Am I being picky? Micro scratches on ordered body

[bassydrums]

Hi everyone! I'm building a parts p bass, and I recently ordered a black nitro body that seemed to have a very light relic... only a few bumps and some checking.

I received the package last night, and while I was surprised at a couple of scratches that seemed odd even in a relic body, I thought the body looked okay.

After looking at it this morning with more daylight, I noticed tons of micro scratches throughout the body. Almost as if someone took fine sandpaper to it. Not too happy with that look.

Is this expected? Am I being too picky? I have a 70s and an 80s bass that have been abused through the years, and neither shows this type of wear. Pictures below: one angled to highlight the scratches and a more direct one. Thoughts?

 

[sleddogn]

any more info on condition as listed from seller? I'm not a fan of those scratches for sure

 

[bassydrums]

Bought directly from the seller that did the finish, as new with light relic. According to many other forums they used to work for MJT. You can actually see that there are no holes drilled for anything other than a couple of marks for the bridge; nobody other than the shop had the body before.

 

[sleddogn]

I've become exhausted with the relic craze. I try hard to buy my basses with a new finish, it's my job to mess it up, lol. Good luck with the build, i like seeing peeps put together their own

 

[lowendblues]

The finish checking looks good, but the scratches not so much.

 

[bassydrums]

I’m the same way! I honestly don’t care for it, but I knew I wanted a nitro body and it seems like about nobody sells a nitro body with no wear? I thought if it’s minimal with a few bumps, I don’t care too much, but this isn’t what I expected. Another option was buying an American original body from stratosphere but I didn’t want to drop 700+tax on the body alone.

 

[micguy]

When you ask for a relic, what you get is gonna be....rather undefined. If this was supposed to be a brand new, unreliced body, I think you'd have a case, but...if you ask for a relic, I think you've given up the right to quibble about some light scratches.

 

[lokikallas]

Nah bro, looks like crap.

 

[smurfco]

There are good looking light relic jobs. This is not one of them.

Relicing != running some sandpaper across the top of the body.

 

[Fynn]

Hi everyone! I'm building a parts p bass, and I recently ordered a black nitro body that seemed to have a very light relic... only a few bumps and some checking.

I received the package last night, and while I was surprised at a couple of scratches that seemed odd even in a relic body, I thought the body looked okay.

After looking at it this morning with more daylight, I noticed tons of micro scratches throughout the body. Almost as if someone took fine sandpaper to it. Not too happy with that look.

Is this expected? Am I being too picky? I have a 70s and an 80s bass that have been abused through the years, and neither shows this type of wear. Pictures below: one angled to highlight the scratches and a more direct one. Thoughts?

View attachment 4813080 View attachment 4813078

You ordered a body that was lightly reliced, or you ordered a body that was just not handled carefully, or some sort of second hand product? It's weird to me how someone would even come up with the idea of selling a bass body that is just very lightly reliced.
If you don't like the scratches (they do look intentionally put on there), then just polish the body until it looks better. I'm sure those will go away with some polishing.

 

[FunkHead]

Scratches don’t look good. It looks like a failed attempt at relicing.

 

[Fynn]

I've become exhausted with the relic craze. I try hard to buy my basses with a new finish, it's my job to mess it up, lol. Good luck with the build, i like seeing peeps put together their own

I'm playing a game where I try to keep new basses as clean as possible, right until the first scratch. Then it's about two weeks of grief, until I just accept it and start to not care as much anymore haha

 

[Chrisk-K]

You wanted a lightly relic’d body, so?

 

[bassydrums]

Like I mentioned, I ordered this as a new product from them. I feel somewhat uncomfortable sharing the name since I don’t want give a bad reputation for one bad item, but this is supposedly someone who used to work for MJT, they have good reviews on eBay, etc, etc, no red flags. I also don’t think a light relic is anything uncommon, I’ve seen it quite a bit, even fender offers “closet classics” or whatever they’re called. I actually didn’t want any relic but this is the lightest I could find on a nitro body without having to wait a long time for a custom order. If anyone has any tips on where I could get a non relic nitro body without dropping 700+tax on a american original body from stratosphere, I’m all ears.

 

[ole Jason]

The razor checking looks alright. The pic w/ the pickguard on looks fine to me. I probably wouldn't be too torn up about it unless I spent a lot on the body.

 

[Alessandro Cruz]

If it was sold AS NEW, then you deserved to receive a NEW product, not that scratched thing.

 

[LadyLoveStingRay5]

I think you got what was advertised .
My Sandberg has a light relic job . It’s has no checking but some very light scratches and swirls that could easily be buffed out. You have to look really close to even see them.

 

[HardNHeavy]

Eww...yeh sandpaper is not a natural relic.....On the plus side the pickguard saved you.

 

[J-Bass RMR]

It doesn't appear to be a professional job.
If you are "lightly" relic'ing a bass, why would you think:
"I wonder what real wear would look like under the pickguard"?

The lighting doesn't help. It doesn't look as bad with the pickguard.
Ironically, you may be able to wet-sand and buff some of that out.

 

[sleddogn]

Maybe, relic it up a bit more to cover those areas exposed after pickguard