New to me Corvette $$ in Nirvana Black. How to shine it up.

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How to clean it up? Or polish it? Finish has tiny scratches from belt buckles and a few minor dings on both sides. The self-help info online is confusing so I think I need to ask. Finish is Nirvana Black Oil according to the label. Wax? Polish? Howards Feed N Wax. Lemon Oil? Help me obi wan.
 

Augie

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nope nope nope nope
The stupidly labelled "coloured oil" is actually coloured stain under clear satin finish. So you have a clear satin finish topcoat on the bass. it doesn't need oil, wax, or anything like that. those things will make it gunky, unevenly shiny and basically just dirty the bass and need to be removed.
The white crazing from belt buckles and dings is nigh-on impossible to fix. I think they happen when the timber is slightly dented under the finish, so a small gap forms between the clear coat and the wood. someone might chime in with suggestions but I haven't found a good solution for this finish damage.
 
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OK, so I can just wipe it off after use with a micro-fiber cloth with nothing on the micro-fiber cloth? My other Warwick has a full wenge neck but this one has ovangkol. Don't know what to do if anything to clean it up. Brass frets are very dirty so I'm getting ready to clean them off. Ovangkol is new to me so help me not damage it please. Almost ready to rock and roll with this beauty.
 

Augie

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That's right about the body, just a wipe with a cloth, damp cloth if there is a lot of grime on it.
The ovangkol neck/wenge fingerboard is oiled, not clear coated, so it will need to be treated the same as your other all wenge neck. Clean the FB as normal, you can scotch pad the frets, oil to clean and treat the neck, etc etc. The Fb is wenge so its all familiar to you. the Ovangkol neck I find is better cleaned/treated with lem oil than warwick wax. But that's just my personal experience. I clean the back of the neck and oil it, leave it then wipe clean. I found the wax left the ovangkol a bit sticky, but a light oil did the trick beautifully, looks great as well.
 
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Very good. I will proceed tomorrow and do my best to make my new $$ looks as good as my Fortress One.
 

Nachobassman

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Hola,

Check the videos HERE, some of them are about cleaning recomendations for your Warwick.

8:
 
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The fingerboard frets in the video appeared to be clean to begin with. My frets are almost black. I have been cleaning them with Brasso and a Q-tip and they look very clean and shinny using that method. Thanks.
 
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Just finished the neck. Used the Scotch Pad on the frets using Lemon Oil. Micro-fiber cloth was black afterwards. Then wiped the Lem Oil on the Ovangkol back and wiped after about 20 minutes. Looks very nice. Now, about the body finish. I have a can of clean poly. Would that do any good to wipe a thin layer of it on the body, over the old finish, then sand with maybe 800 or 1000 paper? Or steel wool?
I do need to say that from a distance of more than 10 feet this bass looks very nice. It sounds like the new ones so I'm really good to go without doing anything else to it. (Last week I played only Corvette $$ bases at the Nashville Warwick shop. This one sounds very similar so I'm good if nothing else can be done to shine it up.)
 
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IMG_6718.jpg
Here is a close-up of the front.
 
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Update: I took the bass to the Warwick shop in Nashville, where Rob spent about 90 minutes replacing a few broken parts, tightening some loose screws and bolts, and then set it up. His advice was to not do anything to the black finish. From more than 10 feet away you can't see any of the scratches so probably no one will ever know how beat up it is. Rob lowered the action and got rid of all the fret buzz. The brass 2-way bridge is set as low as it can go and I still have no buzz.
As far as playing it, I found several dozen good videos on YouTube, two of which have samples of many of the sounds one can get with all the switches on this bass. I went through and wrote down about a dozen I liked, then tried two that can be made just by moving the balance from bridge to neck. For now, I'm very happy with this bass and how it sounds, so I'm happy to not touch the finish and just enjoy this bass. And FWIW this bass actually sounds better in passive at low volume, but better in active when played loudly. Rob thinks that is just the FOH making those differences but it's good to know as this bass will play in passive with a dead battery.
 

Hector

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Personally, I wouldn't worry about the scratches, they add character and "mojo" to the guitar, just take a look at this:

srv-corbis-970-80.jpg

willie_nelson.jpg

Granted, it's heartbreaking when you drop a guitar or dent it yourself, but personally it doesn't bother me to buy one already "worn in".

That said, I hate when people "relic" guitars and then ask double or triple the price.. it's not a "relic", it's a perfectly good guitar that someone ruined by taking a disk sander to the body and neck. Kind of like asking more money for a car that's been crashed.. Just stupid.
 

Nachobassman

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Is funny, musical instrument companies could charge a little fortune to "relic" or "road worn" a bass/guitar so people could have a new instrument and be a **cough*poser*cough*** and show it like if it were an old and heavy used one, BUT, people get really crazy and upset when accidentaly dents or scratches his/her guitar/bass... I don´t get it.


My opinion: It is MOJO. 8:
 
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I like MOJO. I can just tell people it's much older than it is - Rob looked it up and said 7 years old. It sounds like 'wow' and 'oh baby' all mixed in together. This is the first Warwick where the wood really does the talkin.' Right now I'm trying out the strings being a little closer together. I tried a little wider last week. Guess it's just personal preferences more than anything. I love having a bridge that can be moved around.
 

Hector

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BUT, people get really crazy and upset when accidentaly dents or scratches his/her guitar/bass... I don´t get it.
My opinion: It is MOJO. 8:


It is Mojo, but it's also an "ah f*ck!" moment when you damage your instrument for the first time...
 
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