Does VOS mean aged / tarnished hardware? "Fender Fever Ltd" listing on Reverb

[MelBues]

Newbie question. I was surfing around Reverb and came across a listing for a used item that is "Historic Burst VOS" in Mint condition.

In the photos, look the hardware (tailpiece, bridge, and pup covers) look significantly tarnished and mottled. It this just a trait of the photo, or does VOS also denote this look of hardware?

Edited December 24, 2019 by MelBues

[badbluesplayer]

The finish on a VOS guitar is lightly aged so it looks like a vintage guitar in very good condition.  They also age the hardware some or all of the time.

[Sgt. Pepper]

You over in the UK or are you in the States. I can't imagine what it would cost to ship a guitar to the US.

[deeman]

4 hours ago, Sgt. Pepper said:

You over in the UK or are you in the States. I can't imagine what it would cost to ship a guitar to the US.

 

Are you posting in the right thread? This is about VOS, not overseas shipping.

[SteveFord]

I never understood the VOS treatment but some people think it's kewl.

 

[Wmachine]

23 hours ago, SteveFord said:

I never understood the VOS treatment but some people think it's kewl.

 

Right, it is kinda funky.  Further ironic that the VOS means Vintage Original Spec, and yet its use seems relegated to the finish.  Which never originally was aged.  Pretty convoluted.

[Sgt. Pepper]

On 12/24/2019 at 3:03 PM, deeman said:

 

Are you posting in the right thread? This is about VOS, not overseas shipping.

I know but the guitar is in the UK and the OP wants to possibly buy it. I was just asking if it was he or she was in the UK or USA.

[Larsongs]

VOS can mean anything a Seller wants it to mean anymore.. From Closet Queen to quite Aged.

[Wmachine]

21 hours ago, Larsongs said:

VOS can mean anything a Seller wants it to mean anymore.. From Closet Queen to quite Aged.

Not really, unless he is lying.  VOS is a specific Gibson specification  and applies to certain models.  Not something decided by a seller.  If a seller uses it to describe a non-VOS model, then he is simply lying.   The OP ref to "Fender Fever Ltd" is to a seller on Reverb, not a particular guitar.  I'm sure the " Historic Burst VOS " is in reference to a Gibson, and is thus used correctly.

 

[Larsongs]

What does VOS stand for? Vintage Old Stock or Vintage Original Stock or ?

I think if you look at 10 different kinds of Guitars claiming to be VOS they will all be different. It seems like a very broad term that can mean a certain thing in one instance & something different in another..

[Wmachine]

On 1/11/2020 at 11:23 AM, Larsongs said:

What does VOS stand for? Vintage Old Stock or Vintage Original Stock or ?

I think if you look at 10 different kinds of Guitars claiming to be VOS they will all be different. It seems like a very broad term that can mean a certain thing in one instance & something different in another..

As I said earlier, it means Vintage Original Spec.   The term and subsequent acronym comes originally and directly from Gibson.    That's why I mentioned that rather strange use of it by those that coined it. 

https://web.archive.org/web/20180320211431/http://www.gibson.com/News-Lifestyle/Gear-Tech/en-us/Gibson-Nitrocellulose-Finishes.aspx

 

[bobouz]

Models sold by Gibson with a VOS finish are named as such in their marketing.  For example:  ES-330 VOS, J-50 VOS, etc.  It's a very specific treatment, but unfortunately a seller could try to pass the term off as anything they want.

That said, BBP's descriptor above is right on the money.  The idea is to open the case and have a new guitar which convincingly looks like it's an old guitar that's been stored under the bed since the '50s or 60's - Not beat to death as is sometimes seen with "reliced" pieces.

I have a natural finish 2012 ES-330 VOS (Gibson's first ES-330 done with a VOS finish).  It's supposed to mirror the look of a 1959 ES-330.  Personally, my feeling is that the VOS finish is most effective when applied to a natural (blonde) guitar.  I have indeed had people look at mine and think it was a very clean vintage piece (not that I care one way or another).  But where the VOS finish looses me is when it's applied to a sunburst or red guitar.  In those finishes,  to my eye it just looks rather dull & lifeless, so it becomes somewhat of an odd effect that's not quite as convincing in terms of looking like a vintage closet queen (imho).

[Wmachine]

8 hours ago, bobouz said:

Models sold by Gibson with a VOS finish are named as such in their marketing.  For example:  ES-330 VOS, J-50 VOS, etc.  It's a very specific treatment, but unfortunately a seller could try to pass the term off as anything they want.

That said, BBP's descriptor above is right on the money.  The idea is to open the case and have a new guitar which convincingly looks like it's an old guitar that's been stored under the bed since the '50s or 60's - Not beat to death as is sometimes seen with "reliced" pieces.

 

Right.  Aged without wear/signs of use.  Which still begs the question, what "original spec" is an aged finish?  What year of what model came new with an aged finish?  The VOS term makes absolutely no sense for a finish.   No wonder it is confusing.