Are these the worst relics you've seen?

[Sparky Mark]

[JottoSW1]

Nope. Those are relatively mild.

Some of the Sandberg ones look mutilated. There are other offenders, but I lurrvve Sandbergs that are pristine.

[police squad]

I have no problem with relics, I've had a few

but those dont look great. I think they're the nash ones in bass direct

 

i saw some fairly horrible nash ones in Denmark street, probably 10 years ago

[crazycloud]

All relics are awful, but I've seen worse than these.

[mattpbass]

Sandbergs might look more battered but they do attempt to make it look realistic, these just look someone was clumsy with an electric sander. 

[LeftyJ]

These by no means look old, just a little matted and with too much finish sanded off in places - but the pickguards and hardware still look pristine. Not very convincing, but I've definitely seen worse. Nash comes to mind, they have a tendency of overdoing their relic jobs to a comical degree. Especially the backs (and the necks). 

[Clarky]

[Happy Jack]

3 minutes ago, Clarky said:

 

Bwahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!!!

 

[Cairobill]

I am totally at ease with a good relic or a guitar covered in half a pound of glossy polyurethane, but these look so bad....

Edited August 27, 2024 by Cairobill

[Cairobill]

...I've also owned a Nash tele and a Nash jazz over the years. Neither was in any way remarkable as an instrument. Just weird how they go for so much these days

Edited August 27, 2024 by Cairobill

[Burns-bass]

The paradox of relicing is the attempt to make authentic wear - which is by its very nature random and unpredictable - into something that can be replicated.

 

One of the most prominent marks on my 66 Fender is from where I placed a wine glass on it and something reacted with the paint to cause a mark.

 

I also used Pledge on the finish which probably wasn’t a good idea. Scraping that off quickly caused a bit of wear too!

Given I’ve played it a few times in the last 10 years I guess it doesn’t matter, but the point remains.

[edstraker123]

9 hours ago, JottoSW1 said:

Some of the Sandberg ones look mutilated

I agree - I so love some of the Sandberg models ( The black Ida Neilson in particular) but just wish they'd leave the sander alone.

[Lozz196]

I still think the worst relic job I`ve seen is the Fender Joe Strummer Tele, it doesn`t look "worn" at all to me, looks more like the wear has been painted over the finish, just dreadful.

[Rodders]

The Nash relics are particularly poor from what I've seen, done with a belt sander I assume. 

[martthebass]

That is truly woeful.....

I generally prefer a pristine bass but ironically own 2 soft aged Sandberg Lionels.  However you can only get gloss finished Lionels with a soft or hard core relicing at the minute which is a shame.  That said I do think the Sandberg treatment is one of the better ones; it looks pretty realistic on both of mine; maybe more so on the older one which also has neck shine and little neck pocket lacquer cracks. 

[lemmywinks]

Nash relics are pretty much always awful, those are no exception.

 

The only realistic relics I've seen have been quite mild - dings around the edges, slightly worn finish and dulled hardware without going overboard.

[Rich]

The best relic job I've seen by a million miles is one that my guitarist mate did on his old Squier Strat. I don't know how he did it, but it looked absolutely superb. Not a belt sander mark in sight, if you didn't know better you'd swear it was the result of 40 years of relentless gigging rather than a couple of evenings with some tools and stuff.

[edstraker123]

10 minutes ago, martthebass said:

little neck pocket lacquer cracks

I didn't know they did that - I thought it was just rubbing off paint. - that makes it even worse than I'd imagined.

 

[Homatron]

1 hour ago, Clarky said:

Looks like they tried to sand the whole thing without going through all the effort of removing the strings.

 

I'm sure it looked lovely beforehand!

[martthebass]

27 minutes ago, edstraker123 said:

I didn't know they did that - I thought it was just rubbing off paint. - that makes it even worse than I'd imagined.

 

Neither did I, maybe they are 'real' player wear.  The soft aged don't have any paint 'rubbed off' they're just small dings and scratches, hardware tarnishing; no sanding until the hard core aged and 'master' grades.  TBH from a couple of feet away you'd be hard pressed to see any wear on the soft aged.

Edited August 27, 2024 by martthebass

[JottoSW1]

41 minutes ago, Homatron said:

Looks like they tried to sand the whole thing without going through all the effort of removing the strings.

 

I'm sure it looked lovely beforehand!

Crikey. A pie-bald Bass. Each to their own I guess

[edstraker123]

53 minutes ago, martthebass said:

TBH from a couple of feet away you'd be hard pressed to see any wear on the soft aged.

Doesn't that make it completely pointless then ? 🤔

[martthebass]

38 minutes ago, edstraker123 said:

Doesn't that make it completely pointless then ? 🤔

Who am I to question the business practices of a German company….they seem to sell a lot of units?

[ezbass]

So many relics these days seem to be, have rotary sander, will relic.

[Jean-Luc Pickguard]

I don't mind a decent relic and I love my JMJs despite the relicing, but if Fender did a special run of the JMJ mustangs still in nitro but without any 'roadworn' treatment, I'd be first in the queue to buy at least one.