found it http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4g7J9q8e ... re=related seem like everything is CNC

What I don't understand is why a lot of people can't understand relicing. It's just another model offered by Fender for the buying public to choose from. I just bought a Road Worn '60s and I love it. The features are great all the way from the narrow jumbo frets to the beaten up finish. It was set up really well too although I will tweak it some. Plays great and sounds nice and warm. And those Tex Mex pickups are excellent too.

I would much rather have a Road Worn than an American Deluxe or an American Standard or a Highway One or a SRV Signature... the list goes on and on about the many models of Strats I would never care to own.

It's up to the person buying. If old and worn appeals then buy it. If not then don't. It's that simple.

>It's up to the person buying. If old and worn appeals then buy it. If not then don't. It's that simple.[/quote]<

Exactly! I personally prefer to collect older Strats that are in mint shape, as if they were built yesterday. It's just the opposite from relics which are made to look like they are veterans though new; mine look unused though older. I'm just glad there is enough demand for Fender guitars that they keep making quality instruments for all of our preferences. It would be a dull forum if we all could only buy one model in one colour! Who would want to read posts from everyone celebrating a new Strat when we all had the same?

Yes, the Custom Shop does produce "NOS" and "Closet Classic" guitars, but good luck finding one "off the shelf" or used in the style/color you want and with all the specs you're looking for. If you're in the market to buy a new or used non-custom order teambuilt CS Tele or Strat, or even a Limited Edition/Limited Release Tele or Strat for that matter, your choices for a NOS or a Closet Classic are pretty limited from what I've seen. When I bought my '52 Telecaster Special Edition/Limited Release the ONLY option was a "Heavy Relic."

Today, there are a couple of "unreliced" CS '52 Telecasters in the same style and with similar specs as mine but they're not exactly the same. I would have preferred my guitar to be a "Light Relic" but I didn't want to go the custom-order/masterbuilt route. The exact guitar that I wanted (style, color, specs) was available right then and there and for half the price, so the heavy relic finish was not that big of a deal. I certainly wouldn't let that stand in the way of a once-in-a-lifetime perfect guitar!

The only way I'd have a reliced guitar is if someone gave it to me and then I'd have to send it off to get refinished so it looked new.

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'65 Strat,65 Mustang,65 Jaguar,4 more Strats,3 vintage Vox guitars,5 Vox amps,'69 Bassman with a '68 2-15 Bassman cab,36 guitars total-15asst'd amps total,2 vintage '60s Hammond organs & a myriad of effects-with a few rare vintage ones.

Personaly I think people who buy relic guitars or remakes are suckers. If you want a relic, buy a real relic. I play a real relic, 79 25th anniversary, and have never found any guitar short of the original first SRV that was even close to the feel. Stratovarious historians are quick to note several things that the violin maker had going for him in his construction of his world famous instuments. first was that he would hold up the backs, sides and fronts of wood blanks after shaving them down up towards the sun and looked for darker spots which he honed down to be even. that was the first use of primitive X rays techniques to match wood densities. Secondly during his life growing seasons were not very good so wood densities at that time were very compact, perfect for making violins. I think the same is true for relic guitars.

Even though I know Fender has some realy good artists and craftsmen today, I beleive the real masters of crafting were in their 50, 60, and 70's eras and thats why you see very little post 79 era remakes. Those guys set the path, made the molds, and were old school crafters. Alot of the woods that fender and other guitar makers use can be very old woods that have been stored for years because of their qualities. With todays changing climates I dont think that the quality of the old forests can be replicated easily or at all.

im gonna throw my roadworn in the bin and buy a genuine 60's strat!

please give me the 30K to buy it.

ive heard 70's guitars were garbage now you saying they are the best? ive heard some people say the early strats were crap too. all i know is my roadworn plays and sounds great. oh i also have a 2004 american series in good condition, best of both worlds eh?

That's ridiculous! I would buy a real vintage "relic" if I could afford to, and if I wanted to spend upwards of $7000 on a new custom masterbuilt order I could get a NOS Strat or Tele, but from my experience the only way to guarantee a modern day Fender that feels great, plays great and sounds great right off the shelf is to buy a Custom Shop production model or limited edition model of which 90% of those currently available are relics.

Why call people who buy relic'ed guitars suckers? If you don't like the relics, don't buy them. To each their own. There's alot of guitars that Fender makes that I wouldn't really want or have any use for. But some people obviously do. That doesn't make them suckers in my mind.

I recently played a 57 reissue at GC .It was heavy reliced. I wanted to play it because I'd never played a genuine 57. It sounded great. I didn't like the neck as much as the mim neck on my partocaster. I wouldn't get an Instrument because it was reliced,but I wouldn't pass on it because it was either.

The relics and heavy relics by the custom shop are made by hand and the attention to detail is above and beyond the regular fender made strats. Even the wiring and pickups are of higher quality. Plus they look and feel great like a broken in giutar that has been used for 40 or 50 years. The price is extreeme but in my opinion well worth it. Years ago I spend a fortune on a Private Stock PRS, perfect in every way as far as finish,problem was I was affraid to play it (didnt want to scratch it ) so what good was it. The custom shop relics are expensive although they are already beat up so you can enjoy them with no worries. I have the Custom Shop NoNeck heavy relic strat in white, I would be lost without this guitar-thats how great it is.

It comes down to "if you like it, that's cool, if you don't, that's cool".

I'll throw my hat in the ring as feeling like I want my guitar to look like I've taken care of it. I have a 69 Guild that when I polish it up and hide the chips and blemishes just a bit, it looks close to new.

(warning, my opinion): If your guitar looks like its worn, I would think that you'd want to say that you're the one who played it so much that it now looks like that.

I'll let it go at that.


I will say that there's a chance that I'm going to be building a worn guitar. Why? I'm likely buying a beater squier strat this weekend that the previous owner "tried" to relic. So I'll either try to make his attempt more realistic looking or I'll have a 70's bare wood guitar and maybe tung oil it.....

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2002 mim Telecaster
Jimmie Vaughan Stratocaster
Mexican HSS Stratocaster
6 non-fender guitars
2 kids (not for sale)
1 wife (uh....no comment)

I think the fact that the Fender custom shop can recreate a famous guitar with exacting precision, down to all of the wear spots on Blackie's neck, is amazing. But I don't want a carbon copy of someone else's guitar, nor do I want a guitar that looks like it was used to block beer bottles for 50 years straight off the shelf. But I'm not going to sweat it, because before you know it they will all go the way of the "goth series" or "voodoo series" Gibsons. What the h*** is John Mayer doing playing a guitar that looks 50 years old for anyhow? Isn't he like 33 years old? Poseur.