I have owned my ABZ 5 Natural Ash for over 5 years, it is undoubtedly one of my favorite bass, simple passive, organic no thrills, plug and play perfection. I loved the look of the ash body grains but for a year or so, I had this vision that a lot more could be done to enhance its looks and really bring out the texture of those ash grains forward with a few stages of transformation.
One day I saw a picture of a faded ash body seafoam green telecaster and I was hooked. I took my bass and that pic to a local luthier guru friend of mine, here in UK at Guitar Works
https://www.facebook.com/awesomeguitarrepairs/ and asked him if he could materialize this project I had in mind, he said yes and explained to me that to obtain the result I wanted the bass would have to be sprayed, first black, then sea foam green, then white, and then the hand sanding will take place to remove the bulk of the white, and then gently rub the sea foam green to reveal the black underneath which would have by then sunken through the grains and then finally once the right effect was obtained he would have to seal the lot with a thin coat of polyurethane just like the original Dingwall product.
Here is what he did...
[url=http://s144.photobucket.com/user/xt660/media/ABZ%205%20Transformation/IMG_1070_zpskmjuba36.jpg.html:2qvofuac][img:2qvofuac]http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r200/xt660/ABZ%205%20Transformation/IMG_1070_zpskmjuba36.jpg[/img:2qvofuac][/url:2qvofuac]
[url=http://s144.photobucket.com/user/xt660/media/ABZ%205%20Transformation/IMG_1071_zpsgv99ivep.jpg.html:2qvofuac][img:2qvofuac]http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r200/xt660/ABZ%205%20Transformation/IMG_1071_zpsgv99ivep.jpg[/img:2qvofuac][/url:2qvofuac]
[url=http://s144.photobucket.com/user/xt660/media/ABZ%205%20Transformation/IMG_1072_zpsnytjj6qx.jpg.html:2qvofuac][img:2qvofuac]http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r200/xt660/ABZ%205%20Transformation/IMG_1072_zpsnytjj6qx.jpg[/img:2qvofuac][/url:2qvofuac]
[url=http://s144.photobucket.com/user/xt660/media/ABZ%205%20Transformation/IMG_1073_zpseregkmvb.jpg.html:2qvofuac][img:2qvofuac]http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r200/xt660/ABZ%205%20Transformation/IMG_1073_zpseregkmvb.jpg[/img:2qvofuac][/url:2qvofuac]
[url=http://s144.photobucket.com/user/xt660/media/ABZ%205%20Transformation/IMG_1074_zpsmippl0ui.jpg.html:2qvofuac][img:2qvofuac]http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r200/xt660/ABZ%205%20Transformation/IMG_1074_zpsmippl0ui.jpg[/img:2qvofuac][/url:2qvofuac]
[url=http://s144.photobucket.com/user/xt660/media/ABZ%205%20Transformation/IMG_1075_zpsq9nr6cxk.jpg.html:2qvofuac][img:2qvofuac]http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r200/xt660/ABZ%205%20Transformation/IMG_1075_zpsq9nr6cxk.jpg[/img:2qvofuac][/url:2qvofuac]
[url=http://s144.photobucket.com/user/xt660/media/ABZ%205%20Transformation/IMG_1082_zpslddba3eg.jpeg.html:2qvofuac][img:2qvofuac]http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r200/xt660/ABZ%205%20Transformation/IMG_1082_zpslddba3eg.jpeg[/img:2qvofuac][/url:2qvofuac]
[url=http://s144.photobucket.com/user/xt660/media/ABZ%205%20Transformation/IMG_1083_zpskdnpjhom.jpeg.html:2qvofuac][img:2qvofuac]http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r200/xt660/ABZ%205%20Transformation/IMG_1083_zpskdnpjhom.jpeg[/img:2qvofuac][/url:2qvofuac]
[url=http://s144.photobucket.com/user/xt660/media/ABZ%205%20Transformation/IMG_1086_zps65k3cejf.jpeg.html:2qvofuac][img:2qvofuac]http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r200/xt660/ABZ%205%20Transformation/IMG_1086_zps65k3cejf.jpeg[/img:2qvofuac][/url:2qvofuac]
[url=http://s144.photobucket.com/user/xt660/media/ABZ%205%20Transformation/IMG_1080_zpsejjqxvew.jpeg.html:2qvofuac][img:2qvofuac]http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r200/xt660/ABZ%205%20Transformation/IMG_1080_zpsejjqxvew.jpeg[/img:2qvofuac][/url:2qvofuac]
[url=http://s144.photobucket.com/user/xt660/media/ABZ%205%20Transformation/IMG_1085_zpsq3hzzuvj.jpeg.html:2qvofuac][img:2qvofuac]http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r200/xt660/ABZ%205%20Transformation/IMG_1085_zpsq3hzzuvj.jpeg[/img:2qvofuac][/url:2qvofuac]
[url=http://s144.photobucket.com/user/xt660/media/ABZ%205%20Transformation/IMG_1084_zpsisk45vyu.jpeg.html:2qvofuac][img:2qvofuac]http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r200/xt660/ABZ%205%20Transformation/IMG_1084_zpsisk45vyu.jpeg[/img:2qvofuac][/url:2qvofuac]
[url=http://s144.photobucket.com/user/xt660/media/ABZ%205%20Transformation/IMG_1081_zpsyhyvsrzm.jpeg.html:2qvofuac][img:2qvofuac]http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r200/xt660/ABZ%205%20Transformation/IMG_1081_zpsyhyvsrzm.jpeg[/img:2qvofuac][/url:2qvofuac]
All he needs to do is to apply the lacquer and it's done.
Oh yes I might as well show you where I got the idea from
[url=http://s144.photobucket.com/user/xt660/media/seafoam_zpshadtxl85.jpg.html:2qvofuac][img:2qvofuac]http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r200/xt660/seafoam_zpshadtxl85.jpg[/img:2qvofuac][/url:2qvofuac]