In search of: The Katrina Bass

[rickenbrother]

I can't imagine the price for a Fender Custom Shop Hurricane Survivor Relic!! LOL

[jingle_jangle]

It's enough to keep Dr. John in Hoodoo Gumbo for a decade!

[uffe]

Oh Katrina, why you gotta be mean?

[jps]

To me, part of an aged instrument is how the woods have changed over time due to climatic/environmental issues and from being played all that time. Banging up new wood only makes the reliced instrument, well, banged up! Not to mention all the rusted and chewed up hardware that most of us would fix/replace on an elderly instrument. I don't really see the point except for those who want a display trophy primarily.

If one happens to play great, like Ilan's, well that just happens to be a great playing instrument to begin with, I don't think the relicing process made it any better than before the whipping it got.

[jps]

Paul, Antigua? I didn't think you had it in you!

[jingle_jangle]

Couldn't resist, Jeff! It's so...er...indefinable...

[ilan]

Actually Fender does make something that looks a bit like the Katrina bass. It's the CS Jeff Beck Tribute Esquire ($7,599.99):

[elysrand]

And they line up to buy THAT? Even I am not THAT insane.

But I am close.... very close...

[gibsonlp]

This is a good opportunity to check the new forum's search system!

[elysrand]

Tried it already, and it is SO much better than the old one Well done, sir!

[karl_teten]

The Fender Custom Shop is about to announce its FOURTH level of Relic.

These will be called the "Hurricane Survivors".

Now that's funny!

[ilan]

In the 5th level of Relic they just let you know the bass was destroyed beyond repair and send you the insurance money, with a COA of course.

[rickenmetal]

If Rickenbacker behaved like Fender, then the Pete Townshend model would have a removable neck (and I don't mean bolt-on).

[rickenmetal]

But seriously speaking, I believe the pictures tell a lot about the construction methods of both companies.

The Fender is basically useless except for the body if someone wanted to restore the instrument, while the Rick could probably be fixed (although from the picture it is hard to tell what kind of damage the neck has).

[jingle_jangle]

Construction methods for Rickenbacker instruments are neither superior nor inferior to those of Fender, Gibson, et. al., where hurricanes are concerned. It's the care that go into them, the tradition behind its manufacturing methods, and the fact that the instruments remain American-made, handbuilt and finished, set neck guitars and basses of unique style and sound, that set them apart. Something like hurricane damage is not, IMO, a good gauge of construction methods, as it attacks wood without prejudice, but with moisture. In fact, the Fender would be a far easier restoration, would the necks have been snapped.

If we're talking about the Jeff Beck Esquire, though, it's beyond restoration due to the swath cut by the disk sander in the interest of "arm relief".

Having had a good look at this bass, I think it should stay driftwood. The wood under the finish has swelled due to water saturation over time, and then dried out, leaving large cracks and voids that would have to be filled with something before a new finish could be applied. Whatever this something would be (and there are several candidates), the natural swelling and shrinking of the existing wood with atmospheric changes, would show every single filled defect. It does, however, have great natural character and poignant dignity that says,"I'm exhausted...please let me remain in peace now."

Which, unfortunately, Katrina's human survivors cannot, in large part, find in their own lives.

Fender's construction methods were one of Leo's great gifts to musical mankind, allowing Fender to construct millions of fairly-priced instruments and put them in the hands of players of all skill levels. The Tele and Strat were the musical equivalent of the Model T Ford.

Unfortunately, cynical marketing and opportunistic philosophies have twisted Fender into a selling behemoth which peddles instruments of dubious intrinsic value to star-worshippers at silly, overblown prices.

Which is the point of most of this thread. At last year's NAMM, Fender showed something like 64 different Strats (not including color variations!) and 47 Teles. As you might recall, these used to be one-model lines, with only colors (less than a dozen) as variables. Danged silly.

Rickenbacker cruises on, having entered its seventy-seventh year in the biz, and having made the wonderful, quirky, beautifully-crafted guitars and basses we've come to know and love, for nearly 2/3 of that time, using essentially the same methods.