***The Official Guitar Thread***

[Invertigo]

Here's how I age my guitars...

I just actually play them.

Thanks I'll be here all night

Just giving the number 2 a headstart

My Fender is a Polyester based paint, so it's never going to show any real signs of wear and I just love the look of 'used' P basses. I was, to be fair, on the fence about relicing it after painting. Then I sanded through the top coat on an edge. Sort of decided my course from there

 

[a1ex2001]

Here's how I age my guitars...

I just actually play them.

Thanks I'll be here all night

Will only take you 30/40 years of touring to get it looking and feeling ‘road worn’!

 

[SexyGreyFox]

Will only take you 30/40 years of touring to get it looking and feeling ‘road worn’!

This is 42 years of gigging, the back is worse because I threw it into a drumkit.
I've got to admit it feels a bit cheating to artificially age your instrument.

 

[a1ex2001]

This is 42 years of gigging, the back is worse because I threw it into a drumkit.
I've got to admit it feels a bit cheating to artificially age your instrument.

Clearly not a real player it doesn’t look like you dragged it round a car park behind the tour bus!

Being more serious that’s a beautiful guitar, not enough sunburst strats in the world!

 

[SexyGreyFox]

Being more serious that’s a beautiful guitar, not enough sunburst strats in the world!

It cost my future wife £305 in 1978 and last year I was offered £1700 for it.

 

[uncle_rufus]

Just giving the number 2 a headstart

My Fender is a Polyester based paint, so it's never going to show any real signs of wear and I just love the look of 'used' P basses. I was, to be fair, on the fence about relicing it after painting. Then I sanded through the top coat on an edge. Sort of decided my course from there

Will only take you 30/40 years of touring to get it looking and feeling ‘road worn’!

For the record I am kind of kidding - I'm always unsure about wear on guitars and relic'd guitars - on the one hand I can see that a worn instrument does look cool and you could argue is it that different from buying an old guitar that happens to have wear on it, but something about knowing that the wear didn't come from someone actually playing the instrument somehow makes me less enthused about it (myself; obviously to anyone else seeing you with the guitar they don't know that it was done with an orbital sander or whatever, but it's like, I know that it was). Maybe I'm not making any sense!

 

[Raymond Lin]

For the record I am kind of kidding - I'm always unsure about wear on guitars and relic'd guitars - on the one hand I can see that a worn instrument does look cool and you could argue is it that different from buying an old guitar that happens to have wear on it, but something about knowing that the wear didn't come from someone actually playing the instrument somehow makes me less enthused about it (myself; obviously to anyone else seeing you with the guitar they don't know that it was done with an orbital sander or whatever, but it's like, I know that it was). Maybe I'm not making any sense!

I used to think that, now I think, it looks good, it sounds good. The End.

No need to get hung up on the details, unless you are paying for it.

 

[SexyGreyFox]

For the record I am kind of kidding - I'm always unsure about wear on guitars and relic'd guitars - on the one hand I can see that a worn instrument does look cool and you could argue is it that different from buying an old guitar that happens to have wear on it, but something about knowing that the wear didn't come from someone actually playing the instrument somehow makes me less enthused about it (myself; obviously to anyone else seeing you with the guitar they don't know that it was done with an orbital sander or whatever, but it's like, I know that it was). Maybe I'm not making any sense!

I agree, all the damage on my main guitar is from dropping it multiple times, smashing it into a drum kit and smashing the bottom edge into a punters face.
The wear on the neck is all from my fingers though.

If you want to see a worn guitar from it being played look at Rory Gallagher's Strat, he sweated all over it every night.
Another one is Jeff Beck's Telecaster but I don't know how it got in that state.

What is funny is that every other guitar besides Fender's are expected to look in good condition but a Fender looks cool with marks.

 

[Raymond Lin]

I agree, all the damage on my main guitar is from dropping it multiple times, smashing it into a drum kit and smashing the bottom edge into a punters face.
The wear on the neck is all from my fingers though.

If you want to see a worn guitar from it being played look at Rory Gallagher's Strat, he sweated all over it every night.
Another one is Jeff Beck's Telecaster but I don't know how it got in that state.

What is funny is that every other guitar besides Fender's are expected to look in good condition but a Fender looks cool with marks.

And their custom shop is embracing that big time, have you seen some of their heavy relic? It cost extra, like £3k extra.

 

[SexyGreyFox]

And their custom shop is embracing that big time, have you seen some of their heavy relic? It cost extra, like £3k extra.

Fender have been doing it for a long time but you won't see Gibson, Rickenbacker or PRS with a relic shop
There is a bit of a Gibson aged collectors but that's usually the guitar being aged over years like the white Gibson I had turning cream.

 

[Raymond Lin]

Fender have been doing it for a long time but you won't see Gibson, Rickenbacker or PRS with a relic shop
There is a bit of a Gibson aged collectors but that's usually the guitar being aged over years like the white Gibson I had turning cream.

Wait what?

PRS and Ricky no, but Gibson has Tom Murphy doing it....have you not seen their Collector's Choice a few years back? Gibson is in the game just as much. In fact, they just set up something call Tom Murphy Lab within the Custom Shop, especially for aging guitars.

https://guitar.com/news/industry-news/gibson-murphy-lab-new-custom-shop-head/

The Gibson Custom shop’s new Murphy Lab will focus on building historically-accurate guitars, under the leadership of Tom Murphy – renowned for his expertise in meticulously ageing Gibson guitars.

 

[builder22]

Judas Priest don’t take long to age their guitars with all the studs etc they wear on stage

Richie Faulkner is awesome btw!

 

[SexyGreyFox]

have you not seen their Collector's Choice a few years back? Gibson is in the game just as much. In fact, they just set up something call Tom Murphy Lab within the Custom Shop, especially for aging guitars.

https://guitar.com/news/industry-news/gibson-murphy-lab-new-custom-shop-head/

Like I said, I know there's a small demand for it but not like Fender.
It's also funny how I used to treat my children, I'd be a lot rougher with Fender but with Gibson I'd place them down carefully and wipe them after a gig and to be honest (up until the lockdown) I've been to see bands weekly since 1974 and Gibson owners tend to take care (except for my mate Hippy who has a Flying V bass and he hasn't even got a case for it).

 

[Raymond Lin]

Like I said, I know there's a small demand for it but not like Fender.
It's also funny how I used to treat my children, I'd be a lot rougher with Fender but with Gibson I'd place them down carefully and wipe them after a gig and to be honest (up until the lockdown) I've been to see bands weekly since 1974 and Gibson owners tend to take care (except for my mate Hippy who has a Flying V bass and he hasn't even got a case for it).

There is a big demand for it, but Gibson tends to be more expensive than Fender so it prices a lot of people out because of that. There could also be a mental block thing about Gibson and its headstock, a worn guitar without a headstock break...oxymoron.

Plus you said you won't see Gibson with a relic shop, there wasn't one officially but there is now!

 

[NickK]

This is 42 years of gigging, the back is worse because I threw it into a drumkit.
I've got to admit it feels a bit cheating to artificially age your instrument.

I got my Sunburst Japanese fender circa 1988-89. So ~31 years young. I think with the Marshall training amp and boss distortion, pitch shift & delay pedals.. it’s the oldest think I own.

 

[ik9000]

I got my Sunburst Japanese fender circa 1988-89. So ~31 years young. I think with the Marshall training amp and boss distortion, pitch shift & delay pedals.. it’s the oldest think I own.

Do you own a house?

I've got a few 1980s boss pedals. Must have something older than that... probably the furniture my grandad made way back for his children. Nothing fancy, but functional and I've hung onto it. That and his war medals.

Hang on, I've got some old victorian penny coins too. Pretty much worthless, but I doubt I'll get anything older than those.

 

[MentalSharps]

Might have already been posted, but Rocksmith (game you play with your guitar) is on sale for £8 - https://www.humblebundle.com/store/rocksmith-2014-edition?partner=trr

Works great with the unofficial ASIO mod installed, low latency. Personally I use a splitter pedal into my interface and VSTs and mute the in-game modelling, as I prefer the VSTs. Steal for £8

 

[Raymond Lin]

Might have already been posted, but Rocksmith (game you play with your guitar) is on sale for £8 - https://www.humblebundle.com/store/rocksmith-2014-edition?partner=trr

Works great with the unofficial ASIO mod installed, low latency. Personally I use a splitter pedal into my interface and VSTs and mute the in-game modelling, as I prefer the VSTs. Steal for £8

I already have it on the PS4 but I few in terms of future proofing it is best to get it on a computer platform!

 

[2StepSteve]

That strat is lovely!

I bought a couple of new pedals. I only had a reverb and chorus previously for 18 months, and felt my power supply needed more of a work out!



Julia V2 - Chorus and Vibrato. Really nice pedal. Can get everywhere from subtle thickening effect chorus, to crazy wild seasick chorus. The demos I watched made it out to be very versatile, it definitely is.



Keeley Compressor Plus - My first use and play with a compressor. I'm really impressed with how it shapes the sound, seems to add some really nice spice and when engaged with my Soul Food boost pedal, it makes the Soul Food come alive! What a difference!

 

[ik9000]

I picked up a Keeley compressor pro recently. I had two compressors before, one built into my route 66 (v1 and v3, great for sustain/chicken pickin) and one a cheapo dooner compressor. Both are ok, but I wanted something clean and more adjustable. I really wanted something that would act more as a limiter to keep high volumes in check without boosting the lows so it doesn't mess with dynamics and gentle picking etc. I have an old boss limiter but it also brings a colour of its own, though I need to tinker with it a bit more than I've had chance to. then I stumbled across a good price on the pro and pounced. The threshold setting on the keeley pro will hopefully allow me to raise the bar to where I need it. Haven't had chance to play with it yet. Was going to be today but we had to go out at short notice. So tomorrow...

I will report back

for chorus I use a Boss CE-2B. I love it. classic late 80s chorus sound (think Crowded House, U2 etc) and bizarely good with acoustic guitar too. A tip someone gave me on a guitar forum and it works! It has the extra blend/level dial over the standard CE-2 which just makes it that bit more versatile IMO.