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SHOW YOUR DISTRESSED FINISHES!

#1,262
funk7856 said:
IMG_2337_zpsya8szovt.jpg
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Alright.., major tease here :) I like everything about this picture - a vintage P ('66 or around then?) with a 'vintage' album collection including Impulse series (Coltrane etc), Sam Cook, John Lee Hooker, Howlin' Wolf ... more info/more pics!
 
#1,266
Pauly 4001 said:
View attachment 1069836 View attachment 1069834 View attachment 1069835 Here's a Shaftesbury that's pretty distressed all around. I confess I did briefly take an electric sander to it out of curiosity but the bad brushed on paint job and amputated headstock were there when I got it. It came in a hardshell guitar case that I'm sure the headstock was chopped to fit with all of the hardware in a separate bag.
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Shaftsbury indeed! So is it a 60's-70's Ric clone? The tuners are my main clue for my guess. At least they had the decency to not (illegally) badge it Rickenbacker as the current MIC crap does.
 
#1,267
JIO said:
Shaftsbury indeed! So is it a 60's-70's Ric clone? The tuners are my main clue for my guess. At least they had the decency to not (illegally) badge it Rickenbacker as the current MIC crap does.
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I guess from the pickups and tuners it's a 60s early 70s Japanese "clone" of a model that Rickenbacker never made: a bass version of a 330/360. I keep trying to resist buying an authentic Rickenbacker R tailpiece online which would cost more than the bass did. And think how authentic a real swoosh Rickenbacker truss rod cover plate would look on that chewed up headstock. I did buy an authentic upper pickguard but it doesn't match the off white plastic for the existing control plate so there's $10 wasted.
Rose Morris was somehow involved with the creation and distribution of Shaftesbury Guitars and they were associated with importing real Rickenbackers into Britain during the 60s/70s so I'm sure they knew the limits of copying Rickenbackers at that time.
It's pretty well made actually: set neck construction, bound slash hole, cool contoured body. I think my sanding revealed that the body is mahogany and the fretboard is rosewood and it's structurally still holding together. The electronics and tuners are serviceable and can be found on millions of nice-ish Japanese basses.
 
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#1,268
Pauly 4001 said:
I guess from the pickups and tuners it's a 60s early 70s Japanese "clone" of a model that Rickenbacker never made: a bass version of a 330/360. I keep trying to resist buying an authentic Rickenbacker R tailpiece online which would cost more than the bass did. And think how authentic a real swoosh Rickenbacker truss rod cover plate would look on that chewed up headstock. I did buy an authentic upper pickguard but it doesn't match the off white plastic for the existing control plate so there's $10 wasted.
Rose Morris was somehow involved with the creation and distribution of Shaftesbury Guitars and they were associated with importing real Rickenbackers into Britain during the 60s/70s so I'm sure they knew the limits of copying Rickenbackers at that time.
It's pretty well made actually. Set neck construction, bound slash hole, cool contoured body. I think my sanding revealed that the body is mahogany and the fretboard is rosewood and it's structurally still holding together. The electronics and tuners are serviceable and can be found on millions of nice-ish Japanese basses.
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If I were to do anything to that bass, a refinish and hs repair (to its orig shape if you can find a reference pic) would be all I'd do. It is what it is, and being that it is an imagined Ric bass (a model never made) - it is a sort of novelty, and if playable more the better.
 
#1,269
JIO said:
If I were to do anything to that bass, a refinish and hs repair (to its orig shape if you can find a reference pic) would be all I'd do. It is what it is, and being that it is an imagined Ric bass (a model never made) - it is a sort of novelty, and if playable more the better.
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That's my plan exactly plus getting a full upper and lower pickguard. It will clean up nicely and is a very playable bass even in its current state. The nut was going to be the one part I couldn't fake my way through when throwing it back together temporarily as it was broken and the g string kept pulling off the neck but you can see that I had nothing to lose and drove a screw into the fractured nut which is still working even without the screw a couple years later. Shameful. The Typhoon tailpiece bent into place is pretty shameful too I guess.
Maybe I should be joining the rattle can club soon.
 
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#1,275
My favorite year for a lot of reasons and in this case especially, early '66. I recall seeing your fine J here on tb before. It looks like it was started as a sunburst with the unifying yellow base-coat and then sprayed Fiesta Red. Probably was a special order grabbed from the sunburst pile. Thanks for posting! :thumbsup:
 
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