First of all, let me beg this doesn't turn into an argument about who loves/hates roadworn instruments. I'm into spreading love and vegan butter not hate and hot collars. All I wonder, as I watch a bass being roadworn on Youtube, is if someone could point me to what they consider the most realistic relic job they've found or seen.
My interest piqued when the guy on YT said I want it to look like a forty year old instrument not a new one. I look at my 38 year old Aria, which has been worn by the passage of time and, none of the ones I've seen either in the flesh or online look anything like it.
I just wondered whether maybe relicing an instrument is actually an art form with its own rules and aims. The look isn't actually supposed to mimic reality as such, it's more a take on it which has developed it's own reality. Look at Leland Sklar's old basses. they are subtly worn in places I would never have imagined. More like a well worn bannister in an ancient building.
I know Rory Gallagher's strat had it's own extreme mojo and I suspect that and others like it may be the template here, but no one in their right mind would taske a new bass and hack chunks out of it to match my Aria that's for sure!