I have been considering giving my black europa a facelift. It is solid black and sounds great, I still prefer a natural wood finish on alembics. This one has flame maple body wings and I am wondering what kind of refinish to have done.
I spoke to Jaydee custom guitars who are just across the city from me and they are happy to do whatever I want.


Here is the build record so you can see the finish under the paint. It's not a highly figured finish so I think a clear finish may not look impressive enough unless it had a tint to bring out the grain. I'm not looking for a solid finish or anything that hides the grain.
What can you suggest?


https://club.alembicguitars.net/index.php?topic=7237.0

I think it's highly figured under there, compare to my Elan:

Your Europa:


My Elan:

Light is a bit different, but those look like very similar tops to me.

My Elan with clear coat:

Hmm I can see there is a lot of similarity. Though I think a tint would make it a little less bright and warmer in appearance, something like this is in my thoughts. Though I don't think the grain on mine is that dramatic but then I know nothing about spray techniques.

Wineburst, with the maple/purpleheart neck masked off, like Rusty's "Blue Orca" Custom. 

Yeah, tint is the way to go imho also.
Love the above suggestions and I think the top on yours will be dramatic like that Strat.

Also love Amber over figured Maple 

I'm gonna give the spray guy a call today though I can't decide whether to stay classic alembic and keep the through neck clear coat.
Depending on the cost I may also get my purple Elan done the same colour although as it's a quilt maple it would look more dramatic.

Got an email back today and they can do it although it will be a long wait, 5 week waiting to book it in then about 8 weeks in the shop till it gets done. My thoughts are now that, if possible I would like to keep some part of the original black somewhere on the bass but not sure where or even if that brown tint and black would work anyway. The obvious place would be the headstock but would that look odd?
The Tribute has a black headstock and that looks fine.

Quote from: jazzyvee on May 27, 2021, 05:58:04 PM
The Tribute has a black headstock and that looks fine.

That's a slice of ebony, and I agree it looks fine - so much so that my custom 6er has the same feature. And black goes with any colour.

And what about the entire neck, like the graphite ones?

Well I decided against it based on the fact that it may make it less marketable in the future, not that I have any plans for a sale. But when I bought it and posted it on Basschat, i got quite a few of offers to buy it because it apparently looks a bit like the Jason Newstead bass. So it is staying black and I have just changed the black knobs for some new brass knobs. A bit blingy but we shall see how i get on. They have a bit of weight to them compared to the original ones. I have some chrome ones to match the hardware on my Elan that is currently away for respraying.

Black basses matter.

Bill, tgo

We REALLY need a "like" button!

Quote from: jazzyvee on March 15, 2022, 08:12:18 AM
Well I decided against it based on the fact that it may make it less marketable in the future, not that I have any plans for a sale. But when I bought it and posted it on Basschat, i got quite a few of offers to buy it because it apparently looks a bit like the Jason Newstead bass. So it is staying black and I have just changed the black knobs for some new brass knobs. A bit blingy but we shall see how i get on. They have a bit of weight to them compared to the original ones. I have some chrome ones to match the hardware on my Elan that is currently away for respraying.

I for one really like the balance of the brass knobs against the black body, I think you are on to something.  The ones on it are a bit - large?  Maybe there are some around that match the profile of the originals but in the polished brass color?  Lovely bass either way.

bw

I don't know about this one Jazzy... I agreed the Elan was going to be pretty sweet as a natural finish, but that Europa looks so good in black, I'd have to stick with it. I have three black instruments, and the only strike against them is they are HOT as blue blazes on outdoor gigs.