OctoberBass RCA-4 First Build

[OctoberBassRCA-4]

Does anyone have a method of spraying a basecoat, etc., on a RCA-4 bass body? Bolt on necks can be held with a piece of wood thru the neck screws, the RCA is a set neck, how would you hang it? The neck, well, thru one of the tuners? I guess with the binding taped off, table top finishing is a good option, back, then front. Any other methods?

[Simon Barden]

Is the neck glued on now? if so, then yes, hang it up via a tuner hole.

If not, you can normally fit a reasonable-sized bar clamp between the bridge and neck pickup routs. You can then hang up the body by the hole on the end of the bar clamp. Just be sure it is really well clamped though and I'd put something soft on the ground underneath, just in case!

Alternatively, some people have firmly stuck a suitably sized broom handle/round dowel in through the jack socket hole to use as a handle - though I'm not sure how they've stopped the body twisting on it, apart from it being very firmly wedged in.

[wazkelly]

Not easy to finish off if neck has been attached as it would end up being around 38" to 40" long and also weigh more than if both were done separately.
That said, hanging via one of the higher tuning peg holes is the way to go. My guess is the D string hole will be better balanced as more weight on the other side.
If you can rig up a way of rotating whilst hanging would allow you to do front, back & sides in the same session which always works best for me.

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[OctoberBassRCA-4]

I have not glued the neck in yet. This is why I'm asking about hanging the body for the basecoats before the final clear coats. I want to set the neck before I clear coat. So far I have not started any finishing.

[wazkelly]

It all makes sense now.

Finish off as separate pieces remembering to tape off the part of neck to be glued as that needs to remain raw for maximum adhesion.

Once glued it will be a big ungainly thing to work with.


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[OctoberBassRCA-4]

So I am seriously considering a Wudtone Surfer Girl finish, wanting to get somewhere with this build. Meanwhile, been smoothing the binding on the body and neck to a glass like surface. I have not glued the neck in yet. I got the neck straight, frets leveled to start crowning, but will wait on that for now.
My concerns with Wudtone, is there enough product to do both the body and the neck? Since this is Ash, can I sand to 320 grit? Going to go over the whole thing with 220 grit since handling the body and neck so much.
I would like to use the Wudtone Grain Filler, but I can't find any instructions as to when to apply it, or how.
Is it possible to alter Surfer Girl to Seafoam Green?
Lastly, just when during the finish process should the neck be glued?
I want to keep going on this build, but seem to have worry issues stopping me.

[wazkelly]

Never used Wudtone but reckon the issue to look out for is the same across all types of finish......oversanding. If it feels smooth enough with 220 or 240 that might be all you need to do, any more can end up polishing surface so fine that stain colour may not penetrate or cover as well as planned.
Ash is very open grained and a good filler can help to level things off, and if it is in a contrasting colour could also assist with grain popping.
Alternatively you could smooth off as best as you can and allow grain to do it's thing which creates a 3d type effect. Check out the red J Bass in my signature as that is how it turned out from using ebony timbermate as the filler and water based ink as the stain which shrunk back into the grain

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[wazkelly]

Best to attach neck once all base coats have been done and ready to move on to final top coats which is usually a clear of some kind.

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[OctoberBassRCA-4]

Thanks Waz, all good advise. I'll check out that Red Jazzer!

[Fretworn]

From memory, with Surfer Girl you should get both a green stain and a white stain that you mix to get the shade of green that you want. But be warned, the experience with green and blue stains, especially SG, was that it could be a bit patchy. You may find that some parts of the grain really take the green, but others barely take it at all. This will be accentuated on highly figured wood like ash. There was a method that worked with some of the Wudtone stains that could achieve a semi-opaque finish, bur Pitbull’s association with Wudtone finished before anyone here tried it. There was a video of the process online somewhere.