Who's the poseur? The musician that wants 'that tone', or the boomer who leaves his shit unplayed in the closet because it's 'worth a mint'.

My friend got a Fender Custom Shop 'Relic' Strat. It's INSANE. For $1500 it's a little more realistic than the $50K baby-boomers are asking for their 'real' Strats.

Play on!

Play on playas.

how, pray tell, does sandpapering finish off a guitar or beating it with belt buckles help achieve 'that tone'?

I can see how an acoustic can change as the finish weathers, cracks, etc. It has been postulated that the weathering and imperfections are what give a Stradivarius it's rich tone.

Now on an ax, dats jes crazy.

Depending on the guitar you start with, fucking with the finish can end up sounding pretty good... though not a whole lot different than what you started with. Distressing will basically loosen up the tone a bit, make it fit like an old pair of jeans. Though I'd say this is more of a mindset thing for the player than anything else.

Distressing the finish of a solid body electric guitar does fuck-all to change the tone. The finish has zero effect on the magnetic fields, vibration of the strings, or the density/mass of the guitars wood. There is also zero acoustic effect on tone with a solid body like the Strat.

Poser trash.

Well, you may think that it's not about the finish (and perhaps it isn't, although many musician friends say that they can hear the difference), but it certainly is about the solder and electronics, the bridge, the woods and how they all work together. When you buy a 'Relic' you're getting the good old-school stuff. When you buy the latest 'MIM' guitar you're getting a completely different instrument (that sounds like ass).

Don't cry 'cause you're too tone deaf to hear the difference.

so what you're saying is that if a guitar is built properly with the right materials, it sounds great? this is true regardless of the 'relic' process, no?

kthnx. I won't.

Wood doesn't conduct electricity anywhere near well enough to play tag team with 'awsomely aged electronics' to ever have a pigeon toe of an effect on anything related to tone. Unless it's soaking wet at the time.

Aged solder and electronics can very well effect tone and add shitty noise to any electric ax, but beating a new guitars body to shit with a bunch of bolts and such isn't going to age anything unless these scam artists use magical time altering bolts and belt buckles.

You don't have to buy a 'relic' to have an instrument that can squeek out kick assed tones. You just have to learn to play the fucking guitar. My 1995 american standard sounds as good as any 2004 MIM or any 2007 poser special or any 1966 strat you can dig out a tomb. It isn't about magic, it's about mastering a craft.

Many modern dicknuts think that: because great guitarists played great shit on beat up guitars, the magic must be in the guitar. Then, while connecting dots, they determine beat up is better... or perhaps era, or color, or the number of oxidized solder points, or how much of the shitty chrome plating has flaked off the bridge. Whatever. The truth is, great guitarists have great tone because they beat the fuck out of their guitars while spending a lifetime learning how to get that 'perfect' sound. You can't buy that. You have to work for it.

Don't cry because you're stoking guitarjohns opinion and need a threesome.

Don't cry because you're stoking guitarjohns opinion and need a threesome.

Don't cry because you can't riff on his sassy ending any better than you can riff on your Wal-mart geetar.

:twang; string breaks and cuts through heart

The truth is, great guitarists have great tone because they beat the fuck out of their guitars while spending a lifetime learning how to get that 'perfect' sound. You can't buy that. You have to work for it.

QFMFT

Newb requests swarm vernacular definition please: QFMFT?

Don't cry because you're stoking guitarjohns opinion and need a threesome.

My lack of wit has the inside of me feeling silly now.

My lack of wit has the inside of me feeling silly now.

Yeah, and soft and mushy too, I speculate.

Like a schoolgirl with a crush. Chasing her 'boyfriend' around the schoolyard and punching his upper arm in the lunch line. All the while harboring secret and confusing feelings of lust for his pecker.

Well-spotted!

Mmm-Mmm pecker!

p.s. QFMFT is internet vernacular for 'Quit Fucking Men, FagTown'

p.p.s. i lie. Quoted For Mother Fucking Truth; see also QFT - Quoted For Truth

Ok, that makes sense. Both ways. Thanks.

The finish absolutely affects the sound of an instrument. Taking Stradivarius violins as an example, master violin makers have spent years trying to determine exactly what was in the varnish that was used to make them. They still don't really know for sure.

What they do know is that two instruments made from exactly the same materials (wood from the same source, etc) that have two different varnishes will sound completely different.

I can only speculate that the same would be true for guitars.

The finish absolutely affects the sound of an instrument. Taking Stradivarius violins as an example...

Acoustic vs electric. Hollow vs solid. What you say is absolutely true for acoustic guitars and any hollow bodied acoustic instrument; be it dobro, viola or piano.

Not so much for a Fender Strat, Gibby SG or any other solid bodied electric guitar. They rely mostly on mass, pick-up placement and the type of pick-up for tone. The amp and pre do the rest. Not to mention the players feel and experience combined with his familiarity with his equipment.

Now a Les Paul electric with a hollow body is another animal. Finish will effect tone slightly because the guitar relies on acoustic vibration for resonance and that vibration does effect tone.

For a quick idea of what I'm talking about, imagine Ted Nugent's Gibson Birdman tone vs Eric Clapton's Fender Strat tone. They are both juicy and delicious and they are very different but only one of them relies slightly on finish for it's signature vibe because only one of them is hollow... like a Stradivarius.

I love guitar talk almost as much as guitar noises.

Do many swarmers play?

Not as much as I'd like to, I've been playing on and off for about 20 years.

Da. Him old like me. Rock on Kahuna.

awshit: I love guitar jon almost as much as guitar noises.

Love connection. Thank me later.

^Was it the wide stance and the synchronized foot tapping that gave it away?