Poll, Would you buy a relic, or distressed looking new guitar

Would you buy a relic, or distressed looking new guitar

  • Total voters
    133
Bojangles

Bojangles

Experienced
Im not sure of the personality type that would buy a brand new guitar that looks old and munted

However, it seems someone must being buying them as all the big manufactures are selling hellishly expensive relic'ed / Distressed guitars

If you ask me i wont my new guitars to be just that, new, looking new

Let me know your opinion

Maybe fractal needs to sell a beat up looking axeFx model?

If you answer YES you best be posting why
 
The general idea behind relic'ed guitars is that you don't have to worry about scrachtes anymore. Intended worn-out look just looks better than non-intended worn-out look. You will never make your guitar to look that "good kind" of worn-out by normal use.

When you buy brand-new looking, you will notice any scratch done to it. When it's worn out by default, it just feels less dramatic if you accidentally hit something.


Besides, there's some relic'ed stuff that just looks extremely awesome:
Exhibit A:
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Exhibit B:
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Meh, I think the concept stemmed from people selling their beat up guitars as having 'character' and it snowballed from there. To me, they've just been badly looked after!

I've seen some crazy examples recently that are actually veering more towards a theatrical prop... nah, not for me, but each to his own I guess

I actually spend lots of time 'undoing' bumps & corrosion etc
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Would it be 'ccoler' to reverse the photos and charge more..?
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I look after my guitars to the best of my ability. They are tools for me to use though, so sctatches, damage, wear & tear are inevitable. I do not intent to sell any of them, so I want them to last as long as possible whilst still being in regular use. I do get annoyed when one of them gets a new ding, or scratch. But It becomes part of the character of that guitar and after a while I don't stress about it anymore. I wouldn't consider buying a new guitar that was already beaten up though. That just seems crazy to me.
 
I think it's a pretty silly trend to be honest. I know over time my new guitars will show legit signs of wear, but some of these relics look more like they are showing signs of constant and significant abuse. To each his own I guess, but it's definitely not for me.
 
Oh yes. Got one reliced Strat that looks wonderful. The issue is not to make the guitar look abused, but aged - there's a difference. While having a real Strat from 1956 would be great, I would rather buy a new car. Fender Custom Shop gives me the opportunity to play a lookalike for a fraction of that price - and it both looks and feels the part.

Needless to say, I am a bedroom player wannabe with a dayjob and can never dream of working up the same roadworn JD-stained credibility of the majority here ;-)
 
I to could never understand paying silly amounts of hard earned cash for a guitar that looked beat up. I also understand that some like to beat their guitars up and don't want to worry about putting scratches or dings on it. If I were a touring pro this would probably be the case for me but I'm not nor do I care to be. So for me I like my instruments to be clean and well cared for.
 
Not my cup of tea, but I look at it like any other finish... I dig transparent colors, bright greens/blues/purples over flamed/quilted tops, stuff like that. Some people (purists) don't like anything that isn't sun/tobacco burst. Some people want swirl paint on everything, or a EVH paint job, both of which I think are hideous. I figure relic'd jobs are like that. I think they're an abomination, but it's cool if others are into abominations, so I voted for sniffing underwear.
 
I don't like to buy them relic because i like to do my own relics.

I have done Strats, Teles and Les Paul's but perhaps this is the one i'm most proud of, unfortunately had to let her go duo to financial issues back in 2012 and i was most surprised to see her on the Arlington guitar show, it later sold around that asking price, amazingly i bought her like new for $3,150 in 2011, spend a year ageing it, sold it for almost 5K and its value went up to almost 9K in less then a year after that.

Many people just don't understand what a relic is all about, but those that do will pay well for a good relic job, i don't do this commercially at all, just to my guitars and not all of them just the ones i feel needs that look and feel of well played old instruments.

Here she is when new, 2001 Les Paul 1958 Reissue R8:



And here she is aged:
















And here she is in the Arlington Guitar Show:

 
It's some kinda crazy pretentiousness IMHO.

A reissue is, of course, another story ...


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smcrosby said:
It's some kinda crazy pretentiousness IMHO.

A reissue is, of course, another story ...


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Click to expand...


Funny thing, Anyone I've ever spoken to who grew up / played / gigged during the 50's & 60's think the whole 'relic'ing & ageing' thing is totally insane.
 
This is always an interesting topic.
I like to buy relic parts from folks that do a pro job of it (Mark/Matt Jenny as an example), and put it together myself.
Small sense of accomplishment, and I like the look of an old beat up guitar.....but that's just me. And as earlier posted, I don't want to spend $50k on a 50's Strat.

I have a bit of OCD, and I have a phobia of getting scratches on my really nice guitars (Andersons, Warriors, Les Pauls, Rand).
For that reason, I don't like to gig with them. I know others have the mentality of - 'a guitar is meant to be played'....and while I do agree, I still can't help the feeling I get when someone gets beer all over my nice Anderson.

But a beat up version of the same guitar, it does not bother me to 'expose' it to the public and let it get bumped and bruised.
The net result is - if I'm paranoid of getting my guitar scratched, I don't enjoy the gig as much. So when I play a beat up guitar that I'm not worried about....I actually enjoy myself more.

So relics don't both me (real or fake). Of course there are some I think look stupid, and some that look great. Bill Nash as an example, does great work. Relics that you see on Craigs List by some kid in his garage....generally make me want to vomit.

So I'm all for relics, if they're done well.

To each his own of course.....
 
I have bought guitars that are relic'd for lack of a better term. All of my experience has been with Gibson only. I have 3 different reissue models. A 61' SG with Vibrola. A 1968 Les Paul Custom Black. A 1957 Goldtop (R7). I was pretty much in the camp of some of the more, shall we say, vocal haters. I totally understand the "I take great care of my guitars and take pride in doing so." thing. I was looking for very specific guitars, reissues of some great models/years. The only way to get these was as a Gibson Custom Shop model. In general these are higher quality guitars with better pots, caps, vintage wiring etc.. and in addition Gibson does their own process of making the guitars look "aged" but very well cared for. This includes taking the edge off of the high gloss finish, adding very tiny swirls (nothing over the top. the kind you can only really make out if you hold it just right in the light) and dulling the hardware and in some cases corroding all the metal parts somewhat. In general I think Gibson's process is pretty tasteful. Do I look to buy specific models for the reason that they are relic'd? No. But I actually do prefer the look of my guitars' finishes over brand new, from the factory Les Pauls. I wish that you could get the guitars with the VOS treatment but only on the finish and not as much on the pickup covers and metal parts. I ended up buying a new aftermarket VIbrola because the Gibson one looked like it had been jizzed on about 40 yrs ago and no one cared to wipe it off. It drove me nuts so I replaced it. I think this is clearly a case of different strokes for different folks as someone mentioned earlier.
 
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