Where to go for custom paint job

ItsaBass

ItsaBass

New member
Hi,

I just ordered an early-style P-Bass body from B. Hefner. It is for a build for my girlfriend and bandmate. It's gonna be short scale with a Tele headstock and a maple neck.

Because the company was having a 20 percent off sale, I thought long and hard about having the body painted Sherwood Green by them too. It would have been just under $400 to have the body made and painted in nitrocellulose. However, I was able to get out of her that she doesn't really want Sherwood Green. She wants a basic primary green, preferably with sparkle. Fender's Candy Green is great, and I had pretty much settled on it. However, then I saw this color from the Fender Custom Shop:

greensparkle53695Bdfgret.jpg


That is EXACTLY what she wants.

Anyone know where I can get a paint job like that? Nitrocellulose would be preferable. She prefers the feel and wants to see the bass age over time.

Here is Candy Green. I will probably end up having to go with this color. I think it is a great color, but I need to find a place that can do it.

fe176524_6.jpg
 
Re: Where to go for custom paint job

metlking said:
I think www.rsguitarworks.net can do sparkletops.......but I bet it's gonna cost ya!!
Click to expand...

Thanks for the link. I am sure they can do it if they can do this:

mint-detail1-lg.jpg


And they use nitro. The other guy in Vegas that I was talking to refuses to work with nitro, though his example photos look amazing:

0046-404x296.jpg
 
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Re: Where to go for custom paint job

Definitely gonna have pix. It'll be nice and gaudy in the end. Gold hardware, glitter black/gold pick guard, like so:

Fender%20Strat%20Black%20Beaded%20Gold%20Big

She is not a girly girl, but damn, she loves glitter paint!

Still deciding on a pickup. SD makes at least three varieties of the early P-Bass pickup (normal, hot, and 1/4 lb.), and Fender makes one as well. I am thinking a slightly hot one that also has a coil tap would be a good idea.

I need to have it together by her b-day at the end of May. I'm gonna try to get the band to pitch in for the hardware, the plating, the pick guard, the pickup and such.
 
Re: Where to go for custom paint job

ItsaBass said:
Definitely gonna have pix. It'll be nice and gaudy in the end. Gold hardware, glitter black/gold pick guard, like so:

Fender%20Strat%20Black%20Beaded%20Gold%20Big

She is not a girly girl, but damn, she loves glitter paint!

Still deciding on a pickup. SD makes at least three varieties of the early P-Bass pickup (normal, hot, and 1/4 lb.), and Fender makes one as well. I am thinking a slightly hot one that also has a coil tap would be a good idea.

I need to have it together by her b-day at the end of May. I'm gonna try to get the band to pitch in for the hardware, the plating, the pick guard, the pickup and such.
Click to expand...


That will look a little overly gaudy. I'd recommend pearloid. (I prefer black of course. :D )
 
Re: Where to go for custom paint job

Yup, Marty did two bodies a wah pedal and volume pedal in big flake sparkle for me and they all came out killer. There's no one else I'd go to for a sparkle finish that's for sure. Not nitro but I'm honestly not big on nitro for solid bodies anyway.
 
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Re: Where to go for custom paint job

Marty Bell is the guy who I mistakenly said was in Vegas. That green sparkle Strat I posted above is one of his. I deciphered his area code wrong. 760 is CA.

We'll see how much RS quotes me. I'd rather have it nitro. But if it is twice the price, I don't think I can afford it.

As for the guy who said it is too gaudy, 1) I agree, but it's not really my call, 2) she is trying to be too gaudy here, and 3) I personally think pearloid is gross in most cases..at least a big swath of it like a pick guard; I'd just go with the candy green and a white guard myself.

P.S. Maybe I will give it to her with no pick guard at first. I think that would look good. But the ugly pick guard is one of her favorite things about the early P-Basses.

P.P.S. For those of you who cannot picture what I am talking about, here is the basic look of the bass. It will have a medium scale neck, though, with the nut located where the first fret is on a full scale one (and minus a note on the high side). It'll also have the ashtrays in place.

51P-BassSurfGreen002.jpg
 
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Re: Where to go for custom paint job

If you want to try it your self it is fairly easy I have painted my strat that way. not all the same color mind you but very sparkly.

morninglight004.jpg


morninglight002.jpg


0037-1.jpg
 
Re: Where to go for custom paint job

I sent Marty an email about an hour ago and I heard from him already....I think I have a new project in the works!!!

Stay tuned for Sparky-top goodness!
 
Re: Where to go for custom paint job

Just heard back from RS. They can do it within my budget, though it is still more than Marty charges. And Marty said he will do the top coat in nitro if that is what I really want. But he speaks very lowly of nitro in general, for the standard technical reasons. Still waiting to hear back from RS on whether or not they do the whole thing in nitro, or just the top coat.
 
Re: Where to go for custom paint job

OK, looks like it's a go with RS. This is what their green sparkle looks like:

caddy.jpg
 
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