SHOW YOUR DISTRESSED FINISHES!

[JIO]

Has anyone owned a reliced/non-reliced bass by John Kallas? Tempted to start saving to get one of his basses.

Don't own one but he does beautiful work.

 

[Cuzzie]

Another mild relic I put together - I converted a USA Highway One jazz bass into a ‘Jazzenbackus’

Routed the normal cavities to accept the Seymour Duncan Rickenbacker pick ups (they are very very good)
Status graphite neck
Stellartone Tonestyler V4 tele jazz plate.

most marks are from errant drills and a tiny bit of relicing

 

[RNG1]

A decent job of making the routs go away - what was your method after the plugs?

So I did the wood fillers with a price of 25 year old ash my neighbor had so I really thought there would not be shrinkage. Then I brought it to a refinisher who did all of that filler work you see in that other picture and it looked amazing but six months later it now looks like this so I got bummed and stuck it in a box on a closet. However since this thread I’m thinking I should relic it any worry about the cracks.

 

[SJLee]

So I did the wood fillers with a price of 25 year old ash my neighbor had so I really thought there would not be shrinkage. Then I brought it to a refinisher who did all of that filler work you see in that other picture and it looked amazing but six months later it now looks like this so I got bummed and stuck it in a box on a closet. However since this thread I’m thinking I should relic it any worry about the cracks.
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You should send it to John Kallas. He'll fix it up right for you. He also does relic finishes.

 

[Microbass]

That’s a shame. The grain on that body is incredible. I’d rock it as is!

 

[JIO]

So I did the wood fillers with a price of 25 year old ash my neighbor had so I really thought there would not be shrinkage. Then I brought it to a refinisher who did all of that filler work you see in that other picture and it looked amazing but six months later it now looks like this so I got bummed and stuck it in a box on a closet. However since this thread I’m thinking I should relic it any worry about the cracks.
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Doing fill-in's like that, no matter how well will inevitably ghost through. There is a way to do it so it doesn't, but it's a much more involved process and yes, John Kallas knows how to do it. Simply put, you would have to remove/rout a 1/4" layer over the entire area around the cavity from the butt to the bottom of the P-pu rout and tightly fit a matching (matching the grain pattern as close as possible) piece of ash (which adds difficulty due to the pronounced grain) so there is barely any gaps all - essentially a (glued) pressure fit. For the control cavity rout - the added layer would have to go from the tip of the lower horn straight down to the butt. All seams would be parallel - similar to a multi-piece body. On older instruments with a multi-piece body and thin nitro finishes (as in the 60's) you will occasionally see the seams faintly.

It can still be done - the cavities would need to be filled anyway, and if done correctly you could do a trans finish allowing the grain to show through. But even if you went with an opaque coating - the fix wouldn't be apparent as time goes on.

 

[JIO]

View attachment 3568667 Another mild relic I put together - I converted a USA Highway One jazz bass into a ‘Jazzenbackus’

Routed the normal cavities to accept the Seymour Duncan Rickenbacker pick ups (they are very very good)
Status graphite neck
Stellartone Tonestyler V4 tele jazz plate.

most marks are from errant drills and a tiny bit of relicing

I installed a SD Hawkbucker like yours in my '64 T-bird II in the late 80's - great pu's - very authentically T-bird IV sounding. I've owned it since '78 and played it for years in Chicago blues bars - it has 'player wear' but pretty minimal as I always was careful with it. T-birds necks (long neck/narrow nut/huge hs) commonly break - mine is still intact. (knock on 55yr old wood!)

 

[RNG1]

Doing fill-in's like that, no matter how well will inevitably ghost through. There is a way to do it so it doesn't, but it's a much more involved process and yes, John Kallas knows how to do it. Simply put, you would have to remove/rout a 1/4" layer over the entire area around the cavity from the butt to the bottom of the P-pu rout and tightly fit a matching (matching the grain pattern as close as possible) piece of ash (which adds difficulty due to the pronounced grain) so there is barely any gaps all - essentially a (glued) pressure fit. For the control cavity rout - the added layer would have to go from the tip of the lower horn straight down to the butt. All seams would be parallel - similar to a multi-piece body. On older instruments with a multi-piece body and thin nitro finishes (as in the 60's) you will occasionally see the seams faintly.

It can still be done - the cavities would need to be filled anyway, and if done correctly you could do a trans finish allowing the grain to show through. But even if you went with an opaque coating - the fix wouldn't be apparent as time goes on.

Thanks. I was also thinking given this is such a heavy body and it’s already lost any value because of everything that’s gone on of actually having it chambered then putting a veneer over the entire top given that I intended to have it painted anyway. But at this point I can’t see sinking so much money into this thing which is the reason why the neck is currently living on that other body...

 

[JIO]

Thanks. I was also thinking given this is such a heavy body and it’s already lost any value because of everything that’s gone on of actually having it chambered then putting a veneer over the entire top given that I intended to have it painted anyway. But at this point I can’t see sinking so much money into this thing which is the reason why the neck is currently living on that other body...

I did that with a heavy alder J body - removed 1/2" from the top, (it was 1-1/2") filled it full of forestner-bit holes, and capped it with 1/4" maple which also was 'chambered'. A lot of work but it lightened it and gave it a certain tone that works well for soloing.

I also buried a brass bridge ground into the lower 1/2 ala Bruce Johnson.

 

[RNG1]

I did that with a heavy alder J body - removed 1/2" from the top, (it was 1-1/2") filled it full of forestner-bit holes, and capped it with 1/4" maple which also was 'chambered'. A lot of work but it lightened it and gave it a certain tone that works well for soloing.

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Pretty much exactly what I was thinking except I was trying to figure out this one area: how did you get the veneer to bend nicely?

 

[JIO]

Pretty much exactly what I was thinking except I was trying to figure out this one area: how did you get the veneer to bend nicely?
View attachment 3568954

It was shaved from flat to a slight bevel once it was glued together. As you can see in the pic of the 1/4" maple - I didn't chamber that area. So the taper only dips a bit less than 1/4" as I ran 1/4" binding at the seam.

This is an earlier pic when it had creme pu covers and round-wound strings - the elbow taper is actually more than it looks in this shot but still is minimal. Marty Bell/SoCal did the finishing.

 

[RNG1]

It was shaved from flat to a slight bevel once it was glued together. As you can see in the pic of the 1/4" maple - I didn't chamber that area. So the taper only dips a bit less than 1/4" as I ran 1/4" binding at the seam.

This is an earlier pic when it had creme pu covers and round-wound strings - the elbow taper is actually more than it looks in this shot but still is minimal. Marty Bell/SoCal did the finishing.
View attachment 3569004

Really nice job on all that, I’ve seen these Bell sparkle jobs. Certainly the guy for that work.
Did you literally just plane down the face of it on a planer? I’ve got a neighbor with a large planer in his shop that could easily get a perfect job on that it just seems like a crazy thing to do. What did you use for that quarter inch binding that you mention? because I don’t see any trace of that obviously with the paint job

 

[JIO]

Really nice job on all that, I’ve seen these Bell sparkle jobs. Certainly the guy for that work.
Did you literally just plane down the face of it on a planer? I’ve got a neighbor with a large planer in his shop that could easily get a perfect job on that it just seems like a crazy thing to do. What did you use for that quarter inch binding that you mention? because I don’t see any trace of that obviously with the paint job

It's flexible plastic binding material - comes in different lengths, widths and colours. I used creme. Stew Mac sells it and there are various on-line sources also. There's tutorials on youtube on how to install it. I edge-routed the reveal on each section before gluing it together - it's the only way it can be done neatly. I did do it once by hand (carving/chiseling out the reveal) but I wouldn't recommend doing it that way. It turned out good but was very laborious. The back is trans-tobacco which looks very dark brown until in sunlight where you can see it's depth.

You could plane the material off as long as the planer blades were fresh/sharp, a little bit at a pass. I've done it in the past. On this one I used a router and a simple flattening rig I made. There's a how-to on youtube by a furniture guy on how to make one but I didn't bookmark it.

Found it - I'd make it all of wood unless you have access to a welder. Pretty basic and it works well.

 

[God's Favorite Bass]

Rutting through all the garbage on FB I was able to retrieve a slab bodied 66 P, a J, some guys P and a good smelling J. Photo dumpster diving...

 

[JIO]

@ClassicJazz 's '72 J - (borrowed from a concurrent thread)

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[JIO]

borrowed from another thread - @Chucky Stiletti 's '68 NR T-bird II
Still has its original brass mute. Both my '63 and '64 birds had them and I removed both! (as most players did) Still have both plates, the '64 with the original white felt mute squares!

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[Ashley Weyer]

Burnt finish and purpose made wild olive cover plate / pickguard on a Yamaha BB 2000

 

[God's Favorite Bass]

 

[God's Favorite Bass]

 

[God's Favorite Bass]

Some happy ones I found. Some are almost, or are too clean but dang it they are cool.