bassman Posted May 12, 2003 Report Share Posted May 12, 2003 I finished building my first self designed/homemade bass several weeks ago it, it is pretty killer and will post pics of it soon, or send them to Brian for review.... Anyways I have noticed that the hide glue I used is has swollen a bit in a couple of places. You can now feel the glue line in many places between the 1/4" 5A quilted maple top and the mohagony underneath it. This problem has not shown itself between the mohagony body and the "bottom" of the body wings, which is about 1/4" bubinga. This problem has also not shown up in the seven piece bubinga/purpleheart neck or rosewood finger board. I finished the bass with a special mixture of boiled linseed, tung oil and poly that are all mixed together an applied with a rag, I used 4 coats. This mixture is used (conceived) by Sam Maloof who is one of the worlds top furniture makers, he uses only the best of woods, almost all of his work I have seen has beautifully 3D figured wood. Anyways, what might I do about this swelling problem? I am considering just sanding down the glue lines and then refinishing the bass with twice as many coats as I previously used.... Any suggestions? I know that hide glue is not to fond of water- but the poly should be sealing it and protecting it from moisture. Peace and thanks for the help, Ryan Rice I am quite excited that I will be using my first self made/designed instrument to open up for The Wailers in a bout a week- "Famly Man" (Wailers Bassist) made his first bass out of a bucket and a two by four around 1960, hopefully I could use our connection to meet this reggae bass legend. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Posted May 13, 2003 Report Share Posted May 13, 2003 I think I would go with the plan and sand then recoat. I've seen some of Sam's work (in his book) it is awesome. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bassman Posted May 14, 2003 Author Report Share Posted May 14, 2003 Yes his work will blow your mind, the curves in his pieces are just plain sexy...... in the limited sense in which furniture can be sexy... I lucked out, just a few minutes with some 600 grit took smoothed out the glue lines without removing the finish. Sometimes the solution is easier than you would think, although I still might add some additional layers of finish. Problem is that I do not want this bass (5 string) out of commision, I play shows all of the time (3 this week) and I want to minimize the amount of switching between 4 (my others) and 5 string basses. As I am sure you can imagine switching can be quite odd for a player that really never has to look down at what they are playing, it plays tricks on your perception, on the occasions when I do look down something like this goes through my head "what is wrong with my vision? how confusing, which string is which? is the riff rooted on this string or that string?" while i am getting used to it I prefer not even risk the disasters waiting to happen to a new 5 stringer, escpecially one how often switches basses... I would prefer not cscrew things up when I open for one of my all time bass heroes, Family Man. Peace, Ryan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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