"Road Worn" ... what do you think?

[llmtelecaster]

I understand the gimmick and how it might appeal to some people, but it's just not for me. If you buy a new, decent guitar and play the hell out of it, you'll have a road-worn guitar in no time.

 

[Super Turbo Deluxe Custom]

Poly just don't wear like Nitro.  It doesn't fade with UV light or check and crack like Nitro.  Those are facts.  A '54 Strat after 20 years of playing looks more worn out than a 1991 Strat looks now.  Simply playing them doesn't wear them out like it used to and only so many of them were made then, owning and playing one now is just out of the question for most.  You're left with the realisation you'll never have one.  Guitars seem to be the one thing that's it acceptable to keep once their aesthetic beauty is gone, so the same rules of clothes, shoes, cars, houses, and women don't really apply.  Relic'd is cheating.  So are click tracks, overdubbing, and hum-cancelling single coils for some.

 

[Torment Leaves Scars]

Poly just don't wear like Nitro.  It doesn't fade with UV light or check and crack like Nitro.  Those are facts.  A '54 Strat after 20 years of playing looks more worn out than a 1991 Strat looks now.  Simply playing them doesn't wear them out like it used to and only so many of them were made then, owning and playing one now is just out of the question for most.  You're left with the realisation you'll never have one.  Guitars seem to be the one thing that's it acceptable to keep once their aesthetic beauty is gone, so the same rules of clothes, shoes, cars, houses, and women don't really apply.  Relic'd is cheating.  So are click tracks, overdubbing, and hum-cancelling single coils for some.

With so many different "special editions" coming out, the same argument can be said for "only so many of them were made then."

Personally, for me, anyway, I would find that under most circumstances, the quality of today's guitars would far surpass that of "yesterday's" guitars; everything from quality/assembly, playability, electronically, and even the sound.

Sure, there are some things aspects of a classic guitar that just can't be replicated or touched, because a classic guitar has a particular "character" to it, just as a classic Muscle Car does.  While the "new" Muscle Cars are faster than those of yore, let's be honest, they just don't match up in terms of "character" or "feel."

In the end, I guess it's just a matter of whether you like a "raw" experience, or a "refined" one.  :dontknow:

 

[Jusatele]

what I find so funny about most road worn or reliced or whatever guitars is the job doing them is so terribly amateur it is amazing guys buy them.
No thought is put into stuff like they do not wear under the hardware, or no dirt on places where hands were supposed to wear the finish out. new pickguards and matching hardware, I mean it is a joke they go, ok use a sander here and here and scrub the entire finish off here , even though it would have finish protected about an 1/8th inch out of the hardware, scratches on pickguards not running the natural direction of strumming, etc.
No dents
I laugh whenever I see them, I had a pre CBS Fender, I know how they look when they have been played to death, and 95 % pf those out there do not look that way.