Miam-P Vice

[Mylkinut]

Been at this one for a while, but it's nearly done so thought I'd share the story so far.

 

I bought this '86-'87 MIJ P Bass from here a fair few years ago and it's been my favourite live bass ever since. It was stripped and stained by the previous owner (who admitted himself it wasn't a pro job), with the P pickup wired straight to the jack. I rewired it with a blend/volume/tone using what was already in the bass, and it's been totally reliable at least some of the time since.

 

 

I used to love the DGAF aesthetic it had, but that feeling faded over time and I started lusting after a shell pink bass. So, having refinished a body once before, hating it and vowing never to do it again, I bought some nitro cans from Manchester Guitar Tech and got to work.

 

First step: disassembly.

 

 

It's a four-piece basswood body with a ton of dents and dings. I decided early on I wanted to retain that character and keep the body matched to the neck, so I wouldn't be filling any holes. The original owner mentioned it had previously been finished in black nitro, which was still hanging out in the cavities.

 

I didn't know how the nitro I'd bought would take to whatever wood stain was already on there, so I opted to strip it before starting anything else.

 

 

This was an effort. I know consumer-grade paint stripper isn't what it used to be (and for good reason), but I used an entire can and got maybe 30% off with some serious scraping. I took most of the rest off with sandpaper, but it was impossible to get it out of the ends of the grain where it had soaked in. 

 

 

Done. Stripping it did manage to take off a lot of the black nitro in the cavities, revealing that it was originally sunburst. Good bit of archaeology. 

 

Next up was paint. I made a jig out of a bit of scrap wood I had in the shed, and clamped it to my roadbike's maintenance stand.

 

 

Everything I read said there was no reason to grain fill basswood (if that sounds like some foreshadowing, that's because it is), so I went straight to spraying it with most of a can of sanding sealer. This went on nicely and I started feeling like I was going to smash this; sanding it back down afterwards revealed what felt like a lovely smooth surface. I then went on to primer, and that looked decent but started revealing some issues.

 

 

Now, what refinishing requires foremost is patience. I am not a patient man. Once the primer was on and drying, I started noticing a little grain showing through from the cut of wood used on the bass side of the body. I decided it didn't look too bad at this stage and figured it'd fill out with the colour and clear coats, so no worries. I just wanted to slap some pink on this bad boy.

 

 

Here's what I had after I'd laid down a can of colour. You can see very visible grain on the forearm cut, something that seemed to become only more prominent the more colour I added. There was more on the belly cut, and some on the upper horn.

 

I realised at this moment that I should have been more patient. I should have paid more attention at the primer stage, and probably stripped, grain filled and started again after the first coat of primer was put on. However, alongside impatience, one of my other superpowers is not knowing when to stop. So, I kept going onto the clear coat stage, bullheadedly assuming I could make it better by doing the exact same thing I'd done to make it worse.

 

 

I ended up using two full cans of clear. During the second day of spraying, a total of two bugs flew in front of the spray nozzle and got propelled into the finish at considerable speed. At this point I was finding this project funny because so much seemed to be going wrong, so I didn't bother removing them. I hear they're good for tone anyway.

 

 

Here I am regretting my life choices. The hardest part for me was waiting for opportunities to spray since I don't have anywhere to do it inside. Besides timing it between my job and my toddler napping, there had to be zero rain, low humidity, minimal wind, and nobody in neighbouring gardens. Again, I'm not a patient man so this was a challenge.

 

 

Done. I have to say, I don't think I'd work with nitro again. I see the appeal because it goes on easily and wears very nicely, but it's bad for your lungs, your wallet and the planet. I'd happily refinish a bass again, but I'd probably experiment with other options next time.

 

Next came waiting for 30 days before flat sanding and buffing. At this point I'd decided I'd spent a lot of money only to get a finish I wasn't going to be very happy with, but I was still excited to get it assembled and have one of my favourite basses back.

 

Speaking of assembly, during the refin process I'd been gathering some parts. I wanted to rework the electronics and keep them to three holes so I could use a stock scratchplate, opting for a stacked volume control covering both pickups and a separate tone control. I already had a chrome Fender knob for the tone pot, so the hardest part was finding a stacked volume pot that could be used with a concentric knob I'd found that closely matched the Fender one. Luckily AliExpress and eBay sorted me. Almost of the other parts were reused from the original build.

 

The exception was the scratchplate. I was originally going to go with standard white, but after watching an awful lot of Miami Vice after my second baby was born a few months ago I opted for an anodised gold one I had sitting in a picture frame upstairs. In my head it would fit tidily into this scene:

 

 

What could be cooler? First though, I had to flat sand and polish.

 

I forgot to take any pictures of this process, but I essentially wet sanded for a bit with 800 grit, before moving into 1200 grit. Unfortunately I burned through in a couple of places, but it's so inconspicuous I'm not worried. I then cycled to Halfords and got a bottle of Farecla G3, and started polishing with an old t shirt. This is when I got excited.

 

 

Look at this. After all the balls-ups and doubling-down on those balls-ups, it buffed out to a super glossy finish. But what about the wood grain showing through on the forearm cut?

 

 

It sanded out! I couldn't believe it. The belly cut and upper horn are the same.

 

Admittedly the finish isn't 100% perfect (there are two bugs pummelled into it after all), but it's ten times better than I thought it might be after seeing the colour first go on. So, now it was time to start assembly and see my Miam-P Vice dreams come to life.

 

 

First mock-up. I had some cream covers for a separate build, and I actually think they look way better than the black. However, I'm struggling to find a matched PJ set (or even a cream bridge J for that matter), so I'm sticking with black for now.

 

 

And assembled. To me this is as cool as it gets, and I hadn't actually seen another bass in this colour combo before. So, feeling terribly original I proudly sent this picture to a few of my guitar-playing mates...

 

...and one of them said Fender had got there first.

 

 

I still like mine better.

 

[Mylkinut]

So, some things to sort out.

 

First, cream pickup covers. Looking at these pictures again I think they're a necessity. It'll look like a prop from a Wes Anderson film.

 

Secondly, I've got an odd electrical gremlin to sort out. I couldn't find a wiring diagram that matched what I was trying to do so I had to sort of make it up. I'm getting an odd effect where turning off the J pickup also turns off the P, meaning the P can't be solo'd. I'll have to crack it back open and take a look.

 

Also need to drill a hole for the one screwhole that doesn't match up on a ten-hole scratchplate. Easy.

[Sambrook]

I found (with help on here) cream Jazz pickup covers on eBay - chguitars...

[Mylkinut]

Ace, just found them - thanks for that!

[Pea Turgh]

Great result!  And a good read 😂

[Mylkinut]

1 hour ago, Pea Turgh said:

Great result!  And a good read 😂

 

Thanks - less of a how-to and more of a wtf-happened.

[TheGreek]

I think that there is definitely a place for cream pickups especially with a maple fretboard and a cream/ peach/ natural pastel palette. 

Like you I had a nightmare finding a cream PJ set but the effort was worth it IMO. 

 

[TheGreek]

I have a cream neck pup cover somewhere...send me the measurements of the cover you need and I'll see if it would fit. 

Alternatively,  PM superhero @rwillett who recently printed some pup surrounds for my Fender Modern Player. 

[Mylkinut]

Looks so good - I managed to order a full Jazz set so I'm going to wait and see if they're a good match for the neck pickup I've already got. If not I'll send you a message!

[rushbo]

Thats gorgeous, that is. And the chronicling of the process was a proper hoot and very relatable. 

Good work fella!

PS: Dare I mention that it would look even more snazzy with gold hardware..?

Edited June 10, 2023 by rushbo

[TheGreek]

I have a spare set of gold tuners if you want to go that route. 

[Richard R]

Just read this. Congratulations on polishing all the grain texture out, it looks excellent.

But is there a pic of the finished version with cream pickups, and you in a rolled-sleeve baby blue jacket?