The Last Bass Outpost
Gear Discussion Forums => Bill's Shop: Projects, Mods & Repairs => Topic started by: gweimer on July 20, 2009, 01:30:05 PM
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Here's a question about simple repair jobs, for both those who can do them on their own, and for those who have to have the work done by others.
What's the typical cost for something like a nut replacment, fret dressing, set-up, and other small jobs? I just took the Holy Crap bass to a new luthier to get a bone nut put on it. The job will cost me about $80. My normal luthier is extremely cheap, but I guess I never realized just how cheap he was.
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Definitely can't help you on this one, Gary...
Been doing almost all my own work over the years, except for the defretting of the RD and new frets on the PC (both by Peter Cook, but that was back in the early 80's...)
Why did you go to a new luthier...? whe you find a good one, why move...?
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My regular luthier is about an hour away, and is really backed up with work. He's pretty much worth every inconvenience I can imagine. I just dropped off the BaCHBird and the Magnatone with him last week. I figured for a simple nut, I'd go with someone close that comes recommended by people around here.
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Repair rates vary widely. IMO $80 just to replace the nut is high, but most shops will not replace the nut without doing a setup, and $80 for both would be reasonable.
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My normal guy does both for $65.
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That would be normal in some places, low in others.
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Here on Rochester you'd pay around $80 for a new nut and set up, which might include fret dressing as well. It's a seller's market really. Most guys set their prices based on their view of their value, not by any set scale or measurement.
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My luthier for the last 30 years has been Brian West here in Adelaide. The prices both you and Dave quoted definitely computes (after exchange rate) with what I pay.
Gary if you are interested in what we pay here, here is Brians General repair prices. Aus$ to the US$ is roughly 80 USc to 1 Aus$
http://www.fretco.com.au/General-Repairs.aspx (http://www.fretco.com.au/General-Repairs.aspx)
and here
http://www.fretco.com.au/Mods-and-Upgrades.aspx (http://www.fretco.com.au/Mods-and-Upgrades.aspx)
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i recently paid $70. for a new bone nut and set up at GC on my Epiphone guitar.nice job too. i asked a few places in NYC and $80 was the average.
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This new guy quoted me about $1200 for a refin on a bass. I think that sounds pretty outrageous.
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That seems high for a refin to me, but it would depend on the type of finish and how much work it required.
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I was talking about a simple black over an existing rust red. No real body prep needed other than possibly a light sanding.
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$1200 is outrageously high for that.
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$1200 is outrageously high for that.
Agreed. or a case of greed
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Gary,
It's what I do, so for what it's worth......$80 for a new nut, set up (new strings?) fret dress, etc. seems about right, $65 or maybe a little less would be my "friend" deal.
$1200 for a refin (esp. if you're shooting over an existing finish and not stripping it down to bare wood and starting over) is outrageous.
Scott
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That's what I thought. I was subconsciously biting my lip when the guy told me that I'd never get my money out of a bass that I had refinned. Well, not at THOSE prices. Maybe this guy tries to steer away from doing refins because of the time it takes.
For the refin, I'll go to my regular guy (Mark Kaiser in Franklin, OH. fretrepairbymark.com ). As a comparison, he did the complete restoration of the Magnatone for about $225. That involved some serious stripping, refin, and reassembly.
From this:
(http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b170/gweimer/basses/PB300126.jpg)
To this:
(http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b170/gweimer/basses/Magnatone3.jpg)
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$1200 for a refin tells me the guy really doesn't like doing refins, but for a "sucker" he'd go ahead and do one anyway. Many luthiers I've talked to love repairing and building, many do not like finishing/painting instruments.
Any one else hear that from their luthiers?
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the repair guy i use charges 35 bux for a bone nut including setup and 40 for a bone bridge saddle. i do my own setups but there is no need when he's on the job. was doc watson's guitar guy for many years so the work is always first rate. i once asked why he was so so cheap and he said that's what it's worth to him. a longtime banjo player/teacher as well he lots of stories about the country music scene in atlanta from the old days.
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I was once exploring the cost of having an original style nitro refinish done on my 1963 P, which I repainted around 1972. I got a quotation from a gent named Scott Lentz who is evidently one of "the names" in doing vintage refins. He quoted $2000 and that was some time ago. For an absolutely top-notch job, I'm not sure that $1200 is out of line.
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To be honest, I'd never pay more than $750 for a top notch pro paint job unless there was lots of stripping and prep required first. Just my take on that having done some finish work myself.
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I wonder what the cost of flying out to Adelaide to go to Bret's luthier would cost...? ;D
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I wonder what the cost of flying out to Adelaide to go to Bret's luthier would cost...? ;D
You know, I *could* use a vacation. 8)
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I wonder what the cost of flying out to Adelaide to go to Bret's luthier would cost...? ;D
A lot more than doing some simple math but whole lot more fun. ;D
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Ah... but for the budget... dreaming of the vineyard tour... 8)
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To be honest, I'd never pay more than $750 for a top notch pro paint job unless there was lots of stripping and prep required first. Just my take on that having done some finish work myself.
I feel the same way - just quoting what I heard. I couldn't pop for that kind of money. For $2000 I could learn to do MANY things myself rather than pay someone else. That's one big reason I took on the refin project on this P-special...so I'd have the skills to refinish the '63 P if I ever decide to. Now I'm confident that I could do it.
(http://i83.photobucket.com/albums/j306/apowell1/Electric%20Basses/P-Jbassfull.jpg)
(http://i83.photobucket.com/albums/j306/apowell1/Electric%20Basses/P-J_bass_controls.jpg)
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There's nothing complex about a home refin... ;D
(http://i655.photobucket.com/albums/uu280/kjrstewart/Peter%20Cook%20Custom/20090425MUD2.jpg)
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At least you've got some of the original hardware!
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I just got a call from my normal luthier. Both basses are done. He couldn't fix the Magnatone (no charge) and the Gibson pickup has a new home in the BaCHBird. Cost of $45 in all.
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Here's a good article on pricing luthier services...........
http://www.stewmac.com/tradesecrets/ts0092_moneytalk.hzml?jrl=152162&utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=ts0092&clk=201525 (http://www.stewmac.com/tradesecrets/ts0092_moneytalk.hzml?jrl=152162&utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=ts0092&clk=201525)
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I would recomend you find a person that does custom paint on cars & bikes that also plays guitar.These guys are hip to old & new nitro /laquer etc.Im going to have a friends son paint my PRS body.............just a thought.
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I would recomend you find a person that does custom paint on cars & bikes that also plays guitar.These guys are hip to old & new nitro /laquer etc.Im going to have a friends son paint my PRS body.............just a thought.
I did a refin on my '64 Precision when I had it. I also had access to my dad's high school shop, where he was principle. I later did touch-up work on my dad's rusting Opel by Isuzu as a result of that. The car lasted another 2 years. My bass turned out pretty nice, but I used automotive paint, and the finish held fingerprints like a mutha, so I later had it redone by a pro.
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Yep, some of the auto finishers are cool guys and love to do something out of the ordinary like a bass.
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There is a wealth of refinishing expertise and info on this, forum, and I bow to those with much more experience than I have.
I will just offer that keys to a great refin are an absolutely flawless surface sanding and prep job, filling the grain (in most but not all woods) AND an effective sealer coat to prevent the grain from emerging. Car shops may miss the filler step and the sealer coat, as they are not used to working with wood.
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There is a wealth of refinishing expertise and info on this, forum, and I bow to those with much more experience than I have.
I will just offer that keys to a great refin are an absolutely flawless surface sanding and prep job, filling the grain (in most but not all woods) AND an effective sealer coat to prevent the grain from emerging. Car shops may miss the filler step and the sealer coat, as they are not used to working with wood.
You have a point Al, it would depend greatly on the shop and their knowledge of painting wood instead of metal! Grain filling is best done by someone who knows the wood's needs and cares!
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You have a point Al, it would depend greatly on the shop and their knowledge of paint wood instead of metal! Grain filling is best done by someone who knows the wood's needs and cares!
+1
Also keep in mind that whatever you chooes to do make sure that your final sealer/primer coat is compatible with the final finishes that you apply be it yourself or a professional painter.
I think that if I went with auto paint I would go for a high end catylized paint. I myself am a dinosaur and prefer nito ;)
And besides, As you all know ;D A bass finished in nitro just sounds better :mrgreen: :P :rimshot:
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There's another option which I used on my fretless project - acrylic lacquer. Most car paint is that type, so you can buy primers and other materials at a car parts store. Also, most touch-up paint (and boy, is there a wide variety of colors) is acrylic lacquer, so it's easy to buy in rattle cans. Stew-Mac also sells acrylic lacquer in various size containers, and their dyes mix with it nicely. A car shop could easily work with acrylic lacquer.
Does anyone know of a reason to choose nitrocellulose lacquer rather than acrylic lacquer? It sure worked nicely for me.
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....Does anyone know of a reason to choose nitrocellulose lacquer rather than acrylic lacquer? It sure worked nicely for me.
I guess if you were a slave authenticity. A well done nitro finish is thin and will wear much faster than most anything else. The big difference that I can see is that a nitro finsih will naturally yellow and age with time and exposure to the elements - mainly UV but, I'm sure, that smoke, sweat, beer etc have effect on nitro finishes as well.
One benefit that I like is that the finish is forgiving and can be repaired much more easily than other finishes - old nitro will react with new nitro and form a more permanent bond. Plus the repair can easily be buffed out.
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All Gibson and most Fender custom colors were acrylic lacquers.
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All Gibson and most Fender custom colors were acrylic lacquers.
Makes perfect sense, as most of Leo's colors were straight out of the parts book at GM or Chrysler. As they evolved from nitro lacquer to acrylic lacquer, it would make sense that the Fender paints would move along with them.