What Does Road Worn mean?

guitarjack66

Is this an almost literal term for guitars which are well worn from years of gigging and travelling around in a musician's travel cases or is it a sneaky term to disguise the now somewhat maligned label of 'Reliced?'

Just asking in case I have my head turned in the future and don't want to be deceived.

Cols

guitarjack66 said:

Is this an almost literal term for guitars which are well worn from years of gigging and travelling around in a musician's travel cases or is it a sneaky term to disguise the now somewhat maligned label of 'Reliced?'

Just asking in case I have my head turned in the future and don't want to be deceived.

It's another term for reliced.  Unless it's a secondhand purchase, in which case it's code for "I'm not good at looking after guitars".

Pete.R

It is a way to sell damaged guitars at a higher price.....LOL

prowla

Poopy. 

guitarjack66

'Why those pesky....guitar salesmen.'

TimmyO

guitarjack66 said:

Is this an almost literal term for guitars which are well worn from years of gigging and travelling around in a musician's travel cases or is it a sneaky term to disguise the now somewhat maligned label of 'Reliced?'

Just asking in case I have my head turned in the future and don't want to be deceived.

It's both. 

It's the kind of term that folk have used to describe their used/dinked/not-pristine guitars, but then Fender started using it as a product name on their artificially aged Mexican (non custom Shop) guitars. 

LastMantra

Fender have a series of guitars called "Road worn" ("reliced" Mexican made). Don't know if it's a trademark or whatever, people seem to use it as a generic term too. 

Loobs

It's something entirely disingenuous. 

TimmyO

Fender will sell you a "Road Worn" strap 

monquixote

In Fender language "Reliced" means individually aged by hand in the Custom Shop while "Road worn" means aged to a more standard template in the Mexican factory. 

There is plenty of evidence that even Relics are quite templated, but that's another story.

Outside of Fender it's a term that when applied to a second hand instrument normally means it's been gigged hard and therefore has a number of cosmetic imperfections, the more common term in this instance is "Player Grade" e.g. it still plays perfectly well, but it's not one for a collector. 

dazzajl

About £300

RaymondLin

They do cookie cut out relic in the custom shop too, plenty of examples online for that.

Roadworn is just a label use in the Mexican Factory.
Journeyman is just a label use in the USA factory.
Heavy relic is just a label use in the USA factory.

Put 2 Roadworn next to each other and you will see the same similarities.
Put 2 CS relic together from the same "Range" and you will see the same similarities. 

TimmyO

monquixote said:

 the more common term in this instance is "Player Grade" e.g. it still plays perfectly well, but it's not one for a collector. 

I'm old enough to remember when that was just called "used", before used came to mean "I want it like new but I want it cheaper" :-) 

Loobs

I think relic is cool, it's its own thing at this point. But to ever get a guitar to look like that through 'natural' use, you'd have to play thousands upon thousands of gigs and really not take care of it at all. 

Roland

Humpty Dumpty said
“When I use a word it means just what I choose it to mean”

“Road worn” used to mean that it had normal wear and tear from being played over many gigs. Then Fender’s marketing department picked it up and redefined it for their own purposes. 

monquixote

TimmyO said:

monquixote said:

 the more common term in this instance is "Player Grade" e.g. it still plays perfectly well, but it's not one for a collector. 

I'm old enough to remember when that was just called "used", before used came to mean "I want it like new but I want it cheaper" :-) 

I think "player grade" has always been a bit different to my mind. 

It's like "this guitar would probably be worth a lot more if it was a minter, but it's not so you don't need to be afraid to gig it"

Like your classic 70's strat that's been gouged for a humbucker and got a really badly done refin. 

gumbothewiddler

Roadworn = attacked with sandpaper
relic = attacked with sandpaper, scalpel, old keys etc.
Heavy relic = attacked with all the above and some boot polish/ dirt from the shop floor. 

Hope this assists.

Lewy

Loobs said:

It's something entirely disingenuous. 

Almost all guitar finishes are entirely disingenuous. Take, for example, a modern poly finish masquerading as a meticulously grain-filled, sanded and lacquered piece of wood when in fact it's a roughly sanded piece of wood coated in a mm or two of plastic.....

roberty

It was appropriated by Fender, in the same way the Vintage brand appropriated the word 'vintage'

WezV

Once you get to CS, you get different levels to chose from:

NOS - Usually as new, definitely no chips or dings
Closet Classic - As above but with some discoloration to finish and parts
DLX Closet Classic - as above with checking
Journeyman relic - some nicks and dings, some small areas worn through
Relic - Lots of dents and marks, more wear through but still has most of its finish
Heavy relic - Fooked.

Roadworn is usually a basic template version of their relic finish, meant to look a bit like a heavily gigged guitar.... if you squint 

Lewy

roberty said:

It was appropriated by Fender, in the same way the Vintage brand appropriated the word 'vintage'

I genuinely can't ever recall hearing or reading anyone use the phrase "road worn" to describe a guitar before Fender brought out that range. Obviously, they're common words but people weren't going around regularly using that phrase from what I remember.