Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

Vinyl sealer provides a good vapor barrier to keep moisture from marring the wood's surface. It has little resistance to abrasion, however. It could be used on both body and fretboard, but should be coated over with a more durable nitro or CV.

I would suggest spraying the Behlen's sealer. It brushes very unevenly.

Do you have a recommended Nitro brand or product?

Also, should I consider using some sort of varnish or restore-a-finish after sanding?

Varnish and restore-a-finish should not be in the same county as your bass.

Use Behlen's nitro or order from Stew-Mac or Luthiers' Mercantile International.

Might this do the trick?
http://www.woodcraft.com/Catalog/Produc ... a79bd3a8f6

Yep. Warm the can in some 105°F water and spray light mist coats. Then rub out with some compound if you want a nice shine. Otherwise let it be as sprayed.

jingle_jangle wrote:Yep. Warm the can in some 105°F water...

And PAY ATTENTION to the temperature! A friend of mine decided one day to warm a spray can under the hot water outlet of the coffee maker at work. When the can exploded, it was NOT a pretty sight. He's OK, but there was hospitalization involved...

Great! Thanks for all your help. I'll start ordering some of these items this weekend and begin sanding the bass, too.

Just to clarify:
1- Sand bass body, neck, fretboard
2 - apply vinyl sealer (2 coats, sanding in between)
3 - spray instrument lacquer (sand in between, etc. as needed)
4 - buff polish

Will the vinyl sealer or laqcuer add any color the wood? After I sand off the current finish, I'm assuming the wood will be lighter/brighter than the current yellowish it is now. Although, I like the "yellow" tint.

Is there a different spray-on lacquer you recommend? I noticed Stew Mac carries some different options than what I posted earlier:
http://www.stewmac.com/shop/Finishing_s ... cquer.html
http://www.stewmac.com/shop/Finishing_s ... cquer.html

cjj wrote:

jingle_jangle wrote:Yep. Warm the can in some 105°F water...

And PAY ATTENTION to the temperature! A friend of mine decided one day to warm a spray can under the hot water outlet of the coffee maker at work. When the can exploded, it was NOT a pretty sight. He's OK, but there was hospitalization involved...

...and this year's Darwin Award goes to ...

Well, it was about 15 years ago, but...

what I mean is, after sanding and sealing, should I go with clear lacquer, satin, or a tinted?
http://www.stewmac.com/shop/Finishing_s ... es#details

Maybe the Amber tinted would be nice? Or maybe that's butchering the bass? I like the vintage "amber" tint my bass has now, but it has so many red splotches and whatnot that I want to sort of refinish. I'm afraid if I sand, seal and clear lacquer it will just look like maple, and not the nice mapleglo amber that I'm used to.

Also, I'm assuming I should be buying more than one aerosol can of this stuff. 4 do the trick?

By all means buy the amber. 4 cans seems to be overkill...2 should do the trick.

OK 2 cans. Maybe I'll just get 1 can of Amber and 1 can of clear + the quart of vinyl sealer.

Do you think it's safe to use Behlen Vinyl Sealer + ColorTone color/lacquer, or should I go ALL Behlen?

You're OK putting Colortone over Behlen's in this case.