Stub Lee’s Texas Tele Guitar
This Squier Telecaster by Fender started out in mint condition but it wasn’t long after purchasing it that I wanted to make it look aged or to “relic” it. “Relicing”, also known as "aging," is the process of creating the appearance of wear and tear on a new or vintage guitar to make it look aged. This usually involves a variety of techniques, such as distressing the guitar’s finish or applying wear marks to the metal parts of the instrument.
Stub Lee’s Texas Tele
There are various methods and techniques that can be used to relic a guitar or other instrument. Some common methods include:
Distressing the finish: This can be done using various tools and techniques to create scratches, dents, and other wear marks on the finish of the instrument.
Faking rust or tarnish: This can be achieved using chemicals or other methods to create the appearance of rust or tarnish on metal parts of the instrument, such as the hardware or pickups.
Aged or worn parts: Replacing new parts with older, used parts that have a more worn appearance can add a vintage vibe to the instrument.
Aged or distressed cases: Using an older or distressed case to store and transport the instrument can also contribute to the overall vintage look.
“It inspires me to play the way I feel often times...beaten up and ugly”
It's important to note that relicing a guitar or other instrument is not the same as properly restoring and preserving a vintage instrument. While relicing is intended to create a specific aesthetic, the process of restoring a vintage instrument involves repairing and preserving the original materials and features of the instrument.
On this guitar, I aged all the hardware with muriatic acid to take the shine off then took a sander to the body to “wear” it. I wanted a specific look to the guitar and even took a Texas License plate and cut it to make the makeshift pickguard.
It looks like hell, but I don’t care how much it gets beaten around, knocked, kicked, or dropped. Although the finish looks bad, the electronics are very much up to date. I installed high-quality controls and wiring and included Fender’s Tex-Mex pickups that surely upgraded the stock, cheap, muddy-sounding pickups.
For a cheap guitar, it plays and sounds good and has that “look” of being thrown around and beaten down- it inspires me to play the way I feel often times…beaten up and ugly
