Can’t afford a real 1952 Telecaster? We made this new guitar feel like it was 55 years old. De Leon’s nightmare.

For a variety of reasons, some folks just prefer old guitars. Maybe it’s the neck, worn smooth by years of handling. Maybe it’s the checked and cracked finish that looks like granddad’s old tube radio. Maybe it’s just the charm of something that’s played some music in its time. Or maybe it’s the fact that vintage guitars’ values are reliably and steadily rising – making them a good investment. But some of us can’t find or afford our real dream guitar. So at Chicago Fret Works, we’ve developed a relic process that will simulate aging in a guitar, giving it the look and feel but not the pricetag of a genuine vintage piece.

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Here’s a ’60s reissue Strat that Dan gave the full relic treatment to. The vintage reissues work particularly well for this kind of project because the truss rod is accessed at the body end rather than the headstock, as it was during those years. It’s one detail that would be a dead giveaway if it were wrong.

While Fender makes the truss rod true to the period, some of the other treatments these guitars receive at the factory are different from the original. So we took more authentic hardware and parts and distressed them to look like they are 45 years old. Then we completely removed the factory poly finish and applied a more authentic lacquer finish in Sonic Blue.

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