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Mustang Bass refin

Posted: Fri Jul 18, 2014 6:22 pm
by dustandbarley
There are some great threads and advice for doing refins here and I had the time recently to attempt my first. Big thanks to mixtape for his Broncomaster refin thread. - Hope the stand marks get fixed easily. And a MASSIVE thanks to cur for his advice in that thread. Also the excellent rodvonbon competition stripes video. - just awesome.

I f'd up a couple of times, so thought I'd list my woes so someone else might not make the same goofs, or if anyone has suggestions for what I should have done, please chip in.

Here is what I started with.. I know its history from the early 90's when it had already had a dodgy refine to black.
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Here's the products purchased
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With the paint stripper attempting to do its best, there was lots of sparkly red bleeding from the cavities
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Other than showing the previous red in the cavities, left overnight in a bin bag, the stripper didn't do much more, so I switched to heat gun.
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Now the body is back to wood and sanded, I applied the sand and sealer. I should have done more with the filler first because when I sanded again I kept going through to the wood. As the bass is old, the wood is no longer flat which is most noticeable where the 3 sections are joined. I continued to sand through to the wood even after the primer stage, so the whole "sand and sealer / wait over night then prime" process was repeated 3 times - dick...

When I'd finally realised the error of my ways and applied more filler to the wood, I got back to the primer stage and goofed again. I had used 800 wet and dry with soapy water, then decided to reopen the screw holes with a bradle. One of the screw holes is on a join and the water got to the wood and made a 2 inch crack along the join. So I had to cut a little channel with a craft knife, added filler to the bare wood, then primed for the 4th and final time. At this point the bass was all one colour, although I'd coloured the workshop blue with loud profanity :)

Next was the Silver base coat for Candy Apple red.
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Then Candy Apple Red base coat. I wasn't keeping the aerosol close enough to the body when spraying, so the red didn't cover well after 4 coats and I ran out of paint - F**K..

I ordered another can and used 1200 wet and dry to prep the poorly applied existing base coat. Holding the can closer (20cms) the finish was way better.
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Next for masking the stripes
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On with the cream stripes
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Then lacquer - leave a week and reassemble.
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The paint feels a little soft still so I've place a strip of wood over the 2 supports on my stand which would normally touch the body. So the bass rests on its strap button and is held by the neck. A bit precarious, but hopefully avoids mixtape's woes.

I've also yet to do any buffing. In certain light I can see a little orange peel. Should I still use the cutting compound and polish?
Once again thanks to the people who know how for sharing the knowledge.

Posted: Fri Jul 18, 2014 7:05 pm
by taylornutt
Looks professional. Excellent job and to try comp stripes on your first refin. top marks.

Posted: Sat Jul 19, 2014 1:30 am
by JohnnyTheBoy
From what I've seen you've done bloody well there pal! Especially getting as good a finish as you have with rattle cans!
Marvellous stuff...and good pics of the process! CAR is the best of the reds imo..

Posted: Sat Jul 19, 2014 7:24 am
by dustandbarley
Thanks for the comments. I should have said that the lacquer went on with a gun in a neighbours body shop, but when I posted it was nearing dinner time and I was peckish... sorry to mislead.

Posted: Sat Jul 19, 2014 8:37 am
by jayyj
Looks great, enormous improvement on the black. Nice job!

Posted: Sat Jul 19, 2014 11:04 am
by Thom
That looks bloody fantastic. Good job.

Posted: Wed Dec 03, 2014 12:33 pm
by thejupiterroom
Looks awesome!

Posted: Wed Dec 03, 2014 1:04 pm
by BobArsecake
Looks great! I love the neck pocket as you stripped it. It's taken me a good ten years but comp stripes have definitely grown on me.

Posted: Thu Dec 11, 2014 4:18 pm
by SherwoodJim
Inspiring to see it all come together. Thanks for sharing.

Posted: Fri Dec 12, 2014 2:57 pm
by speedfish
Outstanding! :D

Posted: Fri Dec 12, 2014 4:07 pm
by gusman2x
So cool.