Nitro spraying an unfinished neck & body

[Bigwan]

I have assembled 90% of the parts for a 60s-esque P(+J)-bass - jazz pickup, wiring harness, neck plate and screws are all I'm really missing. I have an unfinished alder body and rosewood boarded maple neck. I've a rough idea what things I should be doing, and in what order I should be doing them, but want a few opinions from the more experienced amongst us just to make sure! 

What I'm looking for is an aged, but not reliced finish in Ocean Turquoise with matching headstock. Beyond attempting some checking and maybe a light tarnish on hardware I won't be hitting it with a hammer, or a bunch of keys, or dragging it up my driveway, or intentionally adding bucklerash, or wearing a sandpaper bracelet, or whatever folks do to these things... 

For the body my initial thoughts are undercoat, numerous coats of ocean turquoise, light coat or 2 of amber to add an aged look, clear coat. 

For the neck numerous clear coats all over (except the face of the fingerboard obviously!), mask off headstock sides, numerous coats of turquoise to headstock face, light coat or 2 of amber all over, clear coat. I don't plan on adding a decal - thinking a ferric chloride etched pcb plate for the headstock as something a little different, being an electronic engineer! 

How does that sound? Anything else/different I should be considering doing?

 

[Norris]

Sounds good. Nitrocellulouse will sink into the grain over time. If you apply just enough to do the job, it may help it sink more for an aged look if that's what you're after. i.e. keep the coats as thin as possible.

I assume you are taking all necessary precautions when spraying?

[Geek99]

You’ll need to mask off quite carefully

give some thought to when and where you can spray and the drying time needed

[Bigwan]

Yup I'll be borrowing a proper respirator from my father and setting up a temporary spray booth in our sunroom, so plenty of ventilation. 

Edit: and waiting for warmer weather than we currently are having! 

 

Edited March 26, 2018 by Bigwan

[Manton Customs]

Sounds about right. A few extra things - Don't use ordinary masking tape for the headstock face, or your colour will likely bleed under and you won't get a nice line. You need a vinyl tape like the 3M fine line, or Frogtape also works well enough.

Don't sand your amber coats and do your best to keep them even. 

You'll obviously need to wetsand and buff after about a month too, so make sure you have built up enough lacquer to do so.

[Bigwan]

9 hours ago, Manton Customs said:

Sounds about right. A few extra things - Don't use ordinary masking tape for the headstock face, or your colour will likely bleed under and you won't get a nice line. You need a vinyl tape like the 3M fine line, or Frogtape also works well enough.

Don't sand your amber coats and do your best to keep them even. 

You'll obviously need to wetsand and buff after about a month too, so make sure you have built up enough lacquer to do so.

Good tips! Thanks!

Edit: do I need to worry about the tackiness of the tape if I'm applying to clear coats of nitro around the headstock face?

Edit 2: Is buffing essential for the aged type of finish I'm going for? Sanding to a really fine grit I get, but I'm not going for a polished look overall!

Edited March 27, 2018 by Bigwan

[Manton Customs]

The 3M fine line has a low tack adhesive and you can get a low tack version of the frogtape I mentioned also. But don't leave the tape on there any longer than you have to - the longer you leave it the harder it is to remove.

Regarding buffing: not essential no, it depends on the type of finish you're going for (satin, gloss or anywhere in between) and how high your standards are. You can definitely play it by ear as you go, and stop when you like what you see. However chances are it won't really look very authentic without some level of gloss. A vintage bass will typically not be uniformly satin and still look fairly glossy, less so than a new instrument, but not looking like someone has attacked it with fine grit paper (you'll see sanding scratches in certain lighting conditions). I'd use a coarse or medium compound to achieve the look you're after.

[rubis]

I found it also helps, if you are using rattle cans, to SLIGHTLY warm the can and the body/neck with  a heat gun or hairdryer 

And prewipe with a tack rag

[Bigwan]

15 hours ago, rubis said:

I found it also helps, if you are using rattle cans, to SLIGHTLY warm the can and the body/neck with  a heat gun or hairdryer 

And prewipe with a tack rag

Good tip, and easily done!