I don't really like Strats, but....

[Philly Q]

And Philly, I must be lucky - I don't give too much of a monkeys about chips and dings. The first one is "Oh!?", I'll grant you - but that's usually in the first day or so :lol:

(I can be a bit of an "Yngwie" over guitar handling when it comes to getting the axes out to play/show them off... :oops:)

I think you're like most people really!   I wish I didn't, but I can't help looking after my possessions.  It's not quite an obsessive-compulsive thing (at least I don't think it is....), but I'm the same with books, DVDs, CDs (I hate books with creased spines and cracks in CD boxes!).

I know what you mean about the cost, but I'd be a lot happier spending £2,000+ on a relic than on a pristine Custom Shop Strat, just for the sense of freedom.  I'd be afraid to take the latter out of the case!

I must admit that Yngwie video gave me the shudders.  Not just the way he had the guitars stacked on top of each other, but the horrible clonking noises they made as he chucked them back on the pile....  :x

[Twinfan]

But the thing is, all of these relic jobbies are well above my price range - so it would have to be truly stunning for me to put my hand in my pocket. The nearest to my price range that I've seen/touched were the roadworns, and as far as I was concerned, they just weren't £200 better (playability and general mojo, looks, etc) than the Fender Japan thing I chose instead...

The Roadworns aren't in the same league as the Custom Shop stuff, especially the limited run ones...

[FernandoDuarte]

And Philly, I must be lucky - I don't give too much of a monkeys about chips and dings. The first one is "Oh!?", I'll grant you - but that's usually in the first day or so :lol:

(I can be a bit of an "Yngwie" over guitar handling when it comes to getting the axes out to play/show them off... :oops:)

I think you're like most people really!   I wish I didn't, but I can't help looking after my possessions.  It's not quite an obsessive-compulsive thing (at least I don't think it is....), but I'm the same with books, DVDs, CDs (I hate books with creased spines and cracks in CD boxes!).

I know what you mean about the cost, but I'd be a lot happier spending £2,000+ on a relic than on a pristine Custom Shop Strat, just for the sense of freedom.  I'd be afraid to take the latter out of the case!

I must admit that Yngwie video gave me the shudders.  Not just the way he had the guitars stacked on top of each other, but the horrible clonking noises they made as he chucked them back on the pile....  :x

:lol:
I've problem when they're new... after a while it's ok

[mecca777]

I know some people say they'd rather buy a new guitar and just play the hell out of it, but I could own a guitar 100 years and it would never get really beaten up.  It's just my nature to be paranoid about that first scratch or dent.  And when I do pick up a scratch, I don't leave it, I go and repair it.  :roll:

I just got this mental image of you buying a Relic, taking it home and refinishing it until it looks like a brand new American Standard... :)

[mikeluke]

A mate of mine has come into some cash and is looking to buy an original 64 Strat....

Nice to have around 15K burning a hole in your pocket....

[AndyR]

I know some people say they'd rather buy a new guitar and just play the hell out of it, but I could own a guitar 100 years and it would never get really beaten up.  It's just my nature to be paranoid about that first scratch or dent.  And when I do pick up a scratch, I don't leave it, I go and repair it.  :roll:

I just got this mental image of you buying a Relic, taking it home and refinishing it until it looks like a brand new American Standard... :)

:lol:

[Philly Q]

I know some people say they'd rather buy a new guitar and just play the hell out of it, but I could own a guitar 100 years and it would never get really beaten up.  It's just my nature to be paranoid about that first scratch or dent.  And when I do pick up a scratch, I don't leave it, I go and repair it.  :roll:

I just got this mental image of you buying a Relic, taking it home and refinishing it until it looks like a brand new American Standard... :)

 :lol:

I did once buy a Hamer which was nowhere near a relic, but had a couple of dozen little dings, dents and scratches all over it.

And yes, I patched them all up.  :roll: :oops:

[Philly Q]

A mate of mine has come into some cash and is looking to buy an original 64 Strat....

Nice to have around 15K burning a hole in your pocket....

If he finds a "cheap" one, I could use a couple of grand if it's going spare.  It is my birthday next week...

[AndyR]

But the thing is, all of these relic jobbies are well above my price range - so it would have to be truly stunning for me to put my hand in my pocket. The nearest to my price range that I've seen/touched were the roadworns, and as far as I was concerned, they just weren't £200 better (playability and general mojo, looks, etc) than the Fender Japan thing I chose instead...

The Roadworns aren't in the same league as the Custom Shop stuff, especially the limited run ones...

Yeah I know :D... but then again the classier ones are a bit more than £200 more than the last guitar I bought :lol:

I'm kinda banjaxed by the amount of joy my mid-range trundlers are giving me - makes it hard for me to get worked up by something costing 2, 3, etc, times what mine did... No matter what it is.

I'm certainly not in the "I don't get relics" camp - I do get them, very much. I used to really want the beat-up strat look (I even beat up my own JV some years back), cos I thought that was an important part of the mojo I wanted. By theory, I am the market that these things are aimed at. But over the last year or so it seems I'm finding whatever it was that I was looking for in slightly healthier looking guitars nowadays!

[38thBeatle]

I can't make up my mind- if I look at it as a guitar then it looks good( I would rave about it no doubt if it was the real thing) then it makes a practical alternative for sure. I really cant make up my mind- that one does look well executed though.

[Adam.M]

One thing that I'm not a fan of on this is that it looks like it was burst then sprayed white, I don't like that you can see that burst...

I'm sure that it gives it some 'story' i suppose, that someone at some point had resprayed it.

quite a few of the original custom colours where done this way.  sometimes because of a flaw in the sunburst  or just factory resprays to fill a custom order.    Its kinda excepted as a completely authentic trait of custom colour fenders so its good to see then doing it on some relics

I don't know why I didn't recall that, cheers for reminding me!

Then that's a good thing historically. but if it were me, i wouldn't... maybe if it were black underneath I'd prefer it.

[hunter]

only if it sounds like this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jIRriWTGqHs

[dheim]

only if it sounds like this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jIRriWTGqHs

oh my god, hunter, you've got no right to make me feel such a strat GAS! :)

what a player, damn...

[WezV]

One thing that I'm not a fan of on this is that it looks like it was burst then sprayed white, I don't like that you can see that burst...

I'm sure that it gives it some 'story' i suppose, that someone at some point had resprayed it.

quite a few of the original custom colours where done this way.  sometimes because of a flaw in the sunburst  or just factory resprays to fill a custom order.    Its kinda excepted as a completely authentic trait of custom colour fenders so its good to see then doing it on some relics

I don't know why I didn't recall that, cheers for reminding me!

Then that's a good thing historically. but if it were me, i wouldn't... maybe if it were black underneath I'd prefer it.

i think anyone who has sprayed a sun burst would understand why some sunbursts end up with custom colours over the top ;)

[juansolo]

I like the stone washed jeans analogy. I have to say, I don't mind the closet classic stylie guitars where they just look old, but not f**ked like the relic jobs. Sort of like your new stone washed jeans vs a pair bought at Oxfam...

Natural relic-ing I have no problem with, it's like you've been wearing them, all the scars are yours. Artificial relic-age I find naffly fake.