CBS Era Fender Woods

I've noticed some really nice looking (color wise) woods from CBS era Fenders (I.e. Mustang Bass). Also Elvis Costello's Jazzmaster even though I'm pretty sure it was Pre-CBS. I recall him saying it was stripped of the paint by the pervious owner and varnished with regular furniture varnish. Can anybody tell me what woods these are, and what stains/varnishes/finishes to use on the woods?

http://www.musicgoround.com/ProductImages/0665784_0.jpeg?w=535&h=535&mode=crop

http://i953.photobucket.com/albums/ae12/estaban22/Elvis%20Costello/ECJazzmaster11.jpg

top is most certainly alder with an unusually pronounced grain

bottom looks like some type of ash even though I have never heard of a stock jazzmaster with anything but alder

CBS finishes are typically polyesther though in the early days they were still using nitro and duco over fullerplast as a sealer... the easiest furniture type finish to use is shellac

What finish/wood do you think this one is? The person who listed it said it was stripped and finished in TruOil but I've never been able to reproduce these results with TruOil before.

http://m.ebay.com/itm/282079772233?_mwBanner=1

do you have a buffing wheel?

Yes I do.

try overapplying the true oil and buffing then reapplying and hand rubbing it to a sheen

http://i953.photobucket.com/albums/ae12/estaban22/Elvis%20Costello/ECJazzmaster11.jpg

Shit that Jazzmaster is looking fine.

Heck yeah man that's my dream guitar. I'm asking about this because I might do a Warmoth build like it.

I'll try it out. Thanks for the advice. I picked up a few samples of some different stains today and I'm getting kinda close to the tone of that Mustang Bass.

Impeccable taste, friend. I'll have to bookmark this thread for future reference.

Edit: I just saw the inages for the listin f the Mustang Bass. I just want to point out how cool it is that te headstock wasn't entirely covered, leaving that red and orange coloured stripe curling about... Just imagine how that'd look on the body.

I don't think any of these instruments were stained, I could be wrong but they seem like it just old wood with finishes tht yellowed

The Costello Jazzmaster is because the reissues have the alder body with walnut stain. And perhaps that's what it was with the Mustang Basses.

Wish I had a Mustang Bass like that. I've been looking at some MIJ white ones for a while and every time I'm about to buy one it had just sold so I'm out of luck for the time being.

so Costello's is stained and then furniture varnished? I just remember him saying someone had hit it with furniture finish but couldn't recall the details.... I am a huge fan of his singing and songwriting (I have seen him with and without the Imposters several time, never disappoints), but when I think guitar playing hes not the 1st guy who comes to mind, even in that idiom.

I don't know about his original one. All he said in the interview with Fender was that the previous owner stripped the paint and varnished it. I do know that the reissue Costello signature models are alder with a walnut stain on them.

I have read similar statements and his guitar tech mentioned his guitar had furniture varnish to me at a show, but we mostly talked about the twid champ and blackface deluxe elvis was using because that's what really interested me at the time as his tone was quit poor that night despite using 2 iconic vintage fenders.... he was using some boss pedals though and I don't think the champ handled them well, though his tech assured me that's the sound elvis likes these days... to be fair with everything disengaged it sounded pretty darn nice as long as he was using his tele-style guitar, as did his gretsch tenor electric, but he kept kicking stuff on and he would pop out of the mix too loud and just sound generally muddy... and the jzzmaster sounded awful regardless, surprisingly so

I think I've got the stain/varnish problem solved so thanks for all the help. You were really lucky to talk to that guitar tech. At the concerts I've been to, the techs don't wanna talk. About the Boss pedals though are some of them really that bad?

that's weird, I never have trouble getting people to talk to me.... and never have.