Roadworn

[fretmeister]

2 hours ago, BigRedX said:

I've actually seen Rory Gallagher's strat "in the flesh" - well it was behind glass in a sealed cabinet, probably for health and safety reasons. It's minging! The bridge in particular is 50% rust 50% dead skin and other human detritus...

Many years ago the Hard Rock Cafe had a pair of Bruce Dickinson's furry tight stage trousers / leggings on the wall in a case.

When I asked about it one of the people there told me the case had 2 purposes - firstly to stop theft and secondly because they smelled like they had never been washed during a world tour!

 

[stewblack]

1 hour ago, LukeFRC said:

I prefer @skej21 over @stewblack 

Me too

[chris_b]

Relic is just a finish. That's all. Same as sunburst, black or pink sparkle.

[Happy Jack]

Crinson. Note that the logo does NOT say Fender.

[kodiakblair]

I've a Peavey Fury that's more Roadkill than Roadworn 🤣

[skej21]

2 hours ago, therealting said:

I hope you didn’t mean me - I just responded to a recommendation for Limelight by saying that, IMO, I hadn’t seen one I found convincing... but then to be fair I think there are lots of relicers whose work doesn’t look realistic - like actual, real wear - to me. I know they have many customers, and they seem like a great deal for what they cost.

The most convincing ones are generally not overdone, nice finish checking, a few dents in usual places, light wear... ideally mostly put on by the players on a thin nitro coat that ages quickly, and the best ones have been Bravewood, Crinson / @Rick's Fine '52, Nash, and some of the Masterbuilt Fenders. 

You’re right, I didn’t mean you. Your comment just voiced your opinion that it was not for you. Far more civilised and fair than some other people’s evaluations 🙂

[4000]

11 hours ago, police squad said:

My Bravewood.

Convinces most people that it is an original. I always tell them it is a replica of Sting's battered bass.

I also have a Flea jazz bass. I gigged it exclusively for a couple of years. Probably did 60-80 2 hour gigs with it.

The finish has started to rub off where my wrist rests and where my forearm rests. I haven't got any pics of this to hand. The white primer is showing through. It looks great

That’s really nice. I take it the Bravewoods are quite pricey?

[Stub Mandrel]

On 13/05/2020 at 15:49, Woodinblack said:

One of the sadest relic finishes I find (and I think it is because they are mass production) is the flea jazz. First time you see one, it looks great, second time you see one, it looks exactly like the first. So much so you can look at a flea jazz and work out if its finish has been damaged or not!

LOL! I was going to defend these on the grounds that by copying an actual roadworn bass they have a realistic pattern of wear.

TBH you can easily spot the dings are made with just 2 or 3 tools and some of the stuff is in predictable patterns. I must admit I've 'randomised' the wear on mine a bit.

But I bought it as the best vintage  Jazz of that era I could afford, not because it was roadworn.

[Stub Mandrel]

10 hours ago, bassfan said:

 

 

 

Curiously, that has exactly the Flea Bass wear pattern but isn't a Flea body (plus it's pinker...)

[Stub Mandrel]

Genuine natural wear (the paint cracked and flaked off, especially since I moved it indoors from the garage  about six months ago). Most people would say bad relic job but it's over 40 years old gigged quite a lot by me from 87 to 96 but I think hardly any damage gained during that time.

On the other hand, my bit of (unfinished) relicing* on a guitar over 30 years old but not played much and never gigged.

*White scratches and chrome worn off pickup are genuine!

Edited May 14, 2020 by Stub Mandrel

[bassfan]

33 minutes ago, Stub Mandrel said:

Curiously, that has exactly the Flea Bass wear pattern but isn't a Flea body (plus it's pinker...)

Well spotted it’s a Flea replica. Custom made for @walshy but never played by him (well maybe a home noodle) to Fleas spec, before Fender released the new Flea

Edited May 14, 2020 by bassfan
Fat fingers

[therealting]

@4000 They’re much cheaper than Fender Masterbuilts, which is IMO what they are equivalent to... in fact cheaper than the standard Custom Shop stuff. 

Edited May 14, 2020 by therealting

[walshy]

28 minutes ago, bassfan said:

Well spotted it’s a Flea replica. Custom made for @walshy but never played by him, to Fkeas spec, before Febder released the new Flea

Yup, a much, much  better bass than the Fender one imo, and this relic work was carried out by Jon Shuker and his dog, wonder if they both do Fenders stuff on the side too 🤣

[bassfan]

Just now, walshy said:

Yup, a much, much  better bass than the Fender one imo, and this relic work was carried out by Jon Shuker and his dog, wonder if they both do Fenders stuff on the side too 🤣

I can’t find the relicing  video... I’m sure I saved it to my phone. 

[bassfan]

@stewblack in case you need a project or helpful hints... you need the right tools to accurately relic 😂
 

[walshy]

1 minute ago, bassfan said:

@stewblack in case you need a project or helpful hints... you need the right tools to accurately relic 😂
 

So glad you found that!!!

[stewblack]

That's brilliant! 

[Woodinblack]

3 hours ago, Stub Mandrel said:

LOL! I was going to defend these on the grounds that by copying an actual roadworn bass they have a realistic pattern of wear.

Agreed, they do.

Its not the bass itself, I liked it and really quite fancied one (almost got one) but then I saw 3 together and it looked completely wrong that they looked so identical.

You would be hard pressed to get more identical ordinary jazzes!

3 hours ago, Stub Mandrel said:

But I bought it as the best vintage  Jazz of that era I could afford, not because it was roadworn.

Yeh, as I said I fancied one but it was more than I would pay for a fender and then the identikit thing put me off a bit, and then people started getting issues with new ones. 

Which is a shame, I love the colour and the general vibe of the bass. 

[police squad]

16 hours ago, 4000 said:

On 14/05/2020 at 07:31, police squad said:

My Bravewood.

Convinces most people that it is an original. I always tell them it is a replica of Sting's battered bass.

I also have a Flea jazz bass. I gigged it exclusively for a couple of years. Probably did 60-80 2 hour gigs with it.

The finish has started to rub off where my wrist rests and where my forearm rests. I haven't got any pics of this to hand. The white primer is showing through. It looks great

That’s really nice. I take it the Bravewoods are quite pricey?

It was £1500 7 years ago

He actually builds the guitar and lets the laquer cure for about 9 months before he does the relic

Edited May 15, 2020 by police squad

[BigRedX]

For me the trick to make relic'ing look convincing is for it to match the wear patterns caused by the person playing the instrument. 

For instance in the photo of the pink bass posted earlier on in this thread I'm struggling to see how the finish has come to be worn off the inside curves of the cutaways, yet the maple fingerboard looks pristine.

On the two basses which show worn fingerboards - the Crinson and the Sting replica, I hope the wear patterns match the notes the owners of those two basses use most commonly (they certainly don't match mine), but notice how the wear conveniently avoids the fingerboard dots. 

IME real life wear doesn't magically prevent the instrument being playable. In fact quite the opposite. The only bit of serious playing wear I have managed to inflict on any of my instruments wore away the fret on one of my guitars at one note only (E on the G-string). This was done because we had a song which during the middle 8 I hammered on the note with my right hand and then used my finger to bow the string against the fret for about 8 bars in duration. The result of playing and/or practicing this song nearly every day for 4 years resulted in my wearing the fret for this one note so much that the string no longer fretted properly at this position for normal chords or single note playing. 

[Kevsy71]

It's hard for me to determine whether relic is convincing because I've seen so few examples of e.g. pre-CBS Fenders in the flesh, and the only one I've owned was a refinish.

The variation in visible wear on vintage basses I've browsed over the years though is huge: e.g. James Jamerson's basses always look pretty clean in the pics I've seen, versus (for example) this:

https://reverb.com/item/33112524-1961-fender-precision-bass-in-fiesta-red-finish-with-original-hard-shell-case

...with the paint worn alll around the back edge and back-of-neck discolouration all the way up to the neck joint and on the E side. So 'what does genuine distress look like'? would yield a range of answers.

Despite that, I suspect there are some golden rules too look out for (e.g. the nitro crackling as mentioned earlier in the thread vs obvious attacks with a sander)

Edited May 15, 2020 by Kevsy71
typo

[Cuzzie]

1 hour ago, Kevsy71 said:

It's hard for me to determine whether relic is convincing because I've seen so few examples of e.g. pre-CBS Fenders in the flesh, and the only one I've owned was a refinish.

The variation in visible wear on vintage basses I've browsed over the years though is huge: e.g. James Jamerson's basses always look pretty clean in the pics I've seen, versus (for example) this:

https://reverb.com/item/33112524-1961-fender-precision-bass-in-fiesta-red-finish-with-original-hard-shell-case

...with the paint worn alll around the back edge and back-of-neck discolouration all the way up to the neck joint and on the E side. So 'what does genuine distress look like'? would yield a range of answers.

Despite that, I suspect there are some golden rules too look out for (e.g. the nitro crackling as mentioned earlier in the thread vs obvious attackswith a sander)

That’s the key is not just to go for it with a power or belt sander, but you can represent friction.

The other key is how does the wood look underneath when it’s bare - various methods to achieve a decent look

[martthebass]

I wish I hadn't seen this thread, got me thinking about a Bravewood Jazz.  I don't need one, I don't need one, I don't need one........

[Stub Mandrel]

5 hours ago, Kevsy71 said:

nitro crackling

Easy to duplicate, apparently. My brother bought a genuine '62 SG Junior that had been refinished to disguise where a Bigsby had been fitted. It had been expertly checked by cycling it in and out of a freezer. No other wear added, looks (and sounds) the dog's.

[Cuzzie]

Very easy to do, you can a bubbling appearance that shatters also.

Accelerate the cycle using a heat gun, then freeze. If you just want cracking heat but don’t let bubble, pop in the freezer for at least 20mins to get a decent effect