bubinga5 Posted May 17, 2011 Share Posted May 17, 2011 (edited) Just curious how much it might cost to refinish a bass body in another colour? roughly? does it depend on the finish etc.. would be a flat colour i wanted.. any ideas Edited May 17, 2011 by bubinga5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mart Posted May 17, 2011 Share Posted May 17, 2011 Depends on how you do it. I refinished a bass in plain white for about £30 using some rattle-cans from Halfords. OTOH I remember reading a great quote from the Manchester Guitar Tech people that basically said that if you want them to re-finish your bass, it'd be cheaper to sell your bass and buy a new one in the right colour! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dc2009 Posted May 17, 2011 Share Posted May 17, 2011 I fancy getting my Warwick re done at some point, so would also be interested in the answers. I leant her to a friend for a gig, and he didn't take off his belt like I always do, so she has a few battle scars on the back. I also wouldn't mind getting her done in warwick's green, as I'm a little tired of the blue. Would the paint need to be special to still see the figured maple top/swamp ash back? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spinynorman Posted May 17, 2011 Share Posted May 17, 2011 When I was thinking about a refinish I was recommended to John Diggins and there's example prices on his website [url="http://www.jaydeecustomguitars.co.uk/repairs.html"]http://www.jaydeecustomguitars.co.uk/repairs.html[/url] In the end I decided against it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blademan_98 Posted May 17, 2011 Share Posted May 17, 2011 [quote name='spinynorman' post='1235078' date='May 17 2011, 11:43 PM']When I was thinking about a refinish I was recommended to John Diggins and there's example prices on his website [url="http://www.jaydeecustomguitars.co.uk/repairs.html"]http://www.jaydeecustomguitars.co.uk/repairs.html[/url] In the end I decided against it.[/quote] Ouch they are expensive! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomBassmonkey Posted May 17, 2011 Share Posted May 17, 2011 It's not cheap. There's a lot of time and work goes into doing a good job of it. It's certainly not worth it unless there's a reason why you want to keep that specific instrument or it's very valuable. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xgsjx Posted May 17, 2011 Share Posted May 17, 2011 I'm refinishing mine myself. After mucho thought, I'm going with tung oil. Hope it looks good when I'm done. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Vader Posted May 18, 2011 Share Posted May 18, 2011 Yep, I've refinished a few of mine, and I can concur that if I was doing it for someone else I would charge through the nose for it. Especially if it had a bulletproof fender finish on it. Nitormors and Halfords, 30 quid tops, oh and about a month of your life stinking and shouting at things. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RhysP Posted May 18, 2011 Share Posted May 18, 2011 Do you mean "do it yourself" price or "send it to someone who knows what they're doing price"? I got a quote from Simms last year for refinishing a body in Burgundy Mist Metallic - £249, which I thought was pretty good considering the quality of their work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bubinga5 Posted May 18, 2011 Author Share Posted May 18, 2011 £249...???? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigRedX Posted May 18, 2011 Share Posted May 18, 2011 [quote name='bubinga5' post='1235659' date='May 18 2011, 01:26 PM']£249...???? [/quote] [quote name='mart' post='1234535' date='May 17 2011, 04:38 PM']OTOH I remember reading a great quote from the Manchester Guitar Tech people that basically said that if you want them to re-finish your bass, it'd be cheaper to sell your bass and buy a new one in the right colour! [/quote] IMO the Sims price is a good one considering the time and effort it takes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bubinga5 Posted May 18, 2011 Author Share Posted May 18, 2011 i guess so.. im just not aware of what goes into it.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jerry_B Posted May 18, 2011 Share Posted May 18, 2011 Did they charge more for the metallic finish? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigRedX Posted May 18, 2011 Share Posted May 18, 2011 Depends. Some metallic finishes (like CAR) are created by spraying the colour over a silver or gold base, so they take more time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lobematt Posted May 19, 2011 Share Posted May 19, 2011 How would I go about stripping a bass? One of the tough ones, not sure what its called, but a colour with a clear coating. Is it chemical, heat, sanding or a mixture of them all? And also how hard is it to get a good looking solid colour put back onto it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eight Posted May 19, 2011 Share Posted May 19, 2011 Real men need nothing but sandpaper... and a lot of time on their hands. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mart Posted May 19, 2011 Share Posted May 19, 2011 (edited) [quote name='lobematt' post='1236970' date='May 19 2011, 03:09 PM']How would I go about stripping a bass? One of the tough ones, not sure what its called, but a colour with a clear coating. Is it chemical, heat, sanding or a mixture of them all? And also how hard is it to get a good looking solid colour put back onto it?[/quote] Somebody with more expertise will probably come along and clarify this, but my understanding was that if you want to put a solid colour on, then you probably don't need to strip all the old coating off. You just need to sand it enough to make it rough so as to provide a good surface for the paint to grip to. How hard it is to get a solid colour on will depend on 1) what experience you have of spraying, 2) how fussy you are - i.e., what you mean by "good looking". I found it quite easy spraying my bass, but a) I've done quite a bit of spray painting and I wasn't too fussy. Oh and c) I didn't mind spending a bit of time with t-cut rubbing the paint down after I'd finished spraying. Edited May 19, 2011 by mart Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lobematt Posted May 19, 2011 Share Posted May 19, 2011 I'm not too fussy and have no spraying experience, the colour I'm thinking of changing is red into white so if I don't take it all off will it take hundreds of coats of white to make sure it isnt looking pink... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mart Posted May 19, 2011 Share Posted May 19, 2011 Yep, that's probably true. Although a bass that's "white with a hint of rose" would probably go down very well with the ladeez Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Vader Posted May 19, 2011 Share Posted May 19, 2011 [quote name='Eight' post='1236972' date='May 19 2011, 03:10 PM']Real men need nothing but sandpaper... and a lot of time on their hands.[/quote] Real poly sealer stripping sadly can't be done any other way. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lobematt Posted May 19, 2011 Share Posted May 19, 2011 [quote name='mart' post='1237013' date='May 19 2011, 03:50 PM']Yep, that's probably true. Although a bass that's "white with a hint of rose" would probably go down very well with the ladeez [/quote] Haha you may have a point! Difficult to get the matched headstock I wanna give it as well haha. So just a LOT of sanding then? For respraing does it matter which type of paint you use? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LawrenceH Posted May 19, 2011 Share Posted May 19, 2011 [quote name='Dave Vader' post='1237039' date='May 19 2011, 04:11 PM']Real poly sealer stripping sadly can't be done any other way. [/quote] Except my way - using a poweful hairdryer and a paint scraper. Takes off the outer poly on a Fender and most of the sealer too Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xgsjx Posted May 19, 2011 Share Posted May 19, 2011 I stripped the poly finish from my bass with a gas blowtorch & a paint stripper. I heated the paint up gently (torch on lowest, unless you like scorched wood) & gently scraped with scraper. I then did the same again with the shellac that was under the paint & sanded the body down smooth with 40 grit, then 70, 120 & finally with 240 grit sandpaper & now in the process of coating the ash body in Danish oil (it reeks, but looks good!) I'm planning on doing 2-3 coats per day for the following 4-5 days (or whenever I get bored of not being able to play it). THen I'm gonna leave it for a week & then coat it with bees wax. I'm still toying with the idea of adding some silver leaf, aluminium paint or some other colour to a section of the body. If you can spraypaint, then finishing a bass isn't gonna be hard. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Noisyjon Posted May 19, 2011 Share Posted May 19, 2011 All the info about refinishing is: [url="http://www.reranch.com/solids.htm"]HERE[/url] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xgsjx Posted May 19, 2011 Share Posted May 19, 2011 If you want to get rid of the chance of pink, spray the whole bass in a matt grey undercoat. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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