Relic rant

[Walter Broes]

Stevie Ray Vaughn bought i
His #1 already beat to hell from a pawn shop because he liked the way it looked. I guess he was a poser?

That's not the issue for me, I don't care so much about what other people like or play. I just can't bring myself to spend money on an artificially aged guitar - and I've seriously passed on a couple of great-playing, great sounding guitars because of it. Which is also silly, I know.

Also : I work in a guitar shop part-time. We've had to replace (artificially) rusted bridge screws, the odd saddle and even a tuner. On relic Fenders, on small-"builder" fender clones, and, of course on...amateur relic jobs where people fished their hardware out of some caustic bath too late or didn't clean off the acid or whatever they used well enough.

 

[dpc915]

Yeah, dude! Put it in ROTD!

drc, I totally agree, but of course I also think to each his own. If folks wanna' pay to get their guitar beat up, so be it. BTW, we had this conversation very recently. There's a strong negative reaction to this from most of the LTGers, but there's also a few that have them and love them.

Oh, and drc, I saw you were selling one of your Richie models? Is everything OK? I was sad/surprised to see that.

Everything is ok and I appreciate that. Just have to thin the herd and start actually saving like an adult lol. At almost 50 I never learn. Lol

 

[chazmo]

Everything is ok and I appreciate that. Just have to thin the herd and start actually saving like an adult lol. At almost 50 I never learn. Lol

Well, at 60 I'm just retired, drc. And what did I do?... I bought another Guild.

Anyway, be well, drc!

 

[lungimsam]

Wonder if Yamaha will do a Guild relic line?

 

[chazmo]

Wonder if Yamaha will do a Guild relic line?

I'm thinking a relic'd Richie Havens D-40.

Wait. Hmm. That's probably not a particularly good idea.

 

[shihan]

Totally agree about the ridiculousness of relicing. Here’s what really makes no sense to me: my ‘69 GT that has been reliced naturally (mostly by me) over the past 50 years, but it’s worth less than a re-issue that’s been reliced artifically.

 

[walrus]

Well, at 60 I'm just retired, drc. And what did I do?... I bought another Guild.

Anyway, be well, drc!

Retired at 60?! Nice! Congratulations!

walrus

 

[twocorgis]

Retired at 60?! Nice! Congratulations!

walrus

I was thinking the same thing! I've got two more years, and I can't wait.

 

[davismanLV]

People should feel free to spend their money on anything they wanna: it's their money.

This ^^^ right here! The last time this came up, I'm pretty sure that I mentioned back when I did furniture repair/resto/refin, that I had people with old furniture who wanted it to look new, and new furniture that they wanted to look old. As long as they never met, and swapped furniture, I stayed in business.

Life is weird.

 

[wileypickett]

So in 50 years when collectors are evaluating the condition of guitars from now, will they be able to distinguish between factory relic-ing and after-market wear and tear?

"Mint" will mean original factory relic-ing only, with absolutely no additional signs of use!

"Now remember kids, ya gotta keep this relic-ed guitar all original and in the case at all times. The value on this baby is gonna put you through college someday, but not if you go dinging it up."

 

[chazmo]

. . .
Life is weird.

Ayuh!

 

[GGJaguar]

Life is weird.

People are weird.

 

[GAD]

Totally agree about the ridiculousness of relicing. Here’s what really makes no sense to me: my ‘69 GT that has been reliced naturally (mostly by me) over the past 50 years, but it’s worth less than a re-issue that’s been reliced artifically.

Nice goldtop! Original pickups were minihums, yes? What's in there now?

Also, year (and condition) is everything with vintage LPs. If that were a '59 the "worth less than a modern relic" statement wouldn't be true.

Gibson's Custom Shop pricing is madness. I have two Custom Shop Historics and they're absolutely magnificent guitars but I bought them used years ago for 1/2 of what was then the price at the time. Thanks to the crazy price increases over the years I could probably sell them for double what I paid if not more. What sucks is the fact that you have to go through the custom shop today to get a guitar made like yours which was an off-the-shelf item at the time. What's worse, I sat in a Guitar Center once and the sales guy brought every Custom Shop LP they had and I played them all. All were good, one was pretty good, and none of them compare to the ones I bought from Mark's Guitar Loft, so even coming from the Custom Shop doesn't guarantee a good one.

 

[Uke]

I'm thinking a relic'd Richie Havens D-40.

Wait. Hmm. That's probably not a particularly good idea.

Or Willie Nelson's "Trigger"

 

[Uke]

Well, at 60 I'm just retired, drc. And what did I do?... I bought another Guild.

Anyway, be well, drc!

I've been retired a while. One word of advice: Beware of personal relic[k]ing. It can happen.

 

[Guildedagain]

"Mint" will mean original factory relic-ing only, with absolutely no additional signs of use!

This is already a thing now.

 

[wileypickett]

wileypickett said: "Mint" will mean original factory relic-ing only, with absolutely no additional signs of use!

This is already a thing now.

Yeesh! Goes to show -- you can't make this stuff up, even when you think you are!

 

[lungimsam]

So how could you ever tell if a factory relic is mint or not?

Also, if you buy a new guitar and get a ding in it the value may decline. But if you get a relic and then get a ding in it, would it’s value decline?

 

[Guildedagain]

Gibson Les Paul 1956 Reissue-Tom Murhy Ultra Aged-Win When You Lose?- 2008-Gold Top | Reverb

As in the previous 1957 Murphy I listed today as with this one. This is an early rendition of an ultra-aged. Of course this is mint (like, you and I would know if it wasn't) and powered by the immortal tones of the P-90 pickups that hide behind the beautifully aged patina pickup covers from Cr...

reverb.com

"This is an early rendition of an ultra-aged. Of course this is mint (like, you and I would know if it wasn't)"

 

[Rocky]

So how could you ever tell if a factory relic is mint or not?

Also, if you buy a new guitar and get a ding in it the value may decline. But if you get a relic and then get a ding in it, would it’s value decline?

If it has realistic wear, it's not mint.