First crack at this...Who on earth do I think I am?! (JB-4 Bass)

[Rufus]

I went and did a little bit of research and ended up getting some Dupli-color - acrylic based enamel. I now have two cans of primer ready to go.

Seeing as it's been pretty cold here, I haven't been game to try spraying the body yet, but there appears to be a day coming up that provides for some more ideal conditions for spraying. Planning on spraying the first coat of primer and then leaving the body for a few days before sanding it back and going again, seeing as it's been cold here.

I've made a small jig to attach the body to so that I can hang it in the carport so I can spray it - I just have to mask off the cavities for the pick ups, as well as the control cavity.

Before I do this, I wanted to ask if I need to drill the holes on the body for the neck any bigger first? They seem a bit tight for the screws that I have for the neck.
Also, I'm guessing I should be drilling the holes for the bridge now, right? If that's the case, I just have to plug those holes with match sticks or similar so paint doesn't get into them, which shouldn't be too much hassle.

[Simon Barden]

I'd drill the body neck screw holes out bigger first. Whilst it's unlikely, there's always the risk of the finish cracking around the holes when drilling them out. Which if covered by the neck plate isn't a big issue, but if a crack runs so that it's visible, then it becomes more of one. So best to do it now, where there's no risk of that, and if you do get a drill slip, you can touch up the body before the finish goes on.

Having said all that, I'd probably still wait until I'd done the finish before drilling the bridge screw holes, as you want to include for any slight offset on the neck angle that the finish on the neck gives. If the finish is brittle (I use nitro and that can be), then it's worth using a bigger full screw-thread width diameter drill bit to just widen the holes at the top to remove the finish around the holes, as I've found that screwing through the finish into the pilot holes can occasionally cause the finish to crack. So now I always enlarge the holes at the top to remove the finish from the screwed area.

Paint in holes can be removed by gently running the same-sized drill in them again. It's water you don't want to get in those holes when wet-sanding, so best to plug any holes with beeswax before wet sanding. It doesn't take much water in a hole to swell the wood and split the finish. The wood will shrink back flat again when it dries out, but the finish will remain cracked.

[Rufus]

Update time.
I primed the body!

As I mentioned in my last post, I had made a jig to hold the body so I could move around it to spray the primer on with. I hug it in my carport and went at it.
Before:


After:



Overall, I think I did an okay job. Definitely could have been a bit more evenly applied, but I was only really able to see this after I took it down from it's drying hook today to sand back - some areas went back to the bare wood a lot easier than others. Having said that, not everything went back to bare wood, which I'm guessing is not something to worry about too much.

From here, I need to hit it with another coat of primer, let that dry and sand that back with 400-grit before starting with the top coat.

At this point, I've somewhat neglected the neck - or rather, I have set it aside and not worried about it just yet. But I think now's probably a good time to think about how to finish that. I think for the neck I will just do a natural wood finish - either just a clear coat, or a varnish for it.
Question about the neck - How have people gone about prepping and finally applying the finish to the back of the neck without getting it all over the fretboard? Is it just a case of masking it off and going from there, or is there some other form of dark arts that I've missed and am not thinking about?
Is it better to (brush) paint or spray the back of the neck?

Next steps from here:
- Shape headstock
- Finish the neck
- Second primer coat to body

[Simon Barden]

Primer time is the time to get the body as flat as possible so there's no orange peel lumpiness to it. If the primer finish is flat, then you'll have a much easier time when sanding back the main colour finish. I'd try and leave a thin coat of primer all over the body once it's flat, rather than leave any wood exposed, as bare wood will undoubtedly want to suck in the finish a bit, leaving it uneven.

It is normal to put finish on the side of a rosewood (or similar) fretboard, just not the top of the board. I just apply masking tape between the frets, cut that off level with the edge of the board with a scalpel, then run masking tape along the length of the board to cover the frets.

I always spray the neck and headstock. Much easier and as the maple is non-porous, it goes on pretty evenly so there's not a lot of sanding it level to do before polishing. I tend to spray my necks when they are flat. First the face of the headstock, and let that dry for a bit so that it won't run at at when moved, then I turn it over with the headstock over the edge of a table and the neck resting on the masked-off board, then spray the rest. You can certainly spray the neck when it's hanging up, but I do prefer to spray the flat surfaces when they are laying flat if possible, as there is less likelihood of runs.

[DarkMark]

I hug it in my carport and went at it.

Don’t worry, we know it’s autocorrect ….. I think?

[McCreed]

Looking good. Although next time, I'd a use a bigger board .


Just kidding of course!
Actually I would have either gone with a smaller piece of timber, or cut it so the sides of the "neck" portion are longer (if that makes sense).

My point being that spraying the inside of the horns can be a tricky area to get a good paint depth with any jig, but that jig board width and thickness compound the problem. You will have needed to spray at an odd angle (especially the top horn) and I doubt there there will have been a an equal amount of paint deposited inside those horns as the flat surfaces. It could be as thin as just a dusting.

The inside and outside edges of the horns are notorious areas for having sand-throughs.

You may want to consider recoating those areas with primer, and absolutely fix/modify your jig before the colour base coat if you want to avoid the frustration and heartache of sand-through later.

[dozymuppet]

I don't consider myself a purist, but I usually hug it in the bedroom.

Sent from my Pixel 4 using Tapatalk

[Rufus]

Thank you to everyone who pointed out that I didn't quite hit the "n" key hard enough for my laptop to recognise the keystroke when typing out my last post. Something something hand moving too fast for my brain to keep up, or something.

Thanks to Simon for the tips on finishing the neck. I've got some painter's tape, which I'll use to mask off the fretboard.

McCreed, Not sure I follow re: the jig. I do, however recognise what you are saying about the horns. I didn't find it particularly frustrating to get the paint in there, but that could purely be down to beginner's luck more than anything else. If anything, I might just need to use a couple of longer lengths of rope so that it hangs a touch lower.
Funnily enough, the bare wood seems to be more on the flat surfaces rather than the sides/horns. I did use a 320-grit sanding sponge, rather than actual sandpaper - haven't yet found any at that grade yet!

I do have at least one more coat of primer to put on, but before that, I may go back one grade of sandpaper and sand the first coat back further before hitting it again, perhaps. I've got plenty of primer, just in case!

[Simon Barden]

You’ll need to switch to wet and dry sandpaper for the finer grits, P240 and above. Standard sandpaper normally stops around P180.

[McCreed]

McCreed, Not sure I follow re: the jig.

A picture's worth a thousand words...


Pardon my crude drawing skills.