I Personaly know a lot of people who play guitar as I would guess almost everyone on here does and I dont know a single one that owns a created relic.First I want to say I think the most challenging guitar for a luthier to build would be an as authentic looking relic as can be made.I bet the guys in yhe custom shop get off coming up with new ways to make these things as authentic looking as possable.But that being said to see someone plunk down $7,000 for an authentic beat up guitar is ridicules.I subscribe to VINTAGE GUITAR just for the hell of it and a 59 GIBSON LESPAUL in as close to mint condition is going to bring in much more money than a 59 in poor condition thats FACT.And out side of KEITH RICHARDS who it has been spoken here can anyone name a relevent player that plays a made relic.To me they are just a high end custom shop guitar that is bought I believe by collectors looking to cash in down the road,and I agree with the whole start of this post that it has jacked up the price of guitars that were just not well taken care of so people throw the relic tag on it.By the way the only thing that matters to most guys is having the neck broken in to have that played feeling that only comes with playing,but not having the body destroyed.Now anyone out there who has read vintage guitar and has seen someones million dollar collection knows they always show there best oieces at the end and say look at how great the condition of this model is not look how destroyed it is .

To me, relic is mojo. You can't manufacture it. You get it from 20+ years of gigging, bleeding sweating and spilling Jack Daniels on your guitar.
After all those years the plank of wood becomes moulded to your own personal kinks and folds!

i also agree that the whole relic craze
is a bunch of bunk. 3 years ago the whole idea
behind the highway one strat with the nitro
finish was to let the guitar relic natural and mine
are. i neither find or see anything special in
the road worn strats. fender has the right idea
with the highway one but i dont see it with the
road worns.

My issue with the way the road worn is relic'd is that they all look exactly the same, i swear I can tell a roadworn from a mile away. I'm not sure if the CS relics are like that, but the roadworn almost looks machine made (i know its not) the way the relicing looks EXACTLY the same from one to the other. The wear marks were your right arm hangs (for us righties) all looks exactly the same. I saw one in someone's avatar, and new instantly it was a Roadworn.

Hidden upside to roadworns:

it does make it easy at the audition process to weed out people you know you will hate after 6 months on the road.

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I'm not an expert, but I play one on the internet.

I couldnt understand why they made the Gilmoure strat in a Relic, he's been playing his for longer than I've been alive, and his looks like its in pretty good condition, compared to the Relic, his is mint. So are we to believe that someone owns a Gilmore strat for the year or so its been out, and it looks 30 years older than his??? Although I do find it cool that on the Relic they use a sunburst under the black finish before they Relic it.

+1

I was looking around Kijiji for a used Strat the other day and came across someone selling a "Relic" Strat. He was kind enough to supply the information that it was actually a MIA body with unknown pickups and a Japanese Squier Neck. Bottom line? The $400 (CAD) he was asking would maybe be reasonable for a similar partscaster if it was in great shape. For a beat-to-crap "Relic" I wouldn't give him $150.

Hey, I like the looks of the new road-worns. Yeah, I know its not real but, heck, when you get older you figure the only way you might get one with that roadworn look is to buy one.... and I'll take a new roadworn over a craigs list mess any time...

I said the same thing in an earlier post, they all look alike.

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Quit sittin' around and play!
"This one goes to 11."

They do look cool, they just all look exactly the same. Is no uniqueness to their wear marks. They easiest thing to do is get a Highway 1 body, and play it wearing long sleeve shirts, they get worn pretty quickly.

You know, I haven't seen the highway 1 strat, but thats a cool idea, I have a '57 RI from 1987 that has reliced nicely,
-Brett

_________________
Quit sittin' around and play!
"This one goes to 11."

Their finish is supposedly notorious for coming off quickly, not that it's necessarily a bad thing if thats what you want for it to do.

Im thinking of doing that on my next strat, I dig the HW1 bodies, the rest of it isnt my taste, but I do like that matte finish.

Oh yeah, I love that matte finish too, kinda like a semigloss, it looks way cool, I like the feel of the neck on the RW, simply because i prefer an un finished neck
-Brett

_________________
Quit sittin' around and play!
"This one goes to 11."

I just read a post in the Strat forum, the guy's complaining about his paint being chipped...RELIC.