Shiny polished guitars or reliced beat up guitars

[Quencho092]

i would prefer to own a relic style guitar, as i wouldn't have to worry about banging it up or anything, and i could gig with no worries, but now i have the new strat and it came shiny and nice so i dont want it to lose its luster now.

 

[Sirion]

Re: Shiny polished guitars or reliced beat up guitars

You can try to keep it as clean as you can, it will make you love it even more when it gets beaten up.

 

[Mr Wolf]

Re: Shiny polished guitars or reliced beat up guitars

Same here. Shiny guitars are nice too look at, but i would worry about them too much and i would enjoy them less. Beaten guitars look cool in another way and i wouldnt worry so much.

 

[some_dude]

Re: Shiny polished guitars or reliced beat up guitars

I don't like pretty guitars.

 

[Dave]

Re: Shiny polished guitars or reliced beat up guitars

I like the looks of an old guitar, however, I'd never intentionally "relic" one in good condition, and some faux relic jobs I've seen are pretty dorky. I think there's a bit of pretense behind the idea.
I mean, how pre-fab can you get?

I'm just starting to see some fretwear on mine and I guess when it "gets there" I can say it was from nothing more than time and hard work - if you can call guitar playing work.

On the flip side, my buddy has a relic custom shop esquire that just fits him perfectly. Jeans, whiskey, old boots-the whole bit-is just his style, and it looks (and sounds) great with him.

 

[Hot _Grits]

Re: Shiny polished guitars or reliced beat up guitars

Both. You may see me dropping my fender on the floor, but you won't see me doing that to my PRS.

 

[Quencho092]

Re: Shiny polished guitars or reliced beat up guitars

ive had my ibanez for 4 years almost and theres not a dent on the body. It's a cheap model too, gax70. I'm just too careful or something.

 

[Hellion]

Re: Shiny polished guitars or reliced beat up guitars

I love the look of pretty new wood, but when it comes to gigging, give me my beat up Custom and Bastardcaster.

 

[Dave]

Re: Shiny polished guitars or reliced beat up guitars

I love the look of pretty new wood, but when it comes to gigging, give me my beat up Custom and Bastardcaster.

What's the lowdown on the Bastardcaster?

 

[Mincer]

Re: Shiny polished guitars or reliced beat up guitars

i think pre-relic'd guitars are dorky. go and get the dings and dents yourself, don't pay extra for it.
i guess the idea was to look like you slugged it out in the clubs for 30 years...
well, there ain't no easy path to that- you gotta do it.

 

[strat_master]

Re: Shiny polished guitars or reliced beat up guitars

id say fi the guitar naturally became relic i would still liek it, but i wouldnt go for those faux relic jobs it just seems like a way for players to pretned they played on it alot.

 

[Tom M]

Re: Shiny polished guitars or reliced beat up guitars

I think a Gibson/PRS type of guitar should look as nice as possible - shiny, clean, nice wood, nice finish.

A Fender type guitar can be beat to hell and back, dented, scratched, scraped, broken, taped together, but still look awesome. They have that beat up pickup truck look to them.

 

[Gearjoneser]

Re: Shiny polished guitars or reliced beat up guitars

What I find funniest about relicing is that it's pretty dang hard to wear a guitar out that's equal to what the average "relic" looks like. I've played a few guitars to death, and even after 'helping it along' it still looked like fair condition. I like worn in looking guitars, although most of mine are newer except for one sunburst strat I played for years. It's true that you feel more comfortable playing a guitar with flaws. I wonder if it says something about your personality, regarding the the level of flaws you find acceptable? Food for thought.

 

[aleclee]

Re: Shiny polished guitars or reliced beat up guitars

I prefer guitars that play well and sound nice regardless of their appearance. That said, I prefer that new guitars look new.

 

[Hellion]

Re: Shiny polished guitars or reliced beat up guitars

What's the lowdown on the Bastardcaster?

The Bastardcaster is a mid 90's Tele that I picked up cheap, and basically rebuilt. It's got a QP Tele pup in the bridge that I've replaced twice, once with an American Standard and lastly with a HotRod Custom bridge with a matching control plate. It's been refretted with Dunlop 6100s, had the nut replaced with bone, the saddles with GraphTechs. It's basically just a train wreck guitar with which I've got a serious love/hate relationship. At the same time, it's the one guitar out of about 15 or 16 others that goes with me to EVERY job, just because it's got a tone that I like. And it's annoyingly addictive to play.

 

[chuckocaster]

Re: Shiny polished guitars or reliced beat up guitars

i rarely clean my guitars, and i sure as hell am not careful with them. i don't throw them on the ground or anything, but stuff does happen.

they are not however not taken care of.

but my guitar is a tool, much like a shovel. and i use them, but don't abuse them. with that said, they all look decent. but there are scrathces dings and whatever may have occured. i play a lot of house parties and bars, and my guitars reflect the tought times they've been through.

 

[Dooogz]

Re: Shiny polished guitars or reliced beat up guitars

I try to keep mine as nice as poss, however in a way thats not good, cus when it gets scratched etc, i really h8 it. So as many of u said a bashed up guitar may well be better, as you cant worry as much!!

 

[shred me good]

Re: Shiny polished guitars or reliced beat up guitars

just had my new ibanez prestige (see pic) ***ked in customs. they twisted the case and took a chip out of the body, and i cant even get compensation.
if i had taken a beat up guitar none of this would have matterd

 

[Dave]

Re: Shiny polished guitars or reliced beat up guitars

The Bastardcaster is a mid 90's Tele that I picked up cheap, and basically rebuilt. It's got a QP Tele pup in the bridge that I've replaced twice, once with an American Standard and lastly with a HotRod Custom bridge with a matching control plate. It's been refretted with Dunlop 6100s, had the nut replaced with bone, the saddles with GraphTechs. It's basically just a train wreck guitar with which I've got a serious love/hate relationship. At the same time, it's the one guitar out of about 15 or 16 others that goes with me to EVERY job, just because it's got a tone that I like. And it's annoyingly addictive to play.

Sounds like something we're all after!

 

[beandip]

Re: Shiny polished guitars or reliced beat up guitars

I love beat up guitars, but only if I was the one to beat it up. In a shop, I'm more drawn to a beat up guitar, but I probably wont buy it. I dont know why, but I cant stand a relic unless I was the one to relic it, be it natural or my expertise with steel wool and keys. Gotta love a relic.