I'd expect better from a Fender custom shop relic

WezV

ICBM said:

WezV said:

Where are the examples of your relic work to share with the group?

I thought better of you than that. You know I don't do relic work, or any finish work.

And nor does it matter that I don't. What I do is repair guitars - I have for over thirty years, and I have seen a lot of old guitars. My comments are based on knowing what real, worn guitars look like.

It seems you make a choice not to publicly share any your work here.  At least, I don't think i have seen any examples.  Please correct me if I am wrong.

Others take a different path, and by doing so open them selves up to criticism.

I disagreed with Scott recently because he has taken the decision not to share as much as he has previously.   Seems a real shame to me, his development has been one of the most interesting things to follow over the last few years.   And yet, it seems a couple of people on this thread have proven his point for him.

DrJazzTap

The best strat I ever heard was a fender custom shop heavy relic 69...trouble was it was three grand. If you don't like relics then they aren't for you.

Jack_

All the arguments here lately are starting to relic the forum, to be honest.

mburekenge

Tbh I think guitars are really hard to photograph and often look really different in person.

 Ccgx had a cornerto;) strat listed on their site a while back. The aging looked awful, but in store it was actually excellent.

 I've also seen historic bursts that look amazing in photos but awful in person.

SteveF

lonestar said:

Again, last time... not all ageing is meant to be realistic. 

Agreed, and my comment also wasn’t meant to offend - apologies if it did. Perhaps “some of your other work is great” was a poor choice of words as it would suggest that the pictured guitar was not good work as opposed to just not to my personal taste. My own personal taste is for realistic relics (for example I think Rory Gallagher’s Strat is an eyesore) but that doesn’t detract from your obvious talent. In fact you posted 2 guitar bodies on your Facebook page earlier that I commented on saying I would have had both.  

WezV

lonestar said:

Again, last time... not all ageing is meant to be realistic. 

Reminds me of the time I was criticised for doing unrealistic wear so I provided vintage examples I had used as my inspiration.

everyone has a different idea of what is and isn’t realistic.... and they are all sure they are right.

the closest analogy I can think off to support your point is ripped jeans.  How many of them are trying to look realistically worn?  It can be a style choice seperate from authentic wear

SteveF

WezV said

the closest analogy I can think off to support your point is ripped jeans.  How many of them are trying to look realistically worn?  It can be a style choice seperate from authentic wear

Hadn’t considered it like that. A good point. 

ICBM

WezV said:

It seems you make a choice not to publicly share any your work here.  At least, I don't think i have seen any examples.  Please correct me if I am wrong.

I have posted a few, but rarely. The vast majority of my repair work is completely uninteresting, because it's simply putting things back as they were meant to be originally. And these days, it's mostly amps - I still do guitar work but almost all is simply set-ups, fret dressing, electrical parts replacement etc. Who wants to hear about that?

But if you prefer, I will never comment on any relic, finish or woodwork thread ever again.

WezV

ICBM said:

WezV said:

It seems you make a choice not to publicly share any your work here.  At least, I don't think i have seen any examples.  Please correct me if I am wrong.

I have posted a few, but rarely. The vast majority of my repair work is completely uninteresting, because it's simply putting things back as they were meant to be originally. And these days, it's mostly amps - I still do guitar work but almost all is simply set-ups, fret dressing, electrical parts replacement etc. Who wants to hear about that?

But if you prefer, I will never comment on any relic, finish or woodwork thread ever again.

I think a lot will be more interested than you think.

and actually I would rather have a discussion with multiple considered points of view.  Not opinion stated as fact with no further back and forth on the points raised.  

And no, that isn’t solely directed in your direction.

Danny1969

I was looking at an SRV relic the other day and wondering what the guy did to make it look like that. I mean I've got guitars that have done thousands of gigs ... my old Ibanez RD did 520 gigs just on Monday nights alone between 88 and 98 let alone the 2000 odd gigs on Thurs, Frid, Sat and Sundays. It was never in a hard case, just a basic soft case and it lived mainly in the band van regardless of the weather and yet other than fading and a few chips off the paint it's in good nick. 
My 1984 Tokia Strat is the same ...
I honestly think some famous people deliberately distress their guitars which is kind of uncool 

Iamnobody

Danny1969 said:

I was looking at an SRV relic the other day and wondering what the guy did to make it look like that. I mean I've got guitars that have done thousands of gigs ... my old Ibanez RD did 520 gigs just on Monday nights alone between 88 and 98 let alone the 2000 odd gigs on Thurs, Frid, Sat and Sundays. It was never in a hard case, just a basic soft case and it lived mainly in the band van regardless of the weather and yet other than fading and a few chips off the paint it's in good nick. 
My 1984 Tokia Strat is the same ...
I honestly think some famous people deliberately distress their guitars which is kind of uncool 

Acidic sweat allegedly. Have you ever seen some people’s strings that turn black very quickly? I asssume it’s the same thing.

meltedbuzzbox

Danny1969 said:

I was looking at an SRV relic the other day and wondering what the guy did to make it look like that. I mean I've got guitars that have done thousands of gigs ... my old Ibanez RD did 520 gigs just on Monday nights alone between 88 and 98 let alone the 2000 odd gigs on Thurs, Frid, Sat and Sundays. It was never in a hard case, just a basic soft case and it lived mainly in the band van regardless of the weather and yet other than fading and a few chips off the paint it's in good nick. 
My 1984 Tokia Strat is the same ...
I honestly think some famous people deliberately distress their guitars which is kind of uncool 

Both are poly right?

Strat54

Oh blimey! Not sure what to say or where to start. Firstly I need to say that my post was not an attack but just an observation and one I that I felt was appropriate given the OP's observation of the Fender he'd seen for sale and Lonestar's comments on Nash etc. To be totally honest I have never looked at SC Relics FB page or website before today nor have I heard of your company. I am however a huge relic fan. I bought my first relic in 1996 when Vince's Nocaster and MK Strat were the only ones around here in the UK by Fender Custom Shop. I've had a dozen of them, followed by a number of the Time Machine Fenders before moving on the Jonathon Wilson's GVCG's, a Clive Brown Tele, a Vinetto Artifact BG50, a J.W.Black  Suhr Antique and currently a Carson Hess Esquire. 
However I am not a huge fan of the 'heavy' relic concept for the exact reasons so eloquently and correctly stated by @ICBM ...your sentiments regarding the authenticity and degree of randomness are spot on. I have yet to see anyone produce what I would call a convincing example of a massively beaten up guitar yet. The results from pretty much all builders are not to my taste. I prefer lighter relics for this reason.
@lonestar I did not trawl through your pics searching for an example. I thought I would look at your FB page and clicked on 'Photos' and there from the thumbnail glaring at me was the Tele in question. To be honest at a glance I did see a couple of others similar. I clicked on the picture, I noted it was a recent (May) pic and that no one had 'liked' it or commented. I was not to have known this was an experiment of a technique. You did not label the pic. I was assuming this was a build in process shot. This was a fair assumption. 
Yes, I am highly critical of relic work but as a prolific consumer I feel I have a right to be. I appreciate it must difficult for a member of the trade to present on this forum and personally I wouldn't if I were in your position. I never joined any of the forums appertaining to my trade...damn privates..lol. I certainly would not have bothered to send them private messages of a lecturing nature too, so please do not bother with that again. Let's all move on.   

rsvmark

Iamnobody said:

Danny1969 said:

I was looking at an SRV relic the other day and wondering what the guy did to make it look like that. I mean I've got guitars that have done thousands of gigs ... my old Ibanez RD did 520 gigs just on Monday nights alone between 88 and 98 let alone the 2000 odd gigs on Thurs, Frid, Sat and Sundays. It was never in a hard case, just a basic soft case and it lived mainly in the band van regardless of the weather and yet other than fading and a few chips off the paint it's in good nick. 
My 1984 Tokia Strat is the same ...
I honestly think some famous people deliberately distress their guitars which is kind of uncool 

Acidic sweat allegedly. Have you ever seen some people’s strings that turn black very quickly? I asssume it’s the same thing.

Serious question. Acidic sweat?

poopot

Just out of curiosity... what do folk consider to be “accurate wear” on a guitar?...

below are three guitars that are known to me (two are mine and the other is a mates) all show totally different degrees of “wear”...

1 of the guitars has been “artificialy aged” the other 2 guitars look the way they are through being used week in week out!... 








So... which is the “relic”?

Grunfeld

poopot said:

Just out of curiosity... what do folk consider to be “accurate wear” on a guitar?...

So... which is the “relic”?

  I reckon the relic is:

the top one

Do I win anything?

SteveF

I would guess at the first one, although they all look nice and I don't think any are "overdone" (to my taste, yada yada) 

Sorry, no idea how Grun did that cool thing with the hidden line. 

Edit: Although... the bottom one looks like the neck isn't very played.  Tis a hard one for sure.  I suppose to answer your question, if two are genuine wear and one is a relic, then the relic would be my definition of realistic wear as I am struggling to tell.  

poopot

Grunfeld said:

Do I win anything?

You win a wow for the hidden line thing

Grunfeld

poopot said:

Grunfeld said:

Do I win anything?

You win a wow for the hidden line thing

haha, when you post you just highlight the text you want hidden then...

there's a little down arrow next to the pilcrow ¶ symbol and you'll find "spoiler"

and that's how you do it!

poopot

Grunfeld said:

poopot said:

Grunfeld said:

Do I win anything?

You win a wow for the hidden line thing

haha, when you post you just highlight the text you want hidden then...

there's a little down arrow next to the pilcrow ¶ symbol and you'll find "spoiler"

and that's how you do it!

Well in that case...

nope not right