Relic a Jazz pickguard?

please don't talk about relic'ing things, it makes my blood boil.

 

Glad to hear someone feels that way too!

I say it was a marketing ploy to sell factory seconds for more money.... let's scratch them up more! Yeah, that's the ticket...

It's also driven up the price of real vintage basses, since the new fake vintage basses sell for more than a nice clean new bass.

It's just absurd.

 

Two things.

1. I'm pretty sure you've gotten that backwards. The vintage market exploded so people started purchasing a lot of reliced instruments.

2. If you don't like it, why even open the thread? It's not like you didn't know what it was about...

 

But if you think about it, since distressed instruments cost more and are being treated like they are something special, like the real thing, it allows dealers to charge more for the real thing. I saw Gibson charging $10,000 for a distressed replica of a 1923 Lloyd Loar F-5 mandolin! So how much would a REAL 1923 Lloyd Loar F-5 go for?

It also allows instruments in not great condition to fetch higher prices, because now people want old basses looking beat up. Those used to be the ones that didn't sell for much.

The problem with the current vintage market is it is all based on how much money someone can get for something. You read people here worrying about resale value on a new bass. You see people stripping down vintage Ric basses on eBay so they can get more money for the parts. It's all based on greed, and not on the instrument as an instrument.

Gibson has stated that they make guitars for collectors, and Epiphone makes guitars for players. This is pushing the prices of quality instruments up. There's not a whole lot of difference between a Gibson Les Paul and an Epiphone, but some of the Gibson guitars go for $8,000! Like the Custom Shop Limited Run Zakk Wylde Bullseye Aged Les Paul Electric Guitar... that's crazy. Fender has a $10,500.00 Jeff beck Tele. Gibson has a $10,000 Epiphone.

Luckily for bass players, bass isn't as popular as guitar, so the prices aren't as bad. But $4,546.00 for a Fender Jaco Pastorius Relic Jazz Bass? Why? It's the same parts they sell for $800.

I didn't open the thread. I made a comment to someone else's comment on the subject, and because this is a public forum to discuss such things, just as you are also doing. I read a lot of the threads here, just to see what the person is talking about, and I might have had an answer.

 

Well...you can talk with Ibanezcollector about his aging process, which to my eyes is pretty effective. Or, since you're looking for mint (btw, it's only appropriate for a select number of years if you're trying to make an authentic looking repro), you might think of grabbing a 'mint green' guard and doing some work to knock down the shine then add some character to it. The color of those guards comes not from wear but from the material that was used originally. The Celluloid used for the guards was off white to start with and only aged down even further.

 

Another thing about celluloid pickguards is that they shrink! The MOP guard from my 1972 Fender Mustang shrunk so badly that it curled up and cracked off on some corners! I had to replace it just to keep the guitar playable.

Meanwhile my friend's '66 Strat looks like it's only about 10 years old, except for the finish being worn in some spots. I had a mid 60's Vox Phantom that also looked brand new, with only some minor shrinkage to the pickguard.

So not all old guitars look like these relic instruments. Only the ones that weren't treated well.

 

True. The '67 pbass and early '70s rick I used to own showed slight signs of wear.

 

Need suggestions:
a friend of mine gave me his 1997 Squier CIK Jazz bass (he doesn't play it anymore - he noodles with many instruments..), asking me to play it sometimes and to work on it if it's possibile to improve it a little. It's a nice bass, after all: chunky neck and heavy body, but the pups sound good, so nothing seriously wrong. I wouldn't spend money on it, it works fine. The only thing absolutely bad it's the pickguard (white on sunburst): still shiny and bright, I'd like to relic a little (I'm no big fan of relic, but a little aging would fit better IMO). I tried a 4-days coffee bath after a light sanding, but the result is almost unnoticeable. On a guitar forum I found this, coffee and bleach: does anybody tried it?
Any method/idea/suggestion is welcome.

 

You could just knock all the gloss off of it with some #0000 steel wool. Make sure you do this with it off of the instrument or the pickups will have a metal shavings afro.