"Relicing"

underdog · March 2015

TheGuitarWeasel;575859" said:
We live in an age of 'shabby chic' furniture, distressed leather jackets, faded jeans, steampunk fashion ... all finish options, and down to personal choice. The more interesting question is why guitarists are so anally retentive and conservative, and even downright childish about those 'other guitarists choices?'

Exactly what I was going to say, aged is a style in every other fashion conscious aspect of the world so why can't guitarists accept it?

OilCityPickups · March 2015

I blame poor potty training :-)

Iamnobody · March 2015

mrchi;575880" said:
Iamnobody said:

delusional owners are getting what they want. No one gets hurt.

Their not delusional then are they

Yes! Because they have a false belief that relicing a perfectly good guitar is normal

Ok - poor choice of language on my part I guess. Believe it or not I was trying to be positive about relicing!

It's difficult to not let your own opinion seep in though. As I said each to their own and it is great that people can make money from the industry.

My own dislike of relicing is as valid as the next guys love of it though.

I don't buy the whole they feel better to play argument either. If that was the case you could just take finish off the neck and not go the whole hog with dents and fag burns!

It's a whole look that people usually want to create and that's fine.

WezV;575853" said:
Iamnobody said:

I'm not really a relic fan - but the same honest wear analogy doesn't really cut it a lot of other situations.

Think of a classic car that's rusted to fuck and has a big dent/scrape down the side where a previous owners silly wife couldn't negotiate the drive. Honest wear and tear Guv, it's had a hard life and all the better for it - bollocks!

A wooden front door where the paint is pealing off having been exposed to driving rain and wind for 30 years, and the paint has worn through around the keyhole from thousands of locks and unlocks. Honest wear and tear Guv...

You wouldn't be happy with the above examples would you and certainly wouldn't deliberaty age to achieve the same aesthetics!

its funny, people do deliberately try to recreate the looks you mention, but very few would be happy with "genuine" wear on those items

http://www.doorsbydesign.net/SiteImages/ww71.jpg

http://www.thewll2.com.br/imagens/editor/rat rod 7.jpg

I sometimes think its similar with guitars. People like a certain type of wear they perceive as authentic, but real knocks and scrapes are a lot less predictable

Everyday is a school day!

A good job we are all different.

stickyfiddle · March 2015

I like some relics. I don't like some relics.

I see it a bit like trainers. Brand new shiny trainers look ridiculous, but so do fucked-looking ones. Lightly worn in ones look best and feel lovely

Dalefty · March 2015

I'm sorry, but to me it just screams ''I'm trying to look more experienced and better than I really am'', in other words try hard, all my work guitars that I bought up until 2013 have fag burns on the headstocks, back from when I smoked, I have since quit, I used to do what I call the 'poor man's smoke machine' - trademarked by the way, where I would place the fag I was smoking inbetween the low E string and the headstock to hold my smoke for me while I was doing something I couldn't do with a fag in my right hand, I regret every single burn and nicotine stain on them, some of my maple headstocks are pure orange/brown with nicotine stains, it doesn't add character to ther guitar, nor make them more comfortable to play, it just shows people what a lazy heavy smoker I was, and how little I took care of my guitars, nothing screems good guitar player than allowing a fag to burn down low enough, for long enough and often enough that it actually burns through the finish of the headstock and burns the wood. And as for fag burns on the actual guitar body? People know they have been done on purpose to achieve a look, who else would use the body of their guitar as an ashtry, I used to smoke a deck of fifty a day, I could afford ashtrays, I didn't use guitar bodies. It's a hipster fashion thing, just look at how long 'road worn' guitars have been available for sale from people like Fender, it's a fairly recent thing, ten or fifteen years ago if not a lot less, you would laugh at a shop trying to sell you a guitar in that state, and demand a very big discount on the purchase price and get it, nowadays people seem to think they can charge you extra for guitars they have treated like shit on purpose.

I'd happily swap any of my nicotine stained fenders, for mint condition or good condition versions of the same guitars - for the same years and models, some of them are that heavily nicotine stained that you can barely make out the Fender logos on them, not to mention the wood burn damage, I have a 2010 model thats headstock looks about 70 years old due to the nicotine staining, and that's before you get to the smell of the headstock.

DaLefty

underdog · March 2015

Dalefty;576056" said:
I'm sorry, but to me it just screams ''I'm trying to look more experienced and better than I really am'', in other words try hard, all my work guitars that I bought up until 2013 have fag burns on the headstocks, back from when I smoked, I have since quit, I used to do what I call the 'poor man's smoke machine' - trademarked by the way, where I would place the fag I was smoking inbetween the low E string and the headstock to hold my smoke for me while I was doing something I couldn't do with a fag in my right hand, I regret every single burn and nicotine stain on them, some of my maple headstocks are pure orange/brown with nicotine stains, it doesn't add character to ther guitar, nor make them more comfortable to play, it just shows people what a lazy heavy smoker I was, and how little I took care of my guitars, nothing screems good guitar player than allowing a fag to burn down low enough, for long enough and often enough that it actually burns through the finish of the headstock and burns the wood. And as for fag burns on the actual guitar body? People know they have been done on purpose to achieve a look, who else would use the body of their guitar as an ashtry, I used to smoke a deck of fifty a day, I could afford ashtrays, I didn't use guitar bodies. It's a hipster fashion thing, just look at how long 'road worn' guitars have been available for sale from people like Fender, it's a fairly recent thing, ten or fifteen years ago if not a lot less, you would laugh at a shop trying to sell you a guitar in that state, and demand a very big discount on the purchase price and get it, nowadays people seem to think they can charge you extra for guitars they have treated like shit on purpose.

I'd happily swap any of my nicotine stained fenders, for mint condition or good condition versions of the same guitars - for the same years and models, some of them are that heavily nicotine stained that you can barely make out the Fender logos on them, not to mention the wood burn damage, I have a 2010 model thats headstock looks about 70 years old due to the nicotine staining, and that's before you get to the smell of the headstock.

DaLefty

I'm glad you told us, that's it, everyone stop liking aged guitars, I'll ring fender and tell them to stop production of them, if you guys sort out who's going to inform the others between you that'd be great.

OilCityPickups · March 2015

Lets take a reality check here ...

The thread was originally about prices for relic work ... but it has been utterly hijacked by those who actually haven't a clue about any answers to the OP's question ...

Sad ...

axisus · March 2015

I get so pissed off with all these relic haters, go and start your own relic hating thread you bunch of losers. You don't get it so just bugger off rather than try and lecture everyone.

OilCityPickups · March 2015

That's a bit extreme the other way lol ... they have a right not to like a finish ... after all. I mean I tend to think sunburst Strats look grandadish ... never mind that I'm a granddad anyway! The issue is in the 'belt sander' and 'dragged behind a car' jibes ... and the assumption that anybody interested in relics must be trying to look more experienced than they are,

I pretty regularly create relic pickups for customers ... and I posses a couple of relic guitars. I also have been gigging for around 40 years, so I think I feel justified in playing a guitar that looks as f--ked as me!

tone1 · March 2015

Did someone call?

robdynamite · March 2015

cheers for all your negativity, it really helped with my original post.

musteatbrain · March 2015

I haven't read this thread, but I don't think I need to in order to understand the content!

Dalefty · March 2015

These prices will be no good to you as they are for people based in Scotland, but it maight give you a rough idea of what to expect;

For amateur/hobbyists we have people advertising in our practice rooms - rooms that we rent out to teachers for teaching, or local bands so that they can rehearse, for anythng from £30.00 to about £100.00, these tend to be people who are doing it cash in hand and not as their main source of income.

We have companies advertising prices starting from £150.00, these are companies that specialise on refinishing or finishing wood in general, they don't specialise in guitars but will work on just about anything that is made of wood.

The person I use for jobs that I can't do myself doesn't do relicing per say, she does distressed finishes, and her prices start at the £300.00 mark for a guitar body, and that's for a relatively simple and plain finish, something intricate and detailed will cost a lot more, especially making a guitar look naturally distressed because the person doing the finish has to have an understanding of how the instrument will wear naturally over time, for example a Tele will wear differently from a Strat, which will wear differently from a Les Paul, which will wear differently from an SG. I've known her to charge upwards of £1000.00 for some of her work on guitar bodies, but she is a full time artist, and doesn't just work on guitars, she paints, and does other arty stuff aswell.

DaLefty

OilCityPickups · March 2015

robdynamite said:

cheers for all your negative, it really helped with my original post.

I produce relic pickups too ... usually at about 20% above base price :-)

Plukky · March 2015

One of the reasons I prefer this place to TGP is the lack of this conversation...

Oh well...

robdynamite · March 2015

Dalefty said:

These prices will be no good to you as they are for people based in Scotland, but it maight give you a rough idea of what to expect;

For amateur/hobbyists we have people advertising in our practice rooms - rooms that we rent out to teachers for teaching, or local bands so that they can rehearse, for anythng from £30.00 to about £100.00, these tend to be people who are doing it cash in hand and not as their main source of income.

We have companies advertising prices starting from £150.00, these are companies that specialise on refinishing or finishing wood in general, they don't specialise in guitars but will work on just about anything that is made of wood.

The person I use for jobs that I can't do myself doesn't do relicing per say, she does distressed finishes, and her prices start at the £300.00 mark for a guitar body, and that's for a relatively simple and plain finish, something intricate and detailed will cost a lot more, especially making a guitar look naturally distressed because the person doing the finish has to have an understanding of how the instrument will wear naturally over time, for example a Tele will wear differently from a Strat, which will wear differently from a Les Paul, which will wear differently from an SG. I've known her to charge upwards of £1000.00 for some of her work on guitar bodies, but she is a full time artist, and doesn't just work on guitars, she paints, and does other arty stuff aswell.

DaLefty

Thanks for that buddy, kind of a rough idea at very least!

I appreciate it!

lloyd · March 2015

Not read the whole thread but...I like relic finishes, not for any other reason than they look cool. If I could afford a 49 year old guitar with legitimate wear I'd be made up. I can't....

I don't like les Paul's, I don't like metal guitars, I don't comment on threads of guitars I don't like...because it's doesn't matter if I don't like it or its finish...it's not my guitar and who cares what I think?

I don't get the hatred of them...I dislike a lot of guitars but wouldn't get my cock In a twist about it....you don't have to have one!

I don't have a relic guitar.

lloyd · March 2015

putting cigs in your guitar headstock is is lame-put it on the ashtray/table/mouth it's screams of look at me I snoke, I'm cool...it's not.

I smoke, have never needed to put a cig there...I'm not a rolling stone/yardbird etc so never needed to smoke and finish a song in front of 15,000 people...

Dalefty · March 2015

lloyd said:

putting cigs in your guitar headstock is is lame-put it on the ashtray/table/mouth it's screams of look at me I snoke, I'm cool...it's not.

I smoke, have never needed to put a cig there...I'm not a rolling stone/yardbird etc so never needed to smoke and finish a song in front of 15,000 people...

You try holding a fag while eight finger tapping at the same time without dropping it, I can't do it, but when I needed a smoke I needed a smoke, whether I was on stage or not, I would light one up and smoke when I needed one, and the headstock was a convient place to hold my smoke while I was doing things like eight finger tapping, or right hand tapping at the time - nowadays at would be tapping with my left hand. I've never had the luxury of having a table or somewhere to put an ashtray while on stage, I used to just drop my smokes on the floor, or flick them at somebody in the audience or over the audience - there is always one annoying fucker in the audience who stands out, not to mention I'm a pro at flicking fags and my aim is deadly - I used to play games with some mates where we would see who could flick their fag end the furtherest or flick it into the rubbish bin across the street sort of thing.

And I've now guit smoking, so I no longer use my headstock to hold smokes for me, I stopped doing that almost two years ago now. Not to mention if you read my post you'll see I mention how much I regret using the low e and my headstock to hold my smoke for me.

DaLefty

Lew · March 2015

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