maxrossell Posted April 30, 2009 Share Posted April 30, 2009 Umm - not really sure if this is the right forum for this. I've refinished guitars twice in the past, with mixed results. I'm just wondering if any of those of you who make or refinish basses have any useful tips on repainting a bass with a rattle can. - Would I need to take the original finish back to the wood, reseal, reprime and repaint it from scratch, or can I just sand off the top to get a key, overcoat with a different colour and clearcoat afterwards? - Using Plasti-kote acrylic spray paints - good or bad? - How long do I need to let the paint cure for before clearcoating? How long do I need to let the clearcoat cure before I sand and buff it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
waynepunkdude Posted April 30, 2009 Share Posted April 30, 2009 [quote name='maxrossell' post='475864' date='Apr 30 2009, 11:59 AM']Umm - not really sure if this is the right forum for this. I've refinished guitars twice in the past, with mixed results. I'm just wondering if any of those of you who make or refinish basses have any useful tips on repainting a bass with a rattle can. - Would I need to take the original finish back to the wood, reseal, reprime and repaint it from scratch, or can I just sand off the top to get a key, overcoat with a different colour and clearcoat afterwards? - Using Plasti-kote acrylic spray paints - good or bad? - How long do I need to let the paint cure for before clearcoating? How long do I need to let the clearcoat cure before I sand and buff it?[/quote] Primer, Primer and more Primer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EBS_freak Posted April 30, 2009 Share Posted April 30, 2009 (edited) [quote name='waynepunkdude' post='475865' date='Apr 30 2009, 12:01 PM']Primer, Primer and more Primer.[/quote] Ideally your base coat - that is, the coat that is touching the wood, should be polyester clearcoat. This thicker covering reduces the amount of sinking giving you a more stable base to then prime and then colour. This initial coat should be left as long as you can tolerate to enable it to harden off as much as possible and for any sinkage that will occur to happen. Make sure the wood is super smooth - go through the grades to get the smoothest finish possible... any little mark WILL show. Just make sure every single layer you add (either primer or colour) is as flat as possible otherwise your final finish will be pretty poor. (lots of sanding through the grades for every coat). Same with the final finishing - lots of thin coats, sanded and flattened (make sure you don't go through!) For best results in final polishing, get yourself an orbital sander with a lambswool buffing pad (e.g. try halfords)... and the bits you can't get to? Good old fashioned elbow grease! Good luck. Edited April 30, 2009 by EBS_freak Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maxrossell Posted April 30, 2009 Author Share Posted April 30, 2009 [quote name='waynepunkdude' post='475865' date='Apr 30 2009, 12:01 PM']Primer, Primer and more Primer.[/quote] Ummm... Okay? My point was that if the bass is already primed and painted, surely I can just sand into the existing paint and overcoat it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
waynepunkdude Posted April 30, 2009 Share Posted April 30, 2009 [quote name='maxrossell' post='475879' date='Apr 30 2009, 12:10 PM']Ummm... Okay? My point was that if the bass is already primed and painted, surely I can just sand into the existing paint and overcoat it?[/quote] Sorry, I just didn't prime my fretless enough and the colour really suffered, I didn't make that mistake on my latest project and it looks amazing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maxrossell Posted April 30, 2009 Author Share Posted April 30, 2009 [quote name='waynepunkdude' post='475881' date='Apr 30 2009, 12:13 PM']Sorry, I just didn't prime my fretless enough and the colour really suffered, I didn't make that mistake on my latest project and it looks amazing.[/quote] No worries. As I said I've done a couple of projects, and to be honest I want so save myself some labour if I can (I hate hate hate sanding). I just want a bass that's a different colour to what it is, it doesn't have to be a masterpiece of craftmanship, but I also don't want the paint to peel right off. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sgt-pluck Posted April 30, 2009 Share Posted April 30, 2009 [quote name='maxrossell' post='475879' date='Apr 30 2009, 12:10 PM']Ummm... Okay? My point was that if the bass is already primed and painted, surely I can just sand into the existing paint and overcoat it?[/quote] From what I've read you can, but you still need to sand it ultra-smooth - which means you'll probably end up going through to the wood somewhere, which means primer. Pluck Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maxrossell Posted April 30, 2009 Author Share Posted April 30, 2009 [quote name='sgt-pluck' post='475886' date='Apr 30 2009, 12:16 PM']From what I've read you can, but you still need to sand it ultra-smooth - which means you'll probably end up going through to the wood somewhere, which means primer. Pluck[/quote] Really? On the couple of guitars I've worked on I've had to sand the bastards for a bloody long time to get anywhere near the wood. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EBS_freak Posted April 30, 2009 Share Posted April 30, 2009 [quote name='sgt-pluck' post='475886' date='Apr 30 2009, 12:16 PM']From what I've read you can, but you still need to sand it ultra-smooth - which means you'll probably end up going through to the wood somewhere, which means primer. Pluck[/quote] Jeez... if you manage to sand through the polyester coat, the colour and the primer down to the wood, you really are going at it with the sanding. Polyester is a tough beast ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sgt-pluck Posted April 30, 2009 Share Posted April 30, 2009 (edited) [quote name='EBS_freak' post='475926' date='Apr 30 2009, 12:47 PM']Jeez... if you manage to sand through the polyester coat, the colour and the primer down to the wood, you really are going at it with the sanding. Polyester is a tough beast ![/quote] [quote]Really? On the couple of guitars I've worked on I've had to sand the bastards for a bloody long time to get anywhere near the wood.[/quote] You're probably right - never actually done it myself Pluck Edited April 30, 2009 by sgt-pluck Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EBS_freak Posted April 30, 2009 Share Posted April 30, 2009 [quote name='maxrossell' post='475924' date='Apr 30 2009, 12:46 PM']Really? On the couple of guitars I've worked on I've had to sand the bastards for a bloody long time to get anywhere near the wood.[/quote] Nitromors and an orital sander are your friends Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maxrossell Posted April 30, 2009 Author Share Posted April 30, 2009 [quote name='EBS_freak' post='476064' date='Apr 30 2009, 02:52 PM']Nitromors and an orital sander are your friends [/quote] I now have an orbital sander, but that doesn't change the question - can I just key the surface of the existing paint job by hand and paint over that? I know it's not uncommon - the Pino signature P-Bass has a fiesta red coat shot directly over a sand-coloured finish. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EBS_freak Posted April 30, 2009 Share Posted April 30, 2009 [quote name='maxrossell' post='476075' date='Apr 30 2009, 03:00 PM']I now have an orbital sander, but that doesn't change the question - can I just key the surface of the existing paint job by hand and paint over that? I know it's not uncommon - the Pino signature P-Bass has a fiesta red coat shot directly over a sand-coloured finish.[/quote] When you say "key" do you mean "score"? If so, the answer is no. If I was going shoot a coat over the existing gloss finish, I would take the high sheen off the finish with lower grade paper until I had a perfectly smooth, even, satin base coat. I would degrease the surface to make sure there is absolutely no oils (e.g. from you hands, pubs that the bass has seen etc) present. One word of warning though, if the existing base coat is nitro, it's a bitch for reacting. Expect discolouration to occur with your new paint. Anyway... The key thing for getting a good paint job is lots of thin coats with lots of sanding between coats. When the final poly/nitro coat goes on, that will seal your paint job... then you can start with the buffing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EBS_freak Posted April 30, 2009 Share Posted April 30, 2009 (edited) PS - don't forget to mask off the important cavities - specifically the routes for the neck and the pickups (and routing for dropped bridge etc). The paint will soon thicken up and have a bit impact... you'll see when it comes to reattaching the neck and reseating the other components. The last thing you want to contend with is routing/sanding away fresh poly etc... chip and flake city! Once it starts, it just won't stop and you'll have to sand the whole thing down to at least you original finish to start all over again! As for the orbital sander - take it easy around the edges - it's easy to flatten the rounded edges of the body and they can be a bitch to reinstate! Edited April 30, 2009 by EBS_freak Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maxrossell Posted April 30, 2009 Author Share Posted April 30, 2009 [quote name='EBS_freak' post='476148' date='Apr 30 2009, 04:26 PM']When you say "key" do you mean "score"? If so, the answer is no. If I was going shoot a coat over the existing gloss finish, I would take the high sheen off the finish with lower grade paper until I had a perfectly smooth, even, satin base coat. I would degrease the surface to make sure there is absolutely no oils (e.g. from you hands, pubs that the bass has seen etc) present. One word of warning though, if the existing base coat is nitro, it's a bitch for reacting. Expect discolouration to occur with your new paint. Anyway... The key thing for getting a good paint job is lots of thin coats with lots of sanding between coats. When the final poly/nitro coat goes on, that will seal your paint job... then you can start with the buffing.[/quote] When I say key I mean, as you say, take the smooth surface off the existing finish so the paint has something to adhere to. So you're saying that's okay to do? What I'm painting definitely won't have nitro on it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EBS_freak Posted April 30, 2009 Share Posted April 30, 2009 [quote name='maxrossell' post='476162' date='Apr 30 2009, 04:37 PM']When I say key I mean, as you say, take the smooth surface off the existing finish so the paint has something to adhere to. So you're saying that's okay to do? What I'm painting definitely won't have nitro on it.[/quote] Yes. That's right... although I would be tempted to put a primer over it still - just so, as has already mentioned, the final colour "pops" and isn't all dull and muddy. If you have no nitro, things should be cool. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Count Bassy Posted May 1, 2009 Share Posted May 1, 2009 Wire wool is your friend! It's available down to realy fine grades, and you can 'sand' round the curvy bits without it going through to the wood on the corners like sandpaper can. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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