W1_Pro

Thanks for that Steve. You make a good point, refinishing is an awful lot of work I guess, and if it's done well, then it's worth paying for..... I think my central concern is that I'm not paying way over the odds for the Sims Custom shop finish, and of course my other concern is are they any good? Have you used them perchance?

Oh dear. Sorry about that... Not intentional! Anyhow, I spoke to a nice chap from Gibson today, and he reckons that the epiphone Jack Cassady case would fit the Grabber/Ripper and it is available as a separate accesory- which apparently the reissue grabber/ripper case is not.....

[quote name='maxrossell' post='493078' date='May 20 2009, 10:53 AM']Unfortunately refinishing is one of the most pricey things to have done to a guitar. £390 does sound a little bit steep for clearcoat, though. Arun Repairs through Mike's Music will do it for around £250. [url="http://www.aruninstrumentrepairs.co.uk/"]http://www.aruninstrumentrepairs.co.uk/[/url][/quote] Thanks for that. I'll give them a go.

[quote name='EBS_freak' post='493342' date='May 20 2009, 03:18 PM']Hang on a sec... Isn't an Explorer a set neck? If it is, I would say that is about right for that job. It's quite time consuming... Obviously there is the skill in spraying the polyester but the difficulty is increased at the neck join as extra care is needed to be taken to avoid excessive build up. Then of course, there is the extra difficulty associated with the flattening and buffing. If you see it as £250 for the body and £140 for the neck... you can see where the cost is coming from...[/quote] Aha. Now therin lies the rub. They are not prepared to touch the neck because it's got one of those Gibson stamped in serial numbers on the back of the headstock. Apparently it's beyond the wit of man to refinish this (nitromors anyone?). But thanks for the answers anyway. I think I'll probably go with this because it needs doing. Good to know that it's not quite as exhorbitanat as I thought!

Hello Everyone, I'm looking for some advice/pointers about refinishing an Explorer bass. I bought the thing in 2004 from the states and it had an awful spray can black finish. A luthier I use, Graham Parker (who is very good if you live in SE London btw [url="http://www.grahamparker.moonfruit.com"]http://www.grahamparker.moonfruit.com[/url] ) striped it back and refinished it in clear laquer and it looked lovely. I took the bass out of it's case a couple of months ago, and noticed that the finish had 'crazed' badly. I took it back to Graham, who no longer does finishing- lots of luthier seems to hate this part of the job eh?- he very reasonably offered to refund in full the £175 he'd charged me for this, and reccomended Sims Custom shop, who came back with a price of £390 which I think is kind of expensive. I'd like to know a couple of things really: A) Is this expensive? Are Sims worth it? C) Can anyone reccomend an alternative. all advice appreciated. Many thanks chaps.

[quote name='Basszilla' post='489180' date='May 15 2009, 06:36 PM']im in the same boat as you mate...doesn't seem to be much out there to fit this bass![/quote] Hmmm, I suspected this might be the case, thanks for the reply though...

Hello Everyone, I'm trying to find a case for my Gibson Ripper Bass. It's very wide and the usual Hiscox/Gator/SKB suspects won't fit. I really don't want to shell out for a proper flightcase for this. I wondered if anyone has any suggestions? Thanks