https://ultimateclassicrock.com/gibson-artificially-aged-guitars/
Everyone has a plan, till you get punched in the face,
My my! Most expensive is $10,000.00 plus.
I was just in the big music store downtown in my hometown. Beautiful Les Pauls for 5, 6 and 7 thousand. A Carlos Santana custom Paul Reed Smith that had a wonderful red burst finish for $8,500.00
Then there was a brand new blue with white pick guard and rosewood neck Squire Stratocaster by Fender for $85.57. I told them they need to advertise it as a Jack Pearson Special but the man didnt know Jack Pearson.
Can you imagine paying $8,000.00 for a Les Paul and it isn't noticeably better than a Jack Pearson Squire Stratocaster by Fender for $85 dollars??? Make me sick.
Here is Jack Pearson playing a white Stratocaster made in Singapore that according to an interview Jack paid $90 dollars for this guitar and Jack says it plays and sounds as good to him as any heavy to the shoulder $7 thousand Les Paul.
Hard to believe but somehow I believe Jack. How about you?
Various manufacturers and individuals have been selling "relic'ed" instruments for quite a while. A genuine, vintage instrument just might have some wear showing on it. Putting a guitar in and out of the case can cause some abrasions over time. Some people (me) take good care of their toys. I've got a couple of guitars that have minor dings from normal play and wear. Some people feel that the instrument has "mojo" or give them a certain amount of "cred" if it looks like it's been beat to shit and back. Some will take a nearly (or actual) brand new guitar and take paint thinner, kerosine, bicycle chains or all of the above to them to get that "broken in" look. Seems we've discussed this before and some were actually in favor of stuff like this. For me, abusing an instrument just to get some "cred" is about the most poser-istic act in the world. If I find an old guitar that I like and it shows signs of abuse or neglect but plays well - I'll likely buy it (assuming it's for sale). I would not buy a guitar just because it looks like it's been dragged behind a car for 100 miles.
When I see someone who has a "relic'ed" guitar - I usually ask them if they'd like for me to take a tire iron and "relic" their brand new car.
I wouldn't want one, it's like buying torn jeans. But if the lawyers who jam on the weekends want to drop $10K on these and keep the guitar manufacturers afloat so they can make quality affordable instruments, it's fine with me. Clearly there is a market for them, considering Gibson's debt they'd be stupid to ignore it. I have an SG and a LP, both Studio and under $1K. Another $9K doesn't enhance the sound, no matter what some gear head says about Nitro finish.
Even the original run LPs need to get refinished, so the wear doesn't mean anything. It's like they say, only 650 Les Pauls were made in 1959, and unfortunately today only 1500 remain.
My hobbies are music and vintage Firebirds. Thankfully in the old car world, aged restorations have not taken hold. To me mojo is earned not made. Just knowing it is created mojo would make it unauthentic to me. I love a survivor old car. Not a ragged one, a clouded chrome, aged paint, NICE survivor that was garaged. An old Les Paul with a respectable amount of mojo is a thing of awe, warts and all. You think of the players and clubs and music that came out of it. So I get people chasing mojo, but mojo is a deep and serious thing, not a whipped up facsimile. And isn't part of the mojo of an old guitar the aged wood itself? All the great old mahogany is not around anymore.
I found the video very interesting in spite of. Is Gibson stupid for doing this? Heck no. When the market calls, answer. and they do a fantastic job at aging.
I bought an SG standard last year. I kicked around a custom shop one vs the production one I got. Besides my talent level not warranting a CS one, I liked the shiny finish on the production better than the CS version.
@bird72 A few years ago, my wife got me a Fender Blues Jr. amp - tweed model. It actually looks a lot like an older Fender amp. I've had a couple of people offer me a couple of $thousand dollars for it! I always tell them, "yeah, okay. "Then I can buy 4 more just like it." I don't know that it lends me any cred or not, but it is cool-lookin'! 😉
@robertdee Jack has true, undeniable talent! More than his share of it! A player of his caliber can play pretty much any guitar as long as it's in one piece and has strings on it and sound great! An expensive or relic'ed guitar will not make you play beyond your abilities. A good set-up on a guitar you already own will help you just as much.
(Edit) JACK STORY:
Several years ago at the GABBA Fest in Macon, Jack was playing. He'd given a guitar to the Big House (museum) some years before. For whatever reasons, someone brought the guitar to the show and handed it to Jack. The guitar had the same strings and set-up (which was probably due for an update) that it had when Jack gave it to them. As he tuned the ancient strings he said, "guitars are made to be played - not to just sit around". Then he started wailin' away on it! It's the player - not the instrument! 😉
Exactly, musicians chase those old LPs because of the woods - and lacquers, pickups, and vintage wire, etc. The wear is just a byproduct of its age and mileage. PRS made a big deal about getting one of Gibson's vintage pickup wire. Doesn't mean a new PRS is going to sound like a '59 Gibson. But it also doesn't mean the '59 Gibson is going to still sound better than a 2019 Les Paul.
@rusty I've always wanted one of those tweed Blues Jrs, but just can't rationalize another amp...
Money, honey.
’59 Les Paul sold for about $375. That’s about $3400 in today’s money. No custom shop then but those are usually double the regular price.
Fender doing it too. I don’t get the relicing at all but they will sell them all.
At the moment I have three Les Paul’s: My fancy one, a 2013 Trad pro, modded but not relic’d, a 2018 Tribute w/P90s, and a 2020 Tribute that I got for $800 that is an amazing instrument, been playing it nonstop.
A Pearson story about the Squiers, Brother gpm and I attended one of Jack’s clinics when he was down here. Of course he was asked about the Squiers. He did say he used them a good bit of the time...BUT, he said the last ones he bought he looked at nine and bought three.
I had a Squier Strat, sea green with lipstick pickups, a really sweet guitar. I sold, sue me, I don’t like Strats.
It is always the individual instrument. Great ones can be found at all price points, you just got to poke around.
@porkchopbob Porkchopbob you probably remember what happened to Dickey's number one from 1974 to 1994. A great sounding 1957 Goldtop. While it sat in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Dickey moved to a Paul Reed Smith, then an ES-335 and then his old 1956 Stratocaster, the Goldtop turned a crummy looking green!!! Just before Dickey's time in the ABB was over, he got it back, sanded it down and painted it red and added a pickguard.
Personally I think the absolute best tone Dickey ever had was another Goldtop he used from just after the Fillmore album was recorded until he moved to a sunburst with zebra pickups. That is it on One Way Out on Eat A Peach. Jimmy Herring has commented on what a fantastic tone Dickey has on that.
Those late 50's Les Pauls probably have the best tone of any electric guitars.
Also it isn't fair to use Jack Pearson as a measuring cup. He would sound great on a 25 dollar Silvertone if the amp was good.
I'm a little perplexed though as to why he is collecting and playing those cheap $80.00 Squire Stratocasters out of Singapore. The guy at the music store told me the name Squire comes from a string company Fender bought. Later they began using Fender on their strings then resurrected the Squire name to get the Fender name off those cheap Asian copy guitars. But the headstock reads "Squire bullet by fender". He had never heard of Jack and doesn't recommend a serious player using a Squire. He said Gibson's cheaper name Epiphone are better and often about as good as an actual Gibson.
I guess he didnt understand Jack Pearson could play a shovel that had 4 or 5 strings, a bridge and a pickup added to it and sound better than a lot of players. Apparently Jack isn't as well known. I've mentioned him to several music and guitar fans in recent months and they don't know Jack.
@robertdee Someone trying to sell guitars is always going to recommend a more expensive guitar if you're "serious" 😉
Meh, relicing is a fashion statement IMHO and if customers are willing to pay for it then why shouldn't Gibson cater to that market?
To me it is like artist reissue replica models. They charge a pretty penny for them but are they any better than regular models? Never played one but probably not. Doubt they sound much better than my 2000 Les Paul Raw Power natural finish.
Here is a Duane Allman "hotlanta" bourbon burst resissue. Beautiful guitar but you are paying for the name as I doubt it plays better than a regular bourbon burst historic at 1/3 the price.
https://reverb.com/item/29193413-gibson-custom-shop-historic-duane-allman-hot-lanta-re-issue
Looks like the real thing without the relicing IMHO
https://duaneallman.info/duaneallmanshotlanta.htm
Yeah , I agree with most of you on this relic business and the reasons given are dead on. No thanks!
These are not cheap either.
THE FENDER CUSTOM SHOP UNVEILS THE 2021 PRESTIGE COLLECTION
Everyone has a plan, till you get punched in the face,
@bill_graham. The Duane Allman Custom Les Paul. $20,000.00!!!!!
According to what we read back in the day Duane Allman wasn't even worth $20,000.00 when he died 
Of course Gregg lamented it was long after his brother died the money just began to pour in. That in just two years they were all millionaires.
I wonder if that $20,000.00 LP has DUANE on the back of the body spelled out in old frets?
@jszfunk The oldest pictures of Dickey Betts playing a guitar, he is very young in them, Dickey is playing a Fender Jazzmaster.
Roy Clark played one on TV for several years when he became famous.
Apparently the Stratocaster was designed to be a guitar for country and western swing players in the 1950s. Then Hendrix shook up that in the 1960s.
@porkchopbob Porkchopbob you probably remember what happened to Dickey's number one from 1974 to 1994. A great sounding 1957 Goldtop. While it sat in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Dickey moved to a Paul Reed Smith, then an ES-335 and then his old 1956 Stratocaster, the Goldtop turned a crummy looking green!!! Just before Dickey's time in the ABB was over, he got it back, sanded it down and painted it red and added a pickguard. "
The goldtop they had on display is not the same one that he refinned...
@robertdee Someone trying to sell guitars is always going to recommend a more expensive guitar if you're "serious" 😉
I always tell them that if I was "serious" I would've died in a puddle of my own puke many years ago.
@bill_graham. The Duane Allman Custom Les Paul. $20,000.00!!!!!
According to what we read back in the day Duane Allman wasn't even worth $20,000.00 when he died
Of course Gregg lamented it was long after his brother died the money just began to pour in. That in just two years they were all millionaires.
I wonder if that $20,000.00 LP has DUANE on the back of the body spelled out in old frets?
If you read the text of the listing they reduced to a bargain price of only $15,900.00.
If you scroll through the pics you can see they did add the "Duane" with frets on the back. The only thing they did not do was try to replicate all the wear and tear like the original. Maybe they did not have access to Duane's "hotlanta" when they were making the reissues.
Here is another reissue for sale of his cherry burst without covers. Not sure if they ever did a reissue of his Layla goldtop
Gibson also did a reissue of Betts goldtop
https://spinditty.com/instruments-gear/Dickey-Betts-and-the-Gibson-Les-Paul
They mention Duane in the ad for a 1957 historic reissue Goldtop but I don't think it is a reissue of his Layla goldtop.
And if you buy a Duane Allman, Dickey Betts, David Gilmour, Jimi Hendrix guitar - you will sound exactly like those guys when you play it. That's why they charge you the big nickel for 'em.
And if you buy a Duane Allman, Dickey Betts, David Gilmour, Jimi Hendrix guitar - you will sound exactly like those guys when you play it. That's why they charge you the big nickel for 'em.
Fans want to feel their favorite player's mojo I guess as they seem to have no problem selling these reissues. I am betting many buy them and never play them or buy them as an investment hoping they appreciate as they are usually very limited production runs.
In any case, maybe it is better to look good than to play good
@redhouse1969 Are you sure? Maybe you're thinking the Big House.
Dickey said in an interview that while his 1957 Les Paul "Goldie" sat in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland it oxidized apparently due to the indoor AC system and turned, as Dickey put it, a puke green. Dickey said when he got it back ( not long before he was faxed by the ABB version of cancel culture out of the band) Dickey said he decided to sand and strip it down then repainted it red. Added a pickguard and a buckle or something around the pickup switch.
Dickey then said some wondered how he could do that to such a known and classic guitar and Dickey said while he has a lot of guitars at his home, he has always looked at them as tools of the trade rather than collecting valuable relics.
And if you buy a Duane Allman, Dickey Betts, David Gilmour, Jimi Hendrix guitar - you will sound exactly like those guys when you play it. That's why they charge you the big nickel for 'em.
It is better to look good than to play good
I do have an Eric Clapton model Martin (EC-0028). I did not buy it because it was a Clapton model. I test-played a bunch of guitars. I already had a Dreadnaught model so I didn't go for a D (or HD) 28. I wanted a smaller body model. I tried a standard 000-28, but it felt so "new" and stiff. They had the Clapton model so I tried it. It just felt and sounded better so I bought it. As fate would have it, I sound absolutely nothing like Eric Clapton when I play it.
The Betts goltop in the RRHOF is a Les Paul Deluxe... They probably asked Dickey or his manager for a guitar to display. I have seen it many times at the museum.
@bill_graham Yeah a doctor here bought his son a custom Eric Clapton Beno Les Paul replica of the Les Paul Clapton played in the Bluesbreakers. Don't know the price but the doc said it was expensive. Actually his son wanted a Kramer finished like Van Halen's but the Doc likes Clapton better.
Last fall I saw the drummer in that local band which is on Covid hiatus and mentioned that. I ask if Doc Junior sounds like Clapton. He said " we have another guitar player and a guy who plays keys and guitar so the Doc's son doesn't have too many spots in our sets." I said you didnt answer my question. He then said "that guitar is gorgeous but let's just say the son holds it real good".
So they did a reissue of Dickey's "redtop"
And aged Betts Goldtop
@redhouse1969 I found the interview. Dickey did loan the 57 Goldie Goldtop to the rock and roll hall of fame and it oxidized and turned an ugly puke green while there for a couple of years so Dickey got it back. Dickey said he tried to fix it with some very fine sandpaper but made it worse. That is when he decided to paint it red and add a pickguard and a custom belt buckle for the pickup toggle switch.
Dickey must have gave them another Les Paul and that is what you've been seeing. Dickey has another Les Paul at the Big House on display.
In late summer/early fall of 1970 Dickey liked what Duane was getting out of a Les Paul and decided to get a Les Paul. In 1969 Dickey played an ES-335 then a Stratocaster. 1970 Stratocaster then an SG by summer of 70 then he moved to a Les Paul. But Dickey didnt like the first one. He bought it in Detroit. Dickey went through about six Les Paul's before he snagged the 1957 Goldtop nicknamed " Goldie". That was his number one until 1994. I assume from 1995 to about 1998 is when it sat in the R&R Hall.
But to me the best tone Dickey ever had was the Goldtop he began using after he moved off the Fillmore East guitar in 1971. That is it on One Way Out on Eat A Peach.
I've never understood the appeal of a faux-aged instrument at any price. I'd much rather let the instrument break-in, age, and wear from years of actually playing it and earning those blemishes & scars.
I recently noticed some Chinese counterfeiters making artificially aged guitars with the Gibson & Fender Custom Shop logos on the headstock and selling them on Ebay for a few hundred dollars. Most of them will show pictures of the guitar but omit the headstock in their ads but I noticed a couple of them were rather brazen about it.
