Relic Guitars, WTF?!?!

[ImmortalSix]

Re: Relic Guitars, WTF?!?!

The one thing I like about thing's like fender's road worn series is the feel of the back of the neck.

it's artificially smooth and worn in, but it does feel good on my hands. If you're a sucker for that way broken in neck feel, you might like that kind of thing. Y'know, for the studio... where people aren't watching you.

I felt the same way and bought a Road Worn Neck on TGP and put it on my regular old AmStd Strat body.

I got the great feel of the Road Worn and when it's just the neck, it doesn't really jump out at you (visually) as a relic.

Best of both worlds. I actually shared this with Greg Koch, my personal lord and savior, and he told me it was an awesome idea. Get great feeling neck, don't look like a goober. Win Win.

 

[crusty philtrum]

Re: Relic Guitars, WTF?!?!

Imagine how it would be if Rory was still alive. There'd be people going to his gigs or looking at pics of him with his Strat, saying "That guy's overdoing it a bit isn't he ? That relic job is too extreme, no guitar actually looks like that".

The relic craze has made genuinely classic, worn guitars seem irrelevant. Plus there's got to be something weird about seeing a twenty-something player using a guitar that appears to have forty years of wear.

Fortunately i get the feeling that most of that trend is behind us now. People should concentrate on music and playing. Music shops are full of shiny new guitars, and the ones that get loved and played will grow old with a combination of mellow beauty and the minor battlescars of life. The extremes of trying to keep a much-played instrument either in pristine showroom condition or excessively beat-up are silly, the answer has to lay somewhere between the two extremes.

Do you spend thousands on plastic surgery trying to keep your wife looking good as she ages, or do you beat her up so she looks like she's lived hard ? Hopefully neither, hopefully you age gracefully together, celebrating that you're both still alive, functioning and enjoying one another's company.

I don't really see why it should be any different with your guitar. I'd rather be noticed for what i do on a guitar than for the way it looks.

 

[ImmortalSix]

Re: Relic Guitars, WTF?!?!

Do you spend thousands on plastic surgery trying to keep your wife looking good as she ages, or do you beat her up so she looks like she's lived hard ? Hopefully neither, hopefully you age gracefully together

That's an excellent stance

 

[FuseG4]

Re: Relic Guitars, WTF?!?!

I felt the same way and bought a Road Worn Neck on TGP and put it on my regular old AmStd Strat body.

I got the great feel of the Road Worn and when it's just the neck, it doesn't really jump out at you (visually) as a relic.

Best of both worlds. I actually shared this with Greg Koch, my personal lord and savior, and he told me it was an awesome idea. Get great feeling neck, don't look like a goober. Win Win.

I might just have to go grab a road worn neck.

I love my strat the way it is, but sometimes I ask myself if I'd like a maple fretboard just for a change of pace. If I do that, I'll definitely consider the road worn.

 

[KeeperOS]

Re: Relic Guitars, WTF?!?!

I can't say I "get" it but it's not sth I concern myself with.
The types of guitars I am interested in have no relics so it's never been an issue either.
If it were, I'd prefer the new-looking ones but wouldn't rule out a relic-ed one either. I'd treat it like buying a cool used guitar. I WOULD feel like a total idiot if I had to pay extra for the relic though as usually a used guitar like that costs less, not more :9:

On the other hand, a REAL-worn guitar that shows of it being used A LOT and has the scars to prove it is sth truly awesome.
IMO that's almost next to impossible to duplicate.

 

[DarkMatter]

Re: Relic Guitars, WTF?!?!

I spoke with a violin luthier last year and he said that most orchestral string players go for highly aged cosmetics. He did not say how long it has been going on but the notion I got was, a long time.

I'm not fond if relic for the sake of relic, but proper true aging can be cool..

 

[WhoFan]

Re: Relic Guitars, WTF?!?!

my standard first grab gig axe of choice is an American Standard Stratocaster from 1988... the finish is super thick on this thing, but has many dents and chips, plus the Shoreline Gold or Inca Silver it once was has turned GREENish! when i bought it, it was covered in dirt, smelled bad like smoke... every screw was rusted on the bridge saddles and many had to be drilled out even after soaking for a few days in 3-in-1.... it had a messed up pickguard with 3 full sized active humbuckers... the maple neck had been refretted with 6100 and not refinished so the thick neck finish is flaking and chiping

it was in such rough shape the local guitar shop refused to take it in on trade in... i found it later on in a small Mom and pop store for $450 with a hardshell...

i took it apart and cleaned it piece by piece, gave it a fret dress... threw on a spare pickguard and Duncan/Fender PU's i had hanging around.... once i was able to fire it up it sounded so insanly warm and thick! it's one of my best sounding guitars...

later on i found out some of the interesting history this axe had... first of all it was a rental guitar for a local sound rental place... it has an ID number on it from the rental place... then for quite a few years it was in the hands of a metal band... explains the EMG 81's...

basicly it has been well used and abused... not by me... i've tried my best to make it better then trash... but the thing will get used for many years by me to come... i bet it will not age much more in my hands other then natural aging... but it will be well used

 

[WhoFan]

Re: Relic Guitars, WTF?!?!

now another parts axe i have that has been baddly abused by myself as a test base for learning guitar repair work is a mess... but it has this EVH kind of butcher thing going for it... oneday i should buy a FRO for it... lol... i just can't bring myself to ditch it..... i'll try and fix it up as best as i can... unrelic it