New Bass Body

Hey, a hand stained burst isn't easy.

I'll usually do the base color first then do the darkest color next, then blend.
sometime to blend it's just a clean cloth with alcohol.
 
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Yeah the horns aint bad. I'm thinking about painting one of my SGs with a serious kandy flake. Something that will explode under stage lights.
 
I did the Honey Amber for a base. Wipe, sand, wipe, sand. I wasn't really happy with it. So, I got the red tint and put it on around the edges, then more honey amber on top. Then just alcohol, like RFR said, to blend it.

For the black, I put the template on top and raised it up about half an inch. Sprayed the sides solid and then came at it with a lower angle so the mist would go under the template and fade. I think you remember what I did on the last bass. The same concept.

I noticed the pics didn't show up in one post. I'll go back and fix that.

I'm sure you've got some experience doing the flake stuff from your auto body work. It'll be cool to some 3D flaking on the SG.
 
Ha, no, body work is one thing I didn't do. I was mechanical, not the body man. I could do basic shit like knock out a dent and install hood scoops and shit, but fine detail and paint work...no way. I'm gonna practice on some wood.
 
I'm itchy to sand off all the black and start over. Flying out to LA tomorrow, so I'm not gonna touch it until Fri or Sat. That will give it a chance to cure and me time to re-evaluate the finish.
 
Chili,
Just read through the whole thread.
You mentioned wipe/ sand. Not needed
That is more a method for popping out the figure in heavily figured wood.

You stain, let it soak, then sand it all off.
The stain remains in the softer porous sections and pops out when hit with the next staining (usually a lighter color)

Mind you, I'm on a phone, but yours looks like plain maple. No reason to stain and sand it off.

As to the blotchiness, it looks like you didnt sand enough and evenly.
Areas very smooth sanded will soak up less stain than the rough sanded sections.
Also is there the possibility of some remaining glue near the center block??
Glue is a certain stain blocker.

A good thing is to very thoroughly go through all the grits to the end result of no scratches from the previous grit remaining. Finally, before stain, mist some water on it to raise the grain, then sand that off. This helps with the stain not raising the grain so much. Even though your using alcohol, the grain will still raise.

people get all crazy about going to 4 or 600 grit.
Nonsense! 220 grit will do it just fine, and will leave some porousness in the wood for stain to be able to soak into.

That is what we did at Tom Anderson Guitarworks. Those colors are all stained, not sprayed. Sunbursts of course were sprayed. They are considered an industry standard in beautiful finishes.

As to your burst. Using a template will actually fuck it up. Its like a saftey net. Makes you more daring and careless
It will also give you "softened" hard lines.

For a solid black, I'll tape off the front and back, then spray the edges till they are opague. Then do the burst without templates.

Just imagine the body being 2 inches larger and spray out. Usually I have that thinned about 75 percent. I like to mist it on from a distance. Immediately afterwards I'll hit it with a wet coat of clear to melt it all together. I'll pm you pics of my work.

Thats one of my methods. Yours may vary. You just need to practice.


What are you using spray?
 
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Lots to respond to. First off, thanks for sharing your thoughts. It takes a while to put everything to writing and I appreciate the time you put into your post.

For the dying, I tried it both ways; letting it soak or wiping it in then sanding right away. I knew I had plain vanilla maple, but I was hoping to get more from it than I did. I used water, too. But in the end, I'm happy with what I got.

The blotches are either not enough sanding, or left over glue, which means not enough sanding. I could have sworn I sanded the fuck out of it, but maybe not. Before dying, I only used 150 grit. Then I used 220 after to remove color in an attempt to pop the grain.

I'm up to 220 grit. I don't see a need to go further until I start with a clear coat. Then I'm only going to use 320 if it needs it.

The honey amber and the red were applied with alcohol and tint and paper towels. As I said, I tried it a few different ways. The black is applied from a spray can. The template was to allow a small portion of the spray mist to find its way towards the center and create the fade. It's a good trick and works if I don't go back and try to 'adjust' or tweak by hand.

My next step is to work on the zebrawood. One option is to use tung oil, which really brings out the contrast. The downside to that is the long wait before the lacquer coat. It could take months to thoroughly dry out. At least that's the word from the internet. I'm not sure I want to do that. I just might apply lacquer to the whole guitar without touching the zebrawood and call it good.

If I don't redo the black, that is.... :rolleyes:
 
I scrrrrratched that itch and sanded back the black. Did some other touch-ups.

Bass59.jpg

I'm no pro, but I like the way it's coming out. Almost done.

Bass60.jpg

This is the stuff I used for the lacquer clear coat.

Bass58.jpg
 
Next came the electronics.

Look at the pot on the left, it's missing the knobby thing. When I removed it from the old bass, the knob was on super tight and pulled the whole shaft out when I tried to take it off. I had to buy a new 500k pot with push/pull. $10 frikkin USD!!! :mad:

Bass61.jpg

Soldering leads to the new one. Yup, a big pain in the ass.

Bass62.jpg

Vise grips hold it in place as I soldered.

Bass63.jpg

Routing shit through the guitar.

Bass64.jpg

Installing the pickups, bridge,neck, etc.

Bass66.jpg

And she be done. :thumbs up:

Bass68.jpg

Bass70.jpg

Bass72.jpg

Bass69.jpg

The pickups need some adjusting and I'm going to replace the screws for them for black ones. Other than that, this thing plays beautifully. I shit you not, I didn't have to adjust the neck or bridge at all. The action is so nice, right from the gitgo. So cool. :) I'll fudge around to get some nice tones and put something up soon.

Thanks for following along with this thread. If/when I decide to build a neck for this one, I'll start a new thread.
 
I never really liked the finish on that bass, so I decided to redo it. I also finally cut the arm rest thingy like I was talking about earlier in this thread. (Yeahhhh, 3 years later. :D )

The bass still plays and sounds great. I used it for my 1/2 step down tuning when I was in a 90s band.

Here is a before and after.... Really poor photoshopping.

BeforeAfter.jpg

Here is a pic of the refinish next to a fretless I made not too long ago. (The fretless isn't playable yet. Still got some work to do on the neck and nut.)

Fret and Fretless.jpg
 
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