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fading the finish....


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Well why would anybody want that?? I thought everybody liked their guitars to look a hundred years old and beat to hell these days? :D

 

I dunno, I get a swirl mark, and I have a friggin' heart attack!

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I treat truly vintage guitars a lot differently than my daily players, and that's what "most" of my Epiphones are...great playing *replaceable* guitars. If they get a scratch or a ding then bummer, life goes on.

 

I wouldn't relic the finish on purpose though.

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How about good old sweat, blood and beer like my 80' deluxe has seen....that and ALOT of play time should do it. Real relic wear is wear(pun intended) it's at....you got to earn it baby! That bridge is a recent replacement...the original has no chrome left at all...played to death.DSC00031.jpg

lpdneck.jpg

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Why on God's green Earth would you want to do that?

 

My exact thought! Have you ever really looked at a factory "relic'd" guitar? All the do is hit it with stuff and leave the electric sander in one place too long. To my eyes, it just looks like someone ran out of money halfway through a refinish. I wonder how many buyers of a relic'd guitar would want a relic'd brand new Mustang convertible. I seem to be the only one who thinks guitar manufacturers are counting future sales of nice, clean, pretty new guitars to replace these beat up POS's, and laughing all the way to the bank.

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is that a gibson or an epiphone . I know if you use a sharp blade knife you can check your finish and put hair-line cracks in it.

That's a Gibby that's seen alot of bars!The only reason I changed the bridge was because I was breaking strings the other one was so worn.

Yeah I don't get it? Natural players wear is the only thing cool in my book too....but if you want alot of finish checking just take your guitar from a very cold environment into a warm room and pull it out of the case fast....do that a few times(not really recommended BTW) and you'll have all the checking you could want without exacto knives or hammers.

 

While I'm not a fan of new relic'd guitars ....there is something really nice about an older guitar thats been played alot...just feels right like your favorite jeans or boots....and afew of the newer relic jobs do capture that feeling but for alot of $$. Some relic jobs are just hacks with belt sanders....I agree. I Don't care for guitars that are too pretty...it just screams poser or collector... not player to me. thats not to say you can't take pride in maintaining a nice looking guitar. There is a difference...just don't be afraid to play the damn thing that's what they are for after all.

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I saw a heavily relic'd Epiphone in Sweden, a couple of years old LP Standard from EE with a break fixed in the neck and the whole body looking like it was played in every bar for the last 50 years - cracks in the finish, grooves in the poly around knobs, rust and dirt etc.

 

The punch line of the joke was written in the price tag - it said about 6000 euros.

 

Would have been lovely if real.

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If you go onto mylespaul and goto epiphone les paul im sure if you look youll see it. its an old post so i dont know if its still there

 

Thanks, 13ygm, but I own a 1952 Truetone N2, with a naturally checked finish. Someone with a very steady hand and about 5 years could maybe cut lines like that, but it still won't be the same. I guess its a case of "Once you've tried Ovaltine, you'll never go back!", though I probably misremembered that quote. Last time I heard it was probably 50 years ago.

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...on an epi. is it possible?

 

Yes it is possible. Start wearing sandpaper gloves...

 

Instant relics are just a Fad. I have seen a lot of really bad relic jobs and if you don't know what your doing you will have a really ugly guitar that never gets played.

 

I say play it everyday for 10 years and see what it looks like after that. Then try another 8 years and it should start to look like a real relic by then.

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I saw a heavily relic'd Epiphone in Sweden' date=' a couple of years old LP Standard from EE with a break fixed in the neck and the whole body looking like it was played in every bar for the last 50 years - cracks in the finish, grooves in the poly around knobs, rust and dirt etc.

 

The punch line of the joke was written in the price tag - it said about 6000 euros.

 

Would have been lovely if real.

[/quote']

 

Relic'ing a new guitar with a poly finish is ludicrous... (Not that relic'ing on the whole isn't..) A poly finish will never check.. It's a lot more elastic than a cellulose finish... One of the complaints that people had when car (and guitar) manufacturers starting phasing in paints with an acrylic bonder back in the late 50's and early 60's was that an acrylic finish wouldn't cure as hard as cellulose... They may have been right about that, but polymers won't crack, or turn yellow like cellulose either..

 

By way of a serious answer to the question that started this whole thread... It's not likely that you'll see your guitar's paint fade any time soon... Acrylic based paints are UV resistant by nature... That's why car (and guitar) manufacturers starting using them.. Too many people got upset that their "Fiesta Red" Strat that was bought in 1955 looked like "Coral Pink" by 1958... Same deal with cars.. But guitar makers continued to use nitrocellulose for the clear-coat..

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My exact thought! Have you ever really looked at a factory "relic'd" guitar? All the do is hit it with stuff and leave the electric sander in one place too long. To my eyes' date=' it just looks like someone ran out of money halfway through a refinish. I wonder how many buyers of a relic'd guitar would want a relic'd brand new Mustang convertible. I seem to be the only one who thinks guitar manufacturers are counting future sales of nice, clean, pretty new guitars to replace these beat up POS's, and laughing all the way to the bank.[/quote']

 

Don't forget the heat-gun "technique" and the highly skilled "whacking with a bag of hot nickels" procedure... I get a real hoot when people talk about this relic'ing nonsense like it's an art form or something... Like these "artisans" spent a life-time honing their "craft" of beating hell out of a guitar and selling it for ungodly sums of money...

 

I watched this series on YouTube with one such "craftsman" who's the head of the "relic'ing department" at Gibson... He never once mentioned a single thing he did to the guitars! Because that's proprietary information, don't you know... Wouldn't want to give away any trade secrets... I wasted about an hour watching the whole thing, and all he talked about was how he convinced the higher-ups at Gibson that he had such a great idea, and that it's not just beating a guitar with a chain... It's a real "involved" process... Oh, and he also dropped the names of all the rock stars he's wrecked guitars for...

 

I came across this other guy on the internet who builds relic'd guitars outta parts... Whatever he can find.. Mostly Fender and Mighty Mite or other licensed parts.. He freely admits this... Then he sprays them with nitro and....... I dunno..... scratches them up with a screwdriver, from the looks of it.. He sells these things at "boutique" guitar shops for like $1,600! Hell, I can do THAT! How do I get in on some this easy money??

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Although I don't agree with the new craze of relic guitars, I understand people wanting thier finish a little different. Personally, I dislike the gloss finish on my LP, I prefer a matt finish, part of the reason is that it has lots of scratches, and small knocks which are less noticable with a matt finish...

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