ok here is a question on older strats pick wear. is there a reason the wear runs horizontal with the pickguard instead of vertical on vintage strats. I know that John Frusciante has horizontal wear. Why isnt it vertical?

Frusciantes 62 Strat horizontal wear.


Vertical wear
http://www.wildwoodguitars.com/electrics/fender/roadshow/cz514735/cz514735.phpI know it is a custom shop relic but it looks more like the type of wear that picking would cause.

It's the drugs. They change everything man.
''ear..."

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Just think of how awesome a guitar player you could have been by now if you had only spent the last 10 years practicing instead of obsessing over pickups and roasted maple necks.

I'm not sure why either, but most vintage guitars I've seen with pick wear run more along the lines of the picture you posted and not like the guitar in the link. I think it may be because a pick can't take out a chunk of finish in a single stroke, it takes lots of light hits over a long time.

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if i had a digi cam i would post a picture of my pick wear on the road worn, it doesnt look like either. I also wondered why Johns goes horizontal too.

Only thing I can think of is you're not looking at pick wear as much as picking hand wear. If he's anchoring his thumb on the wood while finger picking blues the thumb nail may dig in and cause those horizontal wear areas as he picks in different areas on the strings.

Otherwise, on the photo shown and the one in the link, my bigger question is why are people dragging their picks across 5 inches of wood and an inch of pick guard before it ever touches a string?

Seems like lousy technique to me. No, I'm not saying JM has lousy technique. I'll never be as good of a player as him. It's just when I see the wear on some of the real vintage guitars and I look at the road worn and relic guitars I wonder about how wear got in some of the areas.

Jeff

Jeff

It's just that the hand does not travel in the exact same place in the arc of picking the strings. The pick may be striking the string close to the neck butt or further away, entirely dependent upon the needed attack for the desired sound

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"C'est parti mon Kiki "

Although I never broke through the finish, all of my Strats eventually exhibit(ed) that. The only conclusion I can come to is that it is from 'spirited' strumming and the angle I hold the guitar at while doing so. Truth be told, I gave up trying to figure it out many years ago as it wasn't going to change the reality coupled by the fact that I wasn't going to allow myself to become self-conscious about it.

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The wear is not going the "wrong way".....look closer, what you are seeing is the wood grain......and the pick wears through the softer wood faster then the "tree ring" lines of grain. That's why it looks like the wear goes opposite of the pick stroke.

I think that it has to do with the wood grain.

I'm a big fan of the Custom Shop's relics but seriously, that guitar in the link....um
Pick wear??? It looks like it has been played by a left-hand Orangutan in a chain-mail glove.
Or "Dear, what's the Rottweiller chewing on in the back yard? Isn't that your guitar dear?"
It's hard to believe that a musician who could abuse an instrument into that condition would have the mental faculties to even tune a guitar.
Yeah I know folks love their relics, and I don't mind them either, but seriously, look at the #@%&#! thing.

That is a bit on the overdone side, more like an irate significant other wanted to make a point

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"C'est parti mon Kiki "

"Reliced" or naturally abused, they all look the same to me. YMMV.

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I've seen many people place pics between the w
Body and pickguard . When it's pulled out , it's pulled out
In an angle. I agree with what others say the pattern you see
Is wood grain.

Doyle brahmall II has that same wear, off from memory

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"Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, but today is a gift. That is why it is called the present."

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What About A Watch Or A Bracelet. That Might Do It.

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Vintage Hotrod '57 Strat, 81 G&L L2000 Series E Bass, Fender Musicmaster Bass Amp.

That would eat away the pickguard too, no?

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