"Painting" a bass

[Zombiegrrl]

I was thinking of getting a really cheap bass just for kicks and having it painted bright hot pink or neon green or bright teal (a real eye-sore color). I was wondering if anyone knew of anyone who did that sort of thing. It would probably be an OLP or a Squire...it's part of a project I have planned. I've searched the web and havn't been able to find anything but how to DIY it and i have neither the experience or time. Thanks

 

[Mobay45]

Find a auto body repair shop. They should be able to do it for you. Or drive to Dallas and see me. We could get it done in my shop.

 

[basspastor]

A spray can of paint can get the job done. I think hot pink/neon green would be wild. It would also get some behind the back remarks. Go For It.

 

[hankSRay]

Well Im in school right now but when later 2nite I'll post a lil guide so you can DIY, its not hard and they way I did my squire worked real well, I always get compliments on it. Id post pics but I dont know how lol, but Ill post sum directions later.

 

[hankSRay]

OK, first step is to take the Bass apart, all hardware electronics and especially the neck. once you just have the body slab find a nice spot outside for sanding. you could uses a chemical stripper, but if it seeps into the wood and u try to paint over it, itll start to peel. So use a course grain sandpaper to sand off the finish, once u can see the wood grain switch over to a medium grain, and finally into a fine grain. then what u need to do is get sum of that 3M painters tape and tape off the neck pocket and i even taped off the body routing but thats not too necessary. once u got it all taped up, get urself a wire clotheshanger, straighten it out, usually the bodys will have a large hole through the neck pocket, loop the hanger through and bend it like a hook, this way u can hang up the bass sumwhere for spray painting. First use a primer, if ur gonna paint it pink, use light grayish primer, i used krylon, good quality stuff. after ur done priming the entire body ull have to do another light sanding with fine sandpaper to get the body smooth again, once thats all done get urself a few cans of pink spray paint, which u can get from krylon as well and spray the sucker down. after a few coats of paint, when its all dry, ur ready to clear coat (again krylon is good), be careful u dont get a matt finish unelss u want that sort of look. give the body a few coats of clear. let it dry real good cause next your going to wet sand it down. they make special wet sand paper, its super fine grain, dip the paper in water, let it soak for a minute or two, then rub it down to give it a real smooth finish. after all that u should have a sexy hot pink bass, it sounds like a lot of work, but its really not too much work, and its pretty cheap too. if u have ne other questions let me know. good luck

 

[Morrow]

Be carefull around the neck pocket with the sandpaper. I've seen some nice re-fins but there was a gap in the pocket arount the neck heel that just wasn't there before.

 

[midopa]

Great info, HanksRay! One question, though. How do you get the sparkles on it? A blue sparkle Bongo would be awesome and even awesomer if I could do it myself (maybe over the winter break)!

Edit: Hey HanksRay, I do recall you posting some pics of that refinished bass you did some time ago. If posting pics for you is a problem, I could post them for you or at least provide some webspace for them to call home. If you're interested, PM me and we'll get it going!

 

[JB1]

I'd like to see the pix too....

 

[TheDirtyMoocher]

i have a (probably bad) idea...now that we all no how to repaint a bass or guitar, what if we have some sort of contest type thing to refinish our crap basses...i know i have a squier and an olp that i could definetly have some fun with...but yeah just an idea

(not to say that an olp is crap...i actually like my olp alot)

 

[Aussie Mark]

i have a (probably bad) idea...now that we all no how to repaint a bass or guitar, what if we have some sort of contest type thing to refinish our crap basses...i know i have a squier and an olp that i could definetly have some fun with...but yeah just an idea

The Dudepit is a step ahead of you on that idea ....

 

[TheDirtyMoocher]

but we're music man owners we hold ourselves to higher standards...or something...whatever maybe i'll just do it anyway

 

[spectorbassguy]

The Dudepit is a step ahead of you on that idea ....

Cool thumbrest!

 

[hankSRay]

Great info, HanksRay! One question, though. How do you get the sparkles on it? A blue sparkle Bongo would be awesome and even awesomer if I could do it myself (maybe over the winter break)!

Well the bass I did is a Silver Sparkle, I used Krylon glitter spray cans, theyre hard to come by in stores so i had to order mine online. Glitters a lil funny to work with, u would need to prime the bass, paint it blue, then add the blue glitter spray to the bass, ull need about 4-5 cans to get real nice coverage. After u got the glitter on try not to handle it so much cause it will come off a little bit, then u gotta load on the clear coat, its gotta be especially thick so u have enough to wet sand it to a smooth finish

 

[shaver]

or i guess if you didnt want to use spray paint, i dont even know if this would work btw... but you could just get regular paint, but some metalic bits or gliiter, or what ever in the paint, mix it realy well, then hand paint it.

 

[hankSRay]

Hand painting is not a good idea, ull get crazy lines and the finish wont be smooth, if u do want to mix ur own custom colors urself ud need to air brush it on, but that would be much more expensive considering ud need a real good quality airbrush, so i wouldnt recommend doing that.

 

[mike not fat]

Hey HankSray, what'cha doing in life ? As I was invovled in a MTB team in the past, we were painting our helmets with airbrushes.

I'sn't putting the neck away risky ? (problems to get it straight after and to adjust it).

MNF

 

[jongitarz]

Hey Mike...I used to be on a MTB team (raced XC and downhill) What area do you live in?

 

[dlloyd]

I'sn't putting the neck away risky ? (problems to get it straight after and to adjust it).

Taking the neck off? Nope.

 

[midopa]

It's gotta be completely loosened, right?

Hm... I may try to pick up some el-cheapo bass during the winter break and try this out! I'm guessing this takes time to master, eh?

 

[hankSRay]

As long as u take ur time and dont rush ne thing or cut ne corners, itll be good, the thing that u gotta remember about painting is that to get good results 10% of it is ur acctual painting skills, the other 90% is ur prep work and final touches.