Is relic'ing a fad, or is it here to stay? (Spoiler: not a fad, yes here to stay, but come chat)
- Thread starter Elliot
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GuitarDrummer
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I'm a freakin' relic. No takers, tho. I can see my future now.... at a car wash, in a bin of Ted Nugent tapes, with a sticker on my forehead that says THE NICE PRICE!
GuitarDrummer
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As I'm re-stringing my PRS, a thought came to mind.
Do NOT throw away those old, used strings.
Sell them as relic'd, vintage strings.
Do NOT throw away those old, used strings.
Sell them as relic'd, vintage strings.
It only works if they’re very rusty/corroded. Leave ‘em outside for a few months, then sell ‘em at a premium.
Ovibos
Naughty Wood Librarian
If I buy your strings, it's because I'm cloning you from the DNA in your fingerfunk.
Fair warning.
charliefrench
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I know someone, when he was a boy and suffered a string break he would splice them together, trim off the un-needed loose ends and continue. Wherever the knot was he would simply work around it 
GADonis
Beautifully Broken
I saw a picture of Willie playing his guitar and there was no hole in it. It looked so wrong. He also had short hair.
Count me among the people who don't get relic'd guitars. Telecasters tend to look better the more battle scars they bear. But, they must be actual battle scars. Dings, scratches and dents should be earned not applied.
Elliot
Gandalf the Vintage Yellow
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I've had some time to simmer on this... I came to the realization that if I ever shop around for strats, I don't really care how beat up the guitar is unless its just stupidly beat up or the playability is affected. With PRSi, I definitely have less interest in the ones with a bit of play wear and rash. I hate to admit it, but I'm being honest.
Are F shooting themselves in the foot by creating a better market for beat up, used instruments?
Are F shooting themselves in the foot by creating a better market for beat up, used instruments?
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Parralax view
New Member
Neither my wallet nor my tastes support relics if they are off the shelf. I'm 70, I could pull one off with a lie about all the clubs me and that guitar have been in. If your 25 and have one, the lie better be that it was your grandfathers, cause you're not pulling it off...I think it's a fad. A fad that started about a decade and a half ago that is now pretty tired. YET, people lay down for them saying it plays better than their others.
Why do you feel you have to lie about it?
Oh, and they started a good 12 years before your claim
What I find odd is when folks say something like, “I play a relic so I don’t have to worry about dinging it.”
I always think, “If you like playing a beat-up looking guitar, why not just let a new-looking guitar get dinged?”
I always think, “If you like playing a beat-up looking guitar, why not just let a new-looking guitar get dinged?”
Parralax view
New Member
I don't know that I was serious about it. What I meant was that if I bought one off the shelf, showed up to some place and was asked about it, I'm old enough looking that I might pull it off as original to me.. that would be the lie should I have chosen to state it. Some people might believe that every battle scar on it was mine. Some would spot the lie instantly. I really have no idea when they started but I know they've been around a long time, and apparently successfully regardless of guys like me that don't have interest in them.
You are right but some people buy guitars made from 150 year old Brazilian farm house buildings, with nail hole marks in the body, but they buy it as a new model, does that not fall into the category of relic? But "what ever rocks your boat"
People just aren't THAT stupid.
It doesn't matter what your guitar looks like, once you start playing, whatever preconception they had is out the window.
IF you play well, they might think the worn guitar in your hands has been with you for a while.
If you are only average-good, they're gonna be trying to guess what better player you got the guitar from.
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If you are relicing because you like the look and feel, I get that. If you are relicing to try to fake experience/provenance, well, good luck with that.
It doesn't matter what your guitar looks like, once you start playing, whatever preconception they had is out the window.
IF you play well, they might think the worn guitar in your hands has been with you for a while.
If you are only average-good, they're gonna be trying to guess what better player you got the guitar from.
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If you are relicing because you like the look and feel, I get that. If you are relicing to try to fake experience/provenance, well, good luck with that.
charliefrench
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Already thought of...
The singlecut type guitar that I picked up this week came in a filthy looking case like this. Madame French wants to know when I am going to clean it
Ovibos
Naughty Wood Librarian
I largely agree with you for most cases & audiences.
My counter-experience (as a guitar-y person) was seeing G'n'R last week. Slash and Richard Fortus are both amazing (I would argue that Fortus is more technically sound - you could hear tight sweep picking from him at points). However, Slash's guitars mostly all looked roadworn to varying degrees where some of Fortus' custom-mades looked clearly relic'd (and in my mind 'try-hard'). While it didn't affect my appreciation of the music, I did make aesthetic judgements of the 'show'.
On a related note, Axl definitely looks the most relic'd of the band. Duff gets a little craggy, Slash doesn't seem to age much.
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