Fender Road Worn Series: Well-worn or Worn-out?

Light said:
Sorry, I've seen hundreds, perhaps even thousands of REAL beat up guitars, and no one - EVER - has even come close to making a relic that actually looks right. I've seen hundreds of those too, and from dozens of different sources (the Fender Custom Shop, various "freelance" relicers* on down to the "road word" bullshit), and they all look stupid. Not just close up (though it is worst there; Fender does the weather checking on their relics UNDER THE CLEAR COAT, when the clear coat is what naturally weather checks the most! And weather checking something so it actually looks right isn't even that hard - it just takes one of those cans of compressed air they sell for cleaning out electronics and such), but from just about any distance. They are flat out moronic.
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Yeah, but isn't the whole point that, by distressing under the clear coat, now you can look vintage without actually having a messed up guitar? Mind you, I still wouldn't buy one. I get OCD and would rather have a guitar with no dings, but if I wanted to keep the worn look, you could always just get someone to put clear coat over it without repainting. I think.

I've got an old guitar that's a little beat up, but it's a natural finish, so it's really just the clear coat that is worn, except for the big dent I think my friend put in it. Jerk. I've thought about getting it redone just because I feel like it would make the neck slide a little better, but maybe not.
 
All my guitars are relic'd 'cause I play 5-7 gigs a week and a lot of them are at the beach.

And one of the things that's a problem is rust.
I just can't see why I'd want hardware that's already rusting. Seems like it'd be worn out just that much faster and need replacing.
 
Light said:
Sorry, I've seen hundreds, perhaps even thousands of REAL beat up guitars, and no one - EVER - has even come close to making a relic that actually looks right. I've seen hundreds of those too, and from dozens of different sources (the Fender Custom Shop, various "freelance" relicers* on down to the "road word" bullshit), and they all look stupid. Not just close up (though it is worst there; Fender does the weather checking on their relics UNDER THE CLEAR COAT, when the clear coat is what naturally weather checks the most! And weather checking something so it actually looks right isn't even that hard - it just takes one of those cans of compressed air they sell for cleaning out electronics and such), but from just about any distance. They are flat out moronic.
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Your opinion. I feel they fill a niche and people buy them up. Head over to the Fender forum. Lots of people love them and claim their playability is excellent. And with the recent sale some people have bought two right off the bat.

They certainly do not look stupid. Not nearly as stupid as normal Strats with God-ugly colors like Lake Placid Blue or Ice Blue Metallic with dark pickguards. Or the Eddie Van Halen Strat. Total garbage. The Road Worns blow those away.
 
357mag said:
Your opinion. I feel they fill a niche and people buy them up. Head over to the Fender forum. Lots of people love them and claim their playability is excellent. And with the recent sale some people have bought two right off the bat.

They certainly do not look stupid. Not nearly as stupid as normal Strats with God-ugly colors like Lake Placid Blue or Ice Blue Metallic with dark pickguards. Or the Eddie Van Halen Strat. Total garbage. The Road Worns blow those away.
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I guess I can understand that if they play nice and are on sale, then it would be a good deal. I think if they were to be more expensive than a similarly good strat, as others here have suggested, then I'd rather get the non-worn one. I'm sure there are equivalent non-worn models.
 
to each their own, beauty's in the eye of the guitar purchaser....

Looking cool. ..
I'm not going to buy a Relic, but thanks for your inputs it makes a little more sense somehow...its "art" ..........to some, so that's cool.

yes, i wore beat up, blue jeans with holes in them....I thought they looked cool.

one neat thing about the Road-Worn is if a drunk friend knocks over your axe, during the break at a bar gig,
it wouldn't matter!! ..just let it lay there? :p
(just kiddin)..

Eddie Van Halen Strat looks stupid but Road Worn doesn't?:confused:
I like my $100 Squier 51's..the Fender Custom Shop is copying Squier-design now, and has sold a few 51's at $4550!!!
I think the $100 Original Squier 51 is even cooler.

Say NO to Crack.
 

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357mag said:
Your opinion.
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The whole point is to look like an old beat up guitar, right? If we can agree on that, then no, it is a simple fact that they never actually look like an old beat up guitar. Ever. No one with any knowledge at all would ever mistake a "relic'd" guitars for an actual old guitar. Now, if you think they look cool..well, that's up to you, but don't even think of telling me they actually look like an old guitar.


Light

"Cowards can never be moral."
M.K. Gandhi
 
The Van Halen guitar looks atrocious. Horrible. The Road Worn certainly doesn't look like a homemade piece of shit like Eddie put together but then it's known that Eddie is no luthier.

I agree that $949 is a little steep for a Mexican but I heard the cost of wood went up and if that is true then that's why even some Mexican Strats are close to a grand. Not to mention the extra time and work Fender has to put in to do the relicing.

Many people snatched up Road Worns for $499 at Musicians Friend.
 
Light said:
The whole point is to look like an old beat up guitar, right? If we can agree on that, then no, it is a simple fact that they never actually look like an old beat up guitar. Ever. No one with any knowledge at all would ever mistake a "relic'd" guitars for an actual old guitar. Now, if you think they look cool..well, that's up to you, but don't even think of telling me they actually look like an old guitar...
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Worn lacquer...
Distressed metal...
Aged pickguard...

Looks good and old to me...
 
Relic $3000
Road Worn at $950
US American Standard at $999


Here's the Marketing Angle... 5 reasons.

1) The Road Worn concept is simple to grasp: a beat-up guitar or bass looks worn because we love them so much, just like our favorite comfortable sweatshirt or pair of tennies.

2) Paying big bucks for a rare collectible axe is just not in the cards for most players, so how about one that looks like it’s seen lots of love?

note- The Road Worn instruments are given a reverse makeover at the Fender factory in Ensenada, Mexico.

3) The worn finish, dings, pockmarks, yellowed plastic parts—even rust stains on the bridge saddles and springs—all simulate proud battle scars that show this axe has proven itself in countless gigs,

4) it’s as if you were playing Keef or Bruce’s favorite Tele, the Strat slung by Slowhand or Rory, the Jazz Bass that catapulted Jaco to legend, or the P Bass Sting used to pump up The Police.

5) These Road Worn axes are not just pre-aged; you could say they are “pre-disastered.” You won’t throw a conniption fit when you bang it up as you would when the first ding appears on a freshly minted, shiny new guitar.
 

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there may be something to this,

after seeing this picture, it might be better to pay someone else to "relic" it ...
 

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COOLCAT said:
Relic $3000
Road Worn at $950
US American Standard at $999


Here's the Marketing Angle... 5 reasons.

1) The Road Worn concept is simple to grasp: a beat-up guitar or bass looks worn because we love them so much, just like our favorite comfortable sweatshirt or pair of tennies.

2) Paying big bucks for a rare collectible axe is just not in the cards for most players, so how about one that looks like it’s seen lots of love?

note- The Road Worn instruments are given a reverse makeover at the Fender factory in Ensenada, Mexico.

3) The worn finish, dings, pockmarks, yellowed plastic parts—even rust stains on the bridge saddles and springs—all simulate proud battle scars that show this axe has proven itself in countless gigs,

4) it’s as if you were playing Keef or Bruce’s favorite Tele, the Strat slung by Slowhand or Rory, the Jazz Bass that catapulted Jaco to legend, or the P Bass Sting used to pump up The Police.

5) These Road Worn axes are not just pre-aged; you could say they are “pre-disastered.” You won’t throw a conniption fit when you bang it up as you would when the first ding appears on a freshly minted, shiny new guitar.
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Exactly. And if you take your own guitar and try to relic it and screw it up you're gonna feel bad. You're better off sending it to someone that offers relicing services.
 
What a joke, a beat up junkie strat made in Mexico that sounds thin and bright a real hunk of junk. They are for Want-a-bees that spend most of their time playing Guitar Hero.
 
...to me the appeal is the feel (no rhyme intended). The necks just feel like they were made for you, and even the body feels good. On most "new and shiny" guitars, when you sweat it gets the body all sticky and gross, on a road worn it's not like that.

EXACTLY! I was skeptical of the Tex-Mex pickups at first, but when I went to play one, but I found they sound AWESOME!

I don't think they're gonna sound thin and bright with Tex Mex pickups. Those pickups have some muscle to them.
 
I think it's kind of silly at those prices. That said, if I found a guitar I loved playing and I thought the price was fair, I wouldn't care what finish it had. It could be magenta burlap sunset, whatever.
 
If you people think the road worn idea from Fender is for suckers, check out the price on a Gretsch Brian Setzer!! I admit I bought a Fender, James Burton signature Tele cause I'm such a big Burton fan. Yes it has the great Lace pickups with 5 way switching and a beautiful custom shop finish and records great (direct in or amped) but, in reality I payed for the name! That's really all these "road worn" deals are. You are paying more so the guitar manufacturer can cover their artist endorsement costs.
 
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