The "Relic" thread

jerryjg

jerryjg

PinkElephantologist
I've developed quite a bit of interest in Relic Guitars. I mean everything orom thrashed broken POS cheap guitars being called "reliced" to Fender Custom Shop expensive relics.
Im mainly talking Fender here, because aside form a few small examples, like the Page Les Paul, Gibsons do not lend themsleves well to the relicing process I don't think.
Anyhow, once you eliminate the junk and abused guitars being called" reliced", and the top dollar custom shop relics, most of which are actually outsatnding relics in my opinion,
then what you are left with are the new production Strat model bodys being " professionally" reliced by people and then being sold for 300-400.00.

Now, Ive taken a look at most of these so called "relics" and from waht I can see most of them are awefull! Yet people are snapping them up simply becuase thay have been what the seller calls"reliced". Take a look at this;
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This is pretty typical of the relics i see. This is completely unnatural wear pattern. You see the seller simply sanded all around the edge of the guitar for convieninces sake. Awefull. Others are just as bad or even worse wear patterns. Some of them are unbelieveable.
I've seen some great relics. Im trying to remember the froum bro. from Finland who makes relic bodies ( can anyone tell me/). His are genuinely skilled productions with very believeable random ageing pattern artwork.
I wish I could get one of his bodies. I do love a good relic, and I think the Fender Custom Shop makes outsanding relics, but they are way out of my price range. Most of the stuff on ebay is garbage, and I just wish I could get one of the few at a good price like our Finnish bro makes!
 
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Re: The "Relic" thread

I dont like the idea of relicing guitars or buying them relicd but it beats dented frets and tuners that have to be replaced. its like levis jeans I suppose...
 
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As far as "relics" go, it's a fine line between looking like a guitar that has been played hard for 20 years and just some roughed up paint w/rusty parts. Xssive's relic job was a looker, appeared to be a workingman's guitar that had seen many miles and had some necessary replacements added along the way. Most of the "straight from the custom shop" guitars costing 4 figures always seem contrived in their appearances. I'd rather spend the G's on a mint axe and let it age naturally.
 
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Are you thinking of Esseraca or something like that? I don't know if he does them for anyone else or not but he does do a darn good job.
 
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I know of a cheap and perfect way to relic your guitar and give it that 'look'
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play it ;)
 
Re: The "Relic" thread

..And another couple pf piss-poor examples of a "relic". This guy was selling these for 300 bucks a pop, but I don't see the bids that highanymore on these. He does about the same thing to all of is, includeing that stupid spot above the pickgaurd;


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And can you believe the buy it now of 495.00 on this POS??
I think his luck may be running out. The high bid is 20 bucks with 18 hours to go;

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In general a halfway decent relic will still bring about 300.00 i think, if iyts genuine Fender.But this stuff I just showed is total junk IMO>
 
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I went through my relic phase, just to see if I could do it. It really was challenging and fun...but now I'm back to pretty guitars and colorful amps.
 
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VPBKSm5.jpg


I had this 'distressed' strat for a long time. It was a pretty light relic job, but I liked it. It was just enough for it to feel loved and used, rather than neglected and abused.
 
Re: The "Relic" thread

It's really difficult to do a relic job well, just because you're shaping things with your hands that should have been shaped with forearms, elbows, stage risers, mic stands, etc. I agree with you guys in that the best way to do it is to let it age naturally. The only touch I would do to make a guitar more 'broken-in' would be to check the laquer (by taking just the body and alternating it between an oven at it's lowest setting and a fridge or freezer). That way, the guitar feels like it's been played and loved for several years, and the finish comes off more easily while you play it, so it relics itself really, and usually ends up looking fantastic.

My roommate this last semester had two fender custom shop relics - a master built and a team built, and they both looked like someone actually had played them hard for 30 years and sounded fantastic. The master built one, in particular, was one of those instruments that pushes you into a different head space while you're playing - I remember the first time I jammed with it I thought someone else was playing the guitar through my body. Yeah, it was one of those.
 
Re: The "Relic" thread

Its rather fun doing your own relic, you just have to remember that for every dent and ding, you need to think up the "how" and "why" it got there.

You don't just take a belt sander to the body at random spots, you instead figure out where your forearm would actually wear it down, wear your belt buckle would wear on the back, how a strap broke and it fell and how the ding in the upper horn got there etc

I'm certainly no expert, just trial and errored on my first relic and definatly wanted as over the top and beat to heck as I could get (to offset having painted the guitar a girly color lol)

Best part of doing a relic is you can be so much sloppier when your spraying the color and clearcoats because you know anywhere you get a flat spot you can just put a dent! LOL
 
Re: The "Relic" thread

^ I think that looks great Millsart! Much better than the relics I showed!
 
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I really don't get all the "relic" hype. Why would you deliberately destroy your guitar's finish and hardware just to "look like it's traveled some miles"... to me that's just as wannabe as any Emo band trying to be rockstars. Or kids making cuts into their new pants so they can be "punks".
I wax and clean my guitars. If scratches and dents happen... they happen... still not something I need to do on purpose.
 
Re: The "Relic" thread

I really like the range; Shiny new to "through hell and back"

As for relics, there is just something cool about the mojo of a guitar loved (or neglected) that it has been played to death.

I think Fender got it right - total relics, closet classics. Gibson totally blew it - aged binding, or hardware, or some other goofy "piece" of relicing.

I also think LPs are tough to relic - they way they play just doesn't lead to the brutal wear of a strat. Go look at some old LP's on line: Dulled nitro, monor oxidation on hardware, some wear on neck. Maybe some dings. That's about it.
 
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