Oh yes one more thing: the wood hardener mentioned above hasn't added much protection. The body is still very easy to dent...ask me how I know... I won't get a basswood body again.
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Oh yes one more thing: the wood hardener mentioned above hasn't added much protection. The body is still very easy to dent...ask me how I know... I won't get a basswood body again.
The paint job looks killer
They say the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over, and expecting different results. That's bad news for me since I'm now on my FOURTH attempt to paint this bass!
In one of my last posts I mentioned I needed to repaint a section. I never could get it to blend in with the rest of the body. It was always very obviously a little darker. I tried to sand and repaint the transition a few times, had to buy more paint, and the last can I got was defective.
I don't know if it was a bad nozzle or a bad batch of paint, but about 10 times the normal amount came out when I sprayed it. Instant drips. Worse, it added so much solvent that in places it destroyed the paint underneath.
Attachment 45120
Attachment 45121
The light patch in the first photo is where I had some masking tape. I pulled up the tape a few hours after spraying, and all the paint and primer came with it in that spot. That's bare wood.
So that's the bad news. The good news is I won't give up and paint job #4 is looking good! I went with silver this time. I think it'll look great with the black hardware.
Attachment 45122
I've put some clear on it already but I think it needs a little more before I start polishing. I'm really looking forward to finally getting past this step.
That is a shame about the colour shift paint. Well done to you for your perseverance. The silver looks good.
+1 This last coat looks good! Hoping the polishing goes well. Way to hand in there. Silver should be great with black hardware.Quote:
Originally Posted by Trevor Davies
The holy grail is the idiot proof approach to a perfect finish. Haven't found it yet!
It's been a while so I thought I'd post an update on this project. I'm still waiting for the enamel clear coat to finish curing. I think it's almost done, as it barely has an odor now. I was worried about making it too thin, and given how long it's taking to cure I guess I made it too thick.
In the meantime I painted the pickguard black to match the hardware. I masked the bottom edge so it's still white, giving it a two-ply look.
The tops of the dowels I used to solidify the crack in the body have become visible, when viewed from the right (wrong) angle. They're raised about 1mm above the surface.
Attachment 45164
I'm not sure why they popped up now, after all this time. The weather is becoming more hot and humid, and maybe the hardwood dowels have reacted differently than the basswood around them. In any case I'm not planning to do anything about them unless they get worse. I'll just have to be careful when polishing.
Hopefully with the hardware and strings on it will not be noticeable!
Yeah, that's a good point.
I have had something similar happen. I think the paint/clear coat can continue to contract, literally over years. So things you thought were invisible end up being visible. You see it sometimes with grain too. It's pretty glasslike...and then at some point you notice very faint grain.
FWIW, no one but me has ever noticed them on mine ;-)