SHOW YOUR DISTRESSED FINISHES!

[JIO]

Good point. Most double-necks are very heavy.

Steinberger double neck would be good also -

 

[JIO]

Hi!

You know how much I love Fender Mustang Basses but...



BACK TO THE P, BABY!

Precision Bass 58'/59' GoldGuard style with Seymour Duncan Antiquity II 60s Pride 2 for P-bass (raised pole pieces for the A string)

View attachment 7323793

It's no mystery why the lion's share of player-distressed finishes are on P-basses

 

[JIO]

Another personal favorite - '67 short-scale Dano Dane D2B4 w/OHSC from Jeff Tweedy's collection - 'lightly destressed'

 

[JIO]

'74 J

'90 faux flamed/veneer ? J -

 

[JIO]

 

[BASS YODA]

My distressed Precision Bass 58'/59' GoldGuard!

YouTube : @thorobadtribute
Instagram : @thorobadtribute
Facebook : @thorobadtribute

One Bourbon, One Scotch, One Beer, One Subscribe, One Like, One Share!

Thanks.

 

[JAC77]

my P. Classic series 50’s laquer neck, unknown body.

 

[JAC77]

Appears to be a refinish, Daphne blue over sea foam green

 

[TonyTonewood]

A previous owner of this Peavey Milestone II 4-string had sprayed the body in a thick drippy coat of rattle-can red and silver paint, and then the bass had undergone some kind of heat and/or highly corrosive event.

So me stripping it down was more a rescue job than relic treatment. I used stove knob adapters on the pots and engine block paint on the pickguard to keep my out of pocket costs at zero.

Sounded pretty good but I eventually donated it to make room for more rescues. The squid or whatever was a happy surprise I discovered after careful but endless sanding.

 

[xsnrg27]

Here is a few.

 

[TrevorR]

I’m a bit of an abject failure at this thread… I’ve kept all my basses in pretty much pristine condition, even my first ever bass bought over 40 years ago. I’ve also never been a relic fan. However, I absolutely fell in love with this Sandberg bass at the start of this year and bought it anyway. It’s strictly one of their heavy relic models but I think that the relicing is pretty restrained and tastefully done. They call this “Marley Blue”.

 

[TrevorR]

PS the worst professional relic job I think I’ve seen done was on the Fender Custom Shop reissue based on Rory Gallagher’s Stratocaster. Urgh, the hard edges on all the bits of varnish. Abysmal, like they’ve put on relic stickers! And the bright white trem arm button against the parchment stained scratchplate…

 

[triviani]

Just recently got this '79 Navigator. It looked gorgeous but unfortunately the neck was busted. The clear coat was almost gone and you could feel the wood with your fingers. Plenty of small dings and scratches apart of what you can see in the pic.

 

[JIO]

PS the worst professional relic job I think I’ve seen done was on the Fender Custom Shop reissue based on Rory Gallagher’s Stratocaster. Urgh, the hard edges on all the bits of varnish. Abysmal, like they’ve put on relic stickers! And the bright white trem arm button against the parchment stained scratchplate…
View attachment 7336286

Relic-ing is all across the spectrum. I'd have to say the majority is fair to not good. The reason why is that a well done/convincing artificial distressing is at least an artisan skill. It's not like a standard finish, which a skilled sprayer masters. It requires intensive studying of many actual player-worn examples and creatively coming up with techniques to approximate the "look". It's the main reason I started this thread now 12yrs ago. I wanted to develop a library of examples one could use as reference if doing a relic finish. I feel that the best examples are done by individual artist/artisans of a high level. A production relic-job is not in that league. Even the FCS is controlled by Fender so under a financial structure related to how many hours are afforded to any one project. As there are a number of members of the FCS, it also depends on who is doing the relic-ing. (some better than others)

There's mediocre art, and there's great art. Great art is and should be expensive because it is in the minority. An actual player very-worn finish became what it is being played... a lot. Fender guitars/basses from the '50s/'60s started life with thin lacquer finishes. Those instruments far outnumbered any other brand for professional players. Add to that that lacquer shrinks over time, becoming even thinner. The results is these beautiful examples that many people are attracted to, and want to emulate stylistically. CBS Fender as a financially focused corporation only wanted their guitars/basses to stay looking new (like a new car), and their thick poly finishes more or less provided that.

I've covered much of this topic here over those 12 years, but the allure of a distressed-finish bass/guitar is essentially romantic. "the stories it could tell if it could talk...", but personally I also feel it liberates the player from worrying about their instrument's finish. Once the surface 'perfection' is marred - it leaves one to focus more on PLAYING that instrument. That's one reason the Fender Road Worn series was so popular. Not the most convincing relic-ing by a long shot - but great instruments that felt, sounded and played great - and for an affordable cost. And bonus, if re-selling... it looks the same from 'brand new'. Genius really.

 

[JIO]

Just recently got this '79 Navigator. It looked gorgeous but unfortunately the neck was busted. The clear coat was almost gone and you could feel the wood with your fingers. Plenty of small dings and scratches apart of what you can see in the pic.

"...the neck was busted".. it was cracked? / warped/bowed/twisted? / fb separated?

 

[triviani]

"...the neck was busted".. it was cracked? / warped/bowed/twisted? / fb separated?

The truss rod didn’t move and the skunk stripe was popping out a bit.

 

[JIO]

The truss rod didn’t move and the skunk stripe was popping out a bit.

FTR, that can be fixed.

 

[triviani]

FTR, that can be fixed.

A shop would charge me for the fix more than what I’d want to pay. Luthier work is very expensive in Japan.

 

[paulelhierro]

My '67 Fender Coronado Bass II distressed by playing...
The paint seems to dissolve because of my sweat, so it's a winterbass. It's a fantastic bass, despite all the negative comments on internet.

 

[sonic boogaloo]

My '67 Fender Coronado Bass II distressed by playing...

wow! what a fabulous looking bass.

beautiful!