ruddyduck said:
i was perusing some relic strats this morning and got to wondering if anyone here has ever made a pawn shop or old guitar store find on an awesome older guitar. does that still happen with everyone trying to sell on the internet? the prices on anything relic are pretty far out there.
It would be hard to find something like that, these days, unless you happened across one in an estate sale. Some widow looking to get rid of her late husband's guitar that was just sitting in the closet for 50 years.
You bring up an interesting subject on relic'ed guitars. Quite the controversial topic among guitar players. I can't remember if I told the story on here about my heavy relic CS Tele, but I will again.
A lot of the "a Squire Vintage Vibe is just as good as any other guitar" types like to crap on Custom Shop and relic'ed guitars. I was at my local shop just window shopping guitars and chatting with the guys up there who give great recs. I told one that I had a strat and a LP, and he told me that I needed to have a Tele, since I live in Texas. I have never appreciated the tone of the modern Tele's I had played, so was very apprehensive, but decided to humor him and play some.
I started with the American Professional, which was what I was expecting. Didn't appreciate the tone, though it felt good to play (Just like all Fender Professional guitars I have tried). Next, he handed me the Jimmy Page signature "mirror" tele. I hated the way it felt in my hands and couldn't believe it was listed as over $2K. He finally pulled down this beat-up looking guitar for me to play. Before this day, I had seen relic'ed guitars, but didn't know anything about them, so had absolutely no opinion on the matter. I also had no idea it was a Custom Shop guitar. From the moment I hit the first chord, I was amazed by the tone and feel of the guitar. It wasn't until after playing it for 15 minutes or so that the guy told me about the custom shop and relicing process.
For these reasons, I know it was not placebo or expectations that made this guitar the best sounding and playing guitar I had ever played. The guitar haunted me for a month before I went back up there and we agreed to 10% below the asking price.