NGD

[gordiji]

lovely guitar, lovely wife, can one ask more?

[gwEm]

i like a good strat here ;)

nice one Missus R!

[FernandoDuarte]

Lovely Strat!!

[Jonny]

Not to branch off too wildly from the congratulatory session but would it cost more to get a non-relic'd guitar relic'd or just to buy one of these?

[AndyR]

Not to branch off too wildly from the congratulatory session but would it cost more to get a non-relic'd guitar relic'd or just to buy one of these?

I'm not really sure.

To be honest, if they did a Roadworn NOS, I'd be buying those instead :lol:

I think the main thing is that you'd want "nitro finished" to get "authentic" looking relicing. Witness this very guitar actually - the bodies are nitro finish, but the necks are the standard MIM necks sanded down - so poly. That's why the maple board guitars have dodgy looking maple boards!

I have seen pictures of people making SRV copies out of Squiers etc - but you'll always be open to "that's a fine job, but you can't really relic poly properly, can you..."

It seems to me that "decent" relicing is quite an art form and somewhat time consuming - so rather expensive (unless you do it yourself, and that could possibly prove even more expensive!!). I'm guessing that if someone's after relic fenders, then the Roadworns are the possibly the best bang-for-buck at the moment. For me that includes the Custom Shop option and the guys who turn out relics for a living. It all depends whether you'd be comfortable with the relicing on the guitar itself - but that actually applies to all of them, even the most and bespoke expensive ones, not just the poor old Roadworns and their regimented wear... (actually, now I have two, it's not that regimented - you can see that there must be instructions in the factory "a bit here, two or three bits there..." and so on - but you'd actually have to be going out of your way to notice the pattern on these two. It's only cos you know they're mass produced that you start looking for and noticing holes in roughly the same place... I'm more than comfy having the two sat next to each other in the living room, I wasn't sure I would be...)

BUT - I'm not really a relic-guy. I'm not anti them at all (well, I wouldn't have these two would I? :lol:), but I don't get excited by relics, and definitely wouldn't spend big bucks on one myself at the moment. I tried the Roadworns because I heard they can be crazy-good guitars, worth the 100 or so more than the standard MIMs (which I'd tried, and didn't really like). The Roadworn's I've played have been stunners, they just talk to me, and I managed to get over the look and the "reliced to a pattern" thing about them.... so they found themselves coming home with me :)

EDIT: Another thing to bear in mind if you try them out - all the roadworns I've seen in shops, including the two I've bought, really do look and feel thoroughly neglected and unloved. That changes within hours of getting the thing home and starting to, er, love it :lol:. After just a couple of weeks playing and polishing with a dry cloth, my 60s one started looking like a million dollars... and I'm sure this one will too

[Philly Q]

I'm still tempted to get a Custom Shop relic one day.  And I'd be hesitant to buy a shiny new guitar then get it beaten up, it just doesn't seem right somehow.

But.... if I was in the market for a Roadworn, I wouldn't hesitate to "personalise" the relicing myself by adding a few more chips and scratches and "expanding" the worn bits.  Unless you were really hamfisted it couldn't do any harm and the guitar would look less obviously off-the-shelf.

The neck would be more difficult than the body, I think, not least because of the urethane finish (or whatever it is).  But I'd definitely go '60s (rosewood) so that's less of an issue anyway.

[FernandoDuarte]

Planning re-finish the neck to Lacquer?

[viking]

Congrats  8)!And an interesting read!I'm like you;i own 3 Strats (played Strats for decades.. :)) and i never had a maple-board one!But I would LOVE to get one!Now,i will have to try to find a "roadworn"one...

[AndyR]

Planning re-finish the neck to Lacquer?

Nope :D - that would kind of defeat the object of accepting and going for the Roadworn (also, I don't seem to get on with nitro necks :roll:)

No, I shall work a bit more on the lack of wear on frets 9-12, and then let nature take it's course.

It won't be nature entirely - I'll probably include the fretboard in some of the treatment that the back of the neck will get in the coming weeks.

I did this to my 60s Roadworn, and I'm doing it to my CIJ after I stripped it's neck a few weeks back:

After removing any extra lacquer I don't want (the Roadworns have very variable "wear" on the back of the neck - some have almost no finish, others have lots left - I pretty much want the back of the neck clear), I do the following:

0000 Wire wool to make it nice and smooth 8)
Briwax it a few times
Wire wool it a spot more
Dose it with "Fret Doctor"
Play it to death and repeat any of the above steps as necessary
Occasionally rub some cigarette ash into it if I want discolouring(!) - seems to look better than powdered graphite :lol:

My 60s RW (after about 6 months) has a gorgeous warm and smooth (but obviously bare wood) neck. The CIJ (after a month or so) is getting there. The maple neck of the 50s RW seems to have a more "open grain" than the neck of the 60s, so I think it's likely to "discolour" a lot faster...

[PPPMAT]

The issue of relicing your own 'road worn' is an interesting one. You could view the roadworns as a canvas to start your relicing from. It works very well, you can mark the paintwork with a plectrum its that soft and thin so easy to make it look knackered quite quickly.

The only down side to the road worns that I have found is that stock from the shop they have been setup by monkeys and really come to life after a proper setup. They do sound good though - I bought mine after trying loads at all price pojnts (except Custom shop) and it was just plain 'the best'...

[tomjackson]

It's nice as it is, with the laquer on the fretboad already removed it will relic itself very quickly with playing and start to look more natural.

Like breaking in speakers the best method is to just play them!

[AndyR]

Yep, I'm with both those points of view.

The "back of the neck" thing is purely about comfort for me. I like stripped necks anyway, and I learnt years ago, and relearnt with my 60s RW, that little areas of "roughness" can be caused by some finish left on there but not visible. So I took all the laquer off the playing area, and then gently went up and down the neck with 0000 wool until it felt like the proverbial baby's bum. Then I oil it, and play for a week or so. If, after a week or so, it was starting to feel rough in places, I'd smooth and oil again. Not big pressure with the wool - you are taking wood away! - just enough to make it smooth. With my 60s RW it took 3 sessions and it has never needed the wool again.

I have to admit that I've done a few "cosmetic" things as well. My 60s RW has the following from my 1980s JV Squier:

The 11 scratchplate screws and 2 jackplate screws
The knobs
The pickups covers
The selector switch tip

This is partly because they're all rusted and beaten to sh1t from hundreds of gigs, better than the roadworn's bits were... and partly because I'm emotionally attached to that old guitar and it seemed nice having these parts on this guitar.

And I have a nice little jar of salt and vinegar solution. It occasionally goes on the pickup screws and switch screws (which I couldn't replace, the rusted ones from the JV were too thin), and also on all bare wood on the body. I have very acid sweat, so I reasoned that a spot of Sarson's and sea-salt periodically would speed up the process (seeing as I don't gig anymore). I won't go near the bridge plate or the neck with this stuff though :lol:.

It's working nicely on the wood - it's definitely looking much more like it's been exposed to the tough old world of rocknroll than it did new...