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SHOW YOUR DISTRESSED FINISHES!
- Thread starter JIO
- Start date
Your 'Supersonic' has a cooler head stock than the Performer on the right in my opinion. Both basses are cool of course. I would love to find a beat up cheap Performer and paint it fender light 'sonic' blue. Performer is rare.
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- Jun 30, 2010
- 49,611
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- musician/artist/owner - Gildaxe
View attachment 2781071 Look what I stumbled across!
Your 'Supersonic' has a cooler head stock than the Performer on the right in my opinion. Both basses are cool of course. I would love to find a beat up cheap Performer and paint it fender light 'sonic' blue. Performer is rare.
Hah! Thanks! I designed and built my Supersonic w/o ever having an actual Performer in my hands. I loved it but felt the pointy hs was ill-fitting aesthetically. Since owning my Performer, it's actually come into play as a signaling device when performing - like a conductors baton! 
I was the same - always watching them come up for sale but for more than I could afford. Once I saw the "as is" project bass that was to evolve into my Performer, I didn't hesitate to purchase it. (the pic you posted shows it the day it arrived - with a bad -distressed- DIY finish partially removed!) As a side note, I may not have bought it if not for being on TB. I hoped resident master-maker Bruce Johnson could assist me in fabricating a replica bridge and he was gracious to accept the commission. Another TB'r who collects Performers had a knob (one was missing) and a neck-plate was found on eBay. Kinda like a scavengers hunt but mostly drawing from a wealth of those who frequent this site. Finding a Performer bridge for sale is nearly impossible, and if one did come up for sale its would sell for a stupid high price. But frankly, I feel that my BJ bridge is actually more valuable. (Bruce did a beautiful job of reproducing it!) Oh, and Pat Wilkins performed his finishing magic to bring the original finish back to life. He does my Gildaxe final finishing and I knew if anyone could do it he could. (and did!) I carefully removed the bad DIY finish and he took it from there.It's a really cool bass and although it's not considered as 'collectable' as other vintage Fenders, it does attract attention as a unique Fender "Deluxe Jazz bass". (what they considered it at the time) I mean, the early '66 dot-bound J (made only 6 months) is about the only Fender more rare. Performers were made from June '85 - June '86, so for only one year. Story goes many were destroyed (?) - something to do with the CBS to Fender employees transition, so it's anyones guess how many are out there. There was a red protoytype w/black pg and a cool "one-off" Schaller bridge from '83 on eBay a few years ago selling for a lot of scratch - but what an ultra rare bird that is.
Oh, and as you can see my Supersonic is a bit slimmer overall than the Performer - I was working from a reproduction of the orig blueprint and guessing on scale etc. The Performer looks a bit more, more than my SS!
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Ha ha, a conductor's baton! Yeah I have a bass with a pointy head too.
I'll try conducting with it
Impressive craftsmanship on your basses!
- Jun 30, 2010
- 49,611
- 222,112
- Disclosures
- musician/artist/owner - Gildaxe
View attachment 2781373
Ha ha, a conductor's baton! Yeah I have a bass with a pointy head too.
I'll try conducting with it
Impressive craftsmanship on your basses!
Thanks Casey!
- Jun 30, 2010
- 49,611
- 222,112
- Disclosures
- musician/artist/owner - Gildaxe
As it's my thread, hijacking it is a mute point!
Low morning light so a bit grainy - not certain which one so took a pic of them together! (the SS is a set-back 'Gibson' style)
- Jun 30, 2010
- 49,611
- 222,112
- Disclosures
- musician/artist/owner - Gildaxe
- Jun 30, 2010
- 49,611
- 222,112
- Disclosures
- musician/artist/owner - Gildaxe
I designed the upper part to echo the upper horn, and the center raised section to allude to the Yamaha "hockey-stick" hs they did in late 60's.
I'm starting to like the head of the Performer.
While practising last night it occurred to me my amp may be a good match to your Supersonic.
It's an Orange. Maybe not looking at the pics though, the two oranges could clash. A 'sonic' blue Performer (or green) with the orange amp could be a laugh. A guy needs to be confident when showing up with gear like that! Cheers.
Edit
Also have a crazy purple leather amp (sadly purchased on the anniversary of Prince's passing) that a purple Performer would be a nice match with! All I need is a Performer that's cheap and needs restoration! Ok, probably won't happen. Did find a nice SDGR SR2000 in purple that would be cool with that amp. Looks like I've derailed this thread a bit. Sorry, carry on!
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- Jun 30, 2010
- 49,611
- 222,112
- Disclosures
- musician/artist/owner - Gildaxe
No worries - it's my thread and reasonably linked de-railing is alway welcomed! The green Performer is pretty much of a looker as there aren't a lot of green basses out there. It was called "Candy Green", but I swear I've seen it called something else. I checked the Wiki page and found a glaring error! They have the dates of production wrong! ('86-'87) ! As was stated earlier, it was made one year from mid-year '85 to mid-year '86. They speak of 2 models being available and as much as I've seen a pic of the 3 pu "Elite" and the even rarer 5'r, (boy does that hs look stupid w/an additional opposite side tuner!) unless they are in Japan belonging to collectors there - I've never seen one of the Elite models they supposedly made.
Fender Performer Bass - Wikipedia
- Jun 30, 2010
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- musician/artist/owner - Gildaxe
Thanks!
You are correct! Although quite honestly I was made aware off this after I designed/created the SS. No buzzards were harmed in the making of my hs design! 
- Jun 30, 2010
- 49,611
- 222,112
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- musician/artist/owner - Gildaxe
I can imagine you being distressed, but we're talkin' bout basses being distressed here.
Fender Flea Jazz and Highway One Precision. P has a legit worn finish from playing, and being bumped here and there (got it in 2015 looking brand spanking new).
I love the relic job on my Flea, I had 3 different Flea Jazzes testing at home, and this one had by far the best body relic job. Far more refined and at times, subtle (you can barely see some of the dents in the photo):
Here's my Highway One (with EMG GZR) and Loxx strap locks which I took off in less than a day, and returned the original strap buttons (but it's the only close up photo I have):
I love the relic job on my Flea, I had 3 different Flea Jazzes testing at home, and this one had by far the best body relic job. Far more refined and at times, subtle (you can barely see some of the dents in the photo):
Here's my Highway One (with EMG GZR) and Loxx strap locks which I took off in less than a day, and returned the original strap buttons (but it's the only close up photo I have):
- Jun 30, 2010
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- 222,112
- Disclosures
- musician/artist/owner - Gildaxe
Ok, glad @mouthmw (from Croatia - welcome!) just posted his Flee bass as I wanted to post something about them. Earlier this evening, I was killing time in a music store here in SF (Haight Street Music) and saw a Flee J on the rack. I wanted to play one ever since hearing the glowing reviews of them. I was plugged into a medium sized Fender combo amp and kept the volume low. I'm not one to try and impress everyone in the store - smacks of desperation IMO. Anyway, I found it to be exactly as I've heard - it sounded great. For all those J -dis'ers, this one sounds like what a J should sound like - and it sounds damn good. It feels good too. Just as people say - it feels comfy, like a nice old pair of slippers. It's decidedly not shiny, and that's ok with me. I've got shiny basses just waiting to be dinged. (and stupidly fussed over) This is a players bass, which is why players love them. I would have bought it but I have many great basses including J's. (more than a few) But dig this, the store is having a 2 day "store-wide" sale, and the price on this bass was (wait for it) $999.99. (new usually around $1250) So here's the funny part - this 'road-worn' bass seemed... used. (!) How could I tell? - a couple of ways; first the matte/flat sheen pg had many scratches below the G string. (not 'factory' wear) Yes I know, it was in the rack and probably played by a number of wankers attempting to display their awesome slapping talents to everyone in the store. But the more glaring aspect was the wear on the back. Just below the body bevel, there was a series of cross-hatched scars which looked totally unnatural as far as "player wear". I think I've seen pics of the back of these and these marks were not on it. So... (and I didn't mention this to the salesman who actually was pretty nice/helpful) here's an interesting conundrum concerning these 'factory worn' basses. And don't get me wrong - as you all know I'm an advocate of distressed finishes and as far as these Fender "road-worn" basses - I see them only as a finish option, much like shiny or matte or whatever, and I don't get hung up over the macho "I create my own wear" bs. It's a look, a style whatever - and if you don't like it, just don't buy it. (seriously) Thank you (everyone) who visits my thread and keeps such out of the conversation. So getting back to my point - when these basses get resold - how will anyone know if they are NOS or used? This bass was used and (this is funny) 'abused'. Now, as the price was right, and if I actually needed another J - I would have bought it because the extra 'wear' was on the back and yah know, get all anal about more scratches on a road-worn bass? That would be anal!
If someone could post a pic of the rear of their Flee J, it will confirm my theory. These basses create an interesting resale consideration and that's the point I'm making.
If someone could post a pic of the rear of their Flee J, it will confirm my theory. These basses create an interesting resale consideration and that's the point I'm making.
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Post a funnier picture than the one above - Parallel Universe Edition- Latest: Richland123
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