The main benefit of having a reliced guitar

[PixMix]

Please take your meds today! Do it for the children.

Well, since it's coming from a doctor...

Seriously, the second relics are mentioned, here comes the jeans comparison. Jeans, specifically jeans, no suits, no jackets, socks, ties, underwear, and other stuff we wear, but jeans. WTF!

And posting those jeans from maternity department on top of that....

 

[JMintzer]

Well, since it's coming from a doctor...

Seriously, the second relics are mentioned, here comes the jeans comparison. Jeans, specifically jeans, no suits, no jackets, socks, ties, underwear, and other stuff we wear, but jeans. WTF!

And posting those jeans from maternity department on top of that....

Really?

You've never seen distressed leather jackets, nor furniture, nor flooring, nor metal hardware in homes?

Violins? Cellos?

 

[PixMix]

Really?

You've never seen distressed leather jackets, nor furniture, nor flooring, nor metal hardware in homes?

Violins? Cellos?

I have. I have never seen distressed neck ties, tuxedos, dress shoes, underwear, glasses, sun or prescription all scratched up and banged up. There are many things that are sold as "new" or "distressed", but this analogy between jeans specifically and guitars just pure bs. Again, not against relics or distressed anything, but against this automatic comparison between reliced guitars and jeans.

 

[buddastrat]

I have. I have never seen distressed neck ties, tuxedos, dress shoes, underwear, glasses, sun or prescription all scratched up and banged up. There are many things that are sold as "new" or "distressed", but this analogy between jeans specifically and guitars just pure bs. Again, not against relics or distressed anything, but against this automatic comparison between reliced guitars and jeans.

Because jeans are so common, we can all relate. 99% of us have worn factory aged/faded/softened jeans for as long as we can remember. I remember being a kid in the late 70's and had those horrible cardboard feeling, dark jeans, my mom, if I was lucky, would buy a product at Kmart called Fast 'n Fade and you wash the jeans a ton of times with it to soften and fade them. I loved my old jeans and hated new ones, it carried over to guitars. In the late 70's, I had a guitar neck and I sanded the neck so it could look and feel like the old ones that were hanging in the shop I hung out in. I ain't changed at all...well, learned a few new chords is all.

 

[4finger]

We've all heard of camel toe, but is there a name for this?

Gorilla tits.

 

[eolon]

I bought my Martin D-35 new in 1972. I have played it a lot in the intervening 45 years. I know every ding, nick, crack, and worn area very well, and I can mostly remember when and where it happened. The pickguard fell off in 1978, and there is a lot of wear on the top where I rest my two fingers when finger picking. All of this endears my guitar to me, and I could easily pick it out of a roomful of D-35s.

I also have a 1980 Fender Stratocaster that I bought new. It has accumulated significant wear over the years, although not as much as the Martin, evidently because Fender sprayed these era Strats with Atomic Titanium paint. It is very hard to chip or crack.

I also own a 1954 style Stratocaster that I made from parts and built as a "road-worn" example of the first Stratocasters.

The Stratocaster "relic" looks and plays great, but do not have the same pride of ownership with it as do the Martin or my other Strat.

So I think the answer to the OP's question "What is the benefit of having a relic guitar?" is that a relic guitar promotes pride of ownership without years of hard playing that would otherwise be required. That is the value. Is there "something missing" from relic guitars? Yes, at least in my experience, but I still like the look.

Best Regards,

Don

 

[buddastrat]

When SRV went in the shop and saw this strat hanging on the wall, he said it looked so good, all beat up. He knew "it had to sound good." That's from a VH 1 video interview in the 80's. He got it, and played the snot out of it and of course add a ton of his own battle scars on his #1. At the end of the day, it's just a ding. relic 'dor vintage. The real magic is in the playing. Spend your time wisely.

 

[49Strat]

I chipped the nitro on my LP a couple of weeks ago..... oh well...time to refinish. (it's beneath the tone knobs in the reflection)

 

[bealtown]

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I think 'douchey' is a perfect adjective for 'relicking'. Relic, the noun, only shifts lexically to an adjective or verb in the most awkward way, yielding words that evoke vermin (-liced) and prompting unsure spellers to interject apostrophes.
Too bad the builders didn't just go with 'distressed' as they do with the fake used jeans.

 

[bealtown]

Pineapple on pizza(w/bacon) is awesome once in a while though!!

Anchovies with feta, kalamata olives and onions is my klassik kombo.

 

[VaughnC]

How's that song go "the first ding is the deepest"? I was buying guitars before "relicing" was even a thought and, after that first ding, it no longer mattered. New, they'd get polished after every gig...post first ding, maybe a few times a year or when the fretboard started looking funky.

 

[bealtown]

I'd feel pretty sick, if I had a shiny R9 on the gig, takes a fall and there's a big old chip or ding on the face. Because if I go to sell, it'd could be as much as $500 less I get just for that. OTOH, if it's a relic takes a hit, and no loss at all.

This reminds me of the early 60s Gretsch Corvette I had, with a pretty intact finish, that I was trying to sell. My wife threw a belt across the room in one of her rages and the buckle took a big fresh nick out of the neck. She wouldn't even acknowledge it. I did feel sick because I knew I'd never get as much fornit as I'd hoped. I ended up trading it for a Fulltone Tube Tape Echo after it hung on consignment in a Nashville shop for weeks.

 

[JMintzer]

I have. I have never seen distressed neck ties, tuxedos, dress shoes, underwear, glasses, sun or prescription all scratched up and banged up. There are many things that are sold as "new" or "distressed", but this analogy between jeans specifically and guitars just pure bs. Again, not against relics or distressed anything, but against this automatic comparison t's a common analogy. I gave you a half doze more.

It's a common analogy. I also gave a half a dozen others. They are all legitimate...

 

[buddastrat]

/



that's more like a heavy distressed thrashed relic, and these below are like closet classic/ relic finish, like a danocaster or something. Tastefully done. I wonder how many hypocrites we have in this thread. I hope they're wearing their farmer stiff ass jeans as they type their replies.
[/QUOTE]


Jeans and guitars - how did you think of this man? So friggin' original! The comparison, however, doesn't stand at all, although every other dude here uses it like it came from holy books. One is a wearable and the other is a playable thing, this is even further away than apples and oranges (this one I came up with...aples and oranges... it's my original phrase :O).

Anyway, don't get worked up over fu**ing finishes. For the record, I do prefer stiff raw denim to the mom jeans you posted above, especially with the bottom of the legs sweeping the floor after you ...ewwww. I do, however, have both reliced guitars and shiny new guitars that I feel nervous taking out of the case. And I do understand the comfort and freedom one feels when playing and moving around with a relic.

However, you missed my point, which was supposed to make fun of the muddy jeans I posted rather than take a hit on reliced guitars. The mom jeans you posted, are however a no-go for me, so yeah call me hypocrite there.[/QUOTE]


Lighten up. when I got it my first oly white Cunetto back in '97, said to my wife, "man it's like a nice pair of faded Levis." Guess it caught on.. and there's a reason for that. Not just cosmetics, they feel good like a nice relic guitar. Now lighten up. Comparison is great one.

 

[PixMix]

/


Lighten up. when I got it my first oly white Cunetto back in '97, said to my wife, "man it's like a nice pair of faded Levis." Guess it caught on.. and there's a reason for that. Not just cosmetics, they feel good like a nice relic guitar. Now lighten up. Comparison is great one.

 

[Carbohydrates]

• pineapple on pizza
• toilet paper roll direction
• Coke vs. Pepsi
• Apple vs. Windows (or Linux)
• Dodge vs. Ford vs. Chevy

Yes to pineapple
TP facing out
Coke
Windows
Chevy
And, of course, yes to relics.

Join me, we shall rule the world.

 

[mvsr990]

In the vein of jeans, there's the entire culture of 'raw denim' where the point is to create your own 'relicing.'

In that world, there are brands designed to wear unnaturally fast (losing indigo quicker than old Levis ever would have), some designed to make you work extra hard for the fades, contests to see who fades their denim the best. Makers and fans are obsessed with old practices and machinery and with artisans crafting jeans. (There's also an element common to boutique guitars and amps, the idea that the maker is someone earning a decent living instead of the item being mass produced in less... labor-friendly environments.)

Western society is obsessed with vintage, the Japanese have a similar obsession tying together the fascination with Americana and the concept of wabi-sabi.

I'm surprised there aren't more makers specifically doing non-reliced but easily 'naturally reliced' guitars - ala Fender Thin Skins but that yellow and check with age.

 

[jerrycampbell]

I'm surprised there aren't more makers specifically doing non-reliced but easily 'naturally reliced' guitars - ala Fender Thin Skins but that yellow and check with age.

I've wondered about this myself. It seems a quick-wearing paint, and a sealer to stop the wear at any point, would be a popular thing.
You could buy a layered finish (gold over sunburst, say) that would only wear through the first layer.

 

[monty]

I've wondered about this myself. It seems a quick-wearing paint, and a sealer to stop the wear at any point, would be a popular thing.
You could buy a layered finish (gold over sunburst, say) that would only wear through the first layer.

Yep, the Fender HWY1 line was like that.

 

[jerrycampbell]

Yep, the Fender HWY1 line was like that.

You mean, intended to wear very quickly to produce a 'custom' worn finish? Really?