Relic a Guitar on Purpose?

M

Mongillo19

Rock Star
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What are all your thoughts on "non natural" relicing of a guitar. I was browsing reverb and always had my eye on the fender American vintage ii line when I stumbled across this listing.

I'm not relic expert but this one is a big no from me. Would you all ever consider buying a guitar that was made a relic through nails or keys etc

Fender American Vintage II '61 Stratocaster 2022 - Present - Olympic White https://reverb.com/item/81634748?ut...are&utm_campaign=listing&utm_content=81634748

I mostly just feel bad for the guitar at this point 🤣
 
I don't mind the hardware aging thing to a point, but don't care too much for the whole 'beat to death' look. Although my no.1 turned out that way by accident -- it started out as a sunburst so I put some paint stripper on it to start the process of refinishing it. The stripper wasn't very good so I began scraping and thought it looked kinda cool to a point. So I left it and just waxed it. But I would never buy a new guitar like that.
 
I hate it. It's like tearing holes in a brand new pair of jeans.
Guitars should be pretty, imo

Unless its 100% old guitar patina where the holes in the knees came about on their own
 
The ones I see always look like some dumbass took an angle grinder to the part where your forearms rests, then did the rest with a claw hammer.

iAsFYcT.jpg
 
I don’t know…..I saw a couple of Strats from the custom shop that had a sunburst finish showing through a solid color like white or black…..looked kinda cool but the price wasn’t.
 
Rock Chalk said:
I don’t know…..I saw a couple of Strats from the custom shop that had a sunburst finish showing through a solid color like white or black…..looked kinda cool but the price wasn’t.
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Yeah how much do those go for? Assuming $3k plus?
 
FuzzyAce said:
I don't mind the hardware aging thing to a point, but don't care too much for the whole 'beat to death' look. Although my no.1 turned out that way by accident -- it started out as a sunburst so I put some paint stripper on it to start the process of refinishing it. The stripper wasn't very good so I began scraping and thought it looked kinda cool to a point. So I left it and just waxed it. But I would never buy a new guitar like that.
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Yeah and I feel like this falls under "it has a personal story" behind it. Albeit maybe not a traditional way but it still tells a story you are familiar with at least 🤣
 
Sleezy E said:
I hate it. It's like tearing holes in a brand new pair of jeans.
Guitars should be pretty, imo

Unless its 100% old guitar patina where the holes in the knees came about on their own
Click to expand...
Taking this analogy further than it should be taken; I prefer my jeans fairly pre-washed/softened, but not full on acid/bleach washed, and definitely no holes in the knees. No stiff Wranglers for me.

The OP doesn't even look like someone ripped holes in the knees -- just, like, shot perfectly round holes with a laser beam in completely random places.

Jeans Denim GIF by The Fabric of Our Lives
 
PLX said:
The ones I see always look like some dumbass took an angle grinder to the part where your forearms rests,
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I actually did that (well, palm sander) to that FUCKING RIDGE on my 87 PRS many years ago. :sofa I was like, I don't care! It's mine, and I hate that ridge, and I'll never sell it.

But I've since changed my mind, kinda wish I'd never de-valued that guitar like that. Oh well... ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

But talk about Paul putting aesthetics ahead of comfort, FFS! :facepalm
 
TSJMajesty said:
I actually did that (well, palm sander) to that FUCKING RIDGE on my 87 PRS many years ago. :sofa I was like, I don't care! It's mine, and I hate that ridge, and I'll never sell it.

But I've since changed my mind, kinda wish I'd never de-valued that guitar like that. Oh well... ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

But talk about Paul putting aesthetics ahead of comfort, FFS! :facepalm
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I relic mine the old fashioned way.. accidentally, while doing my own luthier work.

cOmiRVx.jpg
 
That looks like assssssssssss.

I love old, beat up guitars, I love good looking relics but it’s one of those ‘if you’re not going to do it right, don’t do it at all’ things and that Strat is a perfect example of why. That just looks like shitty damage. With no checking it’s even more out of place.

I wish I could photograph this to show the detail on it, but the finish is sunk into the grain of the wood and where it’s down to the wood, you can feel the ridges of the grain and the paint are all smoothed out. I’m guessing someone sat there with leather or something and just rubbed the shit out of that spot for hours-

IMG_4603.jpeg

IMG_4556.jpeg


Same on the buckle rash on the back-
IMG_6345.jpeg


My Gilmour Strat is fairly minimal-
IMG_6347.jpeg


I can’t imagine paying Fender Custom Shop prices when MJT bangs these bodies out for like $275-$400?

Still waiting for the day someone comes up to me at a gig and says “Man, you must be a real road warrior if your guitar looks like that!” :roflThe idea I haven’t “earned” anything due to a finish on a guitar rather than what I’m doing with it is easily the most petty things I’ve seen guitarist cry about.
 

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DrewJD82 said:
The idea I haven’t “earned” anything due to a finish on a guitar rather than what I’m doing with it is easily the most petty things I’ve seen guitarist cry about.
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It's like the old saying, "Never hire a carpenter with new tools."

Maybe he's used his tools so much he went out and bought a bunch of new ones with his Christmas bonus.
 
My Strat is well worn from my own playing. It’s an oil finish that aged pretty easily, but I also had it in my lap playing 3 hours a day for several years.

My K-line truxton/tele came with finish checking and lite relic from factory.

There is a slight edge in “it’s pretty cool to see the hours of play” on the Strat.

But the k-line looks way cooler overall, feels just like home, and has been played close to as much, but with a nitro finish just isn’t going to age the way the oil finished Strat did.

At the end of the day, the important point is that they both feel really comfortable.
 
The relic craze started when the prices of vintage guitars went through the roof, placing them mostly in the domain of collectors instead of players. Everybody who has ever drooled over pictures of vintage Les Pauls, Teles, or Strats but choked on the market value was a potential customer for a quality relic version of those models.

That’s how it started, anyway. And then the DIYers decided to try their hand at it, and that’s where things went into the trees.
 
My LP is so worn..., even my neck is more worn than AJ's!
But when they came out with the relic'd version of his Silverburst, I was like, Wow! He's got that same hole worn in the top from where he rests his finger as I do! HA!
That kinda tickled me.
 
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