Most of the apparent distressing on Fender's "Road Worn" series guitars/basses isn't distressing at all, nor is it from sanding.
What you see is accomplished through a systemized finishing process for the production lines that involve applications of masking that block the lacquer when the body is sprayed, leaving patches of wood exposed. The remainder of the appearance is achieved when the finish on the body is buffed on a wheel; they smooth and blend the transitions between the lacquer and the bare spots.
The lacquer finishing and distressing on Fender Custom Shop Pino signatures series P basses, which seem so commonly coveted, is also accomplished similarly. It's obvious from how the so-called belt buckle rash on the backs of Pino P basses looks.
This is necessitated by Fender's need for repeatable consistency of "relicing" on certain signature series and "Road Worn" series production.
The techniques Fender Custom Shop uses for finish distressing for non-signature series instruments and what Gibson Murphy Lab uses are different and much more time-consuming and skill-intensive than the mass production methods used for the signature series "Road Worn" models.
The most expensive "Master Built" Fender Custom Shop instruments that are ordered with aging or distressing get the most exacting and time-intensive treatments which are entirely different from a production line instrument, most of all the MIM "Road Worn" series instruments.
It's like anything else. There's a relationship between the intensity of time and work put into making something and the price.
