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What’s the story with a relic? Tell me about it!

In: Electric guitars Monday May 26,2008

electric guitar relic One of the things I was never able to understand is what is this thing with relic guitar?! Why is everybody crazy about guitars looking like they were played by somebody’s grandfather?!

I know that there is a high demand and a lot of love going around for those smashed, scratched, aged guitars, but is it just me or what? I don’t know, but personally I would rather play a shiny, perfectly looking, beautifully stiled guitar than an artificially aged one.

Now think about it: if you would go for the real thing, think how difficult would be, on the long run, to play one that is 50 years old. Something somewhere must crash or break. Technology wasn’t that great back then, things get broken quite often when it comes to old things. I know that with guitars it is somehow as with the wine: they get better with time, but I know the story we had here with old cars. Everybody had one 20 years back and man, the parking lot was full of people fixing them. They loved it, but it was a time eating thing. I guess it is the same with old guitars.

OK, 2 years ago I played for a show here a Fender Stratocaster that was, as the owner said to me, probably older than me, and making some calculation, it even proved to be right. It was scratched and hit and aged (naturally) but that was the real thing and it was the result of time passing, but again, why mess up with a perfectly looking guitar to make it look old?

Cary of Electric-Guitar-Review started an experiment turning a brand new cheap Telecaster into a relic. I watch his blog lately for this, to see the result when the guitar will be ready, but I can tell you I already feel bad about the guitar. It was so beautiful in the beginning…

Now, let me hear you, do you fall for this relic guitar thing or would you go for a brand new guitar? What’s the story? I guess because I don’t understand it, I can’t really see the meaning of it, but if you do, please tell me cause I really would like to know!

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31 Responses to “What’s the story with a relic? Tell me about it!”

Josh
May 26th, 2008 at 4:30 pm

I agree, although there is something undeniably cool about a guitar that looks like it’s been played. Really played. However, it does seem a little wrong to take a perfectly beautiful new guitar and bash it around until it looks like it hasn’t been taken care of.
Ovidiu
May 26th, 2008 at 4:46 pm

Yes, it may look cool, but see the picture on this post? It is the picture of a relic Fender that costs around $3500. I find it strange to pay that much money for a guitar that looks old.

But I guess blues lovers will probably say it has feeling, while Satriani’s fans will probably like a shiny guitar It kind of depends n the music you play. I don’t play Satriani’s kind of music, I don’t play blues either, but I can not understand why would you want such a guitar instead of a new one.
Jon
May 27th, 2008 at 12:49 am

I think it depends on the guitar personally. My electric is a 1994 Patrick Eggle and while there is a small dent in the solid mahogany body from dropping it once, it is more or less the same as when it came out of the workshop. I wouldn’t want it to get beaten up. However I love relic strats, I don’t know why but I think a new black strat looks a bit bland in comparison to a beat up old “blackie” and I think it is because the market is so saturated with Strats that I just want to see something different?
Mike G
May 27th, 2008 at 5:29 am

I would agree that a used guitar looks different and a little mroe interesting. But there is also something else. I remember reading an article in Vintage Guitar about how many popular guitarists have used cheap old guitars - Jimmy Hendrix, Pete Townshend, Kurt Cobain and Jack White of the White Stripes.

I think Jack White explained it this way: “When I play my music, it feels even stronger to me if I feel like I am taking an old beat up, broken thing - an old guitar - and using it to make something beautiful (the music).”

I think White plays a funky looking old 60s Airline guitar that he bought in a pawn shop for $80. But of course now that he uses them they have skyrocketed in value.
IG
May 27th, 2008 at 5:34 am

Why would anyone wear jeans that look all beat up and washed out? Cuz, they look cool.

And why would someone pay more money for beat up looking jeans? Cuz, it takes skill to make them look beat up, and the one who does it the best is in more demand. You can always try yourself of course, just wash the jeans in bleach, but, they ain’t gonna look like a pair of good worn out jeans.

Same thing with relics. They just look cool to some folks. And, ain’t nothing wrong with that I guess.

IG
Jon
May 27th, 2008 at 6:07 am

Good analogy IG!
Ovidiu
May 27th, 2008 at 8:20 am

Well, IG, believe me, I have some problems with those jeans. I was in a store a couple of days ago and I was amused about some “trendy” jeans that looked like 30 years old. And it wouldn’t have been the age, because I also used to wear old and long-worn jeans but these “trendy” jeans looked dirty. Man, I know I would feel uncomfortable wearing them outside the garage.

OK, maybe I am being nasty, the guitar is an other thing. I guess it really depends on the guitar, and the music style, I guess, as I have said, Steve Vai or Satriani playing a beaten up Ibanez wouldn’t be funny while SRV playing a beaten up Fender would be great. It depends on the whole image, I guess.
Stratoblogster
May 27th, 2008 at 8:31 am

We’ve been going around & around with this subject for awhile now in the guitar blogosphere. IG says it in the best simplest way possible. I kinda like the relic thing, but remember when I bought my first decent electric in high school. It was a brand new Fender Mustang that I saved and earned to buy. I remember keeping it clean and polished all the time. If a friend wanted to play it, I made ‘em wash their hands and cover their belt buckle. It was a matter of pride to keep the guitar looking good, and really upsetting to get a scratch or a chip.

So if you don’t get the relic thing, and think it’s silly, that’s totally fine! It is a funny trend. It’s very respectable and probably more sane to take good care of your instrument and keep it looking shiny and new as long as possible. Imagine how stupid it would be if people did this to new cars.
Ovidiu
May 27th, 2008 at 10:32 am

I guess the artificially aged car wouldn’t stand a chance. Imagine a brand new BMW smashed and hit! Beside being immediately stopped by the Police, it would be really silly!

Very interesting comparing it to cars in this manner, I have to say that it gives an other view on it. Artificially aged cars…damn, I think they would be very ugly! I know my father in law was telling me how he used to shine his car when he was young and he took so much pride in his car…well, I am not this way, I consider it to be an utility and I wash it quite rarely, but I hate every small scratch on it!!!

The same with my guitar!
Kenny
May 27th, 2008 at 10:46 am

I agree that beating up a new guitar to make it look old is a nonsense. But there is a lot to be said for playing an old guitar. It’s not so much the fact that it looks beat-up, but the heritage it has and the stories it could tell.
Also, technology may have improved over the decades, but all that means for guitars is that they can be mass-produced more cheaply, not that they’re made any better. In fact there’s a strong argument that back in the day when fewer guitars were made, more care was taken over them, and to that exten, they were better guitars.
Whatever the arguments about whetehr older or newer guiatrs are better made, there’s something magical about picking up a guitar that you know has been around the block and been played by someone who cared for it for a long time.
Ovidiu
May 27th, 2008 at 10:57 am

Indeed, Kenny, there is a story behind each guitar that has been played for a long time. Probably has seen a lot of shows and played a lot of songs and if it is your own, this is another reason to keep it, because the stories are yours…

About aging the guitar, I wouldn’t say it is a nonsense, because many do it and love it and find a reason to do it, just that I don’t understand it. I wouldn’t age my guitar under any circumstance, I would polish it and make it look like new! That’s just my opinion. And you know what? I wouldn’t pay $3500 for one (the price of the one pictured above)
Sans Direction
May 27th, 2008 at 3:18 pm

Ig! Someone used my guitar|jeans comparison! Win!

And it comes down to types of guitar, too. You don’t see too many people relicing Les Pauls, in part because Les Pauls hide the damage. You wear out a Les Paul neck and even from the foot of the stage, the neck looks like any other. Rosewood hides the damage. Maple doesn’t.

I’d go new and beat it up myself over time.
Pete
May 27th, 2008 at 3:44 pm

There’s the saying “if I would have known I’d live this long I would have taken better care of myself.” What happens to a relic guitar when it ages? The natural guitar aging process creates subtle but very pleasing changes to the character of the instrument. Only problem is that it takes awhile and that seems to be the focus of this trend. Fender has Closet Classics where they age the guitar as if it was played a few times and then sat in the closet for 40 years. It exhibits more natural aging without being beat up so much. At any rate, if it gets people interested in the guitar it can’t be a bad thing.
Ovidiu
May 27th, 2008 at 8:27 pm

Yes, in the end it is a trend. And it makes you get the feeling for blues, I guess.

@Sans Direction:indeed, I think Fender is the only one who is the subject of this aging thing, isn’t it?
Sammy
May 27th, 2008 at 8:50 pm

Ovidiu, you hit the nail on the head when you said “artificially aged”. It’s a bit phony.
Ovidiu
May 27th, 2008 at 8:54 pm

But we have to agree, Sammy, that these guitars do look quite real, don’t they?
Sammy
May 27th, 2008 at 8:59 pm

Sure they look real, but I could punch myself in the eye and then tell people I was a in a bar fight to look like a tough guy. It’s still a bit phony to me. Or I could buy a cool ‘68 Camaro that someone else restored or hot-rodded.

I guess I think that a guitar player should “earn” the nicks and scrapes on his guitar. Unless, I guess, you buy some old relic from a pawn shop or old player who earned it. But in that case, if you have any integrity, you should tell the real story of the guitar. Somehow, buying a guitar from a factory that has carefully and precisely placed every cut, scratch and scrape into the guitar is fake.
Ovidiu
May 27th, 2008 at 9:10 pm

You have a point there, if I think about it. I liked the comparison to punching yourself to look tough
Jon
May 27th, 2008 at 11:13 pm

It’s not just Fender, check out Trev Wilkinson’s Vintage Icon series guitars:

http://www.jhs.co.uk/vintageelectric.html

The V6MRBK is an accurate copy of Clapton’s Blackie and is just 299 pounds!
Ovidiu
May 28th, 2008 at 6:20 am

I was thinking about the shape of the guitar, not about the brand, but yes, indeed, I have seen also aged Gibson-like guitars! How cool is that?!
Jon
May 28th, 2008 at 7:27 am

Oh sorry I must have misread that, but I’ve read some pretty good reports about these guitars. I’m thinking of getting one just as a backup if they are any good, I will let you know once I check them out. Venue Music in Sydney has some apparently.
Ovidiu
May 28th, 2008 at 9:24 am

I have heard about them but I didn’t give them too much importance. It should be interesting if you get one, to review it for the rest of us.
Warning: relic guitar paradox! | Guitar tabs,electric guitars,acoustic guitars
May 28th, 2008 at 9:36 am

[…] relic guitar paradox! In: Electric guitars Wednesday May 28,2008 Again related to the relic guitar topic, an idea that came to me from reading JP’s blog (Stratoblogster): Does the price of a relic […]
GLW
May 29th, 2008 at 11:55 am

Genuinely aged guitars are cool - those which show the scars from years of playing, gigging and touring.

Artificially-aged guitars are ridiculous. They are fakes, pure and simple.

When I first saw some Custom Shop Fenders in Denmark Street quite a few years ago now - and then saw the price tag - I laughed my head off.

Some people are so gullible and must have more money than sense.
Ovidiu
May 29th, 2008 at 4:59 pm

Well, I guess that after years of playing it and scratching it in a natural way, by usage, you get very attached to your guitar, so the scratches may look even cooler

Indeed, false scratches can’t make you feel connected to your guitar the same way usage can.
MG
June 2nd, 2008 at 5:04 am

Ovidiu-I think it has to do with people wanting a piece of the past. People want a guitar that looks like one of their heroes played it. I think making your nice new guitar look a relic is kinda silly though. I mean, if you buy someone’s guitar that is well-used and all that’s one thing, but to damage your own guitar (that’s only been owned by you, mind you!) is pretty silly in my mind. Like you, I don’t get it either!
Ovidiu
June 2nd, 2008 at 8:13 am

You know what? I think the story should be complete: why just damage the paint and the body of the guitar? When making a relic they should also damage the frets, to have those cuts caused by the strings over time, and also to damage the pick switch, to be noisy from day one, like after a good usage. What do you say?
Jon
June 2nd, 2008 at 8:54 am

Well actually I played on the Rory Gallagher model recently and it is a faithful reproduction down to the rusty bridge and pickup pole pieces, worn neck and frets etc. not just the finish. It’s quite a work of art, but didn’t feel that comfortable to me.
Ovidiu
June 2nd, 2008 at 8:06 pm

So you would go with a brand new one that you pick because it feels comfortable and playable, right? OK, if you said it was a work of art means that you have already placed this guitar on an other level: it is not a useful instrument but a nice decoration and prices for works of art have their own way of growing.
ToneSlinger
June 9th, 2008 at 6:30 pm

I would never relic a “high quality” instrument, even though the definition of high quality is subjective. Although I think relicing is interesting and fun and set out to do some relicing on a cheap SX Tele style guitar.

I did an entire video tutorial of the process and posted it on my website http://www.toneslinger.com and also posted it on youtube. http://www.youtube.com\toneslingercliff
Ovidiu
June 24th, 2008 at 10:45 am

OK, I will look. A tutorial about this should be interesting. Sorry for answering so late to your comment, I have missed the comment and found it now

What’s the story with a relic? Tell me about it!

31 Responses to “What’s the story with a relic? Tell me about it!”

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