A Guitar And Gear Support Forum

This is how a relic should look : I almost want to knock off a bank just to hang this on the wall

For the record, my favorite way to relic a guitar is to play the hell out of it.

In my experience, when you play the sh*t out of a guitar, both as an instrument for serious practice and as a workman's tool used regularly on the job, components generally wear in this order:

1) Strings.
2) Pots & switches.
3) Output jack
4) Frets.
5) Binding (cracking, separating, bleeding of dye).
6) Pickups rings.
7) Fretboard wood.

Fake relic'd guitars always stand out to me as patently phony, like a physique built up with steroids. There is a glaringly obvious lack of the true signs of the exertion of human will, replaced by what are merely the superficial signifiers of such effort.

These fake guitars are always too beautiful. They're worn with an eye for consumer aesthetic appeal and salability.

I'd like to see a relicd Les Paul with a broken off headstock repair, the telltales signs of the break standing out boldly like the scar on Harrison Ford's chin. I'd like to see some really unattractive, unfortunately placed bangs, bumps, and gashes . . . the kind every old, well used guitar inevitably receives, which inspires the owner not to say, "That'll enhance the beauty of this instrument in the future," but rather, "Oh f*ck!!"

toomanycats wrote: ↑Fri Aug 16, 2024 6:53 am For the record, my favorite way to relic a guitar is to play the hell out of it.

In my experience, when you play the sh*t out of a guitar, both as an instrument for serious practice and as a workman's tool used regularly on the job, components generally wear in this order:

1) Strings.
2) Pots & switches.
3) Output jack
4) Frets.
5) Binding (cracking, separating, bleeding of dye).
6) Pickups rings.
7) Fretboard wood.

Fake relic'd guitars always stand out to me as patently phony, like a physique built up with steroids. There is a glaringly obvious lack of the true signs of the exertion of human will, replaced by what are merely the superficial signifiers of such effort.

These fake guitars are always too beautiful. They're worn with an eye for consumer aesthetic appeal and salability.

I'd like to see a relicd Les Paul with a broken off headstock repair, the telltales signs of the break standing out boldly like the scar on Harrison Ford's chin. I'd like to see some really unattractive, unfortunately placed bangs, bumps, and gashes . . . the kind every old, well used guitar inevitably receives, which inspires the owner not to say, "That'll enhance the beauty of this instrument in the future," but rather, "Oh f*ck!!"

My Strat has rusty pick guard screws because it's always so damn hot here and I sweat on it when I play..but that damn poly finish will survive the next 2 mass extinction events without a crack

This is a relic done right.

jhull54 wrote: ↑Fri Aug 16, 2024 2:42 pm This is a relic done right.

I have long had the sad feeling that if Trigger dies, Willie will soon follow. Hope his tech is an absolute ace.

Tonray's Ghost wrote: ↑Fri Aug 16, 2024 6:57 am My Strat has rusty pick guard screws because it's always so damn hot here and I sweat on it when I play..but that damn poly finish will survive the next 2 mass extinction events without a crack

Yeah, but in 20 years, relics will be trying to look like poly perfect bodies with aged hardware.

I am in the @toomanycats camp on relics.

First, I grew up with a lot of depression era influences in my life and the objective was to preserve its condition. Purposefully inserting flaws is counter intuitive to me.

Now I still appreciate a great-playing, great-sounding guitar with naturally occurring battle scars. However, 80% of the time I can tell immediately a relic vs. a well-played guitar. The first thing they haven't seemed to be able to fake is nitrocellulose lacquer shrinking and thinning. My ES125 is either from 1949 or 1951 and started life with a good 1mm thick & level gloss over its sunburst, which filled in pours, grain and flaws. Now it is lucky to have 0.3mm thickness, is pulling tight to the wood, has faint spidering and is brittle (which really accentuates the resonance). Even my Andrews Les Paul that I built in 2004 has its lacquer way thinner, harder and duller than its first few years (and has dings from use).

My neighbor has a Nash Telecaster which is tastefully relic'ed and really comes close. It is a fine sounding and playing guitar as well (my pickups bumped out a set of Lollars). He also has a 2020 Heritage H-150 in one of the first to be offered with light aging and it looks and sounds good. But I can definitely tell. I've played a few expensive new relics at my local GC and they were awful instruments, probably produced for folks who collect more than they play.

It comes down to, I like to relic them myself, through playing.

Tonray's Ghost wrote: ↑Fri Aug 16, 2024 6:57 am

toomanycats wrote: ↑Fri Aug 16, 2024 6:53 am For the record, my favorite way to relic a guitar is to play the hell out of it.

In my experience, when you play the sh*t out of a guitar, both as an instrument for serious practice and as a workman's tool used regularly on the job, components generally wear in this order:

1) Strings.
2) Pots & switches.
3) Output jack
4) Frets.
5) Binding (cracking, separating, bleeding of dye).
6) Pickups rings.
7) Fretboard wood.

Fake relic'd guitars always stand out to me as patently phony, like a physique built up with steroids. There is a glaringly obvious lack of the true signs of the exertion of human will, replaced by what are merely the superficial signifiers of such effort.

These fake guitars are always too beautiful. They're worn with an eye for consumer aesthetic appeal and salability.

I'd like to see a relicd Les Paul with a broken off headstock repair, the telltales signs of the break standing out boldly like the scar on Harrison Ford's chin. I'd like to see some really unattractive, unfortunately placed bangs, bumps, and gashes . . . the kind every old, well used guitar inevitably receives, which inspires the owner not to say, "That'll enhance the beauty of this instrument in the future," but rather, "Oh f*ck!!"

My Strat has rusty pick guard screws because it's always so damn hot here and I sweat on it when I play..but that damn poly finish will survive the next 2 mass extinction events without a crack

Exactly. Modern poly is inert and entombing.
Modern nitro with plasticized is almost the same.
Great for a long term finish but terrible if you want it to age and patina.
I hear they still have something like the original they still use on old biplanes and such