SHOW YOUR DISTRESSED FINISHES!

[eee]

I wasn't aware the G&L had changed the body shape. Are you sure that modified (finish removed) L2k wasn't re-shaped?

I modified a Fender '51P RI with a G&L L2k set-up (MFD pu's & 9v pre). I personally assess it (as many owners have) as the "Swiss Army knife" of basses. It does anything you want, and does it well. Although I wouldn't include that definition myself - I guess it could "rip your head off"... as one of the many things it does well!

Take a look at some older L2000s, the bass side of the body between the bridge and the upper horn is a little less curved. It’s definitely a better look!

As for the electronics, I guess I’m talking about the output…this bass has so much of EVERYTHING

 

[eee]

Here’s a few more pics, I’ve been playing it and tweaking it

 

[JIO]

Lot's of nice pics - Neil Stubehaus 1961 Vintage Fender Jazz Bass w/Tweed Hard Case | eBay

 

[JIO]

'64 Teisco Del Rey EB-200 - I own this exact bass, same colour & pu's but is in a bit better condition. A really excellent ss bass. I wish I had the OHSC...

Mine isn't missing the super-cool Del Rey hs decal ...

...and metal model designation on the back -

The visually distinct multi-lam neck sold me - the one on Reverb has a similar lamination but just not as visually distinct.

 

[JIO]

Extremely distressed J? bass. Someone took torification/roasting a bit too far...

 

[Five or Six]

I've been through most of this post. I have to say it's one of my favorites of all time! Thanks all for sharing...

 

[JIO]

No affiliation - more pics on the eBay auction -

1963 Fender Jazz Bass Sunburst Finish Vintage Pre CBS Electric Guitar w/OHSC | eBay

 

[Swings]

Do the majority of people in this thread expect to see fenders, “designed” distress, and top level basses or is it ok to show some pics of my cheap basses and a bit of wear/tear/accidents ?

i always have tried to keep my basses’ finishes as perfect as possible but life, wear happens. And some get bought with an interesting history already showing.

Plus those nitro finishes on reissue fenders are ridiculous… they look and feel/sound amazing but a dios mio you can’t even knock it on the case accidentally whilst getting out/putting in the bass, it’s like 90-year old skin, FRAGILE!!!

 

[JIO]

Do the majority of people in this thread expect to see fenders, “designed” distress, and top level basses or is it ok to show some pics of my cheap basses and a bit of wear/tear/accidents ?

i always have tried to keep my basses’ finishes as perfect as possible but life, wear happens. And some get bought with an interesting history already showing.

Plus those nitro finishes on reissue fenders are ridiculous… they look and feel/sound amazing but a dios mio you can’t even knock it on the case accidentally whilst getting out/putting in the bass, it’s like 90-year old skin, FRAGILE!!!

Welcome to tb! My thread is open to any and all basses. It just so happens that Fenders lacquer finishes are some of the most 'common' distressed finishes for a few reasons. They are over 50yrs old, they were very played being the default professional bass then, and the thin nitro shrinks over time making it thinner than when it was new.

By designed distress, I assume you mean an artificially "relic'd" finish. Those are also welcomed here as long as they are examples of that well-executed finishing technique. I consider relic'ing done well as a artisan craft, where a skilled finisher with a studied eye can create a convincing effect. FCS relic finishes are among that level of expertise. No "dragging behind a pick-up truck" BS - a relic finish done well is more valuable than a standard spray-job because it takes skill and time to affect the correct 'look'. A bad relic-job is like anything bad - it lessens the value of an instrument.

Relic'ing is relatively new to guitars, since Fender first did a relic'd Tele for Keith Richards in the early '90s. The process/technique has been around for decades in Decorative Arts (furniture, picture frames, statues, interiors) and when done well is very valuable.

 

[Swings]

My impression from TB reading is that acoustic basses are favoured less well than electric basses.

This bass might make you grin, or cry, depending.

it’s a semi-acoustic- it originally had a preamp and output but the bass got so much use the pickups fell out.
So, it’s spent 98% of its life “can only be recorded with mic”, somewhat neutered. I never got time to use it plugged in.

It’s all original, the neck wood has some wonderful “figuring” from heavy use; I have a patent pending on the screwed E string bridge; the degradation above the soundhole is authentic thumb wear; it’s fretless; the tuners have all seized and i don’t reckon they will wind a fresh set of strings on.
(Yes i had to wind the A on with a “luthier’s knot”)

It was bought new in 2008 and used extensively ever since.

 

[JIO]

My impression from TB reading is that acoustic basses are favoured less well than electric basses.

This bass might make you grin, or cry, depending.

it’s a semi-acoustic- it originally had a preamp and output but the bass got so much use the pickups fell out.
So, it’s spent 98% of its life “can only be recorded with mic”, somewhat neutered. I never got time to use it plugged in.

View attachment 5005160 View attachment 5005161
View attachment 5005162 View attachment 5005163

It’s all original, the neck wood has some wonderful “figuring” from heavy use; I have a patent pending on the screwed E string bridge; the degradation above the soundhole is authentic thumb wear; it’s fretless; the tuners have all seized and i don’t reckon they will wind a fresh set of strings on.
(Yes i had to wind the A on with a “luthier’s knot”)

It was bought new in 2008 and used extensively ever since.

Well, it's a bass and it's been played a lot! All player-worn basses tell a story/display a history of being played. A pristine 50+ yr old bass is always nice to look at/study, but most of the time they have been sitting inside a case under a bed or in a closet unplayed. A well played bass is imbedded with resonance from being played. This is especially true for acoustic instruments like yours.

My '66 P which I acquired 8yrs ago was played by a pro musician based in Portland since buying it new in '66. He passed away and it traded hands by a couple of guitar traders in Portland and Seattle before I bought it here in SF - so essentially I'm the second owner. A couple pro bass-players I know have played it and agree it has something special in the way it sounds and feels. I felt it the first time I played it. It's why I bought it - it's the only P-bass I own.

I've posted pics of it here a few time, just not recently.

Tuners are relic'd RI's - originals are safe in a box. Worm-threads on originals are less - RI with more threads are better for fine-tuning. Each is missing a screw as the hole is just slightly 'off' and I didn't want to distort the existing hole.

These are the originals -

 

[Swings]

Tuners are relic'd RI's - originals are safe in a box. Worm-threads on originals are less - RI with more threads are better for fine-tuning. Each is missing a screw as the hole is just slightly 'off' and I didn't want to distort the existing hole.

These are the originals -

looks like a really well thought out acquisition and then the rationale for replacing tuners… it is splendid

i had glanced at your bass in the thread previously but never read the backstory

 

[JIO]

looks like a really well thought out acquisition and then the rationale for replacing tuners… it is splendid

i had glanced at your bass in the thread previously but never read the backstory

I could afford it, but it was more money than I ever spent on a bass. It's condition and all that pre-CBS/post CBS "worth" helped make it affordable for me. It cracks me up because the same people working in the same factory using the same parts as a '65 "pre CBS" Fender P produced my CBS/Fender P-bass. (purchased for a whole lot less!) Of course everything '60s vintage has gone way up so I wouldn't have been able to justify what it would sell for today.

I attempted to learn who the owner was but only got so far. After he passed, his brother sold it to a shop in Portland and it then got acquired by Mike & Mikes in Seattle. They did the partial re-fret and it ended up at Real Guitars here in SF. Biz to biz trading is pretty common in the vintage guitar world. All I was able to find out was that he was a local Portland pro who recorded and played live. From the evidence the bass holds - he played with a horn-band as B-flat and E-flat (6th fret) had fingernail gouges in the fb. (hung there a lot!)

I couldn't find this pic earlier -

It has the ES "Enter Special" stamp designating it as a special order in '66 -

 

[Swings]

I could afford it, but it was more money than I ever spent on a bass. It's condition and all that pre-CBS/post CBS "worth" helped make it affordable for me. It cracks me up because the same people working in the same factory using the same parts as a '65 "pre CBS" Fender P produced my CBS/Fender P-bass. (purchased for a whole lot less!) Of course everything '60s vintage has gone way up so I wouldn't have been able to justify what it would sell for today.

I attempted to learn who the owner was but only got so far. After he passed, his brother sold it to a shop in Portland and it then got acquired by Mike & Mikes in Seattle. They did the partial re-fret and it ended up at Real Guitars here in SF. Biz to biz trading is pretty common in the vintage guitar world. All I was able to find out was that he was a local Portland pro who recorded and played live. From the evidence the bass holds - he played with a horn-band as B-flat and E-flat (6th fret) had fingernail gouges in the fb. (hung there a lot!)

View attachment 5005964
I couldn't find this pic earlier -
View attachment 5005956
It has the ES "Enter Special" stamp designating it as a special order in '66 -
View attachment 5005960

I have 5 others in various states of wear, the only ones that haven’t been gotten beaten up in some way are basses like my fender reissue (the hell i am abusing that nitro finish) and my Warwick (I’m very overprotective of it and I’ve modded it, that’s enough…)

The bass with the most hours on it (my working bass since 16) is curiously unscathed (poly finish) and i selected it because it had a curiously stained neck underneath the gloss finish.

The Yamaha 5 i have also has lightly marked neck reminiscent of “flamed” necks but it might just be my neck imagination.

in truth, i have had a rewarding relationship with all my basses but i will NEVER be the same since i accidentally let my hofner DB fall over and IT IMPLODED (old old gal, a curiously stained proper flamed neck which looked “ugly” [obviously i have a thing for idiosyncratic stained necks] and proper string PEGS not machines). That traumatised me, i stopped playing upright immediately and would not take up again.
I still have both my bows, an ornery one and a finer German bow i invested in.

It’s no surprise i enjoy fretless EB, flatwounds and defret/consider defretting anything i can (it’s a wicked wish sometimes).

I like percussive playing with frets because, well, PIECES OF METAL ON THE FINGERBOARD

Just a few more pics?

The neck was already discoloured under the gloss when i bought it. I have added decades of use to that though.
All the hardware besides the neck plate has a nice patina, it’s amazing how old some things look when you you take care of them.

This already had an attempted custom paint job on it (complete with silver devil horns or flames on the arms?) when i bought it cheaply, don’t know why it was “given up on”, it’s a solid and precise bass which sounds like a jazz growl crossed with the sound of a bag/clothes zipper being opened.
The wear is my responsibility, but this year i began running a wax over the body and polishing it off in the hope of influencing the colour of the blue paint and putting a shine/barrier on it.
It’s a very playable 5 string, neck flat as a dining table (complete with faint suggestion of flaming marks on back) but the B sounds lacklustre and the strings are widely spaced.

Unfortunately no brush with fame previous owners or exciting “I GOT THIS DENT DURING A BRAWL IN A PUB” stories.

I /have/ had a drumstick thrown at me mid-set though (it grazed me).
I missed the timing for dropping in after the song intro. Not once, but twice.

It was the evening after a long weekend spent staying in a caravan at a studio. The err, “straight up decent” people i was playing bass for harassed me and then didn’t let me sleep (i was never WITH that band i just played for them).
i was delirious, we drove back during the day and straight to the venue.

That was standout “good opportunities with bad people, not worth it” experience.

 

[JIO]

I have 5 others in various states of wear, the only ones that haven’t been gotten beaten up in some way are basses like my fender reissue (the hell i am abusing that nitro finish) and my Warwick (I’m very overprotective of it and I’ve modded it, that’s enough…)

The bass with the most hours on it (my working bass since 16) is curiously unscathed (poly finish) and i selected it because it had a curiously stained neck underneath the gloss finish.

The Yamaha 5 i have also has lightly marked neck reminiscent of “flamed” necks but it might just be my neck imagination.

in truth, i have had a rewarding relationship with all my basses but i will NEVER be the same since i accidentally let my hofner DB fall over and IT IMPLODED (old old gal, a curiously stained proper flamed neck which looked “ugly” [obviously i have a thing for idiosyncratic stained necks] and proper string PEGS not machines). That traumatised me, i stopped playing upright immediately and would not take up again.
I still have both my bows, an ornery one and a finer German bow i invested in.

It’s no surprise i enjoy fretless EB, flatwounds and defret/consider defretting anything i can (it’s a wicked wish sometimes).

I like percussive playing with frets because, well, PIECES OF METAL ON THE FINGERBOARD

Just a few more pics?

View attachment 5006171
View attachment 5006172

The neck was already discoloured under the gloss when i bought it. I have added decades of use to that though.
All the hardware besides the neck plate has a nice patina, it’s amazing how old some things look when you you take care of them.

View attachment 5006206

This already had an attempted custom paint job on it (complete with silver devil horns or flames on the arms?) when i bought it cheaply, don’t know why it was “given up on”, it’s a solid and precise bass which sounds like a jazz growl crossed with the sound of a bag/clothes zipper being opened.
The wear is my responsibility, but this year i began running a wax over the body and polishing it off in the hope of influencing the colour of the blue paint and putting a shine/barrier on it.
It’s a very playable 5 string, neck flat as a dining table (complete with faint suggestion of flaming marks on back) but the B sounds lacklustre and the strings are widely spaced.
View attachment 5006201
View attachment 5006202

View attachment 5006203

Unfortunately no brush with fame previous owners or exciting “I GOT THIS DENT DURING A BRAWL IN A PUB” stories.

I /have/ had a drumstick thrown at me mid-set though (it grazed me).
I missed the timing for dropping in after the song intro. Not once, but twice.

It was the evening after a long weekend spent staying in a caravan at a studio. The err, “straight up decent” people i was playing bass for harassed me and then didn’t let me sleep (i was never WITH that band i just played for them).
i was delirious, we drove back during the day and straight to the venue.

That was standout “good opportunities with bad people, not worth it” experience.

Can you post a full frontal of the blue body? It looks very 'painterly'.

 

[Swings]

Can you post a full frontal of the blue body? It looks very 'painterly'.

“Damnit Janet”… No chance of plausible deniability if anyone on this forum sees me with this bass In Real Life

 

[God's Favorite Bass]

Well, it's a bass and it's been played a lot! All player-worn basses tell a story/display a history of being played. A pristine 50+ yr old bass is always nice to look at/study, but most of the time they have been sitting inside a case under a bed or in a closet unplayed. A well played bass is imbedded with resonance from being played. This is especially true for acoustic instruments like yours.

My '66 P which I acquired 8yrs ago was played by a pro musician based in Portland since buying it new in '66. He passed away and it traded hands by a couple of guitar traders in Portland and Seattle before I bought it here in SF - so essentially I'm the second owner. A couple pro bass-players I know have played it and agree it has something special in the way it sounds and feels. I felt it the first time I played it. It's why I bought it - it's the only P-bass I own.

I've posted pics of it here a few time, just not recently.

View attachment 5005470

View attachment 5005473

View attachment 5005471
Tuners are relic'd RI's - originals are safe in a box. Worm-threads on originals are less - RI with more threads are better for fine-tuning. Each is missing a screw as the hole is just slightly 'off' and I didn't want to distort the existing hole.
View attachment 5005472
These are the originals -
View attachment 5005489

The transition logo is one of my favorites.

 

[Swings]

Well, it's a bass and it's been played a lot! All player-worn basses tell a story/display a history of being played. A pristine 50+ yr old bass is always nice to look at/study, but most of the time they have been sitting inside a case under a bed or in a closet unplayed. A well played bass is imbedded with resonance from being played. This is especially true for acoustic instruments like yours.

My '66 P which I acquired 8yrs ago was played by a pro musician based in Portland since buying it new in '66. He passed away and it traded hands by a couple of guitar traders in Portland and Seattle before I bought it here in SF - so essentially I'm the second owner. A couple pro bass-players I know have played it and agree it has something special in the way it sounds and feels. I felt it the first time I played it. It's why I bought it - it's the only P-bass I own.

I've posted pics of it here a few time, just not recently.

View attachment 5005470

View attachment 5005473

View attachment 5005471
Tuners are relic'd RI's - originals are safe in a box. Worm-threads on originals are less - RI with more threads are better for fine-tuning. Each is missing a screw as the hole is just slightly 'off' and I didn't want to distort the existing hole.
View attachment 5005472
These are the originals -
View attachment 5005489

i was told that the the tuners on some of the older fender basses weren’t able to wind backwards. Ok, but how in heck was tuning possible if a string was sharp ??

 

[Kubicki Fan]

I could afford it, but it was more money than I ever spent on a bass. It's condition and all that pre-CBS/post CBS "worth" helped make it affordable for me. It cracks me up because the same people working in the same factory using the same parts as a '65 "pre CBS" Fender P produced my CBS/Fender P-bass. (purchased for a whole lot less!) Of course everything '60s vintage has gone way up so I wouldn't have been able to justify what it would sell for today.

I attempted to learn who the owner was but only got so far. After he passed, his brother sold it to a shop in Portland and it then got acquired by Mike & Mikes in Seattle. They did the partial re-fret and it ended up at Real Guitars here in SF. Biz to biz trading is pretty common in the vintage guitar world. All I was able to find out was that he was a local Portland pro who recorded and played live. From the evidence the bass holds - he played with a horn-band as B-flat and E-flat (6th fret) had fingernail gouges in the fb. (hung there a lot!)

View attachment 5005964
I couldn't find this pic earlier -
View attachment 5005956
It has the ES "Enter Special" stamp designating it as a special order in '66 -
View attachment 5005960

Friggin' gorgeous..

 

[Will_White]

i was told that the the tuners on some of the older fender basses weren’t able to wind backwards. Ok, but how in heck was tuning possible if a string was sharp ??

I think that was a misunderstanding of the only tune up advice. If you tune down, especially with the coarser gears, it will slip slightly flat because the gear isn't seated against the tension.