Spector Thunderbird

[Highlander]

Foto Flame was much thinner than this stuff. It had an almost water decal-like thickness and texture.

No doubt resulted in a smoother tone...

[planetgaffnet]

Is this the same stuff Fender Japan used on those Foto Flame guitars years ago? That was some kind of vinyl wrap with a photo image of flame maple on it.

The Foto flame process effectively put a transfer onto the body and then clear coat poly over it.  Never owned one...not a Fender fan really (despite having a 1979 Precision as my main bass for years before coming over to the dark side).

[slinkp]

Just think of it as high class contact paper.  Seriously, if you have something you like just figure out how big you need it have and have it printed.  You would trim the out line and roll it on from one side - the rest you could cut after the fact.

Interesting. How durable is this stuff?

[TBird1958]

It's the same stuff that they wrap vehicals with - I've never looked at it close up, nor do really know anything about it. One guy on TB wrapped his Epi T Bird up in it - looked like the Texs state flag.

[Lightyear]

It's fairly durable stuff - it's made to be UV resistant and to take abuse from the road _ rain, ice/snow, dirt etc.  It's not forever though - the color can be worn off and it will fade eventually.  I would think it would be a two to five year deal depending on conditions- YMMV.

I work on some of the hardware that can print this stuff so I have a fair amount on knowledge on the production side of this and good knowledge of application.

[Psycho Bass Guy]

Fender's Foto finishes certainly were much more fragile than most anything else at the time. The instruments were MIJ, made really well, and sounded gorgeous, but in order to show off the faux flame, the poly topcoat was much thinner and prone to breaking and flaking off and taking streaks of Foto sticker with it. Every single one of them I played was a great bass, but about half of them looked like they had a 30+ year-old laquer finish flaking off and taking the "flame" with it. They were priced reasonably, made exceptionally well other than finish, and sounded like their ancestors two generations prior. The average durability of the finish for players regularly gigging looked to be about three years. Don't forget about the "Hamburglar" patterns on the backs of the necks!

[Dave W]

I remember that some people thought the Hamburglar pattern was put there deliberately. It was really just a photo of a flat flamed board. Wrapping it around the back curve of the neck made it look that way.

[Psycho Bass Guy]

I saw one with a different neck pattern that was just a bunch of smaller "Hamburglars" all the up the back of the neck of slightly warying sizes that looked WAY more like Hamburglar than any of the pics I've been able to find recently. A few even had the mask, nose, hat and mouth clearly defined. It was an orange Jazz.