Re: Relic'd guitars, Love them or hate them?
Relics should be earned, not built...
That's some tough talking, but the reality is that no one here would own a guitar long enough or play it hard and frequent enough to put THAT kind of wear on a guitar of somewhat value or desirability.
Face it, we're talking 40 years MINIMUM and that's all while touring and gigging.
And even if it does earn those time lapsed battle scars, what are you going to do? Show it off to all the other senior citizens in your block while you stand there marveling it at the ripe ol' age of 70?
What are you going to do at a young age, show off your fake "battle scars" to your friends over Dominoes pizza whilst jamming on the couch and watching "Storage Wars" or perhaps "Naked and Afraid"? Yeah, those couch tours are rough on the finish......very silly to have a fake road warrior that never leaves your suburban home....
Fake Relics are lame AFAIC. Others like it, which is fine for them. I've had a couple of my guitars over 25 years now, and my primary amp is ~30 years old, although they are minty for their age in spite of lots of playing. I am not fanatical about keeping them pristine, but I wouldn't dream of fake BS "relic" treatment for any guitar personally.
As I stated in my earlier post, I'm not a fan of relic'd guitars but I really don't mind if other people are... I'll say it again, to each his own.
To me the wear and tear (real or not) should have some sort of personal story to it, or at least something that makes me identify with it. I'm not anal about my guitars, but I like to keep them looking nice... dings and scratches happen, and they're just proof of life!
I only have one guitar that shows excessive wear and tear, and I've told this story elsewhere on the forum, so I'll give the short version here. I bought my number one, a 1985 Westone Spectrum LX in 1988 and loved it. In 1995 it went through a house fire that charred the hell out of it and literally fried the electronics, but I couldn't bring myself to throw it away. In about 2004 I was telling its story to a fellow guitarist at church who is also a talented woodworker... he asked me if he could take it for a few months because he had an idea, but he wouldn't tell me what it was. About three months later he brought it back to me with clear epoxy OVER the char and discoloration, sanded to smooth perfection... VERY unique! It wasn't until a few years ago that I decided to attack replacing all the hardware and electronics, but I finally got my number one back (renamed "The Phoenix" after the mythical bird that rose from the ashes) and she gets a LOT of play now.
This one's not mine, but this is what it looked like when I bought her...
...and here's how she looks today...
Pickups after the fire...
Pickups after upgrading...
And some pics of the char under the epoxy...
All these scars were EARNED and they have a very personal history for me and this guitar, but I would never DREAM of purposefully doing this in order to get a certain look!
Oh yeah, and I'm not quite ready for the senior citizen's home yet!
