Besides, Gibson’s are more elegantly built– with body binding, inlay work, arched tops, fixed neck, etc.

Now, as a twist, imagine someone paying $3K plus, for a real fancy Tom Anderson Strat-type, with flame maple top, binding, the works– and proceeding to relic it. Even relic fans would probably think the guy’d lost his mind.

Straight stock Fenders seem to be the best platform for a relic job. Or, some guys will dress ‘em up with an MOT pickguard, shiny knobs and a pin-up decal.

Seems like a Les Paul is something that’s complete as-is. You polish it once in a while and leave it at that.

Larger hollow body Gibsons might see a Rock-a-billy treatment, a la Bigsby & flame decals, but only if they’re painted finish i.e. black. Natural finishes and bursts are left alone.

That’s just how I’ve observed things to be. There seems to be a tacit-agreement protocol with this stuff.

Then there’s James Trussart…

SRV’s Strat. Rory Gallagher’s Strat. Eric Clapton’s Brownie Strat. Of course it’s the Strat guys who are going to try to make their MIM look like those ones.

For the other thing, consider jeans. It’s jeans that look good worn, so there’s a market for worn, broken in jeans. There’s a used jean market, and it used to be a thing to prematurely wear jeans so they look like they’ve been worn out. I’ve “relic’d’ jeans before. But you don’t relic a tuxedo. you don’t scruff up your cumberbund. something like a blackguard Tele than a bound custom, is like a t-shirt and jeans. A Gibson is like a nice suit.

To throw out a third thing, the story I heard was that Keef was asking the Fender CS for guitars and said “I don’t play new-looking guitars”. That story came about and the CS started selling ‘em to people like us, and they relic’d Fenders because they’re Fender. People suddenly thought “You can do that? You can do that!”, much like I thought when I realized that a little razor scraping and sandpaper and bleach could make jeans look aged. So, because Fender did it, they did it to Fenders.

Anyway, keep going. It’s like a TDPRI build thread in reverse.

Here’s my opinion: Strats and Teles look really cool when they’re banged up and heavily played. Gibson’s don’t. I have two theories:

1. Gibson’s “fancier” finishes (Cherry, Goldtops and flamed maple sunbursts) aren’t conducive to looking hot when they are reliced.
2. Classic Gibson vintage guitars show a lot of weather checking but seldom show the kind of wear and tear you see on Fenders. I’m not sure why, but since the real deals don’t look that way, neither will the relics. That’s why, IMO, Tom Murphy aged Les Pauls focus mainly on dull hardware and faded finishes.

Here’s my opinion: Strats and Teles look really cool when they’re banged up and heavily played. Gibson’s don’t. I have two theories:

1. Gibson’s “fancier” finishes (Goldtops and flamed maple sunbursts) aren’t conducive to looking hot when they are reliced.
2. Classic Gibson vintage guitars show a lot of weather checking but seldom show the kind of wear and tear you see on Fenders. I’m not sure why, but

Incidentally it seems to me that it’s far easier to find reliced Strats & Teles than it is Gibson, and most “how to” guides always seem to be concentrate on fenders and their ilk. Anyone care to hazard a guess as to why?

The heavy grit I was using and the fact that I was going against the grain pretty much turned the area white, so I threw in a bit of stain to bring it back to life.

Now that it’s really dry it looks quite nice :)

And who is this mysterious “G”? ;)

Keep goin!