I don't hate pre-aging/Relics...

[St_G]

But frolic has dutch and germanic roots. Relic comes from old French and middle English. The rules wouldn't necessarily be the same. And since it's only recently become a verb (and then, mostly in very small cricles) it's not really settled yet.

Sorry. Word nerd.

Standard English to add a K to verb ending in lic. Like frolic - frolicking.

 

[Fender_Bender]

Yeah. The inspiration for this thread was sort of along those lines. It's not the WORST relic job I've seen, but it's PLENTY BAD. And somehow takes a $400 guitar up to a value of $650...

Custom Aged/Relic Gretsch G5435T Electromatic Pro Jet w/ Bigsby - w/ Matching Relic'd Hard Case!

Gee, hard to believe someone backed out on buying that Gretsch eh ?. Wear has to be in the right places and has to appear to have been worn over many years, not done with a screwdriver. The forearm wear here has actually burnished the underlying wood, and where the edge of the paint is you can see it’s a gradual transition.

 

[Cuzzie]

3 different types in my possession, one without ageing...

 

[DirkP]

I like to post that everyone who has ever owned a sunburst instrument has bought an artificially reliced / aged instrument:

Among the best known examples of a sunburst finish are the Gibson Les Paul guitars and the Invalid Link Removed. It was originally intended to imitate an aged French polish finish

Sunburst (finish) - Wikipedia


The only reliced bass related object - besides some basses in sunburst - I ever bought is an aged mint pickguard for my '64 AVS Jazz. I'm always a bit puzzled if people are playing reliced or heavy reliced instruments like the ones from Sandberg that didn't even existed in un-reliced form some years ago and are made to look as if they were built long before the company that reliced them even existed. But on the other hand I couldn't care less.

And still: people should spent more time playing their instruments and instead of paying for the relicing job, they could have bought a better instrument. It has that statement included: I pay other people to make my instrument look as if I would have played it for many hours every day over a long period of time. Reminds me of that Bono story - don't know if it is true - that he payed a truckdriver to drive over his new leather jacket to make it look old.

 

[Cuzzie]

All valid points above.
What I will say though is the quality you get from Sandberg goes through all the basses aged or not.
You are paying for a finish, it’s like metallic paint on a car costs extra. Of course things like heat/thermal treatment, vibration technology may or may not make a difference in you view.
The price differential is man hours on a bass to achieve a finish, and having seen it done first hand at the factory, the care and attention from Sandberg is second to none across the range.

 

[edencab]

just don't put a fake burn mark on the headstock is all I ask

 

[Deleted member 271037]

Sandberg relics are exceptionally beautiful but the battery compartment totally ruins the vibe for me.

 

[dbsfgyd1]

But Holy CRAP, there are a lot of really terrible home attempts at it for sale on Reverb and eBay. Many of them on poly finishes.

The only way to properly age an instrument is to actually age it. It may take years of abuse, like not cleaning it, playing the crap out of it, leaving in your car trunk for months at a time, dropping it a time or two, playing with a bunch of musicians that are not sober often, but in the end, the project is well worth it.

 

[Cuzzie]

@Deleted member 271037 good job mine are both passive and don’t have one!
@dbsfgyd1 i certainly do regardless of finish!

 

[KJMO]

My reliced bass makes me happy. I've put 4-5 dings on it myself, and I don't care. I've never felt that before. Freedom.

Oh yeah, the wear that happens on a bass is not random. Certain things are likely to happen, so when they have those types of marks it looks natural. I guess when some people relic they more or less randomly gouge, which isn't going to look natch.

 

[Deleted member 271037]

@Deleted member 271037 good job mine are both passive and don’t have one!
@dbsfgyd1 i certainly do regardless of finish!

100% passive Sandbergs without a battery compartment? I was actually considering a Sandberg recently and could only find basses with battery compartments on their website and that was a dealbreaker for me. Can they be ordered without the active parts or did I miss something?

 

[Cuzzie]

I’ll pm you to keep the thread on track

 

[EarnestTBass]

A friend had his father's old Epiphone, but had failed to take care of it in his younger days. The guitar had been painted with a brush, head stock broken off and tuners replaced poorly.

I sanded it down with the intention of just making it a functional guitar. I discovered a nice mahogany body under the ugly paint and lost my nerve. I took it to a local shop for proper repairing and refinishing. A 60 year old guitar is not supposed to look brand new. With new antiqued tuners and a mildly distressed finish the guitar now looks like it is "supposed" to look.

The work cost $1,000. It was worth every cent to see his face when I gave it back to him last month.

This was a special case. Otherwise- I prefer to wear out my own guitars and fade my own blue jeans.

 

[MattZilla]

I love relissing. Relissed basses look cool.

 

[rickster4003]

Interesting note. SW had two Jaco relics side by side to compare. The relic marks were identical. I always thought someone took some tools to those but apparently it must be done by computer.

 

[Turlu]

I must admit my Custom Shop Closet Classic Pro Precision is absolutely fabulous with its light relic! Hard to see on the picture, but the 'Crackles' in the finish is superbly well done!

 

[AboutSweetSue]

It seems like naturally relic’d poly basses chip and peel rather than rub through. My MIM Fender finally chilled out on the poly chips from a good hit, looks pretty cool. Kinda have to resist the urge to pick at it though.

 

[Smooth_bass88]

I have always felt that artificially ageing an instrument is phony/fake as hell. Always turn me off. Age by playing the crap out of it and having it along time.

it's just a finish option. And ultimately if it sounds awesome, nobody cares

 

[IPA]

MJT for the win.....and any excuse to post these again. I need to take some pics fully assembled. I have basses with so called honest wear, some pristine and some road worns. I like the relic look and really like the necks on the Fender RW’s.
View attachment 3279373 View attachment 3279374

This might be the best green I've ever seen on a bass. Damn!

 

[jaco944]

This might be the best green I've ever seen on a bass. Damn!

Oh man, thank you!! My instructions were pretty simple MJT ran with it. I said I wanted Candy Apple Green metallic and aged/relic’d like me....born in’68, not abused but well loved and played hard.