Members roblightyeah Posted March 28, 2011 Members Share Posted March 28, 2011 hey - I've got a few layers of the lacquer on my bass body now, but I don't know what I should do to get the roughness down to a good smooth finish... it doesn't need to be super shiney (it's satin, not gloss) I just want it to be smooth. should I be sanding with 0000 wet & dry (if that's the right term) - or using fine wire mesh - or something else? I'm at a loss - I don't want to sand it all off again, or just scratch it up - but I don't want to have to go buy some big machinery to get it smooth any advice before i start? Thanks Rob Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Mr.Grumpy Posted March 28, 2011 Members Share Posted March 28, 2011 I don't have any experience with this, so I'll point you to a website. www.reranch.com I suggest asking this question in the DIY forum room, there a several people that are very experienced with finishing guitars, you're more likely to get an informed answer there. I'm kind of curious why you bothered with shooting lacquer when you want a satin finish. Lacquer is the most labor-intensive way of finishing a guitar or bass, but it's all done in pursuit of the shiny, smooth glossy finish many people like. I don't really buy into the thinking that lacquer is more flexible and therefore makes your guitar/bass/whatever more "resonant", but to each their own. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members roblightyeah Posted March 29, 2011 Author Members Share Posted March 29, 2011 Hey Mr Grumpy - thanks for the link, I'll check it out... i actually didn't know there's a DIY forum here, so thanks basically, the story of lacquering my bass is this: It was a right handed, black esp grassroots bass (ironbird shape) that I've had since I was about 15. Over the years it's had quite a few knocks and bangs from gigs and just generally me not taking much care while playing or moving it around - I tend not to care much about breaking things, just as long as I can still use them for what they're intended (it still plays exactly the same as it did when I bought it, it just had a few areas where the black shiny finish had been 'cracked' off) - if it's a guitar and I can play music with it then that's all I really need... in the end, it's just stuff/things/possessions etc I'm not really hung up on that kind of thing... anyway... so I've had this bass for a while (I'm 34 now) and I've since got myself a bc-rich trans-red beast bass (right handed too) - and yes, it is 80's rock that I play/write in my band... thing is... I'm a lefty, but never got around to teaching myself to play left handed as I never had a left handed guitar... so I thought I'd restring my esp as a lefty and while I'm at it, I'd clean up/remove the paint job... so I nitromor'd and sanded and sanded and sanded and sanded the black finish off... then tried to wipe on tung oil - not so good as I had to hang it up in the garage at work (only place i could work on it) and it congealed at the bottom making the top/neck end bare wood, and the other end all dark and red coloured... so I sanded that off and tried some varnish I'd had in my loft... didn't work either because it was water soluble and I could scrape it off with my finger... got that off with fingers and sandpaper, again... and finally gave in a bought some lacquer in a spray can... I've just been trying to do it on the cheap... really, I just wanted something to protect the wood from getting too tarnished when I play.. I'd love to keep the neck without anything on the back at all (it's sooo smooth now) but I know the neck will get all grubby if I don't protect it in some way... and yes, I' know I said I don't care about how it looks as long as I can play it... it's just that I've spent so long trying to get it back to the wood and looking nice that I want to at least try to keep it that way for a bit (it does bother me that I don't care about my stuff) otherwise it was all just a waste of time... so that's the story, it's a bit long... but there you have it I got all the new black pickups, bridge, left hand nut, machine heads etc sitting in my desk here at work ready for when I got it all done... I'm really only able to do it in my lunch hour, so the fastest option the better Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Jazzneck Posted April 2, 2011 Members Share Posted April 2, 2011 I don't know much about the other stuff but I've used Tung Oil a lot on necks...you shouldn't use so much at once that it would congeal anywhere. Thin coats and sanding are the key. If you've done it right, you should be able to hang up whatever you put the oil on almost right away with nothing running, the drying process begins quickly. In my experience anyway, Tim Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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