How many people like worn vintage guitars?

If the wear comes with accompanying stories, then I might pay a bit of a premium for a vintage instrument. If it sounds and plays great.

But if it's a new instrument that looks vintage, then I'd probably pass it by. Unless it sounds and plays great.

In my opinion, mojo has to be earned, not installed as a factory option.
But that's just me.

+1

As a professional musician, I care a lot more about how an instrument sounds than how it looks.

I don't really care how my gear looks. That doesn't mean I'm not careful with it - but they're working tools, and they're going to get some wear. Every guitar I own has dings and scratches.

Some of those dings and scratches have stories behind them, and in a way that makes them special. But they're only special to me... your dings and scratches don't have any meaning for me. That doesn't mean they detract from the value, because I really only care what it sounds like. But they sure aren't going to add any kind of premium, unless they were put there by somebody famous, and/or the story is outrageously good.

Even then, I probably wouldn't pay extra.

And 'vintage' is, well, vintage. It got that way with time, not by being factory distressed. I own a few vintage instruments. I know they've got collectable value, but that's not something that interests me - I love them because they sound great. I'd love them just the same if they were brand new and had the same sound.

Heck, about half the vintage gear I own WAS new when I bought it :)

Something that been around 30 40 years that has spent that life getting used.... they wear those wear marks and kicks and scrahes, becouse the have earned them ... I have no use for "vintage like" wear. If I by new, I want new, and want to add the wear myself... If I get used, I want to pay accordingly to what shape its in.

Worn out guitars are cool but only if you wore them out yourself, buying one that is made to look like it is worn out is cheesy and lame.

If you are going to do that you should lower the price on the guitars not charge a premium, but hey there's a sucker born everyday so I'm sure some kid out there will buy one.

buying one that is made to look like it is worn out is cheesy and lame.

+1

EDITED to note that if I were trying to buy the best-sounding Stratocaster in Colorado, and the best-sounding Strat happened to be a guitar made to look worn out, I would go for it. Cosmetics do not matter to me AT ALL.

Something that been around 30 40 years that has spent that life getting used.... they wear those wear marks and kicks and scrahes, becouse the have earned them ... I have no use for "vintage like" wear. If I by new, I want new, and want to add the wear myself... If I get used, I want to pay accordingly to what shape its in.

+1

Jack

I'll be another +1 (+1 meaning zero interest, lol), LuthierMax and yet recently my local shop's front window was devoted to Fenders and Gibsons of that sort and they flew out of the window, so someone's buying them.
But that's Fender and Gibson leveraging their history and provenance. Not sure that's a market an independent luthier could take advantage of.

+1 here.

I've got/had a few real vintage/worn out guitars. And I love 'em!
Played several new 'vintaged' guitars - Didn't like 'em at all.
Not only do they look unnatural, they FEEL unnatural.

My old 60's hollowbody has yellowed bindings and knobs with cracked and worn nitro finish, but it was my first guitar.
And it fits me very comfortably.

My maple neck Strat has wear marks that match my finger placement.
Also dents and dings and scratches that I can account for 8)
It was at every practice, party, garage, gig, bar and studio I played.
Too bad it wasn't all nitro and nickel.... It would look great right now!

I used to have a '66 SG that was wore to death before I got it.
And although it did look really cool, it was far from my favorite to play.
I dunno, it just wasn't my mojo all over it, so I just never took to it.

My old guitar teacher played a 60's Epiphone Casino that he had bought new.
And I'll tell ya, the only thing this cat ever did was play guitar!
If he wasn't teaching he was giging. And he did it all on that Casino for 30 years!
The finish was cracked and crazed - wore down to wood right where his arm rested on it.
The pups were held on with tape.
The nut was wore down and he used matches to get the string height right.
You can't manufacture that.

I was reading about Rory Gallagher's Strat.
Fender makes a custom shop version of it.
But the real story is quite incredible.

It was reputed to be the first Strat in Ireland.
Rory was the 2nd owner, but it was only taken on one gig before he got it.
It was stolen from him at one point and then abandoned in a ditch before being recovered and returned to him.
But he pretty much wore it out all on his own. An awful lot of playing!
They say that on the back, there's a blue glow embedded in it from rubbing up against his jeans night after night after night.
Now that's cool!

You can't give a new guitar magic like that.

But good luck, anyway :wink:

Ken

I've played some "reliced" guitars and they just don't sing to me at all. My guitar was made in 78 and it is beat to death but is still a killer. Could be that I've done all the beating on it and maybe I'm just so used to it. I had a 67 ES330 that some one had taken a belt sander to for some insane reason, it too was a player. I actually look more for used guitars than new ones, at least the scars are honest! It just seems silly to pay for a damaged new instrument, at least to me.

My understanding of Rory Gs guitar was that he had really acidic sweat and it just ate the finish off, hence the nickname as the ex-sunburst Strat! :shock:

If I was going to pay a premium for a new guitar, I'd want it to look like the best thing on Earth, not like something I'd dragged out of a dustbin.

I read somwhere that, when they opened Rory G's Strat to create the signature model, they found the wells in the bodywork filled with a green mould that they attributed to his sweat "fermenting". As far as I'm aware, they left that part out of the signature Strat.

In my opinion, mojo has to be earned, not installed as a factory option.

Can't improve on this insight...dead on!

Cat

These "road worn"/"vintage look" guitars that have been apperaing in recent years remind of the X Factor. I'll let you draw your own conclusions at my opinion :lol:

I haven't weighed in on this discussion yet, despite it being around so long, and being a very good one, and getting everyone's support. So it mostly unites us, instead of polarizing... while being a somewhat sensitive topic? I like aged or relic guitars if they are done nicely, or in moderation, while my buddy Bill Nash at http://www.nashguitars.com/ now does this exclusively.

I first owned Nash's one-and-only Custom Shop Strat, before he went in for only the road worn look. I suggested really heavy wear for Tele's and he went more conservative, I think? The problem with consumers is that "we" will buy a road worn or relic axe, and accept it, while we will not buy a less-expensive brand new guitar and start chopping it up to make it look well used.

That said, I collaborated with Bill to build my own 1965-ish Strat relic, almost 10 years ago. My daughter wanted to do it, and I wouldn't deny her anything, at 4 - 5 years of age. Unusual, but true, she wanted to build a guitar and I had to make it happen.

Pictured below, Bill Nash supplied us with the finished & reliced body which he hit with a cleaver, knocked-in with a centre punch and scratched with a box cutter, which was all the rage in discussions and the media after 9-11? We let Bill give us a reliced neck plate too, and I found older plastic parts disfigured with real use, but I changed 1 big point - no rusty hardware!

It's not really about looks anymore, once the guitar exists and is used - this one is a platform for one extinct DiMarzio centre stack, Deaf-Eddie Chromacaster with 16 sounds, modified to produce 26 tones with push/pull, so it is more than about looks.

The Strat that she can keep - I built it so that I could have Aqua. Burgundy Mist has Classic MIM body, all US parts, not too relic.