Guitar scratches and chips

[lpfan]

I have taken good care of my guitars and they are scratch free but I was just wondering how everyone else felt about scratches and paint chips. I know that when you buy a guitar you would like for it to be pristine. What I guess I am saying is that I think some wear on a guitar is cool. It gives it a little more character or flavor if you will. I look at it like this: When you have sex with a woman, you don't want a whore but you don't want a woman that doesn't know what she is doing either. LOL! Sorry I guess thats a terrible analogy. Anyway what are your thoughts on scrathces and paint chips?

[Ricochet]

I don't mind a liitle cheap and nasty...

[midiman56]

That's why I could never see buying a guitar that had been reliced. If I'm gonna have a dent or a chunk missing from my axe ... I want to have the story behind it to tell ... and that story ought not to be about some factory guy with a belt sander! (Unless, of course, he was drunk and coming at me while I was on stage at some two-bit, sleasy factory worker's bar).

 

MIDI

[Dr. Rock]

It's funny! We see many Fender with "relic" look but not Gibson or Epi.

[RobinTheHood]

Battlescars, baby! Its a rite of passage. I only own one instrument that would make me cry if it ever got dinged up. I use it sparingly.

[charlie brown]

Oh...to some they're merely "tools of the trade," and are treated accordingly. Others, treat them like "valuable works of art," merely to be looked at, and admired. "I" play them...often, treat them as well as I possibly can, to keep them looking as nice as possible, in the process...but, I PLAY them. What happens, happens! A little "common sense" does wonders, in keeping one's instruments, in good condition even when played daily. Polish when needed, wipe them down, after playing, keep in the case, when not playing, don't store next to furnace/AC vents, keep humitidy to a point "you're" comfortable with, and they will be just fine. Quick fixes for small chips...Fingernail polish! Smooth, worn areas..."character!"

 

My 2-cents!

 

CB

[Gashole]

I can live with some scarring. That said, I find relicking to be silly. LOL..I have a friend that builds Teles from kits and spare parts...he sometimes leaves these guitars in my care for a month or two...I have acid hands, and with constant playing, I can stain a fret board up good. He says he can charge more if it looks like that. Then he'll belt sand the body in places...crazy that people will buy a new guitar that looks used. People do it w/ blue jeans too. Another trend I don't relate to.

[RobinTheHood]

I can live with some scarring. That said' date=' I find relicking to be silly. LOL..I have a friend that builds Teles from kits and spare parts...he sometimes leaves these guitars in my care for a month or two...I have acid hands, and with constant playing, I can stain a fret board up good. He says he can charge more if it looks like that. Then he'll belt sand the body in places...crazy that people will buy a new guitar that looks used. People do it w/ blue jeans too. Another trend I don't relate to.

[/quote']

 

Word up!

And I can relate to the acid hands. I can rust out a set of strings in a week or two...if they stay on the guitar that long. But I'm not big on wiping my strings down. I think I may start selling my old git strings and label them as "reliced". Charge twice the price and tell people that they are getting that "vintage used sound". hehe.

[pohatu771]

I hate paint chips... I can live with minor scratches.

 

I have a chip in my Martin that I'm figuring out how to fill.

[generation zero]

I was looking at the new "road worn" strats and teles at GC yesterday, and laughed when I realized that the "unique" wear pattern was virtually IDENTICAL on all the strats, body and neck. The neck wear was the same on all the maple necks, strat and tele alike. It's like there's a template... Literally, tiny dings in the body in exactly the same place on each strat, bigger wear marks in the same place, and the fretboards were all worn EXACTLY in the same places and amounts, at all the same frets. They only had one tele out, but I'm sure all the teles are worn in the same places too... I could see it if they were replicas of a certain player's axe, like the Dave Gilmour strat... it's worn more in the notes that go in the solo for Comfortably Numb for a reason, LOL. But the road worn "budget" stuff just wasn't cool at all, IMO. The only time I think the relicing process is cool is like on the Gilmour strat, where they are mimicking every minute detail of a PARTICULAR artist's guitar, and then it's cool from an "art" perspective, I'd never buy one of those to play, assuming I would ever buy one at all.

[Yew]

you should buy used, pick scratches, a ding or two, but not anytihng that looks like its been attacked by george washington with an axe, or gnawed by a dog

 

 

Overall, Little damage makes it vintage, lots of dmamge makes it a project

 

 

Whatever, Guitars are for playing

[PP_CS336]

Let's face it, we'd all like our guitars to look pretty, but if you're going to take them out to play and in many cases gig

with, like many of us do, they're going to get their share of dings, chips, scratches, etc. whether you put them on there

or somebody else does. I've used my Martin D-35 for band gigs, church ministry, prison ministry and party functions and it's taken quite a beating and a lot of it was not my fault. At one party function a drunk tripped over the guitar

cable on my Alpine White Gibson Les Paul Custom pulling both it and my Martin D-35 off their stands onto a concrete

floor. That scratched them both up pretty good. Others are just years of wear and tear. On my new Epiphone Les

Paul Standard VS, I got a chip in the finish on the front from a falling microphone while our band was warming up for

Eric Burdon & the Animals last summer at our city's annual Labor Day Waterfront Festival. I was little annoyed because the guitar was still rather new at the time (only had it 4 months), but luckily it's in the black area of the

sunburst so it doesn't show up that badly. It's like anything else, if you're going to use it you're at the mercy of

the elements.

[sledge57]

Once I know I'm going to keep the guitar a little road rash wont bug me, but one I'm undecided on (my PRS) I want to keep perfect for re sale reasons.

 

I'll never understand buying a new guitar that looks beat to krap, if you want that look buy a used one or get a new one and beat it yourself

[PP_CS336]

I'll never understand buying a new guitar that looks beat to krap' date=' if you want that look buy a used one or get a new one and beat it yourself [/quote']

 

Doug, Aye, Aye matey. Why spend all that money for that look when you can have the fun of making it that way

yourself, that's if you want to. Then it's your vintage look. As someone else was saying in one of the other threads,

these guitars they make up to be like so and so's aged guitar all look alike. They don't have any individual personality to them. Character is suppose to be an individual thing, not something mass produced. Let's say you and I both had a

Les Paul Standard VS. In 10 years from now if we were to compare them, they'd still be a Standard Les Paul, but the

wear and tear on mine would make it characteristically different as opposed to the wear and tear on yours. See what

I mean.

[Ron G]

you should buy used' date=' pick scratches, a ding or two, but not anytihng that looks like its been attacked by george washington with an axe, or gnawed by a dog[/quote']

That's one of the reasons I only buy used cars (main reason is value, of course). Used cars

are "pre-dinged" and it's not such a big deal when you return to the parking lot to find

that some schmuck opened their door into the side of your car - heartbreaking if the car

is showroom-perfect. Anyway, they're all used the moment after you buy them.

[RobinTheHood]

I've been trying to relic my EBM-5 for 15 years. Between gigging, jamming, practicing and generally beating the ever-loving snot out of it, I still have yet to wear down one iota of the clear coat. Sure, there are scrathces, dings, chips, gouges and a couple of huge cracks in the clear coat - and the gold hard ware is practically silver now. But no "wear" marking on that baby anywhere. I just dont think it's possible to naturally relic Epis like you see on old Fenders. I've tried! The neck, on the other hand, has yellowed very nicely and has a nice beginning to a vintage look.

[Figstrum]

Oh...to some they're merely "tools of the trade' date='" and are treated accordingly. Others, treat them like "valuable works of art," merely to be looked at, and admired. "I" play them...often, treat them as well as I possibly can, to keep them looking as nice as possible, in the process...but, I PLAY them. What happens, happens! A little "common sense" does wonders, in keeping one's instruments, in good condition even when played daily. Polish when needed, wipe them down, after playing, keep in the case, when not playing, don't store next to furnace/AC vents, keep humitidy to a point "you're" comfortable with, and they will be just fine. Quick fixes for small chips...Fingernail polish! Smooth, worn areas..."character!"

 

My 2-cents!

 

CB[/quote']

 

BEST advice on the topic!

[charlie brown]

 

BEST advice on the topic! =D>

 

Figstrum, how do you like those Ernie Ball (coated?) slinky's

in your Avatar. I haven't had a chance to try them...but

am starting to hear good things, about them. I always liked

Ernie Ball strings, but...in the past, they seemed to "die" so

quickly! People say the new coated ones, last a LOT longer.

So, I'm curious, to hear from someone that uses them...if you do?

 

Thanks,

CB

[mrjones200x]

I just made myself a Van Halen replica guitar couple of days back out of bits and pieces and used my epi LP bridge pup in it also and its reliced and chipped to hell. Its away today getting setup and rewired as i overheated the new pot so thought id let my luither do it. Should have it back tommorow so can prob get pic on then just to annoy all you people how dont like relics!

 

Cheap body and comfortable neck (Dont know the make tho) and the pickguard is slighty the wrong shape cos its not a fender body shape exactly so not perfect so thats why i bashed it up and went mad with some tools (Screwdriver, stanly knife, hammer 80 grit paper ect!)

 

By the way this will prob live in my car boot alot as my epi stays on its stand gleaming ready to be played

 

Hopefully pics tommorow

[wedgeSG]

+1 to GenZero's observation. I noticed that too on the Road Worn Fenders. GC had a display of them together and

while passably believable if you don't analyze 'em too much; seeing them side-by-side totally blows the illusion. I

wonder if the whole thing isn't a ploy simply to use up otherwise ruined, stockpiled hardware somebody discovered

rotting away in attic storage somewhere. My first impression was they did pretty well in the attempt, after more than

a passing glance....ehhh, not so much especially at the pricing point.

 

Wedgie

[mrjones200x]

Here are the pics of my Van halen replica

 

 

 

 

[bluesman345]

 

I think I may start selling my old git strings and label them as "reliced". Charge twice the price and tell people that they are getting that "vintage used sound". hehe.

:-

[midiman56]

After reading this thread for a while I decided to have another look at these "Road Worn" giutars. Yoy know what's wrong with them? They look like someone took a photo of a beat-up Strat or Tele, ran off full size copies in a photo printer, and pasted them on to these guitars. Check it for yourselves ... they look like photographs of guitars! What a surperbly dumb idea!

 

MIDI

[Figstrum]

 

Figstrum' date=' how do you like those Ernie Ball (coated?) slinky's

in your Avatar. I haven't had a chance to try them...but

am starting to hear good things, about them. I always liked

Ernie Ball strings, but...in the past, they seemed to "die" so

quickly! People say the new coated ones, last a LOT longer.

So, I'm curious, to hear from someone that uses them...if you do?

 

Thanks,

CB[/quote']

 

I'm just used to ernie ball strings. I went through a period where I was trying out every string out there, and honestly it was all sounding the same. The only way I noticed any change was with the lower and higher gauge. I also like the DR brand, those were good.

 

As far as the strings, I prefer the rps because to me they have a stronger feel than the regular ones. They last just the same if you dont pop one, I always keep my strings clean to prolong usage.