What strings do you have in mind for this?
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.
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: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. 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
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