What's y'alls opinion on Relic'ed guitars?

Geeto67

Since I am refinishing the jagstang body I bought of sleazebay (and waiting for my neck to come) I am studying a lot of guitar finishes.

I am appaled at fender's audacity to sell a $4000-$5000 guitar that looks like it had the crap kicked out of it before being forgotten in someone's attic. that is I am appalled if it is just for looks and doesn't do anything.

so does relic-ing a guitar really help the sustain? I don;t really see how considering the fender relics often have 2 or 3 finished on them.

so is it bogus or the real deal?

personally I like to relic my guitars by playing the snot out of them.

taylormade

There's part of me that's confused by it - like you say I'll wear my own guitar out, thank you. 😀

With that said, a friend of mine decided he could create his own "Custom Shop" relic'ed guitar and get the look (and if there is any sound benefit) for way cheaper. Bought all the components off ebay, and beat the snot out of it. Literally started by kicking the body down his driveway. He spent a lot of time getting the scratches for the belt, the pick the jack "right", buffed the finish off in all the right spots, even went to the trouble of "cigarette" burning the neck and staining the knobs and pickguard. Put good components in it (pickups, tuners, etc), and it plays great. Better than it would have otherwise? Beats me. But, he does have a relic'ed guitar for the cost of parts, for maybe what, $800?

I personally like new "hardware" to look new.

Cody_Zairah

i think its a bit of a mixed bag. i wouldnt buy a pair of pre-ripped up jeans for "style," nor would i purposely put holes in my jeans. i wouldn't buy a new guitar and ding it up, but i'd gladly buy a used one that had some marks on it. and i definately wouldn't pay extra for a new guitar with marks on it..unless it was some how damaged in store, but again, it'd be marked down if anything. the only possible conclusion i can come to is if you wanna be able to really play your guitar without watching every move you make. i dont like my guitars to be mint, but my no means am i gonna shell out extra money, i'll just wait for an idiot friend to drop it and then play how i want haha.

Alex

Didn't think much of them until I tried a few.

I was able to demo the Joe Strummer Tele for a few weeks a while back and I may end up buying one because I was impressed. The Strummer Tele is basically the Mexican made 60s Classic Tele relic'ed and its not overly expensive. (899) The neck feels great due to all the "breaking in". And the guitar sounds fantastic, but that's not really due to the relicing eh, those 60s Classics just sound good.

I hope to put a review up in the blog in the coming months.

The other relic stratocasters I've played have also left positive impressions on me. However they are so expensive that they are near impossibly to justify buying. For me it just comes down to how the guitar feels then how it sounds.

robertoriginal

all of my main guitars are reliced, but thats becuz i play the "snot" out of them.

i like to say that i treat my guitars like they owe me money.

the 1 project that i have going right now, as we speak that is for me, is a relic job.

its an authentic 66 fender villager neck, but i had to make a body, parts, and all that noise, so i decided to relic the body and parts so that way it fits the neck better.

it would be silly to have a vitnage neck on a brand new body.

i do understand why they want more.

essentially they are taking a brand new america guitar.

putting another finish on top.

and then looking at photos and real vintage peices to try and "piece the puzzle"

by lightly sanding down the top to reveal the paint below, that sort of thing.

Cody_Zairah

i mean, i understand WHY they're more expansive.. but i like al(ex) said, it's hard to justify the price.. Although, do they do anything other than cosmetics on the neck? i could justify a 24" scale relic'd neck if it felt relic'd haha that would be glorious. 'specially if it has that that vintage-ie clearish coat finish on it, i forget what the proper name for that is .. mmmm 😋

but that neck would cost as much as a new guiter, methinks haha, and thats (at the risk of sounding redundant) hard to justify.

Geeto67

As far as I know the relic'ed strats all have hand wound custom pups. You put those pup's in any guitar it is going to sound fantastic reguardless of body. Plus you have guys who have been making guitars their whole lives doing the setup on it before you get it so the feel is probably going to be pretty close to heavenly when you get it.

I know they go through all this work because the style of the guitar sells, and I know there are people willing to pay the high price, I was just wondering if you don't care about the style, is there still some merit that relic-ing sounds better because of the finish?

There was a guy selling a used Joe Strummer tele on CL for $500. I almost thought about buying it just to say I had one.....then I realized that isn't me. Now that I know it plays well....maybe I won't pass on the next one I see.