Relic 'wear'

impmann

I'm noticing more and more that the 'wear' on relic bodies just doesn't fit with how a genuine, old guitar gets knocked/worn etc over the years. For example:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/TELECASTER-ROADWORN-BODY-IN-SWAMP-USA-IMPORT-AGED-BUTTERSCOTCH-/111237471688?pt=UK_Guitar_Accessories&hash=item19e6451dc8

The 'wear' near the strap button - how on earth could that paint be worn off in use? And the paint missing above the scratchplate - really? How many Tele players are that ham-fisted to wear that away... and not the scratchplate.

As for these ones which look like they *didn't* survive the Mississippi flood... don't get me started.

Does anyone disagree - and does anyone actually buy this crap?

usedtobe

I think, if it's done well, relicing can look pretty cool. It's just another finish option, at the end of the day. But when it's not done well, it's hilarious..

jd0272

Proportionate to what it'll sell for. That said, although a lot of the MJT stuff is v convincing, a lot of it isn't, and they command good money.

It's all subjective any how, what one person likes, others will not.

ICBM

The biggest mistake - apart comedy ones like impmann posted where someone has obviously been at it with a sander - is on an otherwise well-done, quite natural-looking relic: even-distributed, evenly-sized dings, ie the 'shotgun' effect - either small dings all over the body, or fairly equal-sized chips all around the edge. So many are clearly made with the same tool all over, which is completely unlike how real damage occurs over a period of years.

It's a shame when "relic-ers" who can get the basic technique right and produce convincing-looking checking and damage then just can't stop themselves over-doing it and adding too much of the same.

Leaving the damage too clean and new-looking is another one - I know you can always rub dirt in afterwards, but you would think it wouldn't take a lot more effort to do it properly in the first place.

Some of the biggest names in commercial relics are guilty of both of those things, and it really baffles me why people think they look in any way like genuine old guitars.

impmann

IMHO, there are some beautiful finishes that have been aged well... but most are not available on Ebay. An example of a really well done ageing job:

http://www.offsetguitars.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=41&t=75359&sid=3a23fcc13c5b74472cfcc2bca47db438

axisus

I like relics, well, decent ones. There are are super real ones that look fantastic (although there's always someone who insists that they are badly done!), but there are also ones that may be not so realistic but they look 'interesting' - I like some of that stuff as well.

I don't claim my personal relic finish to be 'realistic' - I didn't study old guitars (quite frankly I couldn't find a resource of genuine guitars to study), but for me it comes under the 'interesting' bracket and I am more than happy with it.

ThePrettyDamned

ICBM nailed it. I don't like relic anyway, but some can look good.

I'd rather just play it till it's worn. Mine has a wonderfully nasty chip on one edge that's a few mm big, a couple of screwdriver marks from adjusting intonation and action, pick scratches... Obviously they'd look different on nitro, but I don't get chips all over the front of my guitar because nothing hard hits the front.

WezV

I started practicising relicing techniques because i was being asked to match new parts with old guitars 

For me they fall into a few catagories, all of which are equally valid as a finish choiceand it comes more down to your tastes than anythign else

1) straight replica or restoration work.   I want it to look exactly like an old (usually famous) guitar and will copy real examples of wear appropriately.  The "cork sniffer" relic

2) alternative  replica.  Its a new design, but i want it to look like its been around a while - appropriate wear as above.  The "what if" relic

3) relic style.  An exaggerated version of the above.  Add extra wear or exaggerate the style.  It doesn't have to look like a real old guitar, but will have exaggerated version of the wear found on those.   Ususally a vaguely familiar guitar shape/style.  The "fashion victim" relic.

4) Apocalypse survivor.  Same techniques as a relic style taken to extreme and unrealistic  proportions.  The "this is cheaper than therapy" relic

 

 

breadfan

impmann said:

IMHO, there are some beautiful finishes that have been aged well... but most are not available on Ebay. An example of a really well done ageing job:

http://www.offsetguitars.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=41&t=75359&sid=3a23fcc13c5b74472cfcc2bca47db438

I do like this!

streethawk

impmann said:

IMHO, there are some beautiful finishes that have been aged well... but most are not available on Ebay. An example of a really well done ageing job:

http://www.offsetguitars.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=41&t=75359&sid=3a23fcc13c5b74472cfcc2bca47db438

Dan Smith is one of the best out there, decent attention to detail on the pickups etc. 

I'm (further) relicing an MJT body that I didn't quite fancy the look of. It's very much like the John Mayer Black One, which is basically a black copy of the SRV heavy relic. Mine is black over white undercoat, like a proper old custom colour black strat. MJT did a convincing job but it looked like a mangled Zebra to me. 

It's fantasy stuff really, and people are right to differentiate between genuine wear imitation and what people imagine could happen in extreme scenarios. 

Used to hate it, now I dig it. 

carlos

How about this one?

https://reverb.com/item/137640-1993-fender-american-telecaster-fire-relic-all-original-parts-one-of-a-kind

ICBM

The only mistake he made was to put it out.

Corvus

I have zero interest in relic'd guitars, but have a custom shop Gretsch here for a bit of a fettle. It's been lightly reliced, looks fairly convincing for the most part. Except it has more "wear" than my 1958 Hofner... And someone finished it nicely, and then did relic work meaning more time/money... all seems odd to me. The owner says he feels less worried about it though, which I can understand.

thermionic

I was reading a review of a Fano in Guitar and Bass this morning, with a "light" relic finish. The review stated the laquer checking was done after the dings to make it look more natural, but all I could think of was "bunch of keys... screwdriver... razor blade..."

The thing that consistently annoys me is trying to replicate nitro wear on 2mm-thick poly. You're kidding nobody!

jd0272

The interesting thing for me is how mine is 'wearing' beyond the Fender relic process. The fingerboard wear is expanding, newer genuine use wear appearing, finish on the back of the neck disappearing nicely, and the body generally twatted as I don't case it and have 3 wee kids. I am a gigger tho so it doesn't just sit in the house.

Doesn't look like a genuine 50 odd yr old guitar IMO, but lovely nonetheless.

Samgb

Its an aesthetic choice you make isnt it? Time was i wouldnt have been interested in anything other than a sunburst-y type of thing but these days i find Strats in those lovely 60s US classic car colours float my boat. Taste is such a subjective thing that it feels intrinsically mean spirited to be down on someone for liking that look. I bought a heavily modded LP copy off a bloke who i thought had done a really great job of relic-ing it. Great in that he had done it with a bit of taste and restraint. And because 'distressing' is such a love/hate thing he was having trouble selling it so i got it for buttons - there can be benefits! I do agree that some of them just look stupid - its usually a Tele or a Tele copy that looks like it was made out of driftwood or a spare plank that fell off your shed. But then if you want that and you can make it sound great then thats cool too.

Gagaryn

I don't like relics and always swore I would never buy one. I hate the fake ageing thing - I won't even buy stone washed jeans! But somehow I seem to have ended up with two, a MJT tele that looks okayish and a custom shop Jazzmaster which doesn't.

Skipped

I would say that Fender are ahead of Gibson. The bare wood on welshboyo's beautiful strat (thread on this page) looks much more convincing to me that the armwear on recent Historics (eg The Beast) which screams fake - and would put me off buying.

Phil_aka_Pip

I can't see the point in relics. When I first saw the fender ones I assumed they'd got some old hardware rusting in a skip at the back, and figured that if they could invent the "relic", they'd be able to use it instead of recycling the metal.

If I buy a new guitar I expect it to look like one. It will receive enough unintentional dings while I'm using it for its proper purpose without anyone else having to give it a head start.

chrisj1602

I recently had an Fender Esquire Relic (which I would have kept if it wasn't the only way for me to get a black LP Custom!) and the relic work was really, really good.  It didn't have anything over the top, just the odd ding and scrape that looked completely natural for a guitar that was supposed to look like it was made in 1959.  The checking looked great too and didn't look razored at all.  It did have neck wear, but not a completely bare back of neck like some, just on the edges of the board where you play the most chords and the usual bare spots on the board.  To me it was very realistic and looked like, and played like a nice worn in guitar.

57Deluxe

..in '07 I bought a Chinese made Telecaster from a German company that listed 100s if not 1000s of them on ebay all from 99p +£15 carriage. I won mine for £15 so it cost me £30 but at same time I won a Strat model from them for a friends daughter for just £12.50 and they agreed to ship BOTH for the single £15 carriage!!... Bear with me - I'm getting to the point!!

Both the guitars were superb and the Strat good enough for me to get one for myself and after chasing many down (which all got bid way to high for my liking) I snagged an all white model with rosewood neck for £25. It looks so authentic that I leave it on a stand in my bedroom but after 3 years I noticed that the white was yellowing... Yes! Sure enough it is actually acquiring that early Fender Olympic White trait of going from artic white to biscuit to yellow! And it makes an already cheap copy look even more authentic! Who'd have thought...

http://i232.photobucket.com/albums/ee301/snotmale/Things that make you go Ding/BlackmoreStrat_zpsc67e0127.jpg