Yep. Hotly debated for years - though I think true. Heard of the exact same thing being done at that time in Italy as well.
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SHOW YOUR DISTRESSED FINISHES!
- Thread starter JIO
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Yep. Hotly debated for years - though I think true. Heard of the exact same thing being done at that time in Italy as well.
This one has been for sale multiple times. Great backstory. High suspicion from a number of people who know a lot more than me that it was a late 50's factory refin - this makes sense given the serial number in the pickup cavity as this is how they were done prior to using the punches (or soldering iron) that was common in the 60's (as on that Charcoal Frost Jazz Bass a couple pages back). The numbers were also done on the back of the neck where it faces into the neck pocket (between the mounting screws). Fullerton himself mentions that this was the process used by the factory for refins and leaves room in his story for that being possible ("so perhaps this is an early example of that production process").
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Could be that Fullerton had the first version mixed as he recalled but then when he went back, in order to standardize the mix, the shop just gave him/Fender what was a close 'standard' then current color - i.e. Ford Fiesta Red. Speculation, of course.
- Jun 30, 2010
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- musician/artist/owner - Gildaxe
- Jun 30, 2010
- 49,612
- 222,128
- Disclosures
- musician/artist/owner - Gildaxe
Entirely possible knowing that a business would want to satisfy a client/customer in the most efficient way at their disposal.
- Jun 30, 2010
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My '63 Burns Vista Sonic had the serial # stamped into the neck pu cavity - 1173 (!) - it looks like it was stamped on some sort of perforated material glued in the cavity. Very Twin Peaks...
There may have been more than a single source for those refins. I've seen two UK sourced Fiesta/Salmon Pinks - the finish on those looked to be nitro rather than poly (they had checking and the rub throughs typical of nitro). The whole issue of "Selmer refins" has been a big point of debate with UK collectors - the argument on one side being "they're a myth started years ago by a Denmark Street dealer who wanted to make refins appear more 'authentic'."
Apparently there are floor plans which show Selmer did not have a spray facility. (h/t to another Talkbass member who I'm paraphrasing)
On the other side are anecdotal stories of encounters with people who are purported to have done the actual resprays. Of course, Selmer could have sent them out to be sprayed elsewhere and there could have been more than a single place (and color shade/paint type) - Fender did the same thing with sparkle and some other custom finishes.
I don't know with certainty what's true on the Selmer refin legend but it's certainly plausible. Also further confused as Fender itself was sending a lot of factory finished Fiesta Reds to the UK then as well.
I do know for a fact that Bruce Thomas' P bass was a later respray - as it's one which sometimes gets mentioned (he said himself that he had it done).
Then there's also the stories of "Roman Red"...
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Agreed. Though I do not have information on who did refinishing for John Entwistle, many of his instruments were refinished, possibly the most notorious being "Frankenstein".
- Jun 30, 2010
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Not aware of these debated 'refins' - I have two books on Burns and all that is mentioned is they were shot with poly.
I think you're right that the Burns were poly (my Meazzi is and from that same era - very different finish from nitro). The 2 UK Fiesta Reds I've seen (both Jazz Basses) were nitro for sure. One was over white and the other over sunburst and these could be traced back to being sold new in the UK. Of course, this doesn't prove anything as they could have either left the Fender factory like that or been oversprayed in the UK. If either was poly and had the same lineage of ownership back to being bought new that would be pretty definitive.
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Nice! (nice photo too!) I have a good friend who is a G&L guy. He has a few choice '80s guitars and one black L1000.
Interesting circular marks on the back of this one. I've heard of round padding as a buckle guard but have never seen how one is attached.
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That's wild - very subtle. Most likely something DIY. The more common back-of-body protection for Fenders were the rubber Parker formed 'condoms' (for lack of a better description...)
I've been pouring over Norm's Rare Guitar videos trying to find the Fender bass with the pad, but with no luck. It's a Mark Agnesi era video. I have also seen them on Gretsch guitars which have snaps.
Would love to know if those snaps are somehow fastened to the body directly or if there is some other material that the other end of the snap attaches to between the pad and the back of the guitar. They seem pointless if you are marking up the finish and or body of the instrument to attach a pad - unless there's something I'm not getting?
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I remember a 60's Vox hollowbody bass with similar snap on pad as well.
I believe so - but it was a long time ago so not absolutely sure. It was a friend's bass - not mine.
