Tele Guitar Relic - Mike's Guitar Workshop

In this episode we deconstruct the paint finish on a 2010 Tokai Tele.
If you found this useful you may buy me a coffee to enjoy right here:

Sometimes we make guitars look new, other times we make them look old.
Please keep your comments respectful to the clients wishes and vision.
We all have an opinion and we do value yours. Many thanks guys.
Build time: 3 days.

#luthier #guitarrepairs #tremolo #guitars #guitarfrets #guitar

[TmsVgs]

Many people say that the best way to get a relic finish on your guitar is to play it a lot, but the truth is that guitars these days have extremely good paint, so it's almost impossible to get it naturally. This video is one of the best I've seen, the result was great!

[dpajc]

I love how you put the towel under the body minutes away from destroying it haha😂

[jazzdrumguy]

I took a new Squier Tele and did a full blown relic of the body adding belt buckle rash, dents, dings, dulled the finish, chips, aged the neck, spider webbed the dots, "checked" the finish along with the body, cig burn, aged all hardware to make it non-chrome and non-shiny and it looks like a guitar you'd find in the back room of a bar in the cool! Nice work

[rpmblues]

Hah! This grabbed my attention again 3 years later. I really like the relic job, thank you for the video.

[garymiller]

Was watching a guy in Singapore heat the finish while using a small chisel, by doing it that way, he just kind of rolled the paint off and it came out great!

[MoonshineSazerac]

I don't understand why people with poly-coated guitars try to get them relic'ed to look like an aged nitro-coated guitar. Polyurethane doesn't age like this, there is no instance where the paint flakes off or gets abraded in great huge chunks unless it's being done deliberately. Don't get me wrong, I love relic'ed guitars almost as much as an original, but the instant I saw that I knew it was a polyurethane-finished guitar. Polyurethane is literally just plastic. If you wanna age plastic you expose it to solvents, discolouration, and temperature fluctuations. Beside minor abrasions and dings there's no impact damage that will affect it down to the wood in great huge swathes like this.

[bluenotgreen]

I would think the best way to make it looked relic’d is to leave all the hardware on while doing it. Maybe cover the hardware, pups, dials etc with paint tape and start going. After all, a true relic’d guitar didn’t get that way with the hardware off. Nevertheless, yours came out well. Great Job.

[jepa]

I bought a factory reliced guitar and loving it. I have been using it and also displayed in our living room. I have the cort sunset tc worn butter. 😊

[Vivaspecifico]

Probably one of the best I have seen this looks incredible!

[johnstahrstartcleanfitwell]

Totally 💯 Awesome Mike!!! I JUST got my Brande New Vanilla blonde Telle... It just so happened to arrive with a damaged box and a chip already in the corner right under the control knobs perfect spot to realize that this is a guitar I need to relic!!! So I found your channel art specifically this video which I find extremely awesome and informative! Thank you!!

[Kevsadone]

I was doubtful at the beginning but the finished product turned out spectacular!

[maexx]

I also want to try it, to relic a guitar. A cheap guitar for the first time. This clip helps ma a little bit, to understand, what I have to do. Thanks for it !

[vsxwfhw]

a heat gun makes this process much easier, you can loosen the finish in specific areas and follow up with a file and a flathead.
a swipe with the end of a flathead will lift the lacquer enough that you can use the file to scrape it away and not risk taking any of the wood away with it.
just follow the natural angles of the body for authenticity and don't go overboard. otherwise, it's quite difficult to go wrong with this method

[grangerousdesigns]

Damn Mike, you do amazing work my friend.

[Sushi_Dinner]

I don't understand why people disapprove of other players' preferences. If someone wants to have their guitar relic'd, great. Otherwise the suggested alternatives are: pay a lot of money for an "authentic" one, don't play a guitar that you like the looks of, or aging it "naturally" by dropping it multiple times, rubbing it with giant metal buckles and watches, dragging it across the ground, and setting it on fire.

I mean, to each their own, but one of these options seems like abuse.

[schubiduba]

It hurts to see a guitar get damage like that. But the result looks great. Classical instruments like violins get reliced for over 100 years and it also looks very good

[punkywozza]

Brutal Metal and Heavy Relicing Guitars.... Brutal :)

[jpromano_]

I would love more details about the process for the fretboard, it really came out nice

[jasonjay]

Nice work, you know you can be the greatest luthier/artist but you will never beat the art of time/age, so it looks “fake. some people like it, even through most are bedroom players, I personally don’t, I have a couple of honest dents on my relatively new tele, they look sexy! Luthiers can’t make time, in my opinion a relic guitar is like a young boy in an old man custom.

[iainlove]

Excellent look mate. Please can you tell me if you scraped the fingerboard before dying and what dye did you use?
Thanks