: "Hey, I grow my own vegetables, and it only cost me $80 a tomato!") which I am not fiscally or othyerwise ready to do at this time. Maybe down the road I'll swap the neck out when I can afford to buy myself some more goodies.

dreampraguar2_zpse581a714.jpg


At this point, I am busily sanding down the final layers of sanding sealer (layers 3&4) and the next step will be primer. After that, there will probably be a hiatus of a few weeks because I have already gone over my budget for this project and I still need to order paint, clear-coat, and the wiring harness. However, once I've got it primed and sanded I will put up some more pictures of the work in progress.
 
#39
As a matter of taste, I prefer the blue painted headstock for this guitar. (& I usually dislike painted Fender headstocks. Go figure.)

Do you feel confident enough to carve up the headstock on the neck you have now to get the tele shape? Even if it was a temporary measure until you got a maple fb neck, it would look pretty sharp, especially with matching blue paint.
 

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