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1959 fender precision bass finish question

wolfkeller

wolfkeller

Supporting Member
Aug 11, 2013
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#1
This bass belongs to Peter baltes from accept. According to him its a 1959.

My question relates to the finish. What do you think about it? I figured it was a natural finish, however, you see the worn spot where its darker, the back has alot of that, as in the finish being worn off. If its natural, why would it be darker?

Did they even offer natural finish in 59? I figured maybe it got stripped at some point. Earliest pics I found where Peter has this are from late 70s and it was natural then without thd J.

This is just a matter of curiosity for me. Thanks for any input.
 
#2
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#6
wolfkeller said:
View attachment 7440696
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Chances are very good that that started out as a sunburst body as the vast majority of fender basses in 1959 were sunburst finish. Originally they had gold anodized guards but IIRC mid year they switched nitrocellulose tort guards. Sometimes it took a lot of sanding to remove that sunburst to go down to natural. You will often find bodies that are considerably thinner than they started out just due to having been sanded so much to get rid of that original finish. With so many of them no finish stripper was used on them. people just grabbed them and started sanding. Blonde finish would have been Ash for sure but everything else was Alder. Leo switched over to Alder as it required far less finish prep than Ash.

Usually when you see a dark spot like that it was because the finish chipped off or wore through and then constant contact with skin and oils darkened the wood. Sometimes they were so dark that even after being sanded the spots would still be there 'cause they had sunk too deep into the wood. So thats probably why the back is darker. The same thing happens to the neck. Overtime and years of constant playing the Nitro finishes would wear off the backs of the necks fairly quickly and then sweat from your hands would Smooth out and darken the back of that neck to the point where it was smooth as glass. That's what my 1960 P neck looks like. The body was refinished in Oly white but I left the neck alone.

neckback.jpg
 
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#10
wolfkeller said:
This bass belongs to Peter baltes from accept. According to him its a 1959.

My question relates to the finish. What do you think about it? I figured it was a natural finish, however, you see the worn spot where its darker, the back has alot of that, as in the finish being worn off. If its natural, why would it be darker?

Did they even offer natural finish in 59? I figured maybe it got stripped at some point. Earliest pics I found where Peter has this are from late 70s and it was natural then without thd J.

This is just a matter of curiosity for me. Thanks for any input.
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it's darker b/c of his skin oils and sweat plus if you look at those pics he's wearing a dark cuff on that forearm. I think at least one of those cuffs is leather (which is also tanned with oils) and you get that dye transfer.
 
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#11
I bought an old P Bass body off of Craigslist a few years ago for next to nuthin'. It had been spray-painted black and had obviously been through the ringer. I stripped it down almost to bare wood, but got to a point where the bare wood with spots of multiple layers of different paint jobs (and auto-body filler in some places) over the years looked kinda cool. So, I just hit it with bowling alley wax and slapped on a neck and hardware. The finish on the bare wood parts of my bass looks exactly like the bass you're asking about. So, I will venture a guess that whatever it started out as, it was stripped of its finish and hit with bowling alley wax or some other similar finish (not ruling out sweat).
 
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#12
RhinoBass said:
I bought an old P Bass body off of Craigslist a few years ago for next to nuthin'. It had been spray-painted black and had obviously been through the ringer. I stripped it down almost to bare wood, but got to a point where the bare wood with spots of multiple layers of different paint jobs (and auto-body filler in some places) over the years looked kinda cool. So, I just hit it with bowling alley wax and slapped on a neck and hardware. The finish on the bare wood parts of my bass looks exactly like the bass you're asking about. So, I will venture a guess that whatever it started out as, it was stripped of its finish and hit with bowling alley wax or some other similar finish (not ruling out sweat).
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OOh OOh pictures please!!!
 
#14
newfuture said:
One of my favorite metal bassists
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I learned about Accept when my son was in organized hockey. Someone's dad must have been into Metal. The kids (high school age) blasted this song continually in the dressing room before every game. . Also, someone had a trickent that was small enough to fit the palm of your hand - the size of something girls put on "charm bracelets" - it was a chrome fist gripping a ball sack with the name ACCEPT under it. Don't know where they got that merch.
 
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#17
Andy Marshman said:
I learned about Accept when my son was in organized hockey. Someone's dad must have been into Metal. The kids (high school age) blasted this song continually in the dressing room before every game. . Also, someone had a trickent that was small enough to fit the palm of your hand - the size of something girls put on "charm bracelets" - it was a chrome fist gripping a ball sack with the name ACCEPT under it. Don't know where they got that merch.
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Amazing
 

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