“Masterbuilt” or “guitar by stencil”...

Lewy

TINMAN82 said:

Dominic said:

The irony is that a real worn /well used guitar would be generally decent condition ,the very odd dink and one fucking huge ugly gouge out of it where it had fallen off a stand ,been accidentally crunched into the bassist's machine head or had a mic stand dropped on it
.....of course, that would just look like a damaged guitar and be a lot less appealing ! even tho't's more real

They do exist...here’s Kenny Wayne Shepherds ‘61, “Martha”

A heavy right hand playing the strings in an SRV style "figure of 8" kind of strum attack would put wear there.

TINMAN82

RaymondLin said:

How does one wear out the area by the edge of the pickguard? That is not a place where your hand/fingers/anything goes.  It looks sanded down on purpose, so I call BS on that.

See posts of Martha above. That’s a genuine ‘61 that he’s road worn naturally. Some (me included) may not like the dragged along the road look but it clearly can be authentic.

Philly_Q

RaymondLin said:

How does one wear out the area by the edge of the pickguard? That is not a place where your hand/fingers/anything goes.  It looks sanded down on purpose, so I call BS on that.

Philip Sayce's Strat has a big bare patch above the scratchplate exactly like that.  Seeing him live he does flail around quite violently with his right hand.

poopot

RaymondLin said:

How does one wear out the area by the edge of the pickguard? That is not a place where your hand/fingers/anything goes.  It looks sanded down on purpose, so I call BS on that.

My own strat... took ten years worth of gigs but that’s what it looked like...



Been refinished now tho’

RaymondLin

The bit I have a real problem with is the bare wood by the pick guard.  To get here it means your pick has missed the strings, a lot, for years.

Kittyfrisk

poopot said:

RaymondLin said:

How does one wear out the area by the edge of the pickguard? That is not a place where your hand/fingers/anything goes.  It looks sanded down on purpose, so I call BS on that.

My own strat... took ten years worth of gigs but that’s what it looked like...



Been refinished now tho’

Hmmm.. the wear doesn't look that authentic when compared to a 'real' master worn Fender, does it 

Philly_Q

RaymondLin said:

The bit I have a real problem with is the bare wood by the pick guard.  To get here it means your pick has missed the strings, a lot, for years.

The implication being that SRV, Rory Gallagher, KWS, Philip Sayce, Walter Trout etc are all phonies?

Or do they just have bad aim?

CloudNine

I suspect the wear on the Kenny Wayne Shepherd and Philip Sayce strats above, might be a lot to do with clothing. Leather jackets with zips on the sleeves, denim jackets with buttons, other similar scenarios. Rather than just totally wild picking.

With SRV, having watched him play, you could believe it could just be flesh doing it. Not many have hammered a guitar like him.

springhead

Some people, notably Rory Gallagher, have (had) very acidic sweat. That did most of the damage on his Strat. Plus he had to remove the neck and let it dry out.  So some of these relic versions are replicating extreme wear or (acid sweat) circumstances. 

bgmartinsbridge

@poopot - you should send that design to Fender. Perhaps they'll copy it and pop it on a masterbuilt relic :-) 

RaymondLin

Philly_Q said:

RaymondLin said:

The bit I have a real problem with is the bare wood by the pick guard.  To get here it means your pick has missed the strings, a lot, for years.

The implication being that SRV, Rory Gallagher, KWS, Philip Sayce, Walter Trout etc are all phonies?

Or do they just have bad aim?

There are bits that is worn which I find suspect, places where your flesh won’t touch. I’m not saying it’s all fake but certain section looks like it had to be done on purpose.  It almost feels like all this paint is gone, and one day you start peeling it all the way to the edge of the pickguard.

Kittyfrisk

RaymondLin said:

The bit I have a real problem with is the bare wood by the pick guard.  To get here it means your pick has missed the strings, a lot, for years.

Eureka! I have it!
The reason that the relic's show wear above the pick guard/scratchplate is...

They were all played upside down... by Jimi Hendrix, long thought dead but secretly working in the Fender Custom Shop.

RaymondLin

Kittyfrisk said:

RaymondLin said:

The bit I have a real problem with is the bare wood by the pick guard.  To get here it means your pick has missed the strings, a lot, for years.

Eureka! I have it!
The reason that the relic's show wear above the pick guard/scratchplate is...

They were all played upside down... by Jimi Hendrix, long thought dead but secretly working in the Fender Custom Shop.

It’s the bit nearest to the edge of it all the way along, the last few mm.  Your wrist won’t get near it, it takes something pointy, which is the pick and if you pick hits there, it means you missed a note?

how many note have they missed and for how long?

or am I being crazy?

Kittyfrisk

^ Not to mention getting underneath the pick guard & beyond at the neck... oh I give up.
We're getting away from poopot's thesis though.

prlgmnr

They should send out some of those motion capture ball things and get everyone who places an order to film themselves playing in order to calculate a personalised wear pattern (along with a swab to get a sample of sweat, of course).

darthed1981

prlgmnr said:

They should send out some of those motion capture ball things and get everyone who places an order to film themselves playing in order to calculate a personalised wear pattern (along with a swab to get a sample of sweat, of course).

Don't. Give. Fender. Ideas.

10k for that I suspect!!

Iamnobody

RaymondLin said:

The bit I have a real problem with is the bare wood by the pick guard.  To get here it means your pick has missed the strings, a lot, for years.

I’d never buy a guitar ‘preworn’ like that but...

If you play hard/with abandon your pick, thumb whatever will hit that area.

If you play live moving around not looking where your strumming you’ll hit that area. 

If you’ve got thick poly finish it might create some swirls - if it’s a thin nitro finish it will show more wear - playing it everyday add in sweat etc and that’s where you get the significant wear. I’m sure once it starts to go some people will pick at it as well.

If you sit at home playing pentatonic exercises and play several different guitars and stare at the fretboard and pick precisely you probably never see that wear.

RaymondLin

Iamnobody said:

RaymondLin said:

The bit I have a real problem with is the bare wood by the pick guard.  To get here it means your pick has missed the strings, a lot, for years.

I’d never buy a guitar ‘preworn’ like that but...

If you play hard/with abandon your pick, thumb whatever will hit that area.

If you play live moving around not looking where your strumming you’ll hit that area. 

If you’ve got thick poly finish it might create some swirls - if it’s a thin nitro finish it will show more wear - playing it everyday add in sweat etc and that’s where you get the significant wear. I’m sure once it starts to go some people will pick at it as well.

If you sit at home playing pentatonic exercises and play several different guitars and stare at the fretboard and pick precisely you probably never see that wear.

Even the little bit north of the pick guard next to the fretboard? 

GoldenEraGuitars

RaymondLin said:

Iamnobody said:

RaymondLin said:

The bit I have a real problem with is the bare wood by the pick guard.  To get here it means your pick has missed the strings, a lot, for years.

I’d never buy a guitar ‘preworn’ like that but...

If you play hard/with abandon your pick, thumb whatever will hit that area.

If you play live moving around not looking where your strumming you’ll hit that area. 

If you’ve got thick poly finish it might create some swirls - if it’s a thin nitro finish it will show more wear - playing it everyday add in sweat etc and that’s where you get the significant wear. I’m sure once it starts to go some people will pick at it as well.

If you sit at home playing pentatonic exercises and play several different guitars and stare at the fretboard and pick precisely you probably never see that wear.

Even the little bit north of the pick guard next to the fretboard? 

You might want to look at how Keith Richards plays his guitar and the angle he holds it... then look at Micawber.

You seem to be finding it hard to accept that old nitro comes off if knocked with a plectrum. If you look at good quality images of old brittle nitro you can see on a lot of guitars there’s not a lot holding the paint on. If you want to see a good example of an early burst strat that has come under fire from a sweaty forearm encased in a suit jacket look at Keith Scott’s main guitar. 

Kittyfrisk

@GoldenEraGuitars  please be gentle, I'm feeling my way through what I know, thought I knew & didn't have a sodding clue 
If we are still talking Fender Stratocasters here, then they would have a Fullerplast filler/undercoat?
So, this would not behave/wear in the same way as a nitrocellulose top coat, if one was ever present?
Also Fender introduced polyurethane finishes (often shortened to “urethane”) on its instruments in the late 1960s, so would these finishes 'chip' or shed in the same way as nitrocellulose and where does the characteristic wear come from?