I'd expect better from a Fender custom shop relic

GoldenEraGuitars

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lovestrat74

Personally I prefer this one

axisus

WezV said:

axisus said:

SNAKEBITE said:

I am confused at what @lonestar says when relicing is not to replicate authentic wear. I am not having a pop, it is just something I don't, at present understand. I can understand wanting to replicate wear and tear in a realistic way but not random wear. I am open minded to understand why it is done though, so any explanations will be listened to.

It's just a look, a vibe. Most people who play relic guitars aren't actually interested in accuracy to the nth degree of perfection. They don't all get a slide rule out to check it! 

As far as I'm concerned, if I think an aged finish 'looks' cool then I'm OK with it. 

Yes, this


did you have a link to the one in your OP?  I am really curious how it looks from different angles 

Yeah, this is it.

https://www.mansons.co.uk/product/fender-custom-shop-63-strat-heavy-relic-fire-mist-gold-6460

WezV

there is another non-authentic feature fender do on a lot of things - that straight line abrupt wear on the neck... but its done consciously wrong to give a consistent feel over more of the neck



there is only one alternative angle, but it does show how much a colour like this changes from different angles


I suspect it may look much nicer in the flesh


I think they were going for this kind of thing on the forearm - note the 4 layers of paint/sealer visible in the wear

dean111music

WezV said:

i was thinking about this and realised the first time i reliced any hardware, it was all about the style and nothing to do with authenticity at all.   This one was about 11 years ago, not the best pic of the hardware


then more recently there is something like this, which is also a totally unrealistic heavy relic - but i was really happy with the overall look





That got me thinking about the guitar i like at the mo and top of the list is probably Novo guitars.  You get mostly authentic wear on unusal woods and shapes, often with unrealistically sunken grain too... but they look great.  A good mix of vintage and modern
https://www.instagram.com/novoguitars/?hl=en

Novo guitars looks one of the best out there for relic look. Genuinely look worn in a good way. Best feeling necks too

DrBob

I feel bad for whoever buys this guitar. 
Imagine stumbling across this thread after the fact ?

GoldenEraGuitars

DrBob said:

I feel bad for whoever buys this guitar. 
Imagine stumbling across this thread after the fact ?

Can’t be any worse than being targeted by a fellow member because he/she didn’t like a picture that was posted....

And you needn’t feel bad for the eventual buyer. Who ever buys it will play it, love it and not give a monkeys about what is written here.

johnl

Targeted is a bit strong surely? Those Novo guitars look incredible - has anyone actually tried one?

Fender can also do some very attractive stuff when they put their mind to it:

WezV

johnl said:

Targeted is a bit strong surely? Those Novo guitars look incredible - has anyone actually tried one?

Fender can also do some very attractive stuff when they put their mind to it:

That is very similar to the guitar in question, apart from the colour....

johnl

The strat? I couldn't say exactly why but I find this far more convincing. If we're talking about the other Tele we shall have to agree to disagree.

Legionreturns

So on these custom shop relics, what are you actually paying the extra money for? Is it the relic or the donor guitar etc? 

I only ask, because, for example, Vintage seem to manage to sell their "Icon" range for about £20 more than their standard ones and I think they look great for basically the price of a weekend of drinking! 

GoldenEraGuitars

No @johnl , the image was lifted from my Facebook page and used to prove a point. There’s normal forum mentality and then there’s just being downright nasty. My defence started with pm’ing the member to tell him what the body was, followed by me asking why did he use it? I got no reply and was publicly told off for the pm. I didn’t make a scene, he did. 

Most of the experts who comment have too much to say about things they’ve never tried but again, that’s a forum for you.

But that’s the last I’ll be commenting on it. I didn’t defend myself properly yesterday because I was worried, as a guitar finisher/builder/business owner that I would be seen as confrontational. But in a fresh light I think it’s only fair that I can tell you all as it is. 

Easy answer is - if you don’t like “the relic thing” then you don’t have to comment. The negativity around it gets boring, quickly. It says more about the person posting than anything else. 


Ps - That tele looks nice, I’ve just been asked to replicate that colour which will be fun. 

vasselmeyer

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 

@Danny1969 if you watch SRV at the end of his sets, often with Hendrix tracks like Voodoo Chile and Third Stone, he really abused his No1. He threw it around on the stage, bounced it with the vibrato arm, bent the neck whilst standing on the body etc. He had that guitar for 20 years and if you do that every night then it's going to be a heavy relic before long. Check out some of the YouTube videos.

Legionreturns

@lonestar ...forums are like anywhere else mate, some posters can be "tone deaf" to what they're writing, others can just be nasty because they're behind a screen and effectively consequence free. 

One thing I would say is that having now seen your work, it's made me seek more of it! I'm full of admiration for anyone with the skill and patience to do the stuff you do and your work is great. Not to everyone's taste obviously, but then neither was Monet! 

WezV

johnl said:

The strat? I couldn't say exactly why but I find this far more convincing. If we're talking about the other Tele we shall have to agree to disagree.

I was talking about the similar styles of wear on the firemist CS strat and the green CS tele.   Colour choice really does count for a lot

Danny1969

vasselmeyer 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 

@Danny1969 if you watch SRV at the end of his sets, often with Hendrix tracks like Voodoo Chile and Third Stone, he really abused his No1. He threw it around on the stage, bounced it with the vibrato arm, bent the neck whilst standing on the body etc. He had that guitar for 20 years and if you do that every night then it's going to be a heavy relic before long. Check out some of the YouTube videos.

Yeah that's kinda my point though mate, that wear don't happen in normal use. Hendrix used to smash his to bits and then set fire to it but again, not normal use really. 
The sad fact is neither of the 2 greats above lived long enough to relic a guitar through ordinary use

Jonathanthomas83

The relic debate rages on, was intrigued to find out yesterday, on a slightly different note, that a very large percentage of Fender Custom Shop orders are relic and very rarely NOS, or even Closet Classic. I find myself drawn more and more to a relic than a brand new looking one, these days.

rossi

i think a lot of famous people are stoned and bored so attack their guitar and removed paint or worse ..My mates  used P bass bought in 64 had most of the paint removed  already by then .

Strat54

lonestar said:

No @johnl , the image was lifted from my Facebook page and used to prove a point. There’s normal forum mentality and then there’s just being downright nasty. My defence started with pm’ing the member to tell him what the body was, followed by me asking why did he use it? I got no reply and was publicly told off for the pm. I didn’t make a scene, he did. 

Most of the experts who comment have too much to say about things they’ve never tried but again, that’s a forum for you.

But that’s the last I’ll be commenting on it. I didn’t defend myself properly yesterday because I was worried, as a guitar finisher/builder/business owner that I would be seen as confrontational. But in a fresh light I think it’s only fair that I can tell you all as it is. 

Easy answer is - if you don’t like “the relic thing” then you don’t have to comment. The negativity around it gets boring, quickly. It says more about the person posting than anything else. 


Ps - That tele looks nice, I’ve just been asked to replicate that colour which will be fun. 

lonestar said:

No @johnl , the image was lifted from my Facebook page and used to prove a point. There’s normal forum mentality and then there’s just being downright nasty. My defence started with pm’ing the member to tell him what the body was, followed by me asking why did he use it? I got no reply and was publicly told off for the pm. I didn’t make a scene, he did. 

Most of the experts who comment have too much to say about things they’ve never tried but again, that’s a forum for you.

But that’s the last I’ll be commenting on it. I didn’t defend myself properly yesterday because I was worried, as a guitar finisher/builder/business owner that I would be seen as confrontational. But in a fresh light I think it’s only fair that I can tell you all as it is. 

Easy answer is - if you don’t like “the relic thing” then you don’t have to comment. The negativity around it gets boring, quickly. It says more about the person posting than anything else. 


Ps - That tele looks nice, I’ve just been asked to replicate that colour which will be fun. 

That's so funny. Lets get this straight. When you were just four years old I was professionally finishing vehicles for Rolls-Royce, so I know a thing or two about paint. When you were a mere twelve I bought my first Relic and before you'd left school I was sat in Missouri with Vince Cunetto and his team experiencing what seemed then as 'magic'. I then used some of his experience and knowledge within my own industry to make vehicle restoration a tad more sympathetic. I've also visited the Fender Custom Shop in the late 90's and Mike let me see how they aged their guitars and hardware too, although I was sworn to secrecy. John English (R.I.P) showed me a body he was doing for Jimmie Vaughan at the time. Amazing guy and a real master-builder.
I hate new, I like my guitars a little aged like me!. I have a lot of friends within the guitar industry and I don't mean FB friends. I'm a prolific guitar buyer and as I said earlier in this thread I've had aged 'Fender' guitars from all the best builders around. I missed off Nacho Banos, I've had one of his too. I love relics and have vigorously defended their existence since the late 90's online. I'd never class myself as an expert, no one really should.....but I do know a fair bit like many others on here 

Legionreturns

Oh ffs... does every single thread now have to descend into willy waving and name calling? 

Have we learned nothing this week despite losing two of our founders? It's fucking childish!