First attempt at nitro spraying

[Silky999]

Well, I bit the bullet and dipped my toe in the water of nitro spraying a body and headstock front. Previously I had only used oil finishes and wipe on polyurethane. I must admit it has been a very steep learning curve and introduced me to the world of grain fillers and sanding sealers. I used a Okoume JB body from China that was already semi-finished so was routed and sanded to an extent. I had not really heard of Okoume but I believe it is from the same family as Mahogany and is being used more often for guitar and bass builds. The neck is from China. I can honestly say the Chinese stuff is really top notch in respect of the quality and finish.

 

The biggest issue, as I used rattle cans and sprayed in the back garden, was dealing with little pieces of crap been blown onto the finish when wet due to not having anywhere inside suitable to spray. I used Northwest Guitars paint and gloss lacquer as well as gloss lacquer from Nu-gane. I’m not sure I am in a rush to use nitro again as it is not as forgiving as finishing with Liberon Finishing Oil but certainly the clearcoat is a lot easier to rectify runs/burn through etc than using the poly.

 

Blending in the headstock decal was nerve racking as well as the drilling holes for the pickguard, bridge, tuner screw and reaming out the tuner holes by a couple of mm as I was anxious about ruining the finish and having to go back several stages. I would also choose a 21 fret neck instead of 20 from now on as the fretboard overhang on a 21 neatens up the join where the pickguard meets the neck heel.

 

Overall for a first spraying effort and only my 4th build, I am really pleased with how the bass has turned out……is it factory perfect?…absolutely not but for the intended sale price it is a fantastic looking and playing bass.

 

if you’re interested in buying, it should be on the BC basses for sale thread in the next week as I am just waiting for a replacement bridge pickup as the first one was faulty,

 

Specs are:

 

Okoume body

Roasted maple 20 fret, black block inlay neck with rolled edges

Guyker tuners

Gotoh bridge

Wilkinson M Series pickups

Bloodstone Guitarworks wiring with CTS pots and Spragg capacitor running volume/volume/tone

Schaller type strap buttons

 

I will get it weighed as soon as it’s all back together.

I have and continue to learn so much with each build and my next ambition is to get to a stage with my knowledge and tools where I can turn a body blank and top into a body myself, route it out to attach a pre-made neck. My ultimate goal is to be able to make the necks as well but baby steps as they say…..

 

Edited 7 hours ago by Silky999

[Hellzero]

Very nice looking!

[Hellzero]

Is the colour Daphne Blue?

[Silky999]

9 hours ago, Hellzero said:

Is the colour Daphne Blue?

Yes it is.

 

[Hellzero]

1 hour ago, Silky999 said:

Yes it is.

Maybe my favourite solid colour. 😍

[Jackroadkill]

That looks grand; I also agree with you that a great result is easier to get in nitro than in poly.

[Silky999]

13 minutes ago, Jackroadkill said:

That looks grand; I also agree with you that a great result is easier to get in nitro than in poly.

I like the durability of poly but the fact that it doesn’t “melt” into the previous layer like nitro makes it an absolute nightmare if you get a run or burn through when sanding. With nitro you can just sand back flat and then re -coat but with poly, you get witness lines around the sanded area. 
 

My favourite option is oil finishing then nitro clearcoat over that when it’s fully dry or lots of coats of wipe on poly if I am not so worried about getting a massively uniform finish. I am still perfecting my poly/white spirit ratios for the wipe on to get the best trade off between self levelling after wiping off and not too thin a coat; 60 - 70% white spirit to poly varnish seems to be about the sweet spot especially the more layers that go on.

Edited 4 hours ago by Silky999