Relic-ing: is it still a thing?

[AndyTravis]

18 minutes ago, Dolando said:

Here's a relic Jazz I recently put together! Loads of fun spraying this, getting a perfect finish then hitting with things ! haha

Oh the wood underneath will eventually be a coffee table!

That’s a thing of beauty 

[fretmeister]

I read somewhere that most Fender custom shop stuff is ordered with relicing.

Sandberg still make loads.

 

But anyway - it's just another finish. It amuses me to see so many people with their knickers in a twist over it.

When you look at a bass catalogue you might well just go past the sunburst, or the neon yellow to get to the ones you like.

Why does relicing make you stop and need to whinge?

 

It's bizarre.

 

(I've copied this comment so I can use it next week on the next relic thread)

[Stub Mandrel]

3 minutes ago, fretmeister said:

I read somewhere that most Fender custom shop stuff is ordered with relicing.

Some might say what's the point paying £££ for a '63 bass if it looks like a 2019 bass?

Relicing is all about image both to others and the owner, but surely we ALL worry about what out basses look like.

 

[fretmeister]

11 minutes ago, Stub Mandrel said:

Some might say what's the point paying £££ for a '63 bass if it looks like a 2019 bass?

Relicing is all about image both to others and the owner, but surely we ALL worry about what out basses look like.

 

Nope.

For me - Weight & balance, then sound. Looks come dead last.

 

Yes I would play a Basslab instrument in a Big Band!

 

[bassbiscuits]

The difference between the finish on my 1970 precision (medium wear and tear) and my 2015 mustang (absolutely pristine) is 45 years of gigging.

That's the way it should be.

I don't really get artificial ageing. I don't hate it, but I wouldn't pay for it either.

 

 

[stingrayPete1977]

I can't stand the grotty hardware on the heavy relic basses, I wouldn't want to touch it to play it. I've seen many pre cbs fenders that have clearly had a working life yet none have had a fully rusty bridge like that. 

 

[Stub Mandrel]

22 minutes ago, fretmeister said:

Nope.

For me - Weight & balance, then sound. Looks come dead last.

 

Yes I would play a Basslab instrument in a Big Band! 

 

I think Basslab instruments prove the point. They won't admit it but their USP is as much about the look as anything else, they could be just as (more) ergonomic and look far more conventional.

 

[Skinnyman]

I once bough a k-line guitar 'closet classic'. Not reliced, just 'dulled'. It plays beautifully and sounds awesome but i hate the feel of the dulled, rusted hardware. Someone deliberately ruined a perfectly good guitar.

In fact, now i think about it, i might strip it down and give it a respray and a new bridge and tuners. I can't make it any worse than it already is....

[Norris]

It does seem somewhat strange that relicing is just a guitar thing afaik. You don't see Elton John taking a belt sander to his favourite piano or Courteney Pine knocking 6 shades out of his sax.

Horses for courses and all that, but I really don't see the appeal in even a naturally reliced guitar, let alone deliberate damage to a new one 

[musicbassman]

8 minutes ago, Norris said:

It does seem somewhat strange that relicing is just a guitar thing afaik.

....... Ahem ................

 

[bassbiscuits]

It's strange too that if you were shopping for a genuine vintage instrument, dealers often make a big deal of offering "the cleanest example I've ever seen" etc.

But in terms of fake aged stuff, people seem to want the most battered instruments possible to show how many years of hard gigging it has (not) done.

 

 

[spike]

12 minutes ago, Norris said:

It does seem somewhat strange that relicing is just a guitar thing afaik. You don't see Elton John taking a belt sander to his favourite piano or Courteney Pine knocking 6 shades out of his sax.

 

'Vintage look' saxes are a thing.

[leftybassman392]

The problem I have with artificial ageing on an instrument is that somebody at the manufacturing plant has been paid to do it, and that consequently you the buyer will most likely have been charged for it. We're all free to waste our hard-earned as we see fit of course (and if you like this stuff then by all means knock yourself out), but it makes no sense to me when the money could have been either saved or spent to make it, oh I dunno, a better bass perhaps?

It's very similar to my take on personal number plates on cars. Some like them; I'd sooner spend the money on kit that actually has a function beyond perceived visual appeal.

[Cuzzie]

I get you about spending money as you see fit etc. But in the case of a Sandberg the relic’s basses are potentially better depending on your point of view as they have heat, vibration etc

[Barking Spiders]

I hope this fad for fake aged basses and guitars takes a dive and never comes back. Same goes for the off the peg ripped jeans look. Both look utter c@k. I make every effort to keep my gear as new and shiny looking as the day I bought them by playing them as little as possible 

[mikel]

Never got the whole "New instrument being made to look old", thing. I have a 1972 Gibson SG they has been gigged hundreds of times and played most days when I am not playing bass. Its in great condition, and not just for its age. I have always taken care of it because I love its sound and playability. Would I like it anymore if were battered and scarred? No, not a bit. Frankly I don't care what a players bass looks like, if its 60 years or 6 months old, If it sounds good then it is good.

[Stub Mandrel]

Who needs fake shite when you can have real shite?

[HengistPod]

Nothing wrong with an old bass that's got itself worn after years of gigging.

What I don't like about "relicing" is that it falsely conveys the impression that the player has worn it out themselves via years of gigging, and that it's a much-loved but slightly abused instrument being played by a similarly seasoned "road warrior". What other possible reason is there for chiselling away at a perfectly good bass to make it look "road-worn"?

It's fake news, is what it is.

[stingrayPete1977]

It's like putting M3 badges on a 320 diesel BMW, probably fools a few people that don't know much about cars but those that do think you're a douchbag. 

[Cuzzie]

Isn’t technically any finish apart from natural fake news?

Why are you hiding the wood and it’s grain?

Surely a relic to let the wood show is less fake as you can see what lies underneath?!

We all know many manufacturers sometimes use the poorest woods in a block or finished bass to cover over this fact, or the 25 pieces they have bodged together with some blu tack and Prit stick

[stingrayPete1977]

A blue bass or a red bass or even a natural bass isn't trying to be something it isn't to convey a story it can't tell. 

[Cuzzie]

But there is the crux of the matter - we all impart a ‘soul’ onto our machines because we love our basses, and there is a story they can tell possibly, or possibly not, but they are inanimate objects, and not living.

Is a bass that was natural, but then asked its owner to get it finished blue, and then asked again to get it finished red fake?

I honestly don’t think anyone with a relic bass is saying “Hey look at me, I played the bejesus out of this” it’s more likely someone watching them play it who does not know them presumes that is what they are conveying.

If anyone takes some 0000 wire wool to their neck to smooth it out to make it more playable conveying a fake amount of play time to wear it down, or is that allowed and fair play?

Its like assuming all young people wearing hoodies with the hoods up are up to no good.

I presume people with turdburst are trying to convey a story that they wipe their behind with their bass every day to get that effect - I may or may not be wrong.

Some relic’s I like, some I don’t, some of the myriad of other finishes I like, some I don’t - tis quite simple

[Cuzzie]

I suppose a refin is like Bass cosmetic surgery.

Trying to make mutton look like lamb

[BigRedX]

You can always get a relic'd bass refinished so it looks good.

[zranyard]

I don't mind the look of some relic basses, but as others have said I personally wouldn't pay for it.  I really liked the flea jazz, but the relic job on the body was too much for me to be honest.  My main bass is a 70's precision, and it's very worn but I don't mind as it's done hundreds of gigs now just in the six years or so I've had it.  I changed the hardware on it last year, as functionality and reliability is more important to me.  I had a hair tie round one of the tuners for years, it wasn't a good look!