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I would guess you are correct.
Originally Posted by AKA
While I was working at a music instrument shop, I wanted to purchase a EBMM St. Vincent. I was hoping that my employe discount would make it a decent buy. I would have to order from EBMM. I can not remember what the price was with the discount. It was still a significant amount of money for me. I had to think about it. As I was in the process of making a decision, I talked to good friend and full time tech. I said well at least it should be perfect at that price and being MM. He informed me that he had seen a number of high end MM with problems. I did not buy the guitar.
If I am spending that much of my money, I expect the guitar as close to perfection as possible.
If you are making and selling any guitar it should be playable, if you are making and selling high end guitars, it should have that level of concern put into it.
That means when things go wrong, you take responsibility and sell it with a steep mark off and acknowledge the problems. Some one will buy it, and live with the flaws.
If you want your company name to be held in high esteem, you trash the guitar.
However, that might be a dated way of looking at things. Now days maybe people just accept low standards. Maybe it is like being in an abusive relationship. At first everything is ok-ish, but as time goes forward, things get worse. Then the abuser justifies and the abused excuses.
I understand that we are dealing with aesthetics. That is difficult to judge. Nonetheless that Collins only confirms what I keep hearing. I have taken them off my wish list.
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03-23-2023 03:38 PM
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Just saw this today:
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Interesting video.Not really buying that these famous old violins were antiqued when they were made.My cat does a good job of antiquing the furniture in my house and my guitars get antiqued the old fashioned way by me playing them. Originally Posted by thelostboss
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I have never understood the relic'd guitars thing from the moment the phenomenon first appeared, especially given the ample supply of used guitars of every type available. But so be it - the market has embraced the idea. Last year I bought another Gibson ES-335, a 1964 Custom Shop reissue. It's my third new ES-335, the first having been bought in 1990. I also bought a new 1963 Custom reissue back in 2000, before there was any Murphy Lab. I don't have that 335 anymore, but it had shiny metal and a beautiful faded cherry finish with dye bleed into the binding and slight yellowing there too. So Gibson had some idea how to deliver a vintage vibe look long before now, though far short of relic'ing. Originally Posted by GordonM
The store had the current standard ES-335 from Gibson USA, and they had the historic reissue for 1964, non-Murphy and one Murphy Ultra-light Aged. I played them all. The Murphy Ultra-light felt and sounded the best of the three, though there were no dogs among them. The standard 335 today is very nicely done. So I bit my lip and bought the Murphy'd '64 ES-335. It's great in every respect. The Ultra-light Aging process resulted in no checking whatsoever. The gloss finish is slightly less glossy than the non-Murphy 335s (cherry, all of them) like it just needs a light cleaning, but Virtuoso cleaner makes no difference to it. There is slight dulling of the metal hardware to the point where it looks similar to the hardware on my 1990 now. So I can live with that. It also has some dye bleed into the binding, and the white binding is nicely yellowed. I play fingerstyle usually with no picks so my guitars don't accumulated much in scratches and finish dings. Whatever makes the Murphy 335 sound a little better, I can say the Ultra-light Aged process is as much relic'ing as is acceptable to me.
The oldest guitar I own is a now 81 years old Gibby L-7. IT has some aging! And it's authentic aging -- clearly it was a player's guitar -- looks unlike any relic'd guitar I've seen. Same with my 1951 Epiphone Emperor Regent which was owned by a working musician for many years (archtop.com sent a CD by the former owner). The oldest guitar I bought new is now 50 years old, a Guild D44M flattop has no checking but but also has acquired a beautiful color patina to the lacquer, particularly visible because the body of the guitar is flame maple. Relic'ing a Tele is one thing, but I can't imagine beating up on a delicate flattop before it leaves the factory, but now it's a thing there, too.
So, Murphy Lab shows it is possible to relic a guitar in the faintest way, imparting just enough vintage vibe to feel and look pretty natural. Just, if available, opt for Ultra-light Aging instead of steps up (down) to Heavy Aged.
Phil
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That guitar sustained a hit in cold temps no doubt.
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collings man smh
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Looks like the back of the headstock should be stamped "4th" lol
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So bad you skipped right over 3rd, huh Originally Posted by Sleeko
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Balenciaga, $2,500.00. Really.
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Originally Posted by Woody Sound
I remember seeing one company that shot bullet holes through their jeans! I kid you not!
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The whole relic thing is so absurd.When i was young,i used the same guitar for 20 years on gigs,rehearsals etc.There were many days it was played 6 hours a day and in no way did it look beat up like these relic guitars,not even close.The craziest thing about reliced guitars is that these companies add the cost to the guitar to have them scratch/dent the guitar.
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It's not like it's an expensive guitar, it only costs about 10k.
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Agreed. Most of these Relic guitars look nothing like a naturally aged guitar, including those owned by careless owners. Originally Posted by nyc chaz
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Absolutely! LoL Originally Posted by wintermoon
So bad you skipped right over 3rd, huh
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The Fender Custom shop is horrible at it. Nacho Banos seems to be pretty good at relicing. Originally Posted by Stringswinger
The best relicer I've ever seen was time and hard use, but only if it's an old-school lacquer finish. I give you Tab Benoit:
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Yup! I saw a video of how they did so - they use a 12 gauge shotgun. Originally Posted by Doug B
I remember seeing one company that shot bullet holes through their jeans! I kid you not!
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Don't forget Rory Gallagher's '61 Strat - though I've read that some of the relicing was due to his sweat being acidic, because his blood type was AB Negative. Originally Posted by ruger9
The Fender Custom shop is horrible at it. Nacho Banos seems to be pretty good at relicing.
The best relicer I've ever seen was time and hard use, but only if it's an old-school lacquer finish. I give you Tab Benoit:
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Respectfully, the claim that AB negative blood type causes acidic sweat is not supported by science. Originally Posted by EllenGtrGrl
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Some guitars just need to be refinished. John D'Angelico, Jimmy D'Aquisto and Leo Fender all thought so. And so do I.
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Some people have acidic sweat. Add liquor to that mix and you got a toxic stew that'll strip lacquer. I knew a guy once who if you gave him your guitar for five minutes you'd have to super clean the sticky crap off the strings and frets with a big shot of polish and serious elbow grease before you could play properly again. And it wasn't cause his hands were "dirty". Originally Posted by jazzshrink
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A friend of mine went to sell his Prs custom.The guitar outside of 2 small scratches on the back and a small chip around the volume knob was in perfect condition.He arrives at the buyer's house and the guy after trying it out says he's willing to buy.They start to dicker on the price and the guy is trying to lowball him because of the scratches and dent.My friend looks around the guy's music room and he owned 5 or 6 reliced guitars.My friend says to the buyer that he obviously likes distressed guitars so why make a lowball offer to him.His response was that his relics were made that way purposely while my friends guitar was made to look new and wasn't anymore because of the scratch and dent.My friend took his PRS and left.I've heard two people tell me a similar story.
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