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I have never wanted a "relic" guitar. It reminds me of my daughters when they were younger paying big money for torn jeans. I still don't understand that. I always bought "rigid" dark blue Levis when I was younger and wore my own holes in them. I stopped patching them after the bell bottom era.
What other point is there to a relic guitar than to fool others into thinking you have a vintage guitar with a history. IDK.. maybe I'm too old to understand... probably that.

Beepster
A friend/student of mine was hard up for cash and sold me one of those "Goth" Epiphone SG's with the X unceremoniously hatcheted out of the body and headstock "peircings" (a couple of brass rings hanging off the headstock that were supposed be "cool" because... well peircing is cool, right?).
 
Seriously the worst piece of garbage I've ever owned (and I was the ghetto pawn shop/off brand guit KING due to the abuse my guits took at shows).
 
I've been a Gibson fan since I first started playing but I gotta say... I lost a lot of respect for the company with that series. Seems like they've started restoring the good Epi name lately though while still keeping the prices down.
 
For a while there it seemed every Epi I touched in the music store was junk... with those stupid "fashion" models being the worst of all.
 
Ugh.

Epiphone - like their parent company - have serious issues w/ quality control. You can walk into a store, try 4 or 5 guitars of the exact same model, and they all feel entirely different. I don't mean subtle differences. The worst guitar I've ever played in a store was a Epi Flying V. But they also make so little gems.
 
I do own a Goth Thunderbird, and I really like it. Thunderbirds are arguably my favorite basses, but I'd be lying if I told you that I wouldn't prefer a big Gibson. The low price is certainly one of the reasons why I bought this particular one, instead of the regular Thunderbird w/ the set neck and all. But I needed a bass "now".
 
I usually like instruments that are absolutely "standard", I'm really not into innovative designs and little twists, but the Goth series is fine by me. Because, obviously it's all black and that's my thing. But also because it's understated. And it plays well and sounds quite good. 
 

 

 

I Am a relic.

Rain
Epiphone - like their parent company - have serious issues w/ quality control. You can walk into a store, try 4 or 5 guitars of the exact same model, and they all feel entirely different. I don't mean subtle differences. The worst guitar I've ever played in a store was a Epi Flying V. But they also make so little gems.
 
I do own a Goth Thunderbird, and I really like it. Thunderbirds are arguably my favorite basses, but I'd be lying if I told you that I wouldn't prefer a big Gibson. The low price is certainly one of the reasons why I bought this particular one, instead of the regular Thunderbird w/ the set neck and all. But I needed a bass "now".
 
I usually like instruments that are absolutely "standard", I'm really not into innovative designs and little twists, but the Goth series is fine by me. Because, obviously it's all black and that's my thing. But also because it's understated. And it plays well and sounds quite good. 
 

 

 

Heheh. I think we've had this convo before. That bird definitely looks decent. Not seeing any "form over function" silliness on it either. Not sure if you saw the SG's I'm talking about but they literally took a huge X out of the body (like a big x shaped hole you could stick almost your whole hand through). Super ragged carp work too (like rough to the touch and all around the X they intentional made rough gauges like someone just hacked at it with a drywal blade). If you played this thing I bet you'd hate it as much as I did.
 
I knew another guy that had the exact same model (hole/piercings and all) and it played a LITTLE better but his was in better condition (newer/he took better care of it) and it still had the kind of a "toy" sound/feel to it.
 
The price on those were definitely good but the straight up, plain jane, cherry red/black glossy models in the same price point were just a million times better even during the real quality control issue era. I mean SG's are so light and diminutive as it is (which I like about them) that taking a hunk out of the body just seemed to really screwup the whole guitar.
 
Like you know how SG's kind of have that nice borderline brightness/edge/feel because of their tiny size? Taking that extra hunk of wood out of the body seemed to throw it over that fine edge into crapola "toy" territory.
 
I'd play a hot pink Hello Kitty guitar if it played and sounded nice (might actually be good for a laugh too) but it just seemed really lame they'd ruin what could have been an otherwise good guitar.
 
Perhaps they released that line of SG's to use up a bunch of "knotty" wood and routed the bodys to specifically put the X where the knots were. lulz...

relic = LOL

Hardwood flooring (real 1" thick oak flooring) is the only place I can actually agree with this, only because 1) removing urethane sucks and 2) the "basketball court" look is nasty. Folks do pay extra to mar them before finishing and I wouldn't fault them. The previous owner of my house had used a walnut-stained urethane on an unsanded floor (too dark for my taste), so I got a lot of cool grain/texture effects when I redid them properly, BUT that is a "once in a lifetime" thing. Never again.

Or....just buy a used guitar that is broke in.

Rain

jbow

michaelhanson
I would prefer to relic my own guitars over 20 years of usage. I have never quite gotten the concept of buying a guitar at an inflated price because someone purposely disfigured it. I'm ok with a few battle scars, but faking them seems weird.

Don't get me wrong, I love a nicely broken in used instrument, but the ones that are naturally broken in, are to me,much more subtle and nicely done. A guy in our worship band has a 20 year old 3 tone sunburst Strat that is to die for. Such a beautifully aged instrument. If he ever decides to part with that one, I am jumping in line.

I wish I had acid sweat like Krist... my guitar finish just stays the same.
 
J

 
Check out my white LP, which I got back in April but only really started to play later this summer...
 

 

 
And the good old SG, of course...
 

Would you consider a guitar playing service? I send you a Strat or Les Paul and you play it for a year or so? How much would you charge?
 
J