Bassman78

Fender have responded to say they have no induvidual instrument info before 1981 when they closed the Fullerton Factory !! They have suggested 3 restoration and re-finishers but the obvious course of progress to strip and maybe leave as natural may depend on the sealant used prior to finishing which gets in the end grain on the horns etc and looks unsightly in natural finish but we’ll have to see …..

Bassman 78

22 hours ago, PaulThePlug said:

TAKE IT OFF!.. TAKE IT OFF!..

C'mon, quick thumb nailing, specially the back... let's see what ya got?

Hi PTP, The neck is perfect and the bass plays so well over the years with a great sound profile, better when I used the Hollis preamp (which worked for years- sadly no more) its just the crap looking, sharpe edged finish with sellotape all over it, bit like putting an Elastoplast on your glasses arm to mend them !!!! will wait for better weather then tackle the strip job ......

I have dropped a line to FMC but not expecting a reply that's worth anything info wise but we'll see, when it wasn't traveling in a transit I used to keep it cased behind the sofa which can't have been too far from a rad so maybe its extremes of heat ( couldn't feel the extreme heat from where I sat though !!)  warming to the idea of thumb Nailing .........wont be in the next week or until the weather improves..

7 hours ago, Marc S said:

Wow - that looks extreme....
Sorry to hear this has happened, and that it's so bad.
As others have said - strip it and refinish. Professional re-spraying might be expensive, or tricky and time-consuming for you to undertake (if you fancy that?). The suggestions on here for a natural finish seem the best option, and I think that's what I'd be doing. Best of luck with it.

10 hours ago, martin8708 said:

I had a Fender 25 th Anniversary Stratocaster in white ( the first 500 were white ) and the finish crackled and crazed , they then changed the colour to Porsche silver , which then went green .

That was a 1979 instrument , never seen a 75 ‘ finish go that way

No extremes of temperature or humidity? 

I have dropped a line to FMC but not expecting a reply that's worth anything info wise but we'll see, when it wasn't traveling in a transit I used to keep it cased behind the sofa which can't have been too far from a rad so maybe its extremes of heat ( couldn't feel the extreme heat from where I sat though !!)  warming to the idea of thumb Nailing .........wont be in the next week or until the weather improves..

Yes sad indeed, Fender eluded they had had problems around this time with finishes but didn’t offer any explanation as to why my cracking was so bad, so no idea why it has gone like this!!!!

BM

Yes thanks for the reply, that’s an option I have thought about rather than refinish, I suppose I have to decide whether I want to take off the JayDee PU and put back to original state in which case I could fill and finish but quite like a natural finish if the wood looks good…

Need advice - I have had a problem with my 75 Precision with cracking paint which started after about 6/7 years after I bought it (and I mean real cracking !) its so bad that I have had to cover the back with sticky back plastic to stop it snagging on shirts etc ...

Don't know whether to strip back to wood and have it re-finish or just leave it with stick tape covering the lifting edges, I also added an additional PU from off a JayDee in the late 80s so it's far from original, If I refinish I'd probably remove the JayDee and the routing could be filled in with a block of Alder and aged re-finished- would like some advise as to what people think they would do ???, value is not that important as I won't be selling it but just looks awful and not that practical to play with sticky tape all over it ..

Bassman78