Relic Guitars

JimiJames · Post by **JimiJames** » Tue Oct 24, 2006 12:53 am

What say ye about these ?

Why would someone want to buy a beat-up guitar that was new.
It just didn't seem right to spend all that $$$ in that condition.
Odd that a Major company would do that to their product. I don't know...?

I've been eyeballin' a few Relic Strat's & Tele's and I am thinking of selling my Fender 50th Anniversary Stratocaster to buy one.
These Relics guitars go through several luthiers hands and each one of them contributing thier craft skills to help "distress" these once new pieces
to a warm, friendly, inviting instrument that seems to fit perfectly in your hands. These luthiers seem to love what they do and it shows.
My gut tells me when they begin the process they deliberately pick out a choice piece of wood (neck&body) that was kilned to their requirements.
These Relic guitars have it all. Tone, looks, & the Mojo.
But, again, the price is an issue.
I couln't see myself buying a Jeff Beck Tele hovering at 8K but I can see someone picking up a Rory Gallagher at 2K.
I'm leaning towards a Nocaster at 2K.
I don't know how these guitars will fair in the future but I have finally come around to bring myself to purcahse one of thes Relics.

Besides, for every Metro Head I build I'm gonna need another guitar.

They might as well be Relics.

Jimmie K.

Necrovore · Post by **Necrovore** » Tue Oct 24, 2006 1:08 am

Not to sound like an asshole or be a stickler, how can a guitar have the mojo when it hasn't been played by the owner? I am one who comes from the train of thought that you as the owner has to fill the guitar's soul. The more you love on the instrument and put your heart and soul into it through playing, the "mojo" of the instrument will develop.

There is no way in hell I would pay anything over $500 for a beat up guitar. No matter whos hands were on it. I think the whole idea of the distressed guitar fad is nothing more than a marketing idea so that corporate suits can show off a guitar to their friends that looks like they have been playing it for years.

How much would the same guitar minus the faux distressing run you? Wouldn't you like to be the one who puts your first scratch into it, freak out over it, try to hide it, only in a year or two say fuck it and wear it as a battle scar, only to love the guitar and try not to let it happen again?

Bad Kitty · Post by **Bad Kitty** » Tue Oct 24, 2006 1:43 am

I agree wholeheartedly with Necrovore. On my 20 year old Ibanez I know where every scratch, ding, nick and chip came from. I know that the wear in the upper bout came from MY sweat, blood and tears and when I feel the worn-to-the-wood neck it's like an extension of MY heart and soul.

That's just something that money can't buy. I don't care how skilled a luither is. It's just another symptom of our "instant gratifacation" society. If you want to look like you've put some time in on a guitar just break out the credit card. But it's still going to be someone else who put the time in on it.

Hell, why not just make a sandpaper suit and play a new one for a couple of days, then throw it in the back of a pickup without a case for a few miles down a bumpy road.

Just my opinion,

Mike

BrownSound1 · Post by **BrownSound1** » Tue Oct 24, 2006 1:44 am

A real relic has sweat and boogers on it.

Other than maybe aging the magnets in the pickups I've never really seen the point of them....except for the Jimmy Page Number One replica Les Paul.

JimiJames · Post by **JimiJames** » Tue Oct 24, 2006 2:39 am

LOL ! I thought that they were a fad and a marketing thing when they first appeared years ago.
I see more & more of these in stores and wondered why they are being bought up by people.
This year I started to pick them off the wall and play them.
I was totally surprised how they felt in one's hands. I think I see what your trying to say Nec but one doesn't have to own a guitar to feel the mojo in it.
A friends perhaps? Or, the reason you bought the guitar in the first place...
All of us have owned guitars with no soul that we either sold or kept for sentimental reasons and is still sitting in storage somewhere.
Or a used one a previous owner had that had a "cold soul"

Earlier this year I have reduced my inventory of 25+ to a dozen guitars in which several of them I built & redisigned cosmetically. I was attached to them but my goal was to reduce.
I sold my Ibanez's, Fender's, Gibson's but for each 5 I sold I bought another.
I am at that point again and have my intensions on a Relic Nocaster but price is going to be a factor.

And yes, I still have plenty of my blood, sweat, and battle scar guitars which I plan to keep for a looooong time....
Maybe I should beat up my Metro Head to match some of my guitars

Jimmie K.

Billy Batz · Post by **Billy Batz** » Tue Oct 24, 2006 6:12 am

Theres even relic'd amps.

The idea behind relicing is rediculous and assinine to me but of the guitars Ive picked up in stores and started playing the the reliced ones, for whatever reason, have been some of the best playing.

NitroLiq · Post by **NitroLiq** » Tue Oct 24, 2006 9:56 am

Relic'ed instruments are gay....sure they look cool...but seriously, they're gay! Dings, scratches, chips, cracks...whatever...they should be like tattoos and have some memory tied to them. "Oh yeah, that belt buckle rash? Some chicka mauled me on the stage in Amsterdam one night in '75." "That crack in the neck? I was a pulling a Jimmy Page and forgot I was on a bar stage and not MSG...rammed the neck into a lighting truss!" "The bare spot? Oh, man, it caught fire at a Great White show!"...you get the idea. Why pretend a guitar is what it isn't? Let it get dinged up the old fashioned way or hell send it to me...I'll run it through the ringer for free as part of my anger management program.

As far as "famous" relics go, look, I'm a huge Page freak, but you've gotta have issues if you need a #1 '59 clone with dings and scratches in the exact places as Page...it's just retarded and something for doctors and lawyers who'd spend more time putting guitars in vaults as investments than playing. WTF?

BashCoder · Post by **BashCoder** » Tue Oct 24, 2006 10:46 am

OK, am I right about this generalization?

Fender players like it when their axes get banged up, and especially when the finish wears off. Kindof like a badge of honor - like the guy who carries around a Bible covered in duct tape because he's used it SO MUCH.

Gibson players want their guitars to be without blemish, shiny and minty. Even if you get one that's been "aged", it's not like someone took a freaking Dremel to it.

BTW, now on sale at a store near you: Bibles covered in duct tape. Can't make this stuff up, kids. Relic'ed Bibles.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Tue Oct 24, 2006 11:03 am

Relic'ed instruments are gay....

Uh, I don't think guitars have a sexual orientation dude. It's just wood and metal.

- WOT

robert · Post by **robert** » Tue Oct 24, 2006 11:22 am

Who knows...have you ever asked a pink strat?

NitroLiq · Post by **NitroLiq** » Tue Oct 24, 2006 11:33 am

...Or a pink paisley tele. It's slang...substitute "gay" with "stupid" or "idiotic" if you're having trouble with the post.

Wicksy · Post by **Wicksy** » Tue Oct 24, 2006 12:15 pm

I'm not much of a fan or reliced guitars myself, or the signature series for that matter, but the Rory Gallagher custom shop i played had to be the best strat i've ever played. It was nicer than even Peter Green's custom shop.

Like the others, i prefer to break my guitars in (or buy them already broken in)

45auto · Post by **45auto** » Tue Oct 24, 2006 5:28 pm

guitars? definitely female, just look at the curves...

Flames1950 · Post by **Flames1950** » Tue Oct 24, 2006 5:52 pm

robert wrote:Who knows...have you ever asked a pink strat?

I have, she's not gay. But she does put out if you treat her right.

Billy Batz · Post by **Billy Batz** » Tue Oct 24, 2006 7:12 pm

If you practice your fingering enough she'll give it up Andy. Especially when you plug in the huge marshall stack.