I will own up to start with and say that I have a 1966 Fender Deluxe Reverb that puts out 44 watts...altered by a friend that went on to make amps for the stars and shared a booth with Leo Fender at NAMM. I made a lot of money with that amp, but looking back, I should of parked it in a closet and bought a more powerful amp for the stage.

Now for a REALLY painful true story:

When I managed a music store, I met a guy who owned a real 1957 Fender P-Bass. While he was away in the service, his brother cut the tweed case down to carry around his pool cue.

I am giving you a chance to stop reading...

No?

Then he glued carpet all over the body of the P-Bass!!

Anybody have a horror story to share?

Hello Stratobobster,

Back in the day I fancied myself as an artist and did
some not so terrific paintjobs on guitars, but somebody
like em cause they sold. I wonder if any of my handiwork
is around, stashed in some dusty corner.

These days I simply change the strings & keep it clean.

Cheers.

This borders on the edge of justifiable homicide.

I saved a Fender MIM Jazz Bass from a horrible existence.

Last year I put up an ad on Craigslist looking for a Left Handed Fender Bass. A guy responded saying he had one for sale for $200. I went to look at it. This guy was way out there and I could tell he was a drug user just from the looks of his house and the way he was acting. He brought out the JBass in pieces. He had taken it apart and was going to strip the paint off of it and do some wood carvings on the body. He had tried to wax pot the pups and had burned them up. There had been stickers on the pickguard that he tried to remove with sandpaper!
Needless to say I brought her home and gave her some TLC, some new parts, and made her look and play great again!!

_________________
Chet Feathers

Authorized TonePros Dealer
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http://www.facebook.com/cafeathers


I didn't Lose my mind, I traded it for this guitar.

Nothing like saving a mistreated instrument and bringing it back to life in a loving home. You are a good man! I'll bet that money was gone before you got home Chet!

My father had a real '66 Deluxe Reverb that he took to the dump cause he didn't think that he was gonna play guitar for a long time

_________________
"You won't part with your's either"

Fender American Standard Stratocaster 2006

Fender Standard Telecaster 2007

To stratoBobster: That is horrible...tweed guitar case turned pool cue holder and then covered with carpet If that was a movie I would say PG-13 or higher!

To Chet: Good save!

_________________
"There is more to life than increasing its speed." Mahatma Gandhi

Owner of:
-2008 American Standard Strat in Candy Cola Red
-Vibro-Champ XD
-Fender CD-60 Acoustic (Sunburst)

Ouch, I think I SHould have listened to you not to read this, Im gonaa have nightmares about this now

The worst altered guitar story I heard involved a '50s Gold Top Les Paul ... that was converted into a BANJO!

_________________
Member #26797
My other guitar is a Strat.

seeker, I figure it for R rated. I edited the original post to make it more clear...it was the P-Bass body that got the carpet covering!!

To stratoBobster: My mistake and now that definitely rates it as an R movie or worse! Sorry I didn't get that the first time around...long day. Oh the humanity...a carpeted P-bass

It was bad enough when I thought the injured party was the tweed case (I like those) but the guitar...

_________________
"There is more to life than increasing its speed." Mahatma Gandhi

Owner of:
-2008 American Standard Strat in Candy Cola Red
-Vibro-Champ XD
-Fender CD-60 Acoustic (Sunburst)

This one is not about a Fender, but...

I had a Jackson V back in the late eighties. Very nice instrument, but I wanted a BC Rich Warlock (young and dumb). I traded the loaded body of the Jackson for the loaded BC Rich body to this guitar aquantance of mine. Some weeks later I go back to jam and I see the Jackson body completely stripped and being used as an ashtray. I had to walk away.

RK

All I can say is... ...I wouldn't have known how to handle that sight...

_________________
"There is more to life than increasing its speed." Mahatma Gandhi

Owner of:
-2008 American Standard Strat in Candy Cola Red
-Vibro-Champ XD
-Fender CD-60 Acoustic (Sunburst)

The mistake was mine. I posted unclearly ..Not a real big mistake compare to gluing carpet to your brothers P-Bass, though!!

Back in the day, I sold a pre-CBS Jazzmaster to a friend w/(unaltered)tweed case, for $150. The Olympic White finish was very worn, so he refinished it natural. These days he would pay extra for the finish he scraped off!

Mr Bill just think if you painted one of Harrisons,Claptons or Jimis guitars no matter what it looked like there would probably be a custom shop reissue series of 100 selling for 10K eack. lol