Beginners Guide to Fender Custom Shop - Levels of Relicing 101

Part of the beauty, playing quality and, yes, even the price, of a Fender Custom Shop or a Fender Custom Shop Masterbuilt is driven by the level of ‘relicing’ work the Custom Shop and/or Masterbuilder has applied to the Guitar.. Ever wondered what it all means? Read on…

Ever get confused by the descriptions? Here’s AOGs 101 for the world of the relic guitar 

In layman’s terms it’s what makes a brand new guitar look like it’s been out on the road for the last 40 years or more, had countless hours in smokey venues being thrashed around to create the wonderful tones all lovers of live music like to enjoy.. But it’s not just a bit of wizardly designed to fool your bandmates and audience into thinking you’ve spent your life in the tour bus ( or when you’re playing that solo in the mirror you can realistically ‘transport’ yourself into the biggest imaginary venues with weathered rock stars alongside you, it REALLY does have tonal and playing benefits too, with the best Masterbuilders doing the best relic jobs of all let's dig deeper into the world of the relic guitar and find out what all the fuss and money is all about. In order of Relic worn work here's the Art of Guitar 101 Guide to all things Relic : Listed from shiny and new to what can look like it was dragged behind your car on a piece of rope - making it look like you’ve been supporting Guns and Roses or the Rolling Stones since they started, well, Rolling…

1) Time Capsule : this finish is as the name says. A 1963 Time Capsule finish makes it look like the guitar was built yesterday yet still has vintage features like hand wound and vintage voiced pickups. Check out the Fender Custom Shop ‘Time Capsule’ Paisley ‘63 Greg Fessler Masterbuilt Stratocaster to see what we mean

2) Closet Classic - this finish is slight checking and maybe a mark here and there : just like the Guitar has been left in its case under the bed for 30 years or… in a Closet somewhere. Get it? Let’s move on

3) Journeyman: this naming is used for those guitars with a bit more ‘paint checking’ some chips and bangs and maybe even some slight lacquer removal off the back of the neck. A favorite of Masterbuilders like Dale Wilson, Journeyman has just the right amount of Relic to convince you it is actually a new guitar you just bought, whilst having some of the playing benefits of lacquer wear on the neck.

4) Medium : Now we’re getting serious and it’s likely there’s no lacquer at all now on the back of the neck making it play even faster. Often some paint is missing or, if it’s a color over color guitar, Sand over Black for instance, then this will be medium. Check the Fender Custom Shop Ltd 1963 Yuriy Shishkov Masterbuilt Medium Relic Sand over Black to see one of these

5) Heavy relic - check the Fender Custom Shop Joe Strummer Heavy Relic Masterbuilt by Paul Waller to see this finishing in action. A perfect replica of Joe Strummer's guitar when he was front lining for the Clash and ‘London was Burning’ this is an extremely limited and awesome guitar and also a fabulous example of Heavy relic in action!

6) Ultra Heavy speaks for itself.. Ultra Heavy Relic finishes can be distinguished by seeing swathes of bare wood under the paintwork and definitely no lacquer on the neck. Looks like you’ve been touring all your life, sleeping in the tour bus often with said guitar, and plays like it too! The new John Frusciante signature guitar, a limited release again by one of our bestest and most favorite Masterbuilders ever, Paul Waller