BS: New relics

Subject: New relics
From: C-flat
Date: 08 Mar 02 - 04:12 PM

A friend of mine owns a music store and recently sold a Japanese stratocaster to a young kid who was wanting to learn to play.As a matter of course my friend set-up the instrument and pointed him towards a good tutor. Some weeks passed until the kid returned offering to sell back the guitar because he wasn't making progress.(no record deal). Having agreed a buy-back figure the youngster brought in the guitar but to my friend's horror had neglected to mention the fact that he had indulged in a spot of premature ageing and the guitar now looked as though it had spent the last two weeks tied to the back of a wagon! After a spell of name calling and a deal of arse-kicking a reduced figure was offered and accepted and the boy went on his way.(presumably in search of a drum kit). Oddly enough this sorry looking instrument, which had never been played, was now attracting the sort of attention you might expect if you put Stevie Ray Vaughan's battered old Strat in the shop window! My friend said he could have sold it six times over.It seems that the perception of this level of wear and tear is that it must have been in the hands of "real players". So it would seem that if your thinking of parting with an instrument forget giving it a last polish and instead take it outside and give it a good kicking round the yard. You will be giving the guitar the sort of kudos that no time served luthier can match! Yes O.K. I was young once and even now I look fondly at the bumps and scratches on my favourite beater, but those are genuine, earned and honest marks, collected in the time honoured fashion of fending off unwanted attention from over zealous bar-room music critics! The person who's going to buy an artificially aged guitar is surely not going to have the type of tenacity required to learn a musical instrument!

Subject: RE: BS: New relics
From: Amos
Date: 08 Mar 02 - 04:26 PM

Hell, folks act the same way about people. I found all I needed to do to command all kinds of respect at work is grow a snowy beard which makes me look seriously abused by time and surviving anyway -- makes people listen up just as though i really knew anything!!

A

Subject: RE: BS: New relics
From: katlaughing
Date: 08 Mar 02 - 04:31 PM

They do it to furniture all of the time to give it that "distressed" look; even show ya how on the Home and Garden channel! Makes me figure all of my old beat-up *antiques* should be worth a pretty penny or two, as long I don't refinish them. Patina! It's soooooo important!

Subject: RE: BS: New relics
From: C-flat
Date: 08 Mar 02 - 04:31 PM

Good point Amos! Now a snowy beard AND a battered guitar...

Subject: RE: BS: New relics
From: khandu
Date: 08 Mar 02 - 04:36 PM

A friend of mine made his living selling "antiques". Actually, he would buy various furniture, dining tables, coffe tables, etc., then he would abuse them. He would beat them with a chain, pound them with an ice-pick, or any thing else he could think of. Then he would leave them outside in the elements for several months or so, and then sell them. Often selling them at more than twice the original price.

Hell, I have seen used, worn-out jeans sell for more than double the original.

So I readily accept the guitar tale.

Thirty years ago, I purchased a well-worn Jazzmaster. Most of the finish had been worn off but it played like a charm. Within a week, I was offered 3X what I had payed. Foolishly, I thought, "Man, if I refinish this jewel, I'll make a fortune!" I had it refinished by a pro. It looked brand new. I never got another offer for it.

I have learned much through such experiences!

khandu

Subject: RE: BS: New relics
From: Bill D
Date: 09 Mar 02 - 02:17 PM

The human mind works in mysterious ways....I saw a new item on TV years ago of a guy taking brand new jeans, laying against a dirt embankment and blasting them with a shotgun!...then re-selling them for several times what he paid. That 'distressed' look seems to have something!

...so, why ain't I getting more action...*grin*

Subject: RE: BS: New relics
From: GUEST
Date: 09 Mar 02 - 02:50 PM

As an antique collecter and lover of old pieces, how many times have I seen an nice early Canadian or American armoire, worth $10000 or more if left alone, refinished by some ignoramus and now worth $500 or less as just used furniture? Patinas get buffed off bronzes, reducing them to worthless trash. Any collector can relate similar horror stories.