- Joined
- Feb 11, 2009
- Messages
- 25,412
- Reaction score
- 22,149
- Location
- NJ (The nice part)
- Guild Total
- 116
I'm one of the first people to say that I think relics are dumb. I've always said that if I want a worn guitar then it needs to be that puts that wear on there. I get why people like them but they're just not for me. I even prefer mint examples of vintage guitars for the same reason. Don't get me wrong - there's nothing like a nice worn-in guitar. I just want it to be worn in by me.
There's one exception, and I finally caved into my lust and shelled out the money for a guitar that someone took great pains to abuse. This is that guitar:
This is an EVH Striped guitar that started its life looking like this:
Judah (they're on Reverb and Facebook) then takes it and does whatever it is they do to abuse the guitar into looking like Eddie's original Frankenstein. They apparently work to not upset Fender which is why the EVH logo stays on the headstock. They also do this to other guitars including all of the other Striped-series EVH models.
More pics:
This is the most expensive guitar that's ever come to me without a case. What's weird is it's also the first "relic" guitar I've ever bought and I feel like I don't need to baby it because, well just look at the damn thing. I had to go find a luggage strap because I can't use any of my guitar straps. Didn't think that through. LOL.
BTW did you know that "relic" is a Fender Trademark? This guitar is "distressed" so as not to piss of Fender.
My only real complaint is that the Wolfgang pickup, while sounding good, isn't bright enough for early EVH tones so I went and ordered myself an SD Custom '78. We'll see how that works out. I'm also going to replace the Floyd block with a brass block and lower the spring tension a bit, but those are just personal preference things. With the guitar cranked through my Axe-FX III only the most die-hard EVH fans would complain about anything. Well, maybe my playing...
No, it's not as accurate as the $20,000 custom shop model. It's probably 90% the guitar for 10% the price, though. This is also about the most fun I've had with a guitar in a long-*** time. It's just a blast to play.
There's one exception, and I finally caved into my lust and shelled out the money for a guitar that someone took great pains to abuse. This is that guitar:
This is an EVH Striped guitar that started its life looking like this:
Judah (they're on Reverb and Facebook) then takes it and does whatever it is they do to abuse the guitar into looking like Eddie's original Frankenstein. They apparently work to not upset Fender which is why the EVH logo stays on the headstock. They also do this to other guitars including all of the other Striped-series EVH models.
More pics:
This is the most expensive guitar that's ever come to me without a case. What's weird is it's also the first "relic" guitar I've ever bought and I feel like I don't need to baby it because, well just look at the damn thing. I had to go find a luggage strap because I can't use any of my guitar straps. Didn't think that through. LOL.
BTW did you know that "relic" is a Fender Trademark? This guitar is "distressed" so as not to piss of Fender.
My only real complaint is that the Wolfgang pickup, while sounding good, isn't bright enough for early EVH tones so I went and ordered myself an SD Custom '78. We'll see how that works out. I'm also going to replace the Floyd block with a brass block and lower the spring tension a bit, but those are just personal preference things. With the guitar cranked through my Axe-FX III only the most die-hard EVH fans would complain about anything. Well, maybe my playing...
No, it's not as accurate as the $20,000 custom shop model. It's probably 90% the guitar for 10% the price, though. This is also about the most fun I've had with a guitar in a long-*** time. It's just a blast to play.