Re: Pristine or aged/relic'ed?
I have a 1974 Tele Custom that i've owned since 1982 and a 1969 Strat that i've owned since 1980. Both of these had been modified when i got them, and they had a very hard life with me way back then....both have been hurled across rooms, slammed through stages, had their necks shattered, all the usual stuff. They ended up looking battered and worn, but eventually i tired of how rough they looked, not to mention a fair share of guilty feelings.
The Tele has now had it's finish removed down to the resin sealer, and sounds so much better for it. All the hardware has been replaced with top quality parts, except for the fabulous wide range humbucker at the neck. The Strat is currently stripped to raw wood (to be Tru-Oiled) and about to be reassembled with new parts (Callaham, Bareknuckle etc.) Now, as i have aged along with them, i want to celebrate their natural sound and feel and have treated them to the best parts available so we can all age together until we all fall apart naturally, hehe. (I plan to borrow a good camera and show some pics of these guitars once the Strat is finished).
When my guitars were all beat up, 'relic'ing' hadn't become the craze that it is now. I can't help thinking that the whole phenomenon has become kinda ridiculous now. I am beginning to think that maybe someone might want to relic a guitar they have not owned for very long, but maybe once you have owned a guitar for a long time, you view it as an old friend and want to care for it, scars and all. I guess i'm kinda 'reverse relic'ing' the 2 guitars i mention, though not to the point of filling their dents and scrapes and respraying them. These old darlings will have a new lease on life and will always remind me honestly of decades we have spent together, places we've been and people we've known. The three of us have now aged to the point where we wanna get along and enjoy one another's company, no more conflict.
I can't help wondering what an audience might think when they see someone playing a relic. (Most likely they don't think too much about it anyway of course...)....but....they probably have decent stuff, like clothes, home, car, stereo etc....and maybe wonder why some guy playing on stage in a band would have a beat-up, old looking guitar when the shops are full of shiny new ones. So is 'relic'ing' just something that really only has some meaning inside music circles? ("Wow, great relic job man !!")
I feel i have reached a point where i think.....if i see a great looking guitar, well, the owner had the money to buy it.....if i see a beat-up, old looking guitar, nowdays i have to suspect deliberate relic'ing......but if i see a beautiful looking guitar that is beginning to look a little worn, it just seems like it might belong to someone who loves it and plays it and has done for quite some time. I think i like this last option more than any other.
