Is it possible to paint my bass???

[@aronJaYEP]

hey im curious if its possible to paint a bass guitar again like over the origonal paint. I might buy a bass from my friend and its like a woody collor. I want to paint it black but dont know how or what to use or if it will mess it up????help?

[Brent]

It won't mess the instrument itself up...it will still work. Although it will most likely affect the tone in a noticeable way.

Brent

[LWatford]

How nice do you want it to look?

The finishing process is the longest step in making most guitars (besides archtops). If you know what you want, go for it. If you want a factory glossy finish let someone else do it.

The paint is a lacquer that is applied in several coats. The finish needs to be sanded inbetween each coat, and the finish needs to dry for a long time in a clean enviroment. By a long time, I mean like 3 weeks to a month.

A freind of mine took a guitar to a car paint and body place and had them do his guitar, since the process is about the same. I'm not sure, but I think Warmoth will finish bodys (it might have to be one of theirs, though).

This same friend also did a guitar with arasol spray paint. This works, the finish isn't great, but it will do for a matte finish. During the late 60's lots of people did their instruments like that (John, Paul, George, Eric Clapton, Jack Bruce, etc.)

Lee

[Brent]

Okay, so I'm rephrasing and adding to what I already said...

You said paint it "over the original paint". If the bass has a color finish on it already and you paint *over* that (without stripping it first) it will affect the tone of the bass a good bit. If, however, you do this to the "natural wood" bass you also talked about it would still affect the tone, but probably not so much. The natural finish bass was designed and its intonation set with that natural (i.e. no paint) finish and not paint. Adding that paint on top of it (or another coat in the case of the other one) deadens the instrument a little bit more.

Brent

[LWatford]

If you do decide to paint over existing paint, make sure the paints are compatable. Otherwise you will have a rather hairy bass!