I think Fender sometimes goes overboard with the rusting of hardware. There seems to be no QC or consistency. Lightly rusted, completely rusted. You never know what you're going to get. My bridge was difficult to set up due to over rusting. Hey Fender, there are people out here playing these relics.

Yes, I know what you mean... I don't know if the custom shop sprays them with salt water or lowers them carefully into the Dead Sea in a ceremonial reverb tank, but there are times when the oxidation persists a little too long. I imagine it's a difficult process to arrest, though. Mine worked out to be roughly the same as some of the genuine vintage pieces hanging next to it at the shop, although as you'd expect there was substantial variation among those.

IMO, QC would not be involved to any major degree in any situation where deliberate abuse and induced erosion are the desired end results. If you think about it, such practices negate the core function of a Quality Control Department and as an institution. If at all involved, QC would merely verify by percentage sampling that after the preplanned destruction, the guitars as a run were still playable and nothing more.

_________________
You dig?

Right ON Martian.

You know i was talking about relics/road worns with someone not at all involved with guitars and i showed them the damaged done to new instruments under the idea of representing antiqued guitars. The reply was one of amazement. How ridiculous they said - would these people buy my old car that burns a quart of oil every week, has ripped upholstery, rusted through quarter pannels and bald tires for the same as i paid for it new? If so let them know its now for sale. (Opinion expressed is not my own, if you dont like this one you sure dont want to here mine.)

jimmy b

I wonder if it will ever come to the point where if someone really has an old guitar in pretty much the same condition as that person's car whom you were talking to, if a good sales point would be to advertise it with, "ALL ORIGINAL wear, dents, nicks, gouges, rust, scratches, etc.", thus realizing considerably more money in its sale than simply saying, "Old and shows its age but still plays well." Once again, P.T. Barnum's words are echoing in my head: "There's a sucker born every minute."

_________________
You dig?

It often seems to come up -- the perceived parallel between cars and guitars -- but the fact of the matter is that there doesn't appear to be a market for beaten up old cars, whereas there is a healthy one for beaten up old guitars (or replicas thereof). The relic process must afford some satisfaction to the owner, as it sure as hell doesn't impress wives/girlfriends/offspring/other guitarists/opinionated passersby! For people who don't like them, it's actually quite easy to avoid having one.

Ever heard of Rat Rods? Quite a large market for beaten up old cars.

http://ratrodstuff.com/

I knew this post was going to push a lot of buttons. I guess it's a case of give the people what they want. I still think the rusting could be inspected and monitored for better uniformity. I don't know about the car analogy(Hollywood relics them for the movies.) A lot of great old original guitar colors only come reliced. You can get all this stuff new from after market suppliers but it's not FENDER!!! Fender, Gibson, John Deere, Colt, Winchester, a car built in the good ol' USA. I digress. It's your nickle, if you want a relic Fender, buy one.

That Rat Rod Stuff web site is cool! Relic guitars today, tomorrow the world!

I don't think there will ever be a procedure from a QC standpoint on how to plan, administer and disseminate rust as a consistent, homogeneous product.

_________________
You dig?

folks,
i meant no harm by my post. maybe a slight jab but really i am the first to say if you like it, buy it and enjoy it. we all have opinions on this one and most will be 180 degrees from each other on like or dislike. i just like busting nuts sometimes. my backround is hotrods, bikes and guns - i would no sooner rust up the outside of my firearm than intentionaly cut a few toes off my foot.
people do distress brand new floors, furniture ect. i get it, just dont care for it. but as stated the line is crossed you must admit if it starts to interfere with the mechanics of the item. i do appreciate the wear however when i see that someone actually played the instument so darn much that they "earned" the scars. that is quite impressive to me. kinda like the 10 yr old backpackin boots i finally had to part with last year. lots of miles, lots of memories - very cool.

jimmy b

When the first relics appeared I thought it was cool and impressive ,But the whole thing got way out of hand and the straight out collectors not players set a high market and that is why we are at where we are today.I have stated before the only thing I would like is a neck that felt like it had been played for 20 years other than that it is not for me and I can honestly say I dont know any guitar player that has an original ax that looks anything like these things. I have seen a lot of workhorses and nothing comes close. I think the guys in the custom shop have fun doing these things and coming up with differant methods but it got to be overkill. Then you see some custom shop pieces that are just beautiful works of art.But as long as you have doctors and lawyers who really dont play and shell out 5-10-15 grand for these things they will continue to churn em out. And I know there are guys who truly dig them but the majority of them are still custom shop big buck pieces. Well this is just one of them topics that we have not heard the last of.

Reinforcing your point, if I disseminated my true feelings on this subject in any kind of detail, I'm sure this thread would wind up getting deleted due to the red hot, scathing rebuttals I'd surely get.

_________________
You dig?

Just to follow up with Martian, I don't see the sense in paying big money for a "Road Worn" or "Relic" guitar. Let's face it, they are just beat up fakes. I also don't understand why people would pay $100+ for torn up blue jeans.

NO offense intended!

The Vintage Price Guide lists prices for Low and High Condition. When the Road Worn guitars make it to the guide are they automatically going to the Low Condition price then?