These dicks never stop the insanity.....

[VitaminG]

+1 million. Relics were first made to recreate the feel of vintage guitars that had been played and played for years, if not decades, and were considered to valuable to keep taking on the road.

right. When the vintage market has got so that it's going to cost you $30k+ for a genuine 50s or 60s guitar, dropping a few thousand on a new instrument that approximates the wear & feel of the guitar you desire seems much more reasonable. Not all relics are artist replicas & most don't command those sort of prices. Most people will never be able to afford a real 50s Les Paul or Strat, and the prices of those instruments are not coming down. For a grand you can get a Road Worn - not the greatest relic, but that reflects the effort put into the relicing. They play nice, sound good, have some nice upgrades & feel nice in your hands. They don't feel like a glossy new poly strat. And if you're playing out, 99% of the audience will just think you have a cool old strat.

[Nightbat]

To all the people that take issue with guitars like the Gibson in question you have my sympathy. I implore you to seek professional psychiatric care because the venomous and hatefulness in your posts is symptomatic of deeper underlying issues that you should seek resolution to if you wish to live happy and fulfilling lives. You owe it to yourself, your friends and your family.

Nah, I'll refrain from being a passionless drugged up zombie if you don't mind

So....if a guy/girl loves Duane Allman & was inspired to play guitar & wants a guitar exactly like Duanes works hard & spends his/her hard-earned money on the guitar they've always wanted they're "stupid" "foolish" "a fraud" "dishonest" "a goof" "silly" "a corksniffing tightass" "deluded" for buying a "damaged" "dragged behind a car" "dropped" guitar....because some folks don't "get" or "understand" relics??

Understand relics or not: they're no different than a graphic guitar & the buyers are no different than those folks buying a DeMartini or EVH....both relics & graphics require more hours to create....therefore will usually cost more....you don't have to buy them & don't have to understand those that do!!

Yeah, I'll bet every fan has $11K to spend on their favorite performer's axe

You tell me why it has to be so over the top expensive, not just expensive, but ridiculously expensive

How about some goddamn humanity that not every schmuck earns $80K a year
"for the fans" my ass

[BLOOD SPLATTER]

Oh I'm not defending the price for the Duane LP....quite the opposite: have said several times the prices are "ridiculous" imo....but I don't criticize anybody that has that kinda $$ & spends it on the guitar they want!!

[Chad]

jeebus these relic threads get old fast!!

Yeah, they do. I've got to where I don't normally even read, let alone participate in them on most forums. But I don't think I've seen a relic thread on JCF before....so I dove into this one, regretfully. The people that don't "get it" with relics are really out there sometimes. I can't think of many other guitar topics that bring out such disdain, anger, misunderstanding, closed-mindedness, straw man arguments, inconsistent logic.....as relic threads on the internet.

[walshula]

Is this thread about relics, signatures or relic'd signatures??? I get relics and I get signatures, I just don't quite get relic'd signatures except for wall hangers because once any added mojo is added it isn't the same as the artists guitar anymore. But you know what, there are alot of things out there I don't get but live with too, so... to each their own. As long as someone is being involved with the guitar, playing it, working on it, or even just collecting it, that is all that is really important in the end anyways.

[Hellbat]

On some of them it's not just a few scrapes and burns. They actually source the same kind of enamel coated wire for the pickups, get magnets cast the way the did in the 50's. They'll source vintage accurate caps for the wiring.

On some they will go so far to not only use nitro finishes, but they'll have to set up strict pollution handling because they use the same formulas as back in the 50's where the solvents are now considered a no-no.

So in some ways these a lot of bespoke or very limited production components. That stuff doesn't come cheap. Are they too expensive? For me they are, but I'm surrounded by people in multi-million dollar homes while I live in an old shitty rental. My high ticket guitar is my RR1T.