Geek99 Posted August 25 Posted August 25 (edited) 2 hours ago, neepheid said: Design transferred and traced onto the headstock... Not starting painting tonight though - that was hard work, plus I only have black paint at the moment - need white and dark grey. The plan is to hand paint it with model paints and tiny brushes, flatten it a tad with very fine sandpaper, then lacquer over the top to protect it. That is f***ing awesome there is a parallel universe where I would create something like that (as well as being a millionaire aristocrat with my own harem) but sadly I don’t live there Edited August 25 by Geek99 1 1 Quote
Geek99 Posted August 25 Posted August 25 What if you filled in the letters with gold or silver paint as subtle mockery of the fender logos? Quote
neepheid Posted August 25 Author Posted August 25 1 hour ago, Geek99 said: What if you filled in the letters with gold or silver paint as subtle mockery of the fender logos? Nah, no mockery needed, gonna go with the original plan of black, dark grey and white. 2 Quote
neepheid Posted Thursday at 18:24 Author Posted Thursday at 18:24 Small update - frets have been levelled and recrowned. I think the neck did need it, the fret material didn't come off universally so I hope i made an improvement. Also, French polish arrived from @kodiakblair - legend, cheers! 11 Quote
lemmywinks Posted Thursday at 19:54 Posted Thursday at 19:54 Quite a nice bit of wood on that fretboard as well. 1 Quote
neepheid Posted Friday at 20:44 Author Posted Friday at 20:44 First coat of black on the headstock... that took over an hour... Also made a start on the French polish - testing it out in an inconspicuous area first - the neck ferrule holes... 10 Quote
neepheid Posted Saturday at 20:05 Author Posted Saturday at 20:05 Today I got stuck heavily into the cosmetics. Headstock: Still some wobbly bits to sort out (the white neep logo was NOT fun to paint - very fiddly) Also made a start on the French polish - this is the first layer - I guess I just build it up until it more or less matches the surroundings... Not all good news though - there is an area of damage and discolouration on the bottom of the body. Turns out this must have been where the bass was sitting on the shed "floor" (ie. the ground) and i think moisture has gotten in there - thankfully having to fight gravity as the bass was upright. Unfortunately, this area is basically Swiss cheese - the little holes are me being able to push a cocktail stick in with minimal force... It's not structural, but I'll have to decide what to do about it. The obvious answer would seem to be cut it out back to good wood then glue in a patch, but I have no idea what wood this body is made of... 7 Quote
Hellzero Posted Saturday at 20:44 Posted Saturday at 20:44 Looks like a variety of mahogany to me, same wood pattern, some are very whitish and there over 800 different varieties. Quote
neepheid Posted Sunday at 20:30 Author Posted Sunday at 20:30 Finally finished the design on the headstock today - kept seeing bits which displeased me, and of course the masking tape took the occasional wee chunk out of the edge so spent a lot of time with a tiny brush sorting that out, then seeing other wrong bits, resetting the clock to an hour again every time I put new paint down. Finally think I got it all and got to work on lacquering. Done 6 or 8 coats this evening - want a nice, thick layer before I start flattening it because I would hate to sand through to my paint underneath. Gonna let it harden for 24 hours or so before trying to flatten it back. 86_2007 project headstock lacquer preflattened.mp4 5 Quote
neepheid Posted Sunday at 20:59 Author Posted Sunday at 20:59 9 minutes ago, Richard R said: Is this coming to the SW Bass Bash? I hope so! 2 Quote
snorkie635 Posted yesterday at 07:18 Posted yesterday at 07:18 Go Neep, go! Looking more than good to me. 1 Quote
Richard R Posted 23 hours ago Posted 23 hours ago On 30/08/2025 at 21:05, neepheid said: It's not structural, but I'll have to decide what to do about it. The obvious answer would seem to be cut it out back to good wood then glue in a patch, but I have no idea what wood this body is made of... How about deliberately not matching the wood? Cut the piece to a triangle like a piece of cake, and paint it in the same high gloss black of the headstock. If you were to take the patch through to the front the black insert would tie in nicely, keep it invisible from the front then it's a private joke for you. 4 Quote
neepheid Posted 23 hours ago Author Posted 23 hours ago 11 minutes ago, Richard R said: How about deliberately not matching the wood? Cut the piece to a triangle like a piece of cake, and paint it in the same high gloss black of the headstock. If you were to take the patch through to the front the black insert would tie in nicely, keep it invisible from the front then it's a private joke for you. The headstock will be doing a lot of heavy lifting in the distraction game. Private joke sounds good - this certainly hasn't been a "piece of cake", lol 2 Quote
neepheid Posted 19 hours ago Author Posted 19 hours ago A bit of wet sanding then 6 more layers of lacquer. Getting flatter, but I was a bit cautious with the sanding. More tomorrow. 7 Quote
Stub Mandrel Posted 19 hours ago Posted 19 hours ago Next ... the Bunsen Honeydew bass. With 'meep' onnthe headstock... 3 Quote
neepheid Posted 6 hours ago Author Posted 6 hours ago I've made a small mistake. There should be a gap in the top of the 'p' where the musical 'note' descends. That was silly. I'm in two minds here - should I just accept the mistake for what it is, or should I try to put a tiny sliver of black on what I've built up to this point then try to hide it in the final coats of lacquer - as illustrated in this quick mockup? It's so nitpicky, and fraught with risk at this late stage, I dunno why I'm even considering it. How risky is it, do you think? Quote
neepheid Posted 6 hours ago Author Posted 6 hours ago (edited) Spitballing here - after what is hopefully the final flatting tonight - an ultra fine Sharpie, then remaining clearcoat over it? Edited 6 hours ago by neepheid 2 Quote
Stub Mandrel Posted 6 hours ago Posted 6 hours ago 40 minutes ago, neepheid said: I've made a small mistake. There should be a gap in the top of the 'p' where the musical 'note' descends. That was silly. I'm in two minds here - should I just accept the mistake for what it is, or should I try to put a tiny sliver of black on what I've built up to this point then try to hide it in the final coats of lacquer - as illustrated in this quick mockup? It's so nitpicky, and fraught with risk at this late stage, I dunno why I'm even considering it. How risky is it, do you think? It's your logo... do it how you want! Mine evolve! Quote
ezbass Posted 5 hours ago Posted 5 hours ago 1 hour ago, neepheid said: ultra fine Sharpie, then remaining clearcoat over it? That would work. Quote
BigRedX Posted 3 hours ago Posted 3 hours ago If this was me, I'd either leave it as it is, or sand the headstock back to the wood and do it again properly. Quote
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