relic or not ?

[Mx481james]

I looked at a Murphy lab and I have to say the aging was beautiful. Unfortunately it was right handed so playing upsidedown couldn't give me the true feel .
Has anyone on here done a relic there really proud of ?

I've considered this before and actually aged my all rosewood tele just a little . It came out great and has a broken in feel but far from a relic . Still it's like a 69 that wasn't played much vibe to it .
Really would like some real world feedback . If you tried it and sorry you did ? I know once you start you can't go back lol

 

[Logrinn]

Haven’t tried it and imo it’s one of the most stupid things out there in the guitar community.
The people selling reliced guitars are laughing all the way to the bank.
Imagine this concept for something other than guitars. Cars? Furnitures? Kitchen appliances?
Of course - everyone do what they want …

 

[Mx481james]

There's some great players out there that swear by the feel of well done relic.
Like you I  pretty much keep them as nice as I can , but I've got the itch as my rosewood does feel nicer to play .

I was searching for a warmoth guitar being reliced from new . This is the only video I could fined . He makes it look pretty simple to do . When I spray a guitar I wear a painter's  jumpsuit with a hood , made a spray booth . This guy just steps outside and does it lol
.
Sorry Don't know how to attach maybe somebody can?
Building my dream guitar ( heavy relic strat )
By , Alfie Vaughan music

 

[Logrinn]

Just copy the Youtube link and paste it in the Youtube tags.
Like so:

ie

https://youtu.be/cddtEROLEL8

 

[BroccoliRob]

i let my stuff relic over time with real-world experiences. but i also don't buy distressed blue jeans or faux vintage t-shirts at Target. seems disingenous to me. like a 20-something bro wearing a band's tour shirt from 1977. not tryin' ta ladle haterade down anyone's throat, its just how i feel. if that's what u want your Egg McGuffin to be, then ok i guess. it's just like, the kind of people who gots to have a meticulously recreated  relic'ed EVH Strat probably have such boring personalities that if they murdered someone they still wouldnt be a person of interest lmao

dang maybe that was some haterade after all. sry every1. having a bad day. i visited my local fortune teller and she recommended i get a Hex change to realign my chakra with the moon cycles and that just sounds like a whole process

 

[Mx481james]

Lol Rob please tell us how you feel , don't hold back !
I understand your point and respect you're opinion.
I do disagree with it , especially the personality part lol.
I'm loaded with personality, some say charming lol . I don't think if I  do a relic guitar that will change.  :cool01:

 

[mayfly]

Just to balance things out there, I've done it and it was fun.  Turned out pretty cool as well - I had the guitar at work for a time and had people do random stuff to it (like put out their ciggarette on it, drop a screwdriver on the top, etc).  also had fun aging the various other parts, although I can tell you soaking the pick-guard in coffee doesn't do much.
Didn't start with a warmoth body though!!

 

[Sadie-f]

dang maybe that was some haterade after all. sry every1. having a bad day. i visited my local fortune teller and she recommended i get a Hex change to realign my chakra with the moon cycles and that just sounds like a whole process

Ya think? ;-) Now don't get my wrong, I wouldn't be caught dead in distressed denim (hell, I stopped wearing denim in my 30s because it doesn't wear like Carhardt. .. not cost-effective.

There's players here who cut down on those with 'pretensions' ... meh. expressing all poor-proud is it's own pretension, no? ;-)

been poor, been well off if never rich. RN I can afford some nice tools, as well as the time to build some.

 

[stratamania]

I am a bit with BroccoliRob on relics and genuine worn jeans versus fake wear and tear. I am not against them overall and some are done very well but a lot of them when overdone just do not look that realistic compared to real world wear and tear.

This is one I have done some natural "relic" work on. It is over thirty three years old at the time of this post and this is actual wear from playing, gigging, time and so on.

Hamer1 by stratamania, on Flickr

Hamer3 by stratamania, on Flickr

 

[raystankewitz]

I have a few guitars, a bass and a mandolin that are "Buffed Smooth And Barked Up" but they got that way in an honest manner; I gigged them pretty heavily. I mean, some see this as instant street creds but I don't. Besides, most of the relic work I see is pretty fake, to be honest. To make a guitar look like it's forty years old and it was gigged by Skinny Harp Davis five nights a week, you really have to go beyond the level that video shows.

I almost never see neck plates with worn off plating, trem plates with rust from sweat, pickguards that look like the owner played with banjo finger picks, cracked knobs, pup covers, switch tips (that appear to have electrical tape helping to hold them on the shaft), things like that. Logos that are half-missing, bent tuners, chipped nuts, mismatched screws and the like.

"Like I always say, each to their own. I'll relic mine the slow way." Skinny Harp Davis

 

[alexreinhold]

As so often, BroccoliRob, Logrinn and Stratamania have said it - albeit in slightly different styles of communication.

You know, good musicianship requires relentless practice and execution. Building guitars requires relentless practice and execution. And the very same should go for any worn guitars. It should be a testament of your sacrifice for the craft. But millenials - who are the target group of relic guitars i suppose - tend to think that they are entitled to things without putting in the effort. Ok, I'm getting carried away now but you get the point...

 

[Mx481james]

Yes I completely agree with stratamania. It gets a little silly when a relic looks 400 years old .
If you've ever watched Anderson's music videos ? I'm thinking of something like Danish Pete's purple telecaster. I've never played a maple neck enough to feel like a 50's fender that's well wore in. When I changed the neck on my rosewood tele and rolled the fingerboard I also reshape the neck . It was a boat neck , cutting it down and smoothing everything out has given the neck a vintage feel ( lovely ) . I then just aged the guitar ever so slightly .
I'm not trying to make a relic guitar a right of passage or experience player against beginner, young or old .
I'm 64 , Cancer once , two heart attacks , kidney disease stage 3 ... Not making this a joke . I don't have time to wear a guitar in like a '50s fender lol . Yes I want a guitar like Danish Pete's just don't really know how to do it correctly. I wish there was a extra $50,000 sitting for the real deal . Actually no I don't , I think warmoth and some helpful advice maybe I can pull this off .

The guitar in the video is to much to me but I applaud his effort.
We've only had one post of a relic guitar so far , mayfly's strat. Like him tried aging a white  pickguard , I couldn't get it to take any stain really . I want whatever I do to look original , More importantly feel original .

 

[Logrinn]

Ah!
The feeling of an instrument that’s worn in.
That’s something completely different and has nothing to do with relicing.
A high quality instrument should feel like that - and you’d probably have to pay dearly for it - but there’s no need for it to look like it’s been through a grinder.
Take a look at hundred year old violins - that has to be as worn in as can be - and you’ll find minimal wear.
Here’s an old Stradivarius - very very worn in, but showing none of that relicing that Fender does. On the contrary - it looks old and very well kept.

 

[teleme01]

the shovel theory...  what is more important,  looks or function ?  i would hate to have a shovel so pretty that i wouldnt throw it in the back of the truck,  although it doesnt hurt any for your guitar to be eye candy as long as it is a player.

 

[ValeBliz]

I can live and kinda like extremely light relic jobs, the schecter nick johnston custom shop is what I consider a good light relic. I find most of the relic CS stuff absurd, guitars looking like they were stored inside a rock tumbler.

 

[Mx481james]

Logrinn , I agree the better the guitar is better chance you have it's a player . Unfortunately just being an expensive guitar doesn't make it feel broken in . I had a prs private stock Santana that I paid $10,000. It was the biggest mistake buying a guitar I ever made . I was in And walked into a store and there it was . Left handed and a 12900. Asking price I think . It was a special order that the owner traded back in . I think I actually paid $9300. Out the door .it was a impulse buy . Anyway it didn't have the feel of a vintage guitar . I have a few collings , they are great but don't feel wore in ether . I did have a custom shop Les Paul Junior that had the feel . The neck was just so big and chunky and I play a lot on the neck pup which of course it didn't have .
Back to topic , yes a old violin is a good analogy . How did we get that aged feel from some new warmoth parts ?

 

[DuckBaloo]

I think a well-done relic is a work of art. The art and furniture world hold their restorers, distress-ers, and copyists (forgers) in the highest esteem. Whereas a new finish is just skilled labor, convincing relicing is an art form. Done right the work shows a keen eye for detail, knowledge of historical processes, and a mastery of materials. The Fender Custom Shop, MJT and some others do great work on a commercial level. Something like a Nash is very unconvincing and can be spotted across the room (but is a wonderfully set up and smooth playing instrument). Keith Richards (who is created with as the catalyst for the CS relics), Bruce Springsteen, a Steve Miller and others buy and use relics.

That doesn't mean only the best most convincing are worth looking at, in the Hot Rod worls a Rat Rod or "sleeper" is admired right along side all the flashy sparkle paint and pin-striping. And there are plenty of players and builders who follow in the footsteps of Joe Strummer and others and abuse their guitars to a custom look.

Ultimately, ... de gustibus non est disputandum ... "In matters of taste, there can be no disputes", aka..."to each their own". I don't understand complaining about someone else's taste. I don't think the high-school-level argument of "honest wear" or "poser" holds any water. I really dson't care how much anyone plays their guitar. Whatever guitar is most comfortable and most appealing that you actually want to pick it up and play it is a great guitar.

 

[Seamas]

I find it funny that a terribly "relic'ed" guitar from 20+ years ago is a valued "vintage", no matter how distressed the finish is--but if someone dared change the pickups---or *gasp* changed the capacitor, it is no longer stock and the value will take a hit.

Yes I completely agree with stratamania. It gets a little silly when a relic looks 400 years old .

The only relic jobs I thought were interesting (and I am pretty sure it was someone here) made the guitar not only look 400 years old, but kept in a dank cave somewhere, (and maybe buried under a swamp for 20 years) so all of the metal looked corroded.
The other ones remind me of my daughter's jeans which had holes in the knees brand new. She and I both  just happened to be wearing jeans with holes in the knees the other day. Mine were earned.

 

[Rick]

Alex, that is an interersting perspective. 
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BIpREvWtl70[/youtube]

 

[Mx481james]

Omg Rick that's great !
It's hard to believe how much of that I've heard in the real world . But not just from the young , my girlfriend has some of those traits lmao she just turned 56