Couple of Jack Casady questions!

[Psycho Bass Guy]

The scuzzy area is an impact. That's how poly finish shatters.

[Alanko]

Maybe. The pattern continues over the binding. It is like it impacted something with that texture, such as un-tinned copper wire. None of the finish is loose in the area.

I've overpainted the area with a few coats of black nail polish now. I will level this and then use a UV-cure clear coat (nail polish again!) with a UV lamp. Way more trustworthy finish from this system than using an air-cure nail polish, especially in a clammy apartment/flat in central Scotland.

[Alanko]

Just to throw endless fuel onto the fire, I've stripped the finish around this damage, right back to the clear undercoat. The black finish is stupidly thin around the sides in this area for some reason. 1500 grit wet 'n' dry, in wet mode, cut straight through it for some reason. There is a small spot of damage down to the bare wood where the damage I posted here occurred. I will drop fill this with superglue. But....

Hnnnng! The contrast of the black top of the bass with the natural wood of the sides is really making me think. I think it looks good, and is more 'Gibson' than having an all over black finish. I'm going to keep the sides natural on this bass, as no amount of repair work is working out for me. Do I take the back to natural as well, and leave the neck black?

[Basvarken]

Hey it's your bass. You can do whatever you want!
I've seen pics of a stripped JCS on a Dutch forum. It looked pretty good! Nice grain.

[amptech]

Just to throw endless fuel onto the fire, I've stripped the finish around this damage, right back to the clear undercoat. The black finish is stupidly thin around the sides in this area for some reason. 1500 grit wet 'n' dry, in wet mode, cut straight through it for some reason. There is a small spot of damage down to the bare wood where the damage I posted here occurred. I will drop fill this with superglue. But....

Hnnnng! The contrast of the black top of the bass with the natural wood of the sides is really making me think. I think it looks good, and is more 'Gibson' than having an all over black finish. I'm going to keep the sides natural on this bass, as no amount of repair work is working out for me. Do I take the back to natural as well, and leave the neck black?

Ditto, It's your bass.

If you are knowledgeable about finish, or want to step into a process of learning how to apply a finish, go for it.

You never know what to find under there though, they seldom use very pretty wood under a solid finish. You either end up with a bad looking top or an instrument that needs a new finish. Or you might be lucky, but still need some clearcoat.

I'd rather just  touch up this thing, but touching up is not always easy either. Some touch up's are very tough and as you mess with them.

Applying finish is fun to learn, though - but I doubt if this kind of instrument is the right 'first' spray project.
they seem to draw more and more attention, visually

[Basvarken]

Here's the bass I mentioned above
http://s16.photobucket.com/user/valensi/media/006.jpg.html

[Pilgrim]

Here's the bass I mentioned above

To coin a phrase, you've been 'Photobucketed".....

[Basvarken]

Hey that is strange; I could see it when I googled it

[Pilgrim]

Hey that is strange; I could see it when I googled it

It's posting in other forums that's verboten. 

Now you just need to bend over and chant, "Thank you sir, may I have another?"

Maybe you can post a link?  I'll try it.....

http://s83.photobucket.com/user/apowell1/media/Electric%20Basses/Gretsch%20G5123B/P1010109-1.jpg.html

[Basvarken]

Here's another pic (same bass) that's from Facebook

[Pilgrim]

Nice!  I see it has a Darkstar or equivalent as well.

[Alanko]

Hey hey that looks cool! That is the sort of wood that is slowly appearing from under the black.

I'm leaving the top black, but stripping the back and sides, with good success so far.

Any idea how the controls are mapped out? Presumably the transformer isn't needed any more as the Bisonic will be high-Z.

[Basvarken]

Volume, Tone. The third pot is a dummy

[Granny Gremlin]

Hey hey that looks cool! That is the sort of wood that is slowly appearing from under the black.

I'm leaving the top black, but stripping the back and sides, with good success so far.

A bud had a Jazzmaster (or Mustang - can't remember now - Fender offset style anyway) where the (formerly all black... with tort guard) finish was stripped on onlym the front/back, but left intact on the sides (or was that vice versa; can't remember now) .  It looked really cool.  I was a little miffed when I found out he sold it cause he never gacve me a chance to buy it from him.

The point is, that can look cool, and it's not a particularly valuable or out of production bass so go for it, if you're into it.

[Alanko]

It is starting to look really good. I will post up some photos when I get it done.

I've sped up my workflow slightly. I hit the black finish on the back of the bass with a heat gun, until I see the black start to bubble. I then get a safety razor blade under the finish, and scrape it off in sections. This leaves a brown, caramelized-looking finish under the black. The brown quickly sands off, revealing the wood below the sanding sealer. This sanding sealer can then be buffed up. I'm not going for a plastic shine on the back and sides, just a sort of satin glow that lets the wood pop without looking too synthetic. Scraping inside the cutaways has been a pain as the finish seems thicker in them, and it is a tight area to work in without damaging the finish I want to preserve on the top of the bass or sides of the neck. Lots of taping and re-taping.

I've had to drop-fill a few spots where that damage was, that I posted earlier on. In doing so, and leveling it out, the sanding sealer is getting perilously thin and I'm worried I will end up back down at the wood. I might wipe some lacquer onto this section or go for a wider superglue fill.

The only other issue is where and how do I stop scraping?! I've scored the finish at the end of each cutaway, where the binding ends as it meets the neck. It makes sense to stop the natural finish on the sides of the bass at the same point the binding finishes. While I've scored the finish to give me a line to work up to, I'm not yet entirely sure about how to 1) remove the black right up to this line and 2) alleviate the subtle stair-step transition from scraped natural finish back to the factory black finish. I'm wondering

Lastly, in scraping the treble-side cutaway I've discovered that Peerless used a darker wood inside the cutaway, starting just shy of the point of the cutaway. On the original Gibsons this area was built up from what appears to be binding material, but Peerless/Epiphone simply used a walnut-coloured wood that is presumably more flexible.