To relic or not....

badlydrawnbanjo

Delicate subject I know, but after drooling over a slightly aged Les Paul 58 standard in Sounds Great last week my Les Paul just looks a bit clean now.

It's the model below and I do plan on it being a keeper so anything I do to it would be only for me.

http://i1150.photobucket.com/albums/o605/banjo74/C5D70AF7-07C4-4778-B6BC-172F8A348DE4-5344-000009311F7C0D9D_zps78f500ae.jpg


I've sent an email off to JGX to get a ball park price for a proper job doing.

Any thoughts?

John_P

Personally,  I'd just play it - a lot and let it age naturally - there are plenty of well gigged or relic guitars out there... the money spent on getting someone to age it for you could buy something...  

If you were buying a guitar and choosing the look that's different but that looks too nice as it is, so I'd leave it alone.

Paul_C

I've rarely seen a relic job that doesn't look like a relic job. but each to his own, I guess

ICBM

Just play it.

Doing it yourself is questionable enough, paying someone else to do it is stupid. If it comes back and you don't like the result, what do you do?

I don't object to relics in principle by the way. But having seen a vast number of badly-done ones, I would always want to see the result first.

koneguitarist

Don't do it to a Gibson.

Lew

relic or not get rid of that bloody bigsby, it's ruining a good looking guitar!

RocknRollDave

Play it....it won't stay unreliced for long!

monquixote

Just give it a hard life and maybe give the back of the neck a bit of a rub down so it's nice and slinky. 

Bogwhoppit

Do you take a Fender CS relic back to the dealer if it has a fault in the paintwork ?

Does the light go out in the fridge when you close the door ?

 

 

 

gilby

Bogwhoppit;38897" said:

Do you take a Fender CS relic back to the dealer if it has a fault in the paintwork ?Does the light go out in the fridge when you close the door ?   

Go out ? Doesn't come on when I open it !

jonnyburgo

If you are going to do it, make sure you do it properly. A badly done relic looks awful.

mike_l

koneguitarist;38873" said:

Don't do it

i agree. Play it, put natural wear on it.

axisus

If its not nitro it won't wear, we'll not in an interesting way. If it were mine I'd do a relic job, but I've done it before and liked the result. You'd need to strip the finish and use nitro though.

octatonic

Pretty much agree with others here.

To do it properly you will have to be very talented at the relic process.

I've seen very few home relic jobs that look any good and you will have ruined a guitar if/when you fuck it up.

[Deleted User]

No. Relics are on the way out. Very shiny guitars are the 'new' relics..... (You can always rely on a fat, balding bloke like me for fashion advice!)

ICBM

axisus said:

If its not nitro it won't wear, we'll not in an interesting way. If it were mine I'd do a relic job, but I've done it before and liked the result. You'd need to strip the finish and use nitro though.

It is nitro - it's a Gibson.

Usually stopping them relic'ing themselves on stands and random items of clothing is the problem...

jd0272

I got John to refin the top on my 93 Pre Historic. Used a nitro mix with v little plasticiser in. Checked like a good un all by itself.

I like relics (if done well) but not the razor checking method.

stonevibe

Ever Gibson I have ever owned has always aged really quickly anyway.

Zero point in doing a relic job, it'll age if you play and gig it.

GuitarMonkey

badlydrawnbanjo said:

Any thoughts?

"Just don't do it." (© Noke)

WezV

problem with relicing this particular guitar is that it would always be compared to Neil Young's.  but it will never be that close to 'old black' with the wrong sized pickups 

http://www.pisotones.com/Alfonso/OldBlack/Neils/OldBlack1.jpg

http://www.pisotones.com/Alfonso/OldBlack/Neils/OldBlack2.jpg

fretfinder

Just tow it behind your car for a mile or so, whack it with a greasy old bike chain a few times, then finish it off with a hammer and rub in some filth. Then bin it and get another guitar... :-S