Metal flake sizes

moon-bass

moon-bass

They call me El Jefe .. El Jefe del groove
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May 10, 2004
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#1
I have a couple of basses that I am looking at getting refinished with metal flake. I really dig the G&L's and the Fender purple sparkle Adam Clayton sig and so many others.

I've been looking, and I can't find any information on what size metal flakes these folks use. I'm terrible at eye-balling these things and i don't want to buy a bunch of different sizes if I don't have to.

Anyone have any insight?

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#2
It's hard to say what size was used in your examples. The first bass looks like it may have multiple sizes, which is not uncommon. Here are 3 Teles that I made using .015" sized flake on all of them.

I think it is large enough to be pretty flashy, but not so large that it looks too "bass boat", if you know what I mean. A lot of painters mix .015 with .008 to add some variation as well as throwing in different colors of flake.

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#3
Gary_M said:
It's hard to say what size was used in your examples. The first bass looks like it may have multiple sizes, which is not uncommon. Here are 3 Teles that I made using .015" sized flake on all of them.

I think it is large enough to be pretty flashy, but not so large that it looks too "bass boat", if you know what I mean. A lot of painters mix .015 with .008 to add some variation as well as throwing in different colors of flake.

/QUOTE]
Thank you so much, that is very, very helpful! Yeah, it's hard to eyeball those things - I used to finish motorcycles with metal flake, but it's been a long time and i never knew any of the sizes and whatnot.

And yeah, I think I am going to try a mix of flak sizes, the majority being .015 with some holographic .08.

Beautiful work BTW! Absolutely stunning finishes!
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#7
I’ve been refinishing and building and painting and doing all the fun flake work that I hate doing for many years now. I agree with the other person that used .015 and .008. You could possibly do a 0.025 but that is a mighty large flake, and you really don’t need that unless you’re building a bass boat ha ha
 
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#9
Ha ha ha, the first picture of the silver metal flake is mine! I was surprised to see it!

I got that finish from Marty Bell in California and I simply requested large metal flake. I'm pretty sure that this is/was Marty's largest size metal flake.

I'm sorry that I don't know the actually size but perhaps you can call or email Marty Bell.

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#13
bassdude51 said:
Ha ha ha, the first picture of the silver metal flake is mine! I was surprised to see it!

I got that finish from Marty Bell in California and I simply requested large metal flake. I'm pretty sure that this is/was Marty's largest size metal flake.

I'm sorry that I don't know the actually size but perhaps you can call or email Marty Bell.

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ya, i totally stole your pic, I hope you don't mind! I mean, I did it because it's gorgeous!
 
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#17
singlemalt said:
Tons of info here!
Roth Metal Flake

Lots of painting videos on YouTube.

You need a toxic, explosively flammable hobby!

There are less toxic water based products, but that buffed up, hard clear coat is usually 2k. Full suit and respirator stuff.

Here’s another: SprayGunner - Best Products. Shipped Fast.
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I've been painting (cars, trucks, big rigs, motorcycles ...) since I was a kid - my dad used to have a paint shop and I would work in it on evenings and weekends. He gave me a bunch of his stuff, so I have a weird mix of new, semi-pro/serious hobby stuff and some REALLY high end gear - that is over 30 years old lol. I've done flakes a few times, but it's been a minute, and I was never aware of the particulars. Safety first tho! Seriously. I'm not taking a chance on my health for some shiny things.
 
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