Finish problems on a resprayed body

[bumnote]

Any ideas anyone?

I bought a tokai with a really beat up body which I wanted to refinish.
I stripped all the old paint off and the body is made from several strips of wood
Prepared it really well with med, fine etc down to 400 odd grit.
Prepared the surface with rustins grain filler, innumerable coats of grey primer rubbed down with 800 and 1200 grit, looked flawless. Put the colour coat on, finish is fine, but you can see lines where the joins in the wood are.

Im prepared to rub it down and start again, If I use sanding sealer, will this prevent this happening, and is the shellac one ok?

Any other tips?

[blazer3]

This may seem a little extreme but you could try wood filler (or something similar) along the join lines then sand it flat, it may cover it over once you have done your colour coat.
I dont know if this would work or not but theres no harm in trying.

Interesting question though as i have a bbn4 yamaha that i"m considering finishing as its in natural and you can clearly see the joins on the 3 piece body

[henry norton]

Sounds like you need a thicker coating of paint. TBH, my 82 squier Precision is nothing like glassy smooth and you can see the lines where the 3 piece body has been joined, and they were meant to be well made! If you want the finish on a wood body to be dead smooth you need to put enough paint on to allow for any movement in the woods themselves. You can try spray filler (sometimes called spray putty), which is usually a mustard coloured spray paint you can buy from car places which builds up a very thick layer very quickly. You can smooth this back confident that there's still a good thickness of paint left over.

Sanding sealer is always worth using, otherwise you run the risk of the different bits of wood absorbing paint at different rates - and that's before you even get to an edge....

Colour has allot to do with how lines and marks show up too. Lighter finishes and natural wood are usually OK but the darker it gets, the more careful you need to be. Black is a real b###ard 'cos it shows absolutely everything.

Hope this helps

[bumnote]

[quote name='henry norton' post='622989' date='Oct 11 2009, 11:59 AM']Black is a real b###ard 'cos it shows absolutely everything.

Hope this helps[/quote]

Guess what colour it is.
I was going to strip it back to base, there is a lot of primer and paint on it. I attacked it yeaterday with 400,800, and 1200 again, and have sanded out the shrinkage lines, im going to put another couple of coats on and see how it dries.

[Monz]

[quote name='bumnote' post='623052' date='Oct 11 2009, 01:02 PM']Guess what colour it is.
I was going to strip it back to base, there is a lot of primer and paint on it. I attacked it yeaterday with 400,800, and 1200 again, and have sanded out the shrinkage lines, im going to put another couple of coats on and see how it dries.[/quote]

If that fails Isopon car body filler is your friend... does exactly what it says on the tin

[retroman]

A few thoughts from someone who used to paint cars for a living

You have pretty much been doing things the right way. When I have refinished bass bodies, I have always rubbed them down with a rubbing down block, to get them dead flat. Apply primer coats in even, reasonable light coats, and allow 24 hours minimum to dry, and sink. The more coats of primer the better, if you are working with aerosol cans. Next put a mist coat of black over the body, and allow to dry. Next wet flat with 800, or 1200, with a rubbing down block, and allow the paper to do the work - eg, don't push down hard on the block to try and speed things up! The idea of the mist coat of black is to provide a "guide coat". Where ever the guide coat is left behind, shows up where you have flaws in your primer, eg, pin holes, dings, etc.

If you are seriously struggling, might be worth popping round to a local car accident repair centre. Business for them is pretty slow at the moment, and they can do a really professional job using two pack primers and paint. I refinished the body on my old Aria about 15 years ago, using ICI two pack primer, Ford Petrol Blue base coat, and two pack lacquer. Wet flatted it very carefully with 2000 grit after painting, and then machine polished it to a very deep shine. Still looks mint to this day

Depends what your bass is worth to you, and how fussy you are really

Hope this helps

[bumnote]

[quote name='retroman' post='623751' date='Oct 12 2009, 09:20 AM']A few thoughts from someone who used to paint cars for a living

You have pretty much been doing things the right way. When I have refinished bass bodies, I have always rubbed them down with a rubbing down block, to get them dead flat. Apply primer coats in even, reasonable light coats, and allow 24 hours minimum to dry, and sink. The more coats of primer the better, if you are working with aerosol cans. Next put a mist coat of black over the body, and allow to dry. Next wet flat with 800, or 1200, with a rubbing down block, and allow the paper to do the work - eg, don't push down hard on the block to try and speed things up! The idea of the mist coat of black is to provide a "guide coat". Where ever the guide coat is left behind, shows up where you have flaws in your primer, eg, pin holes, dings, etc.

If you are seriously struggling, might be worth popping round to a local car accident repair centre. Business for them is pretty slow at the moment, and they can do a really professional job using two pack primers and paint. I refinished the body on my old Aria about 15 years ago, using ICI two pack primer, Ford Petrol Blue base coat, and two pack lacquer. Wet flatted it very carefully with 2000 grit after painting, and then machine polished it to a very deep shine. Still looks mint to this day

Depends what your bass is worth to you, and how fussy you are really


Hope this helps [/quote]

Thanks for that and everyone elses input.

I had to sand the old paint off with a sander and a block, and I have removed some of the wood so i know the joins were level and even before I started. I can only assume that despite all the grain filler and primer, the paint has been absorbed into the join.

I have done as you say, a light coat to highlight the flaws, then rubbing down with a block on all bar the curved bits. And then again when I had a run, and then again when I got an icky.

I put a couple of coats on yesterday after rubbing down with 1200 and it doesnt look too bad, I will see when its dried properly, I might flat it down again if the lines still show.

The bass isnt really worth a huge amount, and anything I do to it will make it better than I bought it. Fussy, now thats another thing. If I do something, I like to do it well. It would be nice to think i could get decent finish, but its probably all down to my personal satisfaction, I doubt anyone else would care.