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Paint a bass guitar?


Davey90

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So yeah, I'm going to be doing a steampunk conversion to my old p-bass knockoff. Here's a photo d3n39nl

 

Just the standard kinda stuff with glossy-ish paint. My question is how would I be able to paint the main body so it looks like metal? Would probably want to paint on dabs here and there to look like rust as well. Is it possible to just paint straight over the material, or would I need to sand off the old layer? What type of paint would be best and after painting would I need to add some kind of protective coat?

 

Also, for some parts of the bass I am cutting/drilling into the body so I'd be at the bare wood, what's a good way to paint this the same colour and then finish it with some kind of protective coat?

 

haha sorry for all the questions :D

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You cant paint over the existing finish. It has to be sanded down to the wood.

You cant just buy some enamil and paint over the finish. It will scrape up and peel right off.

The existing finish looks great. Personally I'd leave it alone.

Refinishing devalues the instrument so it has zero worth.

Refinishing and repainting takes alot of experience never comes out right till you have alt of experience.

 

If you plan on doing it anyway, You have to read up and learn about paint and finish compatibility.

its not something you should just jump into blindly. You either need to be shown hor its done

or you need to read up and learn the right way of doing it. I do this to save you from a whole

world of nightmares and kicking yourself in the ass for ever getting involved in it because the work truely does suck.

An unfinished body is half the hassel and its my best advice for the beginner. They only have to focus on applying

the new finish. Stripping and refinishing is many times the work and hassle.

I'd google up every site you can find and learn about the chemicals and processes used for finishing/refinishing.

If you're painting, stick with lacquer only. at least with lacquer you can fix mistakes.

 

If your bass currently has a Poly finish as it likely does its extremely hard to remove.

You either have to take it off with a heat gun or sand your ass off. Paint remover wont touch it.

Sealing, painting and clear coating sanding will cost around $100 in supplies.

 

Metalic finishes are the hardest to do. You need a spray gun and be an expert at mixing your chemicals to get it right.

You cant just paint it with say gold or silver then try and clear coat over. The clear coat will turn it gray and the metalic paint alone

scratches too easily.

 

The way they do silver and gold tops is to suspend the metal flakes in the clear lacquer. when its sprayed on it

gives a 3D reflection to the light so it sparkles. applying clear coat over metalic paint is 2D and thats why it looses all sparkle.

 

Metalic coats are definately not amature hour finishes and takes a pro with the proper spray gun to apply.

I suggest you use metalic auto body spray cans and stick with a metalic blue or red. They will at least get you close.

There wont be allot of sparkle after clear coating but its better than complete failure and having to strip it and start over again.

 

I have no idea what you plan on doing drilling the body up nor do I want to know.

I spend more time undoing that kind of crap restoring guitars back to stock after idiots ruin them

so I'll just say, if whatever you do its isnt sanded baby ass smooth before applying the new finish it will look horrible.

Every scratch every nick and every dent will be there after the new finish is on.

Paint does not cover up wood flaws it makes them look worse. So you have to buy many grades of sand paper and use the heavy stuff

for stripping then drop down to the finest stuff so no scratches remain. Then use sealer, paint then clear coat sanding between each stage so it remains super smooth.

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I disagree with WRG on the stripping aspect. I've had really good luck using B.I.N. shellac based primer over the existing finish IF you get it roughed up enough. Yes, stripping is the best way.

He's very correct when it comes to how smooth the surface has to be. What you're doing, it sounds like it won't be that critical. WRG is also correct in that the value will be completely gone when you're done. If it's a REAL cheapie, OK. But if there's the slightest chance of this having some value, get another body. Get one in bare wood. Put this one in a closet somewhere. Do your finish on the new body. That solves more problems than you may realize.

For the type of finish you want you may consider carefully cutting the designs out of a magazine or getting some decals and putting them under some satin clearcoat. that would prolly be the easiest way.

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I like the steampunk idea, I think you should go for it, but be careful. I refinished my old squier when I was a kid without any info. I stripped it down with a power sander and spray painted it silver. That's it. Finish cracked and wrinkled and was just fugly. And I usually LIKE ugly, but I'm in the process now of stripping it and doing it right 10 years later (mainly for practice). Anyway the silver did hold it's shine for a decade without a base coat or clear coat. I think if you just want metallic touches here and there without investigation a ton of time and money, plain old silver or silver metallic spray paint will do, maybe with some black for shading to age it (if you're artistic enough to know how to do that correctly. I'm not). I think a {censored}ty, first-attempt refinish job will only enhance the steam-punk look anyway. You don't want it looking like it was stamped out in a state of the art factory, it's supposed to look like it was forged on a dirty coal-powered factory floor.

Just strip or sand it to the bare wood, coat with shellac or sealer, paint it, and cover with a clear coat of lacquer or polyurethane. They have everything you need at lowes or home depot for like 30-40 bucks.

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Cool, thanks for the help guys, I think I'll continue doing more research into paints and techniques etc to find out everything I can. Might buy a plain wood body If it comes down to it.

 

@ WRG "Metalic finishes are the hardest to do. You need a spray gun and be an expert at mixing your chemicals to get it right. You cant just paint it with say gold or silver then try and clear coat over. The clear coat will turn it gray and the metalic paint alone scratches too easily."

I'm not really going for a shiny new metal look, but for an old, beat-up, rusted and weathered kind of look, so I'm aiming for something dull and grey as opposed to new. Whatever effect I can get that looks like old metal is good if you have any ideas or suggestions about this. I also know a guy who is professional painter who would be able to help me out if I needed the use of a spray gun and a professional. But Yeah, I'll definitely look more into paints and finishes and what's compatible with what.

 

But yeah not to worry about the value, I bought it 5 years ago with an amp in a deal (it was cheap even with the amp), it's not even a squier and doesn't sound great so I'd be lucky to get $100 for it. I wouldn't dare mess around with my good bass that I actually play :)

 

Any further ideas or advice is welcome! cheers guys :)

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The problem is when you clear coat over metal paints they dont even shine or look like metal at all.

The paint looses all reflectivity and no longer looks like metal at all just a bad paint job.

 

Get a can of the paint your plan on using and try it out on a piece of bare wood.

Auto parts stores usually have those touch up samples of the paint you plan on using.

Get an old 2X4 or something and try some test spots, then See what happens when you clear coat over it.

Theres no sence in messing with the body till you have a working plan you know will work.

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Here's what I'm planning on using on my strat. Sorry for the bad lighting. This was a test strip to basically see how the paint flowed from the nozzle and how it looked on wood. It's a thin coat of paint and a thin coat of lacquer on a piece of leftover ikea wood I used to build a guitar rack. This is the low-gloss silver paint. Still has a bit of shine. Keep in mind this is with no primer on the wood and only one coat of lacquer though.

 

I got both cans at Lowe's for like 9 bucks. Probably not the best paint for guitars, but this is mostly for practice, and like I said, I like ugly. I want a unique and weird finish, not a factory finish.

 

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Steampunk, eh? When I think of steampunk, I think brass, leather and brown cloth. Is there anywhere to get brass hardware? Brass bridges used to be all the rage, but now they mostly seem to come chrome plated. And I don't think I've seen brass tuners. As for the body, I'd go with taking the finish down to bare wood, then staining it very dark, like the wood in a Victorian men's club. All brass hardware, if I could find it. But Davey, you seem to have a different vision. I agree that stripping it would destroy any value it may have, but I've never heard of Johnson guitars, so I suspect that it has no more value than the old Cameo I refinished some years ago. Anyway, it's yours. Do what you want with it.

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@WRG Yeah, will definitely do some trials and tests before I go ahead and do it on the body, probably going to go to a few paint stores today actually and see what kinds of stuff they have.

 

@thop So for those tests you just used spray paint and the lacquer afterwards?

 

@isaac Yeah I guess my idea of steampunk is rusty weathered metal, but also with lots of brass and copper. If I can find a brass bridge I'll get one, hopefully they'll have some on ebay... And that staining idea doesn't sound bad, I guess I just sorta picture mine ending up like mainly old metal but with some brass/copper parts, copper piping and some old cogs/gears as well. But yeah I still have a long way to go until it's finished

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