SHOW YOUR DISTRESSED FINISHES!

[JIO]

Isn't it just the nitro?

I heard they were still using nitro on the headstock even when they went to poly for some time.

Yes, lacquer is the coating I referred to - but whether it was the specific lacquer used or the poly of that time (which isn't like the poly of today)- it had something of an adverse reaction (darkening) on a number of examples, possibly accelerated by heat and nicotine smoke. Sorry if I wasn't clear.

 

[Bigbri]

That's my understanding, that the front of the headstock was sprayed with nitro.

I had a '78 Olympic Precision where the front of the headstock was very dark amber and was flaking off in strips.

Fender continued using nitro on the front of the headstocks because the lot of logos they had wouldn't stick properly to the poly. When they ordered the next batch of logos they made them to stick properly to the poly and no more nitro. Some headstocks from that period have gone extremely dark presumably from sitting in cigarette smoke for 35 yrs but look great.

 

[4stringsjack]

Yup, that is true. Fender used nitro on the headstock faces after they switched to poly for the rest of the neck because the logo decals reacted badly when top-coated with the poly finish. Supposedly they used nitro on the headstock face until around 1980, but I can't solidly confirm that. Here's an article that mentions the nitro faced headstocks (and says some not so good things about the thick poly body finishes of the mid 70s):

"The mid 1970s also saw the adoption of the so-called 'thick-skin' finish, which consisted of as much as a dozen polyester undercoats that stifled body resonance and imparted a harder, more plastic look (sprayed body color coats and topcoats were still nitro lacquer). As quoted in author Tom Wheeler’s The Stratocaster Chronicles, Custom Shop master builder Mark Kendrick noted, “They just blew a tsunami of polyester on there,” and “Encapsulating the guitar in a cocoon of plastic like that is going to dampen the sound.” As described by Richard Smith in Fender: The Sound Heard ‘Round the World, these heavy finishes were “durable but unmusical, almost sticky.” Concurrently, many headstocks faces were seen to age differently than the necks they were part of, because while necks were finished in polyester, which resists aging well, the headstock faces were finished in lacquer, which ages noticeably, over the decal, because polyester and the decals reacted adversely."

Source: Invalid Link Removed

 

[Bigbri]

Yup, that is true. Fender used nitro on the headstock faces after they switched to poly for the rest of the neck because the logo decals reacted badly when top-coated with the poly finish. Supposedly they used nitro on the headstock face until around 1980, but I can't solidly confirm that. Here's an article that mentions the nitro faced headstocks (and says some not so good things about the thick poly body finishes of the mid 70s):

"The mid 1970s also saw the adoption of the so-called 'thick-skin' finish, which consisted of as much as a dozen polyester undercoats that stifled body resonance and imparted a harder, more plastic look (sprayed body color coats and topcoats were still nitro lacquer). As quoted in author Tom Wheeler’s The Stratocaster Chronicles, Custom Shop master builder Mark Kendrick noted, “They just blew a tsunami of polyester on there,” and “Encapsulating the guitar in a cocoon of plastic like that is going to dampen the sound.” As described by Richard Smith in Fender: The Sound Heard ‘Round the World, these heavy finishes were “durable but unmusical, almost sticky.” Concurrently, many headstocks faces were seen to age differently than the necks they were part of, because while necks were finished in polyester, which resists aging well, the headstock faces were finished in lacquer, which ages noticeably, over the decal, because polyester and the decals reacted adversely."

Source: Invalid Link Removed

I had a p bass somewhere around 1980 that had a nice bark to it but felt like it was dipped in sticky gum. Who knows what they were thinking putting that on the neck. I'm dying to sand of the back of my 74 p-bass neck but something is telling me not too. It's got a nice checked headstock face but the rest is dissapointing. I can tell a difference in action with a change of season and humidity on some of my basses.

 

[4stringsjack]

My '72 Jazz neck has the aged checked headstock (see previous post), but the poly finish on the rest of the neck looks relatively un-aged (aside from a variety of chips). This neck is rock solid stable, though. I rarely have to tweak the truss rod, and the poly finish on the back doesn't feel bad at all. Who knows how consistent Fender was with wood, finishing, gluing, etc... Going by that article, it sounds like the "mid 1970s" was when finishes got thick, so yours may be different from what I have.

 

[gary mitchell]

 

[Bigbri]

My '72 Jazz neck has the aged checked headstock (see previous post), but the poly finish on the rest of the neck looks relatively un-aged (aside from a variety of chips). This neck is rock solid stable, though. I rarely have to tweak the truss rod, and the poly finish on the back doesn't feel bad at all. Who knows how consistent Fender was with wood, finishing, gluing, etc... Going by that article, it sounds like the "mid 1970s" was when finishes got thick, so yours may be different from what I have.

I think my 1980 p bass was about as sticky as they came. You could press your fingernail into it.

 

[Shawn Luckman]

It's on the milder side of distressed, but here's my '71 Precision/'72 Jazz:
View attachment 1171790 View attachment 1171791 View attachment 1171792

This is Beautiful & probably the best Precision/Jazz combination I've seen drool.

 

[Bobby Bass]

I may have posted this before. 1996 Custom shop RELIC Jazz Bass. Now 20 years old.

 

[godofthunder59]

All real wear here '66 Thunderbird.

 

[JIO]

I had a p bass somewhere around 1980 that had a nice bark to it but felt like it was dipped in sticky gum. Who knows what they were thinking putting that on the neck. I'm dying to sand of the back of my 74 p-bass neck but something is telling me not too. It's got a nice checked headstock face but the rest is dissapointing. I can tell a difference in action with a change of season and humidity on some of my basses.

I wouldn't listen to that something - you'll enjoy your bass much more w/o dealing with what was clearly (sorry!) a poor choice of coatings then.

 

[ICM]

I found this while browsing mustang bass photos in google. 60's mustang converted into a Bass VI:

 

[Bassist88]

More distress? Its a minor gap between the body and the pickguard:

Is this considered normal?

 

[Arizona Jones]

More distress? Its a minor gap between the body and the pickguard:

Is this considered normal?

It did that by itself or did you take it off? Look like it is stuck on the neck.

 

[Bassist88]

I replaced the old one with a this one, no. No issue with neck. I meant the gap along the whole front, from the neck to the the lower part and one does not see it from a normal view distance

 

[J. Crawford]

Figured this'd be a good place to ask... I've been contemplating a gold pickguard for my sunburst Highway One, but don't want the brand new shiny look that they come with. I like the aged look. Are there any decent ways to relic strictly an anodized gold pickguard? I want it to look old, but not quite relic'd.

 

[JIO]

I found this while browsing mustang bass photos in google. 60's mustang converted into a Bass VI:

That's cool - a creative and probably nice playing/sounding redefinition. Wonder if the finish is nicotine-stained Oly white?

 

[JIO]

I replaced the old one with a this one, no. No issue with neck. I meant the gap along the whole front, from the neck to the the lower part and one does not see it from a normal view distance

The pg is metal and most likely was slightly not flat there. It doesn't look that much of an issue but it probably could be flattened (off the bass) but unless done right you could end up with a different distortion. Sometimes you just gotta let the little things go as perfection is an unachievable goal.

Figured this'd be a good place to ask... I've been contemplating a gold pickguard for my sunburst Highway One, but don't want the brand new shiny look that they come with. I like the aged look. Are there any decent ways to relic strictly an anodized gold pickguard? I want it to look old, but not quite relic'd.

Steel wool [0000] would make it less 'new' looking but you'll want to test on the back first. Within these pages there should be examples to study for more.

 

[Bassist88]

The pg is metal and most likely was slightly not flat there. It doesn't look that much of an issue but it probably could be flattened (off the bass) but unless done right you could end up with a different distortion. Sometimes you just gotta let the little things go as perfection is an unachievable goal.

Well it flexes abit there, but it was 100% to the original plate - but yeah - perfection.

 

[SJLee]

Figured this'd be a good place to ask... I've been contemplating a gold pickguard for my sunburst Highway One, but don't want the brand new shiny look that they come with. I like the aged look. Are there any decent ways to relic strictly an anodized gold pickguard? I want it to look old, but not quite relic'd.

Steel wool is a good solution. I used this on my 59 RI. I basically held the wool around both tone and volume knobs and also to the pickgaurd surface and rolled the knobs back and forth to taste so there was wear marks around both knobs. I also did some a bit above the pickup where I normally rest my thumb while playing.