Aging problems...

[ztikmaen]

Argh! I just realized! I was playing my oldest guitar (only 6 years old) and noticed that there wasn't a scratch on it! Made me wonder how long it would take to "naturally" relic my Telecaster... Maybe the guitar has such a thick coat on it?

[Ian Price]

This very much depends on what type of finish is on it - poly, nitro etc.

[tomjackson]

It will be polysomething....

It probably won't age

[WezV]

they all age - nitro just does it a lot faster. discolouration takes many more years to happen on poly finishes, but it does happen.  They even crack and craze eventually, but not quite like nitro does.  they dont really sink in and thin out the way nitro does, and lets face it, they are never quite as tactile

just keep playing the bugger and stop worrying about it!

[Telerocker]

The chrome parts on my USA-tele start to fade already. Maybe I'm just too lazy too polish them all the time. And yeah, every weekend it goes on stage.

[ztikmaen]

Yeah well It must be a poly finish. My Utethane Tele at least has some belt rash and I just got that last year. Nothing major but it is visible... It's not a worry for me, the guitar in question is a red sparkle Ibby so it wouldn't look great aged anyway. Just wondering how long it usually takes

[MrBump]

Argh! I just realized! I was playing my oldest guitar (only 6 years old) and noticed that there wasn't a scratch on it! Made me wonder how long it would take to "naturally" relic my Telecaster... Maybe the guitar has such a thick coat on it?

Dude - just play it!  Why worry about a guitar not having a scratch on it???

I have a 20 + year old Charvel that looks like it was just taken down from a wall in Denmark Street.  Marvellous!

[ToneMonkey]

Make some picks out of sandpaper, that should speed things along  8)

[Philly Q]

It depends on your body chemistry a bit too - some people, like Rory Gallagher, seem to have corrosive sweat!

[ztikmaen]

It depends on your body chemistry a bit too - some people, like Rory Gallagher, seem to have corrosive sweat!

Yeah! Well I used to have a guitar teacher who had sweat that was basically FastFret lubricating oil... His first guitar that he had for 20 years prior hadn't even had a single string change but played like butter!
I'm not worried so much about my current guitars aging slowly, just wondering if it's normal. If it wears fast, it'll look worn in now. If it ages slowly, I might keep it until it's a classic and hand it down to my kids aha (when I have em...)