Roadworn - Uh, no thanks...

[Jaden]

Originally Posted by raysachs

Who says you pay extra for it? The MIM roadworn strat and tele were priced right in line with the other higher end MIM guitars. It’s just another choice at basically the same price point. I bought one because I loved how the guitar played, not because of the relic look, but that didn’t prevent me from using it either. I didn’t like the roadworn strat as much as the Robert Cray model I already owned, but I did prefer the neck by a lot (the things Jaden doesn’t like about the roadworn necks, I love), so I have a new looking guitar with a slightly worn looking neck. My favorite strat ever and I’ve been a strat guy since 1979...

-Ray

Your Roadworn Tele (pictured above) looks pretty good Ray - I’m convinced mine was a particularly poor example, a lemon with a very rough neck - each guitar should be evaluated on an individual basis, and like you, I purchased mine not for the relicing, but for what it offered at its price point for features, at a small fraction of the price of a custom shop.

[raysachs]

Originally Posted by Jaden

Your Roadworn Tele (pictured above) looks pretty good Ray - I’m convinced mine was a particularly poor example, a lemon with a very rough neck - each guitar should be evaluated on an individual basis, and like you, I purchased mine not for the relicing, but for what it offered at its price point for features, at a small fraction of the price of a custom shop.

Could be you got a poor one - they’re great guitars at decent prices, but quality control probably isn’t up to PRS levels... Or we might just like different stuff. A roadworn neck is semi-beefy (not fat like a Baja, but a lot more meat than a typical modern C neck), has an unfinished feel, a 7.25” radius, and narrow tall frets. The strat version is similar but has a soft-V feel up by the nut. To me, they’re nearly perfect feeling and playing necks, but they’re not to everyone’s liking by a long shot. Some folks can’t stand a 7.25” neck, some can’t stand tall frets - to me the combination is sublime. I played a few of the teles and to me they all felt basically identical other than the weight, but I’m sure a few not so good ones slip through...

-Ray

[Bob Womack]

Now compare that to this guitar:






This is a 45 year old guitar that has been with me for 42 years. It has spent time on the road, been to Atlanta Federal Pen., and has been used in countless recording sessions since 1979. A few dings and bruises but nothing through the finish. The binding is yellowing and there is some pick brush on the pickups and pick guard. Honest mileage may vary from "road worn."


Bob

[MinorKey]

I dislike this trend for road worn guitars. Get a good guitar and write your own story instead of trying to live someone else's.

[RedJoker]

Honestly, I'm surprised folks are putting this much thought into it. If you don't like it, don't buy it and move on. No need to waste time grumbling about it.

Obviously, I need to follow that advice as I just replied to a thread that made me roll my eyes.

I think some of them look cool. Obviously, they are not all done in a way I find attractive but I really like some of them. In my mind, it's kind of like buying brand new vinyl records instead of actual vintage records.

[raysachs]

Originally Posted by RedJoker

Honestly, I'm surprised folks are putting this much thought into it. If you don't like it, don't buy it and move on. No need to waste time grumbling about it.

Obviously, I need to follow that advice as I just replied to a thread that made me roll my eyes.

I think some of them look cool. Obviously, they are not all done in a way I find attractive but I really like some of them. In my mind, it's kind of like buying brand new vinyl records instead of actual vintage records.

I agree. I like some of them, I don't like some of them. Sort of like with NON-relic guitars. Plenty of shining new guitars are just plain ugly in my eyes, some are gorgeous. Mostly the looks don't matter to me enough to sway a buying decision, in some cases I just couldn't buy a guitar because I couldn't imagine having to look at it every day. I mean, a bunch of Gibson and Ibanez designs that were very popular among metal-heads always struck me and strike me still as horribly ugly. So I don't buy them or even consider it. And some people love them and buy them. And I think everyone is happy with that. I don't get mad about guitars I think are stupid looking or feel superior about it. I'm not sure why anyone would... I just like what I like...

That said, I did spend gratuitous cash on my Emerald acoustic, getting one with a wood veneer on the top, which cost me a few hundred more than a plain carbon version would have. Ordinarily I wouldn't do that, but I was pretty sure it was a lifetime guitar, and it was a 60th birthday present, so I sprung for it. And haven't regretted it - I'm far more sure now that it IS a lifetime guitar...

[GangstaPat]

Originally Posted by raysachs

Plenty of shining new guitars are just plain ugly in my eyes, some are gorgeous. Mostly the looks don't matter to me enough to sway a buying decision, in some cases I just couldn't buy a guitar because I couldn't imagine having to look at it every day. I mean, a bunch of Gibson and Ibanez designs that were very popular among metal-heads always struck me and strike me still as horribly ugly. So I don't buy them or even consider it. And some people love them and buy them.

How ironic that you say this. I recently took a dive on a Gibson Firebird because the price for features was simply too good to turn down (SDOTD again). I've always thought it was the homliest looking thing I've ever seen. Still don't like the looks but boy! It is one heck of a guitar. It fits my acoustic guitar hands better than anything but the wide neck Les Pauls that Gibson made only one year and I love the tone of this guitar. I'm also surprised at how balanced and comfortable the awkward looking body of this guitar feels. Will the looks ever grow on me? I doubt it. I feel like I should be wearing a tight red leather jumpsuit with Bootsy Collins style boots on when holding it. I will probably end up looking for the same features in something shaped like a Les Paul or hollow body jazz box so I can sell this one on to someone who thinks it looks cool but I didn't discriminate because I didn't like the way it looks...

[raysachs]

Originally Posted by GangstaPat

How ironic that you say this. I recently took a dive on a Gibson Firebird because the price for features was simply too good to turn down (SDOTD again). I've always thought it was the homliest looking thing I've ever seen. Still don't like the looks but boy! It is one heck of a guitar. It fits my acoustic guitar hands better than anything but the wide neck Les Pauls that Gibson made only one year and I love the tone of this guitar. I'm also surprised at how balanced and comfortable the awkward looking body of this guitar feels. Will the looks ever grow on me? I doubt it. I feel like I should be wearing a tight red leather jumpsuit with Bootsy Collins style boots on when holding it. I will probably end up looking for the same features in something shaped like a Les Paul or hollow body jazz box so I can sell this one on to someone who thinks it looks cool but I didn't discriminate because I didn't like the way it looks...

I agree with your point, but disagree on the Firebird - to me that was a Johnny Winter blues axe, not a metal guitar. True, it's looks, along with the Explorer and Flying V probably inspired some of the metal guitars I dislike the looks of so much. I think the Firebird, at least the one with the jutting chin, not the no-chin model (I'm always confused by the terms "reverse" and "non-reverse") is a great looking guitar. The other one, which I had for a while back in the early'80s, is like an otherwise great looking person with a collapsed chin, basically pretty ugly.

But ironically again, I actually bought one of the new Firebirds about a year ago when I was looking for a P90 guitar. There were things I really liked about it, but it was the thinnest sounding P90 guitar I've ever heard. It didn't survive three days of Guitar Center's 45 day return period before going back.

So we like what we like!

-Ray

[Groberts]

Originally Posted by raysachs

FWIW, the Roadworn tele I have (blond / yellow, not the purple one, but EXACTLY the same guitar other than the finish) is much more understated. There is relicing done to it but you don't see it from any distance and it's not obnoxious up close either. I never see it any more. The necks on both of my guitars just look like slightly worn necks. And actually, that purple roadworn that Musician's Friend is selling isn't that badly dinged up either - it's just PURPLE so everything about it screams more visually than the more understated colors. Fender makes a bunch of custom shop guitars they sell for upwards of $3000 that are HEAVILY reliced, I mean just beat to smithereens. Evidently there's a market for that look, but if I have a say in the looks, that's not gonna be what I look for. But their roadworn series, both strats and teles, both now discontinued but sill somewhat available, were some of the great values Fender ever sold IMHO. The early versions were very rough looking, but somewhere around 2013 they toned down the amount of "wear" they showed on them and it's really not enough to object to much, whereas the earlier ones arguably were.

Here's my yellow / blonde roadworn tele - you can see some wear marks around the edges, but not that much:

untitled-1 by Ray, on Flickr

-Ray

I LOVE that Roadworn. They are very very good guitars. In fact, I have found they play and sound better than the shiny new player/performer/professional/elite/ultra (whatever new name Fender comes up with every year)

Roadworns are legit and great sounding, great playing guitars.

I wouldn't buy a purple one for other reasons. Weird color for a traditional style tele. Guess I'm old school.

[Gabby84]

Originally Posted by lizzard

It’s cheating. It’s kind of like marrying someone young whose already sick of your crap. They have to earn it!

thank you for my new signature quote. :-)

Whatever floats your boat, not my money, not my thing.

As an aside, I do not get the need for "road worn" look on new guitars, unless someone is trying to sneak a new guitar into their lineup without the spouse having a fit. "New guitar, what new guitar? just look at it, I got a great deal!"

My guitar case, on the other hand, is beat up because I travel a lot with it. My M20 has a few dings, but I wipe the strings down and the body down after playing. A habit my viola teacher got me into as a kid.
My Guild Bluesbird has dings and a few scratch marks from a belt buckle. The hardshell case, on the other hand, shows its age.

[Hoyt]

Used to think road worn was a joke, until I played a Fender RW Precision Bass in Fiesta Red. It’s made in Mexico with lacquer paint and a nice played in feel.

Love it, but would not buy a 6 string like that. I did get some matching paint and touched up a bunch of the worn places.

[raysachs]

Originally Posted by Groberts

I LOVE that Roadworn. They are very very good guitars. In fact, I have found they play and sound better than the shiny new player/performer/professional/elite/ultra (whatever new name Fender comes up with every year)

Roadworns are legit and great sounding, great playing guitars.

I wouldn't buy a purple one for other reasons. Weird color for a traditional style tele. Guess I'm old school.

I don’t think I could ever buy a sparkly purple guitar either, but you’re right about the roadworns - they’re great guitars.

I was never much of a tele guy, but in about 1980, a friend and I were checking out used guitars at Chicago Music in downtown Tucson and we stumbled onto a mid-50’s tele that had the most sublime feeling neck I’d ever played - I’d never felt anything close to it. It was something like $1200 though, which might as well have been a million at that point. But I never forgot the feel of that neck. Over the years I’ve owned a few teles and played a lot more and never felt anything that came close to it.

And then about a year ago I played a roadworn tele after hearing about them for a while. And it felt exactly like I remember that 50s tele almost 40 years ago. So I bought one as soon as I could and liked it so much, I found a roadworn 50’s strat neck for my Robert Cray Strat and I like it at least as much as the tele. Those things are like Fender neck heaven for me...

-Ray

[Dru Edwards]

An amazing looking Les Paul, Bob!

Originally Posted by Bob Womack

Now compare that to this guitar:






This is a 45 year old guitar that has been with me for 42 years. It has spent time on the road, been to Atlanta Federal Pen., and has been used in countless recording sessions since 1979. A few dings and bruises but nothing through the finish. The binding is yellowing and there is some pick brush on the pickups and pick guard. Honest mileage may vary from "road worn."


Bob

[MinorKey]

Whenever I see one of these reliced guitars I just think they need a paint job.

[Sgt. Pepper]

To each their own, but the artificial aging thing isn't for me.

I mostly hang out on electric guitar forums.
Right now, there's a giant thread on one of them that I find pretty amusing.
There's a guy that has a "reliced" Les Paul, and he's upset that some of the damage might not be "factory scratches".

Sometimes, comedy writes itself.