Manton Customs

Regarding the twist - it wouldn't be game over as it could be removed by a luthier without surgery, but it'd be a reasonable expenditure on a bass which isn't worth that much in the first place (I'm not saying it's not a lovely bass, just not particularly valuable). Selling it with the twist could be difficult, or it would at least bring the price right down. So bit of a catch 22.... but it depends on what your expectations of value are. Can we see some pics of the twist looking down the neck?

White plastic makes a better fret line than wood veneer, the plastic is much more stable (so won’t shrink/alter) and is easier to work with. The stuff you need is called styrene sheet. Fret slots are typically 0.6 mm, so the 0.5 sheet usually works well once glue has been applied. If you haven’t pulled the frets yet, make sure you heat each one with a soldering iron first to melt any glue holding them down. And never pull up while grasping a fret with the puller! Just lever the blades of the puller under the fret one section at a time. The real skill comes in levelling the fingerboard afterwards...:)

Hard to say without seeing it but generally anything above 600 grit will be more like polishing the edge. If what you’re trying to remove is minor you could start at that, but if there’s any actual shaping left to do, you could start as coarse as 180. Use it on a small block (like a rubber eraser) if you want to keep the edge square.

Yes sandpaper will work on the edges, but you’ll have to remove the scratches after if it’s on a visible edge, which means you’ll probably need to work through a few grades. Alternatively a scraper works wonders on pickguard material and won’t leave any scratches. A Stanley blade or single edge razor blade will do as your scraper. Finish off with 0000 steel wool, but keep well away from any pickups.

You’re building a bolt on!!? It’s a totally fair price, it’s in fact cheap considering the work and parts that go into them. However the problem is getting other people to see it that way, as there’s so much choice out there and you get a lot for your money these days on mass produced basses. So while the bass would definitely be worth that sort of money to the right person, I think you might struggle to find someone on somewhere like eBay or reverb (where similar basses typically sell for less). The bass will also need to be near perfect at that price point too. Selling on here though I’m sure will work to your favour and hopefully someone on BC who’s watched your threads may be interested in it. It’s hard to try and predict it, but you’re definitely not far off. Look forward to seeing it take shape.

Neat, I’ve not tried adding anything except colours....Which works if you don’t add too much.

Grain filling sucks so if I can save some pain I’m happy to help! It’s the Z poxy finishing resin you want for grain filling, which only comes in one cure time and I think is 30 mins (so ideal). But it depends on the temperature where you work. I sand back in between coats (it’ll take at least two) to bare wood then do a final thinned coat (with iso alcohol) to get an even colour. The final one is more like applying a wiping varnish. This works well if you’re using water based poly as the epoxy will pop/amber the grain nicely.

I’ve used west systems before to grain fill also, but preferred the z poxy as its a bit easier to work with. It also sands much, much easier than WS which really helps when a few coats are needed. Like Aquacoat its not cheap either but even the smallest quantity they sell should do a couple of basses.

Nice work :). Never tried brushing it! In case you haven’t already figured out what went wrong with the grain filling, it’s not you...it’s aquacoat. I’m surprised they get away with selling it, it’s really ineffective at filling grain and worst of all it shrinks like crazy. Which is a shame as I loved the idea and how easy it should be to use, but I’ve given it a fair trial on a number of builds and every time it’s disappointed. Get some z poxy instead, not as easy to work with but is totally stable. The RF thixotropic grain fillers work well also, not quite as effective as the z poxy, but a bit quicker.

Rosewood

You can’t unfortunately on gold hardware, even if it’s extremely minor. The playing is so thin any kind of polishing compound takes it right off and you’re left with the Nickel under plating. So bad news if you want gold hardware, good news if you fancy changing it to Nickel... as it doesn’t take long to get all the gold off.

Big thank you to @jebroad, family and all the other people who helped put the bash together. Was a great day and we’re looking forward to the next one!

Seeing as the frets have been recently levelled which will increase clearance from the string to the first fret it’s unlikely there will be any buzzing coming from a worn nut. Those symptoms do not sound like a nut issue either. My advice would be to take it back to your luthier and explain the issues. Chances are he will sort it for you free of charge.

Constant temperature is not too important, you just don’t want sudden changes, like cold to very hot or vice versa. Or extremes in general really. The fumes won’t be a problem from that sort of range (in the lean to). I just meant don’t sleep by it or something! I like to leave 4 weeks drying time if I’m doing a gloss finish, you may encounter some shrinkage if you sand and buff after two. Depends on how perfect you’re aiming for...But aim for the stars and you might reach the moon is a good saying for finishing :).

As above, the shed probably won’t harm anything at this time of year, but it will increase curing time quite a bit. Ideally you want somewhere indoors, warm and with good air circulation if possible. Preferably not somewhere you sleep or spend all day though due to the fumes. You could even build yourself a drying box with a heat source in (like a light bulb). That’s what I do.

Generally I spray quite wet coats with the clear, but obviously too wet and you’ll get runs! The surface on your bass may have had some roughness due to all the tiny metal flakes standing up, so you may have tried to bury it too quickly by laying on the clear too heavily. The thing is though - only your final coats needs to be free of orange peel, as your last coats will dissolve any rough texture from previous coats. You could of course finish up with a rough orange peel like surface and then level sand as you suggested, it’s just harder work wet sanding. When I spray Nitro I will often spray a final very reduced coat (called a flash coat). This is like 80% thinners so it levels out really well and takes away any sanding scratches and roughness. Obviously you can’t do that with aerosols, but you can try and spray a good wet coat at the end to achieve a similar result and reduce wet sanding.

Told you 😛 Seriously though it looks like it went quite well before the mess up and screw ups are always a possibility with finishing! They happen. Keep at it and aim for perfection and you won't be far off.

I like the ferrules too, they are a bit more work as you have to plot them out and recess them, but it’s not at all difficult. The disadvantage of a neck plate is they need to have a square area at the heel, which to me can look a bit blocky and unrefined. Whereas with the ferrules you can have any shape you like within reason.

It’s not so much it’s an unusual finish as it’s poorly done. It’s fine having a burst and leaving the middle natural, but the perimeter is completely uneven and the transition is terrible. Suppose I can forgive him though because it’s got a Bare & knuckle pickup. Seriously bare AND knuckle 😆

This might help. https://www.basschat.co.uk/topic/338662-making-a-pickguard-scratchplate/

Yes...wasn’t being too serious there. Obviously best to use some common sense if attempting this.

It depends on the finish. Maple with no finish on it will actually get bleached/ paler in sunlight. Some finishes don't yellow either so it depends on what finish is on it. Old school polyurethane and Nitro both will though. The best way to get a yellower neck would be to spray some tinted clear. There probably won't be much risk from the suns heat...we're in England after all.

Lake placid Blue is not an easy colour to go for if this is your first time refinishing. But good luck! Remember you need to dust metallics on, too wet a coat and the metallic particles will lye flat and not very reflective. Also don’t try and sand the colour coats during the process as this will also ruin the metallic effect.

Now you’re going to make it again anyway, I would definitely do a small shim at the back of the pocket about a third the thickness of what you have there. That way the shim will be invisible and can be much thinner, so any dampening it may cause would be lessened.

The b2s I have had through the workshop have all had a thick polyester finish. You probably won’t be able to find anything similar to touch up with. But the usual fix for poly is drop filling with superglue. Or if you want to spend lots of money you could try the new Gluboost products which are being advertised quite a bit at the moment. But they are essentially very good/suitable Superglue. If it’s down to bare wood you might need to add a little bit of tint to the wood as Poly yellows and superglue is clear. So if you didn’t add tint the repair will be paler than the surrounding area. Google drop filling guitar finish and you should find some instructions. It takes practice to get it to look better than the damage did in the first place though! A poorly done repair always looks ugly and less honest than damage.