Heartbreaking.

OUCH! what a narcissistic bunch of crap. Why not just throw it in back of a pickup and drive some gravel roads... or put in a gig bag and fly with some airline... yeah ... stupid.

And to think that a self-stated "guitar builder" would have the time and inclination to damage instruments really scares me.

By the way the 'relic' job done is pathetically poor. Any SOB would notice that the wear is inconsistent with any real playing.

This hurts even more than Pete Townshend smashing his guitar or Jimi Hendrix burning one...

OUCH
 
Relicing? Not my cup of tea.

Every one of the dings and scratches on my guitars has a story to tell. :lol
 
down to personal taste at the end of the day. there's a pretty big market out there for new-scratched guitars, so i suppose i'm in the minority for wanting a pristine finish when i buy new.
even the new suhr govan "antique modern" has scratches put on it purposely.
each to their own, but i wouldn't pay an extra 1000 for someone to hack a few dings and dongs into it willy-nilly.
 
I agree with whoever said the sanded neck finish is nice. I just don't have the heart to do it to my "nice" guitars. But I hate the way a sweaty hand sticks to a glossy finish. Give me sanded - or better yet unfinished - neck anyday.
 
There's a video on youtube of someone using fine sandpaper to "satin" the neck of their finished neck guitar. It's a pretty nice demo, but I'd never have the guts or the heart to do something like that personally.
 
NOPE!!! custom finishes on my guitars and it pains me to even see a ding.
I could also never understand the guys that destroy a guitar on stage. I saw Blackmore do it and toss the parts into the audience, it about broke my heart because I was playing a Teisco and had never even touched a strat and he just broke a strat in half. That was an early wtf moment in my life.
 
I've got a 30+ year old LP which has been gigged etc yet has only minimal scarring to show for it. Most of my other guitars look like they just came off the showroom floor, because I tend to shower them with love and affection... :) Every string change is an opportunity to clean and fix up little issues here and there.

Last year, I bought a cheapo $200 Squire Strat for my son, and he asked if we could 'ding it up' a little together so it looked a little used. I said OK, but then I was shocked to see how averse I was to deliberately damaging it - almost a physical reaction. I told him that we could do things like bang the guitar against door frames as we were walking through the house with it, but I found myself reflexively pulling the guitar away at the last minute... go figure... :D
 
shasha said:
I said a long time ago somewhere else that relic'ing a guitar is like stabbing yourself in the leg with a pencil and telling everyone that you were shot in Nam.
Click to expand...

Heh good one and sums things up rather nicely!

I ran across that video a few weeks ago and just thought "Doing that is just soooooooooo wrong..."

It truly baffles me when I see what Fender/Gibson, etc. charge for relic-ed, beat-to-crap looking guitars.
 


"There oughta be a law with no bail
Smash a guitar and you go to jail
With no chance for early parole
You don't get out untill you get some soul" John Hiatt

---

Personally, if I come across a good guitar and it happens to be a relic - I buy it. I'm not going to pass up on mojo for looks.
 
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I used to be insanely protective of my gear, and I still am, but it was to the point where I didn't even want to gig with some of my guitars because I didn't want them dinged. The last few years my attitude has changed to "do whatever you want to your own guitars". Want to relic it? Do it. It's your guitar. Want to take a blow torch to it? Go ahead. Want to modify the thing with new hardware, route the back to fit a battery for active pickups, or whatever? Have at it. Now, if you're expecting to resell the guitar with any value whatsoever, keep the original hardware and make sure the thing stays pristine. Check out what DJ Ashba as done with some of his LP's, much to the chagrin of collectors everywhere. I really like it when people make their instruments personal.

Would I relic a guitar? Hell no.
 
The owner of the guitar store I used to go to got into relic guitars as well.
One time, I visited the shop he proudly said "Look, I got me a new bass"
I look somewhat disturbed at the Fender and said "But it's beat up, worn and chipped. You must have gotten that one cheap"
"No" he said "Au contraire, it costs twice as much"
"Oh" I replied "You got fucked twice then"
And I never went there again.

I guess the accountants of those firms making relic guitars must be pissing themselves.
I can imagine in the quality control some guy saying: "We've got another batch of hardware with the chrome peeling off"
The manager then replies "Send it to the relic department. They'll charge double for it"
 
Relics allow thin lacquer finish without having to be careful - just ding it wherever there is a goober or sand-through. Cheaper to bang them up then buff to perfection. Unfortunately it seems Fender and Gibson are sending the better wood to the Custom Shops where the good stock gets turned into a relic. Just part of the screwy market or a response to the demand for light guitars with thin lacquer and no poly undercoat.
 
This whole silly-azzed thing got started when the doctors and lawyers that trolled the guitar shows back in the '80's and '90's would pay top-dollar for the most ragged-out, used-up piece-O-crap guitar. 'It had vibe' 'It's what 'insert guitar-god here' plays'.

Guitar companies took notice of the fact that their beautiful, new guitars where being ignored by these dorks with fistfulls of dollars. Oh well, I stopped going to guitar shows for that reason. Now I just make my own guitars with no company label. And I'm completely happy.
 
Like most other folks in this thread, I've no interest in fake relics. OTOH, if that's really what you're after, I thought this was kind of a half-assed job of it.
 
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