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My Backup bass project: Refinishing with a Canadian Twist.

Years ago when I was in the market to move to a five-string bass I made the decision to go on the cheap. I had seen too many people struggling to sell very expensive basses that they had purchased before they knew if the five-string adventure was for them or not... I did not want to (and could not afford to) end up with a bass that cost a lot of money that I might not end up embracing.. so I picked up a cheap Essex bass, brand new, in a new case, shipped to my door for like $250.00. I fell in love and used the bass as my #1 for years, I moved on to some nice basses but have kept the Essex in playing condition and used it as a backup/rehearsal bass for years.

Through a contact (made on Twitter) at Molson Brewing in Canada I was sent about 20 labels and neck-bands for Molson Export, a beer I truly enjoyed when I had it, but cannot get here in Vegas. I had tossed around the idea of decoupaging Molson labels on this bass for years, but through a move or two I had lost my collection. This fresh new batch of labels was just the spark I needed! Here is a picture set from my refinishing project. Enjoy!

Here is Big Red before.

Here is Big Red after I stripped all of the parts off.

Here are the Sparkle Modge Podge and labels

Here is Big Red on the desk ready to go after sanding the front surface.

Here is the first label, I wanted at least one to be placed intentionally, but from here I was just kind of sticking them on wherever...

I was going to cut along the edge of the bass and leave the sides untouched, alas, my razor blade was not sharp enough (or my hand was not skilled enough?) so I ended up wrapping a few edges around the bass.

Almost covered! Sparkle finish applied all the way up the front of the neck/fretboard too!

Headstock (complete with custom-cut titanium Dragon from days gone by) got the sparkle and a specially-placed label too!

Here is Big Red almost finished! Once the first coating of Modgepodge dries I'll hit it with another coat, just to be sure! Check out that sparkle!!

Here is Big Red's headstock, also drying and waiting to be hit once more!

So that's my Saturday afternoon refinishing project!!

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