Added: 3 years ago
From: toneslingercliff
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  • how would you go about sanding off the paint without making the paint around the spot look like it was sanded?

  • sorry but dont rellic a guitar just play it and let it rellic itself thats hard core

  • ITS THE KYLE GAS PROJECT AND ITS OUT OF CONTROL ALRIGHT !!!!!!!

  • awesome custom work on ur reLic SX TeLe "toneslingercliff" cheers! x0]

  • hardware aside, ew.

  • Comment removed

  • The only guitar I would relic myself is my first

    (no brand) stratocaster that I bought for something like 100$ +amp etc.

  • @RWGuitarplayer That's what I'm doing currently, wouldn't do it to my les paul!

  • I completely agree with DuscaManolescu but to each their own, keep playin'.

  • Comment removed

  • really nice job there "toneslingercliff" cheers! x0]

  • its cheating, why not play guitars for years and let them naturally relic

  • can't play it either...

  • Am I the only one who thinks this is way over the top.

    I hate how new guitars are so shiny and understand why people would like to get them to look aged, but I'd never want to have a guitar that looked abused to this degree, unless it was a genuine old guitar...

  • @GTODents I agree. It's a bit too much. I generally dampen the shine of the finish with a little steel wool to dull it, but that's about it.

  • it's too much relic

  • idk y people trip on reliced guitars or people who do so. Its really easy to be over the top sure. IDK about you guys but I like guitars that or old, aged or used, I suppose alot like jeans. I had an taylor 814ce and it never left my room cuz I babied the hell out of it. I would never do it like that or fuck with fretboard wear, but taking the luster out of the finish, hardware and back of the neck? Hells yea

  • ugh amazing... a beat up, used as hell, chipped and beat up tele.. love it dude i want that guitar

  • What a hack job...I want some slight wear look not for my guitar to look like it was drug down the road behind a truck. Uggh

  • Here's how you relic a guitar: 1st spread peanut butter all over the edges. Now, you can use crunchy or smooth, it don't really matter. Now, take the guitar and leave it in a hamster cage with at least one hamster for several days. To speed the process up you might want to starve the hamster for a few days prior. One note, I wouldn't use gerbils for relicing purposes. Gerbils tend to want to eat the potting wax on the pickups. SRV used a hamster, Hamsters are good enough for me.

  • Why is that my 14 year old guitar looks nothing like that and the things has been played to death

  • @ThemisGaming 50 yr old guitars had Nitro-Cellulose laquer, wears easy. Guitars from the 80's on up, except custom and other high dollar ones use a poly finish, poly=tank armor.

  • Funny.

  • Did you really just beat the top edge with a hammer? It sure looks like it.

  • In my opinion, the only guitar worth relicing is the Tele... its just so classic, anything else wouldnt look right. I suppose you could get away with a strat, but definitely not a Les Paul or Semi acoustic

  • @KR1NkAndroid

    You are right !

  • there`s the in jack , that was crushed.... hu, i mean relic-ed

  • I might call this more of a distressing effect rather than the antique look of a reliced guitar. I guess it really depends on how you define relic. For me, it's to simulate the natural wearing that happens after years of playing. This doesn't really look natural in that way. It's still a cool effect just a bit extreme.

  • U sound like Kermit the Frog

  • poop, just like the playing.

    

  • poop

    

  • looks like shit as if a rat chewed on it.

  • Is that a bite mark? Hahaha

  • i have a 1965 gibson SG Jr that im rebuilding for a friend that passed away not to long ago i wouldnt mind having some tips from you on certain stuff

  • i have a 1965 gibson SG Jr that im rebuilding for a friend that passed away not to long ago i wouldnt mind having some tips from you on certain stuff

  • @TheBigben008

    i don't think you should relic a 1965 anything...

  • @TheRevJonnyNemo not going to i was just asking for building tips

  • @TheBigben008 Phew - I was worried that a classic might have been subject to this, I get the idea of where he's coming from (the author) I'm just not sure about the process of aging a guitar older than it appears to be without it earning it's lumps naturally, all due respect

  • Ok fat guy, cut the 2 minutes crappy introduction for your otherwise uninteresting video....

  • I don't know why everyone is getting so prickly about relic-ing a guitar. All it does is add a bit of custom character to your taste, it's not always an attempt at a big statement.

  • Im doing a relic ! With a blank body.. Im gonna use white paint but what us best for that relic look? Im gonna sand blast it but should i get laquor? Or what?! HELP!!!!!!

  • Rock awn!

  • this is how destroy a poor guitar get a life.. lolz

  • Splash some beer on it!

  • Havin' a bashed up guitar is a side effect of playing the fickin' thing for years. This is a pile of wank....

  • God damn i hate single coil tones. lol.

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  • why the fuck are you guys looking for relic guitar videos if you're only gonna critisize how unnatural it is? fuck it all and fuck a fuckin brat!

  • I don't get it whats the point of doing that?

  • The best way to relic a guitar is by doing this simple steps. Step 1: Buy a new guitar Step 2: Start a band or play it everyday Step 3: Take it to places like your friends house and have jam sessions for like 17 years thats the only true way of relicing a guitar. PURPOSELY relecing a guitar is just like lying to your self, People that see your relic guitar are going to ask you how your guitar got that way your answer sandpaper lmao wouldn't you rather say PLAYING it over the years?!

  • Doesn't look like natural wear, it looks like you dragged it behind your vehicle for a couple of blocks. Natural wear is smooth. These look like you smashed it with hammer and took a grinder to the chrome.

  • I think the damage looks a bit over the top. I have this 6 year old strat copy that has copped it pretty badly during it's time and it doesn't have damage close to that. The holes in the finish are to big. Some smaller deeper ones that look more like the guitar has been stabbed was what I would have gone for. As for the chips on the bottom I think they were pretty realistic. I just think that the chunks taken out of the top were too over the top.

  • it would help if you put an authentic bridge on it - not those dooky individual bridge pieces. you need the 3 barrel bridge dude

  • the body looks terrible. like its got leprosy

  • bet it was nice before you destroyed it.

  • nice song ..is that called the "I eat fucking pizza everyday all day " blues?

  • Cliff, thanks for taking the time to do a step by step demo of relicing, you put a lot of time into it, in the end i think the guitar looks great, I guess it would be tough to try and relic a rosewood fingerboard, maple looks better reliced. my sx tele has such a nice quilted maple fretboard, i really could'nt try to relic it, maybe one of my thrasher squires would be better. thanks again. G

  • I've seen better relic jobs, but I've also seen ALOT worse. I think it looks pretty good, and as long as you had fun doing it who cares right? I love the way you did the fretboard, I've been trying to figure out a good way to do that for over a year now. The little buffing wheel never occured to me, thanks.

  • Good work. Thanks for posting. It is hard to make an SX with a thick poly finish to look old. It is unfair to compare this with the road worn fenders as mentioned below, because they have nitro finishes, much easier to do a convincing relicing (and the mexicans still manage to screw up, doing cheesy relicings). You did the best that could be done with that guitar.

  • Look,, its Kyle Gass,,,,

    i can see wear the belt buckel rash takes into play on that relic job...

  • i have a question. when you have friends over and they see that guitar..are you gunna tell them that you "toured with that baby for 13 years", or are you gunna tell them you beat the fuck outta it on purpose?

  • this guitar is like mine see in carolopirolo

  • Its not a bad relic, and I've seen much worse. But my critique is consistency of the relic job. You show a lot of arm wear and pick wear but the buckle rash is really small and doesn't look gradual, it should flow a bit more up and down since it doesn't sit in the same spot the hole time you play. The age didn't look equal throughout the guitar, but I guess it with fix itself over time.

  • I agree with the guys below and I'm only 19 my sx tele is already got some history going on cause for some reason this sx tele is the only thing I play. But I play it so much that one show my neck split just slightly so I have a bender now but I hope I get my new neck soon

  • a relic that don't make any sence.

  • Nah, that's cheating. I recommend just playing your instrument and let it age right along with you. I'm 29 and have been playing since I was 12. My 94 les paul and my 97 strat are are naturally relicked, and for every knock and ding they've suffered, I suffered right along with them because they were never on purpose. It's like if you started dating an older woman and she'd say,boy, you could really use some wrinkles,and what can I do to speed up that receding hair of yours.Just aint natural.

  • @DuscaManolescu your right but if you want to make money i heard it drives the value up. buy a guitar and when your bored with it relic it and sell it for more than u bought it for.

  • put some water on the control panel or something get it a little rusty

  • did u use a BR-600 for the track when u were showing the pictues i think it just sounds like it for some reason

  • i need to know where you got that guitar from!!!! :(

  • nice job and tks for the review and teaching!

    best regards from Brazil!

  • best thing to do with poly is to strip it with aircraft remover.

  • Terrible.......what a waste

  • I think the guitar looks good

    Sounds good too

    I have seen relics where it looks like they took an orbital sander and burnt through the paint on every contour. And people were saying they looked great.

    No matter what you do, people will criticize

    good work

  • Some odd spots and the side looks like jimi hendrix set in on fire!

  • Odd places for sure. This wasn't good.

  • the best sounding telecastar i've heard!

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  • I'm getting really fed up with relic'd guitars

  • I've been relicing guitars for 25 years and I find it funny (and annoying) that everyone thinks they can "relic" by taking the shine off all the hardware, and wearing the finish in "odd" places. Not all vintage guitars have the chrome missing from the hardware.

  • he fooked up a good axe man.!!!

    looks like he attacked it with a real axe

  • Not a very good job. All the hacking away at the thick poly finish doesn't say old to me. It just looks ugly and nothing like a worn guitar. Relicing must look natural and like it has happened with repeated use.

    I love relic guitars but it only really works on nitro finishes as poly is very durable. Also it must be the right guitar and have period parts.

  • he sounds like kermit

    And its too chipped, not worn

  • Beats me..

    Im one of those people that try to keep my guitars new and shiny for as long as possible, and when they start to get too worn, i pull them apart and fix'em up again.

    I cant for the life of me understand why someone wants to play a broken, beat up guitar.. but hey, if thats what they like.. but i still dont get it! ;)

  • Well it depends what music you play, I play a very simple heavy rock n roll like early AC/DC and having your gear a bit beat up just goes with the image of it.

  • Do you know why Angus guitar is beat up?

    Because he has been touring with it for 35 years!

    If Angus saw someone start hitting his guitar with chains he'd either punch the guy in the face or stand there laughing at "the idiot".

  • Yeah but my point is that the people who play similar music to him would want to be like him without having to wait 35 years. I see what you're saying though, personally I am just gonna wait for my gear to age natrually.

  • How do you know that. Do you know angus personally? doubt it. dont make assumptions. Times change get over it

  • I dont know Angus Personally, i dont have to.. just look at his guitars.. when he plays with the signature it looks clean and brand new, and when he whips out the naturally colored one its scuffed like hell, because it has been toured for 35 years, and you can check pictures of it and see the gradual decay over the years.

    Read what you can find about it on the Internet dude, and get over that attitude.

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  • a little obvious looking...looks chewed up rather than relic'd. vintage guitars would be much softer not gouged (unless an accident occured) and it wouldnt be so large and concentrated in sections...you need to watch the spots where you expose the wood it takes a lot to get finish down to bare wood so needs to be smooth and transitional...try water and light acid, sweat breaks down finishes when wood gets exposed, it gets gummy and wiped away from playing..not physically worn away.

  • why do people buy jeans with dirt strains,bleach spots,and holes already torn in them?

  • the best guitars to relic-fender highway one guitars

  • it makes the guitar look more vintage

  • Hey guys I figured out a new way to relic a guitar--just put STRAP LOCKS on it and start playing and your guitar will fall on the ground everytime!

  • I'd be taking those strap locks back to the store for my money back!

  • @toneslingercliff and use that refunded money to buy yourself 2 bottles of the fliptop Grolsch beer. Cheapest and most effective strap locks !

  • @back2thefutre the whole point of straplocks is so it doesnt fall, Im not sure what kind of experiences you had with them Lol

  • @back2thefutre What in the hell brand of strap locks are you using?

  • @back2thefutre instead of buying strap locks, just put some beer bottle caps on there with the existing screw and there ya go.

  • @back2thefutre

    Never had a problem with them...

  • I don't know. Whatever tickles you fancy. However, i relic'd my guitars over 30 years 1 tune at a time.

  • thats the best way, by far.

  • Nice try, but the relic job does not look like a worn play relic job. Areas of the guitar you made to look relic does not look naturally worn, for example where your right forearm would rest. Why is that area have a small amount of worn??? Looks like someone spilled some thing on it. Sorry bud, but the Mexican made road worn teles looks much more convincing.

  • have you seen robben ford's gold top les paul?? That's got some really heavy wear where the right forearm rests!

  • no havent seen it. I'll have to check it out.

  • thank you for your very constructive criticism of my relic. most people who are critical can't formulate a cohesive sentence. Your comments are great. Thanks!

  • @gmlasam  I agree100%,they use a thinner finish,this looks like 10 leayers of paint PURPOSEFULLY mucked,no dis-re but the paint aging looks cheesy.

  • I do like relic. But this guitar looks really fake.

  • Waste of time , better spent on playing,and practicing, maybe even learning how to read music!

  • learning to read music is a waste if you ask me . . . kills creativity

  • no one asked you.

  • creativity is based on fundamentals, how're you supposed to get good fundamentals without learning the very basics of music?

  • false?

  • so wrong

  • Looks green with bruises... verdict: Zombie Guitar! Thumbs down on this one...

  • im sure u spent a lot of time on it. but it looks awful

  • thats the point haha

  • There are two types of guitar "Relics" pretty ones and ugly ones.

    And ironically the same guitar can be either to different people.

    I have an old Cunetto Nocaster people are either shocked by its beauty or by its fugliness.

    I think its the prettiest tele I have seen made in my lifetime. I can't speak for those made in the 1950s as I'll probably never see one in person.

    I choose my "Relic" because of its tone, but it also has an aura any modern poly guitar can't match.

    btw never relic poly!

  • you're talented man, great job

  • lol this is stupid just make them worn by giging look a joe strummers he dident do it purposly he just hit the strings that hard and the scratchplate it just got worn

  • Once again, proof how the topic of guitar relicing is very polarizing in the guitar community.

  • Looks and sounds cool! I just reliced my 1995 Strat's body, [had strings on it so couldn't go under the pickguard] I beat it up with a metal ruler, the floor of the garage, a few matches, a pocket knife, a garbage disposal, [lol not really] Still have to do the hardware, but that's next, however my pickguard is white, what can I do? Also my fingerboard is rosewood. Again, sweet job!

  • I used steel wool and brown kiwi shoe polish on a white pickguard. You can also soak it in old coffee.

    Watch my video portion on hardware relicing. It has techniques of how I reliced the pickguard.

  • could you please do a second relic video but with an sx sjm

  • I dont have all these guitars lying around.  I bought the SX Tele to do the videos with. Keep in mind, the concepts and techniques are the same and you can use the same techniques with your SJM guitar.

  • i want to get the fretboard wear like on claptons blackie. its doesnt have certain wear marks like on the sx tele, its just kinda stained everywhere.

  • I used an oil based ebony stain on the fretboard to get that stained everywhere look. Thats my best advice I can come up with on going for that look. You put it on, work it into the finish and fretboard with fine steel wool, and then wipe it off after about 20-30 minutes. Repeat until you get the desired effect.

  • from a video on youtube i saw of fender making the black they took a dremel like cliff did here, but didnt just make little spots like he did, they did more of the fretboard with the dremel, then they probably stained it.

  • I used some stain here and there, but I didn't go that far down into the finish. Good observation though. thanks. :)

  • Drag that dawg behind a quad through the woods wearing your EVH mask..:)

  • that would definitly introduce some wear, huh?

  • you need to bang a little big on that headstock, that's the part i always hit by accident

  • Headstocks do seem to get a lot of abuse, huh?

  • jst beat the guitar.kick it with steel toe caps.jst thot of tht one.or leave it outside for a few days or more thn bring it in and continue the assault.

  • that would definitely do the trick!

  • Having a old looking guitar dosn't make you SRV or Keith Richards...

    Respect the Instrument...

  • umm. I looked back and I have yet to see the videos, or anybody making these comments claim to be SRV or Keith Richards.

  • What an idiot. I have guitars I have owned and used for forty years - they still look pretty much new.

  • Forty years? Do you ever play them!?

  • Do I ever play them? Of course I do - all the time. I look after my stuff.

  • what kind are they

  • An SG Standard and a Fender Jazz bass.

  • Looks great! I would LOVE for someone to do a vido of an LP. Mine has aged gold hardware, greened inlays, everything like a '58 BUT has no checking....maybe sticking it out in my 15*F garage for a day, then holding it above my stove-top for a bit will do the job........

  • there are several videos on that I think. try searching for les paul relic and you should get some video hits.

  • kyle gass

  • kyle gass?

  • look up the band Tenacious D, you will know what i mean

  • I don't think i have it in my to relic a guitar, i like the new guitar look so i keep all of mine nice and polished every week. But great job.

  • Take real good care of it then. If you aren't going to relic, you should take very special care of them.

    thanks for the comment, btw.

  • how did you end up getting the section at 2:34 reliced like that? Looks really nice by the way.

  • Look back at my video of relicing a guitar body, it goes over how I did that portion.

  • great video series. It's been fun watching. one thing though. I really wish you would have reliced the back of the neck. but other than that. one hell of a bang up job.

  • I did do some relicing of the back of the neck but didn't capture much of the process on the video.  Watch the review video and you will see some of the results.

  • Hi,

    How did you do the arm wear where you can see the different layers gradually? Thanks in advance!

  • This is covered in the relicing guitar body portion of these videos. I did this with a detail sander working outward to get the layered look.

  • This is very interesting, but I prefer guitars that have a story behind how they are.

  • that is true.  remember, I did this just for fun and to demonstrate how it can be done.

  • Did you relic the neck pickups at all?

  • I used steel wool on the neck pickup cover until I got the look I wanted.

    I didn't want to use etchant or anything on it due to the fact that if ANY etchant was to get in the windings it would destroy the pickup.

  • Thats what i figured but i just wanted to make sure. I'm gonna start relicing my sx tele in a few days and i just hope it turns out as good as yours. Thanks for the helpful vids!!

  • wow.. i wanna learn how to do this

  • hopefully you don'yt get killed i just took a hammer/wedge to mine to get the paint off and i hope my parents dont kill me, thank god it was a cheap old strat that dusnt work at all

  • good job

  • thanks for the kudos.

  • ok maybe its his

  • unfortunately, he is. :)