Finish Repair Success!

[Boogie.Man]

I purchased a new Surf Green StingRay. It had been hanging on the GC wall for over a month. After I got home I noticed three areas where the finish was dinged. They were all along the edge. It was probably from the bass making contact with the tuners of the basses next to it at CG. The surf green shows dings a lot more than a lot of other finishes so it really bugged me. Finding a NIB replacement was not much of an option. I agonized over what to do. After careful deliberation, I proceeded with repairs.

First of all the dings were only into the paint, not the wood. And the dings were on edges, not the large flat areas.

I masked off the area around the dings using a heavy duty masking tape. I wanted the sandpaper to only contact as small an area as possible.

I then lightly wet sanded with 400 grit sandpaper, followed by wet sanding in 600 grit. I was extremely careful not to remove any more finish than necessary. I also sanded in only one direction, parallel to the edge. I checked the surface to ensure the dings were gone.

Then I proceeded by using a kit I got from Stewart McDonald. It consisted of nine small sanding pads that increase in grit up to 12,000. It is made for guitar finishing. Apparently, 12,000 grit can polish clear plastic. I wet sanded the areas starting with the most coarse grit (well over 1,000) and worked my way up to the 12,000 grit. At this point the finish looked as polished as the untouched areas. I couldn't see any sanding lines at all and the finish felt and looked identical to the rest of the bass. I followed up using some guitar polish. Now it looks like it did when it left the SLO factory.

I don't know that I would have done this on the front or back. But it did the job for me along the edges.

 

[Rick Auricchio]

I have the same set of fine-grit pads. But I would not have started with something as coarse as 400 or 600...

 

[Boogie.Man]

Brave or Stupid

I was either brave or stupid to do it, but it worked. But I want to emphasize that I used extremely light pressure all all time. The kit by itself would never have sanded out the dings. This was my new baby and screwing up was not a good option.

I had attempted something like this on another brand once and knew that 400 grit wouldn't cut deep if I was careful. I also learned that wet sanding with 600 grit wasn't enough. I was left with a highly polished sanding swirl. The SM kit really came through. I dont' think I actually need to follow up with polish. The finish with 12,000 grit really polished it.

Perhaps I was lucky.

 

[five7]

Job well done!

 

[jlepre]

What...no pics?