Why Do People Intentionally Beat Up Their Gear?

[Inspector #20]

i believe that some people may be into relicing because that don't have the actual experience behind them, so they "pose" as someone who does.

Yes, that could be...what about OCD types who try to keep their owned-since-new 1987 Stratocaster looking new???? No chips, even after almost 30 years of gigging, although the paint is wearing through in places on the back.

Mom told me years ago..."Son, we can't afford to replace these guitars, so you gotta be a good steward and take the very best care of what you got..."

 

[Inspector #20]

Million dollar answer right here.

That's classic!!!!

 

[Inspector #20]

I like mint condition vintage guitars I'm working out a deal on a mint 1963 Johnny Smith Gibson guitar it's never been played first year issue.

I'm trading a 2001 Gibson Custom Shop Les Paul for it. I played it 6 months.

View attachment 22168

That's a beautiful top!

 

[Gahr]

To each his own, I guess. I like a well-worn guitar. But what I like about it is not really the look itself, but the thought that if it could talk, it would have tons of stories to tell. I can look at a reliced guitar and recognize the beauty of it, but it just does not have the same appeal as a guitar that has been played and deserves its scars. All a relied guitar would have to say is "Well, some dude roughed me up real bad on this workbench, I wish he had played me instead." A worn guitar has mojo, but the mojo does not come from the looks. It comes from the knowledge that the wear is the result of somebody having played and loved it. I wish my two old guitars could talk, because I'd love to hear about their previous owners and what they put them through to get them to the state they were in when I got them.

 

[eSGEe]

"The scars upon the face ---told of all the times it fell--singing all the stories he could tell."
~J Buffett~