I was wondering if the Stevie Ray Vaughan copy was one of the first "Road Worn" products that Fender offered????

There's a young local kid who is building knockoffs of Stevie Ray's SRV Strat, using cheap parts and selling them for over a grand each.
One especially morbid one is made to look like it survived the fire from the helicopter crash.

Don't think for one minute that Fender are doing this because of demand for replicas by famous guitarists. They have spotted that several niche companies (e.g. Nash) are making a very nice living producing vintaged instruments, based on Fender designs.

So rather than miss an opportunity they have created RW series, boasted interestingly that uncoated basses sound better, and given a boost to the Mexican Fender name in the process.

Very clever.

If they sound great and play great then it's just down to looks.

That is where it's at folks.

Davo

I first thought that any manufacturer has "2nds or Blems" during production. Why not take those "Blems" and blem them more and call them Road Worn.
Rocky

Maybe they do.

While the relics and Roadworn due have a certain "coolness" about them, I 'd rather plop the Thousand dollars or so on a Brand new bass and play it for 10 yrs or so th get the same effect.

How about plopping down $300 and playing it for 38 years?
It worked for me.

(ducks and runs)

Hmm, my 70's basses are still immaculate. I do wonder how some of the 60's basses actually get in such a state!

Davo

38 years ago, $300 would buy a lot more guitar than it will now. You could buy a brand new P-Bass for around that, and there was no such thing as a foreign made Fender...

38 years ago, that $300 that I paid for my Jazz bass (brand new) was what six months of rent cost me.

The cost of basses is very reasonable these days and even the cheapest ones are playable instruments which was not the case back in the day.

If you like a bass, buy it. If you don't like it, don't buy it.

But please use your ears and fingers to decide, not your eyes.

Can't beat that for advice.

I feel the same way. Somebody in another forum summed it up this way: Why pay today's dollars for yesterday's ergonomics and sound? There's too many deals out there (i.e. eBay) to fork over $1500 for an "old" guitar. If somebody I knew wanted a vintage look on their bass, I'll be more than happy to take a cigarette lighter to it after I drag it around the neighborhood behind my car, and I'll charge a lot less than Fender.

I don't know if this is true but I was told that not only did they have the worn look but the electronics were to mimic the year the bass is copied from.

To this, I have to say take a look at Nash Guitars. They were doing the "road worn" thing across their line when Fender was only doing that as a Fender Custom Shop offering.



This Nash weathered P-Bass copy sells for $1895.




And this Fender Custom Shop weathered Jazz bass is a fine example of craftsmanship combined with weathering. All for the low, low price of $3400+.

Now if there's a market for Nash's weathered basses which sell for between $1500 - $2K, and Fender's Custom Shop instrument which sells for over $3K, then there's probably a market for a weathered bass in the $1000 neighborhood.

I've heard great things about Nash. And every Fender Custom Shop bass I've played has sounded great and played amazingly well. But then there are the hurdles of the price and whether or not the weathered look fits with your own aesthetic. I think the Road Worn series makes this style more accessible. But then it's got to feel good in your hands, otherwise what's the point?

Here I am playing a Nash bass belonging to 57pbass (and using an amp belonging to Tom Capasso) (Thanks, guys!)
It was a very nice bass and I enjoyed playing it.
The other people are my brother, Stephen Cohen, upright bassist Ritt Henn , and a guest performer from the audience.

I hope you played well. That's one harsh looking critic in the polka dots.

After playing it some more, maybe I could be. It plays and sounds really nice.

Looks like Pino's bass...

Ah, the ever so noticeable fiesta red. Can't say that I'm a fan of that particular color. I played a Pino bass. It was fantastic. But that color just kills me...


...As did the $3K+ price tag!

Based on comments from some other Lowdowners, I'd like to try out a Nash at some point. Finding one seems to be a little bit of a challenge though.

Also not a fan of the Fiesta Red. If it made me play like Pino, I may reconsider.

Tonight I played a gig with a guitarist who owns a music store. He is a "tone whore", the kind of guy who can tell by the sound of his effects pedals what brand of battery is inside. (I found this out when he remarked that his pedals sounded different because he didn't bring his Voodoo power supply). He was playing a hand-wired Vox AC-30 amp (custom-classic model) and brought a Strat and a Tele with him. He had an awesome sound.

I asked him about the road-worn Fenders and he said he had not yet seen one that wasn't a good guitar. He thought they were an excellent instrument for the price. He also thought that they used better components than Nash guitars and cost half as much.

I think the value of these basses is remarkable. Like I said earlier in the thread, I was seriously tempted by the roadworn Jazz bass. If it weren't a god-awful color I would've had a hard time putting it down.

Funny thing, I actually got to tell a couple of guys from Fender what colors I thought it should be offered in. My choices? Three tone sunburst (I know it's offered like this already), olympic white or black. Those are just classic colors. But then I should've told them to do Lake Placid blue...just for JC!

Just hook-up with Ben Loy or 57pbass sometime. Both in Queens and both with Nash instruments. You'd be able to try both P and J configurations.

In the end, regardless of price, I want a bass to feel good in my hands and sound good to my ears.

Peace.
--s-uu