“It’s actually a really intensive process that adds a lot of hours to the guitar”: Fender’s Chief Product Officer dispels the most common myth around relicing guitars
Love them or loathe them, there’s a lot of work that goes into relic’d guitars. And according to Fender’s Chief Product Officer Max Gutnik, it’s a process that isn’t as simple as some may think.
Giving a guitar a worn look doesn’t actually mean that luthiers are beating the crap out of them or dragging them across tarmac. While they need to look a little worse for wear, they also need to function and, of course, sound great.
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Speaking to Guitarist, Gutnik says, “You know, relicing is hard to do. It’s ironic because people think you can just drop it a few times and drag it down the street. But it’s actually a really intensive process that adds a lot of hours to the guitar.
“Trying to make the relicing not look uniform is really important. The processes we use have improved so much: you want the feel and the look of a broken-in guitar, but you don’t want anything actually broken! So we just keep improving that process, the lacquer and paint…”
There are some players out there who simply detest relic’d guitars, simply because they feel they haven’t really earned their stripes. Gutnik, however, feels their part in the market is important and valuable, as the guitars offer a look and feel that would otherwise take 20 years or more to achieve. Some people just don’t have that time on their hands.
Fender’s Road Worn models are designed to provide that feel, which come right out of its factory in Ensenada, Mexico: “It’s like getting a pre-washed pair of jeans: they’re broken in so they’re comfortable right out of the store, but they’ll continue to wear and become your own,” Gutnik shares.
“That’s what’s so great about nitrocellulose lacquer. If you have to wait 25 years to get to that place, I mean, you might not get there! So starting that process and having the guitar feel super comfortable out of the gate is what we’re aiming for.”
To find out more about its Road Worn models, head over to the Fender website.
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Source: www.guitar-bass.net
