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Oct 15, 2014

“The Relic-ing” Part 1

So for those of you out there planing on destroying a perfectly good guitar, here’s my how to. 

First things first, you need to think about how any damage to your guitar is going to occur. I started with simple observations from shoddy repair jobs and “guitar techs” that forgot to bring a flashlight to a gig. Pictures 1, 2, & 3 show pretty minimal damage but it’s at least authentic in that it could easily happen with the slip of a screwdriver. 

The second part of the process (Pictures 4 & 5) was not about how others treat my guitars but how I have treated mine in the past, how I lay them down or lean them against rough surfaces, knock them into stuff on stage, and generally in the throws of a blistering lead break I forget that I don’t have strap locks and send my poor guitar flying towards a ride cymbal. Rough cement is your friend here, just always keep in mind the way a guitar would often be rested carelessly and use some extra force to create damage. Think about impact points when you perhaps walk through a hallway at a venue and could knock the body on a doorframe or door knob, and do that (don’t damage the doorframe)! Be sure not to use the same method or object over the body again and again, it looks too uniform and unrealistic.

In pictures 6 & 7 I’ve started making inroads to creating the holy grail of relic guitars, apart from cigarette burns on the headstock, the arm wear. I started with 1000 grit wet and dry, make sure it’s wet! Hold your guitar up to your body and let your arm rest where it would while playing, make a note of it and start by working in a small area in a circular motion, in time you will start to see the paint thinning. At the stage start to expand the work area around the thinning paint and bring it to a similar look, then go back and really thin it out some more, but first, start working with higher grade paper like 1500 or 2000, and finish up with 0000 steel wool. Sandpaper lines are not your friend at this stage. 

the final picture shows a moderately road worn looking guitar. It still needs a bit of roughing up, maybe some belt buckle rash, and once I’ve knocked it about enough I’m going to take some dark shoe polish and rub it into the dents and scratches to really enhance the aged and exposed timber. 

All in all, about 45 minutes work, and I’m pretty happy with the results so far. 

P.S. If I came across a little harsh on custom aged guitars before, I’m sorry about that. It’s honestly just about the extortionist prices that are being charged by the larger manufacturers for them. Not about the guitars themselves. Builders and Companies like MJT have my upmost respect, and I would most definitely purchase one of their guitar bodies to start a project from. Just sayin’. 

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