What strings do you have in mind for this?
Printable View
What strings do you have in mind for this?
Thanks, FaustoB. I have some Rotosound RS77 Monel Flat Wounds ready to put on this when it's finished.
I was just reading through your builds... Your GPB-4 bass looks amazing!
If the neck doesn’t feel smooth, then it probably isn’t. I’m no expert when it comes to satin finishes, but it will definitely need sanding if it feels rough.
You have two courses of action as I see it. 1) Simply sand back until smooth (maybe P400 or P600 depending on how rough it is) and then go up the grits to P800, P1200 and P1500 etc until the feel and look is how you want it to be or 2) sand back until smooth and then spray one thin coat of satin clear on as the final coat. If when dry, that still doesn't feel right or smooth enough, then you'll probably have to revert to method 1. It will depend on how well your can of satin clear sprays as to how smooth the finish will feel.
You aren't trying to put a shine on it, so you don't have to wait for the finish to harden too much before sanding back, maybe a couple of days rather than a couple of weeks.
The headstock face probably needs a couple more coats of clear at least if it's just got three coats on. As you want it glossy, you should be looking to sand it back flat and then go up through the grits and then polish it as with the body. However if you think it looks smooth enough to you, then you can leave it as it is if you want to. It's your bass!
But you'd normally apply enough coats of clear so you can sand it back flat and not have any bumps from the decals showing. You'll probably see decal bumps on some guitars from Fender and the like, as extra coats and sanding flat all take time and extra cost, but higher-end guitars will tend to have nice flat headstock surfaces. It's purely visual and up to you.
Hi Simon.
WRT the neck, I'll try a sand followed by another coat to see how that goes. If that fails, I'll go back up through the grits to craft the finish it until it feels right.
I'll add a couple more coats to the headstock face, sand it back flat, then go up through the grits and polish.
"It's your bass!" That's a good reminder. Sometimes, I get caught up in trying to do it right (or at least, not irreparably wrong) rather than treating this as a creative endeavor.
Thanks again for your advice, Simon. You're a legend.
Mathew.
There are definitely ways to do it wrong, but also many ways to get a good looking guitar or bass. So there certainly isn't just one way to do it 'right'. If you read through some of the build diaries on here, people have finished guitars in very strange ways. Most have worked, a few have half-worked (in my opinion) and a couple have failed. And commercially, a lot of makers are moving away from the full smooth gloss finish for every guitar and embracing a lot of other finish options.
The primary function of a build for yourself is to end up with a playable instrument that sounds good and feels good to play. But the level and type of finish is totally up to you. If you think you might make some more kits, then you could try some other finishes out.
And you can almost always go and strip a finish off a guitar/bass and start again if you want to. I have. It's hard work, but getting a much better finish the 2nd (or 3rd) time around is very rewarding.
Having some scraps of timber to try out different finishes or ideas is also helpful. Gives you the freedom to play around and still be a bit precious about your instrument.
Very light sand on the neck to 600 grit, followed by a final coat of satin poly - so happy with the way the neck is coming up now. Looks good, feels awesome. I may give it a light polish with the rest of the guitar to finish, but I'm really happy with it now.
Attachment 43480
I don't have so much as a work bench let alone a scrap of wood to practice on. And now you mention it Rabbit, doing the 'trial' on the instrument itself seems stupid! But so far, things are coming together nicely.
Final gloss poly coat on the headstock face tonight, then figure out how to level sand and polish everything!
Well like Simon said:Quote:
Originally Posted by Mathew
"And you can almost always go and strip a finish off a guitar/bass and start again if you want to. I have. It's hard work, but getting a much better finish the 2nd (or 3rd) time around is very rewarding. "
I'm just one of those people who spends 2 months faffing around for something that takes 2 minutes to actually do :rolleyes: . Just go easy if you are going to polish the satin finish. A lot of satins go gloss with wear. Where I work they use a 2k poly clear as a satin. All it takes is a light rub with a grey scuff pad and it starts to take on a shine
Or take off the shine?
I'm very happy with how the neck looks and feels now. That 600 grit and final coat made all the difference.
Just gave the headstock the lightest of sands, and a 5th coat of poly. I'm guessing that's enough, but might repeat that in the morning just to be sure. It's looking good, but will need flat sanding / grits / polish.
Attachment 43487
Looks great. Every time I see it I wish that I had coloured the headstock. I am going for a textured finish on the body of my guitar so I am torn as to how to finish the neck. I have used wipe on poly gloss front and back. I have sanded both with 2000 grit. I think I will leave the back and polish the front of the headstock and see what happens.
Juz, I wish I had some experience to help. My success so far has been 20% vision, 30% forum study, 30% specific advice received, and 20% luck. I was concerned how a dark headstock front would go with a clear neck, but I think it looks good. Proof will be when I get the neck onto the body - that's when I'm hoping everything makes sense.
I did take a lot of inspiration from how you made the body of your guitar look. I think yours looks amazing.
Holes plugged with beeswax, ready to level sand with 600 grit wet.
Attachment 43507
This is looking so good!
Lots of luck helps. So many things I do I know I will not do again. I have teenagers who keep me grounded, “Did you really expect the first guitar you built would be perfect Dad?” The forums are fantastic but I love just getting in and trying things.
Wet sand done. Was terrified about sanding through clear coat, but as it turned out, I was fine. Micro Mesh pads were so easy to use! It's not perfect, but I'm happy with it. I've polished it with Maguires Ultimate Compound, and I can still see a few fine scratches from the wet sanding. But I'll get some Scratch X into it after lunch and see how it comes out.
I have some Dunlop 65 Guitar Polish and Cleaner. Is this suitable to put over the top? Or is there another polish I should use to finish after Scratch X?
Attachment 43509
Looks very nice. You could obviously keep tweaking and tweaking, but I’d be pretty happy with that outcome.
The Dunlop cleaner will be OK to put on, but it’s really meant for cleaning dirty guitars and yours isn’t dirty. I’d have another go with the Ultimate Compound as it’s coarser than the Scratch X so will remove scratch marks faster. Repeat as necessary then use the Scratch X to add a higher level of shine.
If the scratches are quite deep rather than very light and on the surface, then you may need to go back and wet sand again. Sometimes it’s the only way. Double check that the scratches are on the surface of the finish and not in the wood beneath it. If they are in the wood, then you won’t fix it without sanding the finish off completely. I’ve had to do that before.
If you need to wet sand again I’d start with something quite fine, say P800. If that’s not doing much after a good sand then try P600. You shouldn’t need to go below P400.
It’s important to clean and dry off the surface after each grit. You don’t want to push those coarser finish particles around with the finer grit paper and you need to be able to check for obvious scratches. There’s no point going finer if there are still coarser scratches around. Sand until you’ve removed all the scratches left by the previous grit paper.
Loving the way the purple around the pickguard looks. It looks like a neon glow around the pickguard and compliments the purple in the guitar body. Really happy with the way this is all coming together now.
Attachment 43512
Yes, definitely a great look.
The finish is mirror!
It's coming up the way I imagined, but better than I expected. The finish is mirror-like, and looks great (in my opinion) with the matching purple/black headstock and rosewood fretboard. The only thing I'm not happy with are the screws I used to mount the Tonerider neck pickups. I'm thinking I may not have put the screws in straight, so I may run into trouble adjusting the height of the pickups. We'll see.. Just waiting on a capacitor upgrade to arrive, and I'll get the wiring done, the bridge on, and start setting it up properly.
Attachment 43516
if you done lacquer normal car polish will work best I use this will be your best betQuote:
Originally Posted by Mathew
https://www.supercheapauto.com.au/p/...id=SCA01010202
when I'm doing the neck I don't use matt I put clear on it and sand it with 2000 w&d then 3000 and just leave it like that matt feels a bit Naf Fender does it like that as well that's where I got it idea fromQuote:
Originally Posted by Simon Barden
delete some of your pm's Matthew its full
Deleting now... Thanks.
'Purple Thunder' is finished!
What worked:
The look is precisely what I set out to achieve, with a black burst around a deep purple centre and a headstock to match.
What I could have done better:
I was paranoid about sanding through the clearcoat, and there are a couple of very small spots which could have been sanded flatter before wetsanding.
What exceeded my expectations:
The separation created by CA glueing and clearcoating between the purple dye and black burst created wonderful depth in the body. The grain appears to fan out from behind the black bridge, which looks amazing behind the parallel strings. The purple edge around the pickguard looks like a subtle neon halo and really brings out the purple in the body.
If I saw this among a range of bass guitars in a shop, this is exactly the one I'd buy. Oh - and it plays beautifully!
Attachment 43541
Attachment 43542
Attachment 43543
Attachment 43544
Attachment 43545
Great work. Very nice colour combination.
Great work! Looks amazing.
I like also how you kept updating the first post on this journal , with a summary of the steps and products used, great idea.
@Trevor Davies: Thank you. I'm very pleased with how the colours came out. The purple dye was difficult to work, with a bronze/metallic sheen produced if its applied too heavily. Seems to be a unique phenomenon to purple, possibly blue as well. I thought about adding some red or pink as a gradient, but I'm glad I decided to use just purple and black.
@FaustoB: The method I kept updating on the first post was largely for me to keep track of the tequniques I was drawing together and of the steps I needed to take. But I also thought it would be good to review the steps later for another build, or offer a compete methodology for other first-time builders like me.
A great result, very eye-catching.
The next one will need to be really good to improve upon it
@Simon Barden: Thanks for your kind words, and all your advice during this project. I'm already thinking ahead to the next one!
Superb effort. Look Forward to you future builds. Just starting on my next one tonight. Very addictive!
@Juz: Thanks for your words and encouragement during this build. I followed your Tele project closely, and nearly changed the concept for my body entirely after seeing how yours was coming up. We post diaries to draw assistance; we are not aware how those same posts are inspiring others. I'm looking forward to to following your next project. Thanks again!
I'm going to take 'Purple Thunder' into a local bass store to confirm the setup and tell me anything they've adjusted. I think I have it close...
- The neck relief is .012" (from the 8th fret and fretted at the 17th)
- strings are set at the saddle to between 2.4mm and 2mm at the last fret
- nut height is 0.0030″ at the first fret and fretted at the third
- intonation is good
But, saddles are almost as low as they go, and clearance to the pickups is only just 2mm with not much adjustment left.
I think a $90 service fee will be worth it for my piece of mind, to confirm everything is OK. I'll post results and feedback.
If you are happy with it and it doesn’t buzz, I wouldn’t bother. As long as you are happy with it and there’s no buzzing, it’s fine. What you like and what someone else likes after that is personal preference. If the saddles sit low, then fine. A lot of my guitars are like that. You may find that the bass gets set up to ‘factory spec’ with more bow and a higher action. Factory specs are far from the lowest easiest setup you can achieve, they just ensure that after shipping, the bass (or guitar) should play without buzzing if put straight on the wall. And it’s not time consuming to achieve. But often it’s not great at all. It is a starting point. From the sound of it you’ve got it better than that already.
@Simon
The only thing I was not confident about was the truss rod - I'd never heard of one before building my bass, and was not really confident it was set properly. So, in case I was inadvertently damaging my bass, I decided to take it into my local bass shop just to check.
I was nervous about the reaction, but they said the set up was great and just needed some minor tweaks. Major thing was the truss rod as it was set too neutral. A slight adjustment of the truss rod then meant the bridge saddles could be raised and adjusted to the match the curvature of the fretboard, the bridge no longer bottomed out, and the pickup clearance became perfect. The nut was also lowered slightly with proper files rather than my sandpaper wrapped around drill bits. Intonation was already great. Best thing is the technician talked me through the adjustments he made. The only suggestion he had to improve next time was to file the G-string a little more narrow than I had it (although, it was not causing any buzz or other issue).
It already played great with no buzz and a great tone. But now, I'm more confident in the truss rod, the action is lower, I have more control over the sound, and it is SO MUCH EASIER to play!
They guys in the shop said it was a great bass. I felt pretty awesome walking out, hearing the technician say to the salesman (with a smile on his face): "Have you tried the Purple Thunder basses? They're awesome!"
Mate, well done!
Mathew, you have done a great job. The bass looks great and from what you have said, it must be a good player.
I can't tell from the photos, but if you still have some orange peel going on, go with some more compounding and get it a bit flatter.
There is really no wrong or right way. There are shortcuts and as experienced wood workers or instrument makers will tell you, it's all about how you recover from your mistakes, because wood is not a perfect material and at the end of the day, it is often all about enhancing the timber with all its traits and imperfections. At the end of the day, a musician is all about the feel and playability of the instrument and the character - not always about how perfect the finish is.
I am glad I could assist. Now try something different the next time and experiment.
Chris
@Chris
I don't have any orange peel. There are just a couple of tiny specs I see (that no one else has noticed) which are slightly lower than where I level sanded too. I hardly see the specs myself now.
I appreciate what you wrote about wood being an imperfect material, and the finish is about enhancing the timber. In fact, your assistance throughout this build has been invaluable and your posts very influential. So thank you.
Your Angelus dye and gluboost method heavily influenced this build, and inspired the standard to strive for. I'm not sure that the dye is as even its yours, or that the gluboost is as evenly applied as yours. But, it feels great, it plays great, it sounds amazing, and it's just the look I wanted.
I am looking forward to more builds, learning more techniques, and experimenting!