SHOW YOUR DISTRESSED FINISHES!

[Dynacord]

My 66 jazz. Well played and loved. When I got it, it had a carved up body, microphonic pickups, and gunk everywhere! I’ve since potted the pickups, replaced the body with a bloomdoom relic body in firemist gold, cleaned it, and sent it off for a refret. Should have it back by early December. Wish I took a photo of the back of the neck, all played in and wonderfully worn.
Pic when I got it
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Pic of it currently.
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I've seen a number of carved bodies and that one is done way better than most. Could look great with a JIO gold leaf job IMO.

 

[SJLee]

Sorry for my long silence. Film production has finally picked back up here and I've been very busy. Have not looked at Talkbass in the last month.

Anyway, that Tele sure looks like a reissue to me. The orange color of the 'clay' dots being the most immediate 'tell'.

Here's a few various photos of wear on authentic pre-CBS examples (most likely authentic, anyway - very hard to be 100% sure as many were redone at the time and Fender used various painters - some like the silver burst Strat have known history from new - and some then contemporary refins were done by some of the same painters Fender used like Dennis Swiden). Note that a lot of these were shot over colors and it was typical that many had a matt black basecoat. Also it should be considered that some of the sparkle/metal flake jobs were done in a nitro clear base/topcoats while others were done in acrylic and these age very differently. It's also typical that a lot of these combined different flake colors as well as different color tinted clearcoats before final clear.

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Here's an original that was done in acrylic. You can see how much cleaner it remained and none of the sinkage typical of nitro are far less discoloration or checking:

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Stunning!

 

[Deleted member 365158]

50 yard fox

 

[God's Favorite Bass]

50 yard fox
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Man, I had one just like that and it was way beyond decent. I miss that one.

 

[God's Favorite Bass]

Heres a few from around.

 

[2saddleslab]

Yes siree Bob!

 

[JIO]

Sorry for my long silence. Film production has finally picked back up here and I've been very busy. Have not looked at Talkbass in the last month.

Anyway, that Tele sure looks like a reissue to me. The orange color of the 'clay' dots being the most immediate 'tell'.

Here's a few various photos of wear on authentic pre-CBS examples (most likely authentic, anyway - very hard to be 100% sure as many were redone at the time and Fender used various painters - some like the silver burst Strat have known history from new - and some then contemporary refins were done by some of the same painters Fender used like Dennis Swiden). Note that a lot of these were shot over colors and it was typical that many had a matt black basecoat. Also it should be considered that some of the sparkle/metal flake jobs were done in a nitro clear base/topcoats while others were done in acrylic and these age very differently. It's also typical that a lot of these combined different flake colors as well as different color tinted clearcoats before final clear.

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Here's an original that was done in acrylic. You can see how much cleaner it remained and none of the sinkage typical of nitro are far less discoloration or checking:

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Awesome pics! Welcome back man! Yes, nitro's cool if you are ok with a long-term wonderfully 'distressed' finish (as we are) - but Pat Wilkins and Marty Bell (Marty now retired from what I know) doing their clear-coats in poly... well, that's good news to my gilded finished ears.

 

[JIO]

Here's an oddball I had. Original gold bridge from a '61 3 knob Jazz. Bridge was obviously a leftover late 50's P bass bridge. It was clear why they changed as the Jazz Bass bridge cover would not lay flat (close but no...). Neckplate was also earlier with a date more in the '59 range (I had the full set of hardware off the bass).


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cool

 

[Dynacord]

Awesome pics! Welcome back man! Yes, nitro's cool if you are ok with a long-term wonderfully 'distressed' finish (as we are) - but Pat Wilkins and Marty Bell (Marty now retired from what I know) doing their clear-coats in poly... well, that's good news to my gilded finished ears.

Thanks! Yeah, Marty and Pat do great work and there's a real depth that poly can get that really works for flake finishes in particular. They would not be my choices for a '68 or earlier Fender though.

 

[JIO]

My 66 jazz. Well played and loved. When I got it, it had a carved up body, microphonic pickups, and gunk everywhere! I’ve since potted the pickups, replaced the body with a bloomdoom relic body in firemist gold, cleaned it, and sent it off for a refret. Should have it back by early December. Wish I took a photo of the back of the neck, all played in and wonderfully worn.
Pic when I got it
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Pic of it currently.
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Absolutely love it! Early '66 dot & bound is my favorite J and FGM one of my favorite Fender finishes. Two thumbs way up!

vintage '66 alder J body / re-fin Oly white poly- custom repro dot & bound neck / Honduran mahogany fb.

My custom FGM 24 fret EMG active Supersonic - not relic'd but celebrating that classic GTO finish.

 

[Dynacord]

Absolutely love it! Early '66 dot & bound is my favorite J and FGM one of my favorite Fender finishes. Two thumbs way up!

vintage '66 alder J body / re-fin Oly white poly- custom repro dot & bound neck / Honduran mahogany fb.
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My custom FGM 24 fret EMG active Supersonic - not relic'd but celebrating that classic GTO finish.
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Well, that was interesting timing with my last comment - no offense intended! Why did you choose to do it in poly?

 

[JIO]

Thanks! Yeah, Marty and Pat do great work and there's a real depth that poly can get that really works for flake finishes in particular. They would not be my choices for a '68 or earlier Fender though.

No worries David! Considering the body is the only vintage '66 part of it, I felt like I didn't need to get religious about it! I guess I could have done my '66 in nitro... she's my player and has a few chips, but with Bond Girl (now freshly rejuvenated - auditioned a new drummer earlier tonight) - it's very faux "show biz" so visually a 'clean machine' is what I'm shooting for. (and it plays/sounds killer too!) Pat shot the OW hs face w/a bit of amber to invite comparisons to an actual '66 early Oly White J where the hs face is more amber'd than the body. A subtle visual that I appreciate. (hard to see in the pic I posted - but nice & subtle in person. (only geeks like us would notice/care)

Besides that trivia - how are things in Poland? I've thought about you much of late. (politically ATC that is...)

 

[Dynacord]

No worries David! I guess I could have done my '66 in nitro... she's my player and has a few chips, but with Bond Girl (now freshly rejuvenated - auditioned a new drummer earlier tonight) - it's very faux "show biz" so visually a 'clean machine' is what I'm shooting for. (and it plays/sounds killer too!) Pat shot the OW hs face w/a bit of amber to invite comparisons to an actual '66 early Oly White J where the hs face is more amber'd than the body. A subtle visual that I appreciate. (hard to see in the pic I posted - but nice & subtle in person. (only geeks like us would notice/care)

Cool. That makes sense. I've seen Oly White '66s both ways - with heavily yellowed bodies and without. I looked at buying one at Steve's Music World in Santa Cruz (now long gone but some amazing deals in there - I bought the '64 t-bird that Tiran Porter played in The Doobie Brothers in there for $1,100 with the original case in '95 - and there was an original 3 tone sunburst, gold guard '59 Jazzmaster with brown case for $900 at the same time that I still kick myself for not buying) for $1,600 in '92 or '93 and it was one where the headstock was so yellowed it looked almost like a regular unmatched headstock and the body - original - was one where Fender skipped the clearcoat so it was totally stark white.

 

[JIO]

Cool. That makes sense. I've seen Oly White '66s both ways - with heavily yellowed bodies and without. I looked at buying one at Steve's Music World in Santa Cruz (now long gone but some amazing deals in there - I bought the '64 t-bird that Tiran Porter played in The Doobie Brothers in there for $1,100 with the original case in '95 - and there was an original 3 tone sunburst, gold guard '59 Jazzmaster with brown case for $900 at the same time that I still kick myself for not buying) for $1,600 in '92 or '93 and it was one where the headstock was so yellowed it looked almost like a regular unmatched headstock and the body - original - was one where Fender skipped the clearcoat so it was totally stark white.

Nels probably owns it now!

 

[Dynacord]

Nels probably owns it now!

Could be! It was a really clean one, too.

 

[JIO]

Funny seeing your note of you getting your awesome Inverses green '64 T-bird in '95 - I only had my '64 II and a very used black '86 Kubicki Ex-Factor - and that's all! Hah! I bought a lined fretless Ex-Factor neck for it new from Phil in '94 which ended up on my Koa bodied, G&L powered Ex-Factorbird! (currently strung BEAD) - recording using it below.

 

[Dynacord]

Funny seeing your note of you getting your awesome Inverses green '64 T-bird in '95 - I only had my '64 II and a very used black '86 Kubicki Ex-Factor - and that's all! Hah! I bought a lined fretless Ex-Factor neck for it new from Phil in '94 which ended up on my Koa bodied, G&L powered Ex-Factorbird! (currently strung BEAD) recording using it below

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The Inverness t-bird I got a little later in Ohio. The Doobie Brothers one was the regular tobacco sunburst - though with two mods by the Doobie's tech, Mark Brown: a Fender bridge on top of a plastic spacer and hotter pickups from a late 60's non-reverse t-bird.

 

[JIO]

The Inverness t-bird I got a little later in Ohio. The Doobie Brothers one was the regular tobacco sunburst - though with two mods by the Doobie's tech, Mark Brown: a Fender bridge on top of a plastic spacer and hotter pickups from a late 60's non-reverse t-bird.

Interesting... so the gen II "NR" late '60s T-birds had hotter pu's? My '64 sounds pretty huge! Although (as you know) I added a Seymour Duncan "Hawkbucker" in '86 - a great sounding pu - never a second of regret for modding it! It goes to the grave with me.

Funny, I've yet to record it - something for 2023!

 

[Dynacord]

Interesting... so the gen II "NR" late '60s T-birds had hotter pu's? My '64 sounds pretty huge! Although (as you know) I added a Seymour Duncan "Hawkbucker" in '86 - a great sounding pu - never a second of regret for modding it! It goes to the grave with me.

Funny, I've yet to record it - something for 2023!
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Yes, that's the sort of the general trend - that the later 60's t-bird pickups were wound hotter. Like you, I agree that the earlier ones sound great as is. Hawbuckers are great too. I knew a guy in Santa Barbara right around that same time ('86) who really had the slap/pop thing down and used those in pretty much all his basses. All around great player with great tone with the various techniques and got the gig playing with L.A. Express.

 

[cymbop]

After three months of daily play, my no-clear-coat experiment is starting to do its thing: