Acquired failed Telecaster relic - opinions/advice sought

Welcome to the forum.

Well somebody had some 60 grit sandpaper they needed to use ....

The good news is that the finish on MIM's is usually good and thick. You could try something like T-Cut on the body and polish the worst of the scratches out. I'd be tempted to use wet and dry first to remove a lot of the surface damage. My concern would be water getting into the bare wood if you're not careful ...

 

I can't help at all really, but I was wondering if there was a picture of the guitar as a whole, in isolation that looks quite bad.

If it was me, I'd probably work backwards, start with a swirl remover type product and work up to tcut, then wet dry if I couldn't live with it. I would probably live with the bare wood corner. I guess it depends on how confident you are with finishing a guitar. I've only rattlecanned a kit I put together and I won't be rushing to do that again.

 

I like the above advice of trying to salvage/polish out the old finish. It may be that as you do, the "relic" attempts will smooth, feather and look more like wear.

 

I would get some sand paper...

400
800
1200
2000
2500

Would work some elbow grease, water sand from 400 to 2500... patience, work.

Then use some polish to get where you want

 

Do not use water because it will swell the wood where the finish is completely missing, and that will just make things worse because it will pop the finish around the bare areas.

Dry sand as much as possible, and then when you get into the higher grits like 600 and up, use mineral spirits to keep the paper lubricated--just enough to keep the surface wet as you work.

 

OR.......put new strings on and play that puppy!
Doesn't look that bad to me.

 

it doesn't look that bad to me either - looks more like a mistreated used guitar than a poor relic - the only thing that stands out is the down to wood sanding on the lower bout - that could be disguised with black shoe polish or such -

 

Hi there,

In the immortal words of Frank Zappa...

 

I'm on board with the wet sanding. If all you're looking to do is get rid of the heavy scratches do what others have said but I'd recommend odorless mineral spirits. It still smells bad but when you compare odorless mineral spirits to low odor... World of difference. In either case, do it outdoors or in a well ventilated room and a respirator or face mask of some sort is never a bad idea.

 

I was expecting a lot worse from your description. I’d barely call that a relic job. You might just make it a helluva lot worse...

 

Compared to this poor abused thing that's not too bad. There's relicing and then there's well-meant vandalism.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/154066166679

 

I've never seen decals look so pasted-on. Like the whole decal is lifting off. Can you do anything to stick them back down or would that destroy them?

 

I wouldn't mess with it, it's certainly been abused, but it's a tele. If it sounds and feels good I would just leave it be and embrace the bad relic.

 

Looks like fake to me .

 

Looks fine to me

 

Wet/dry/wet and buff the snot out of it. You might be able to get it looking like its had an interesting life instead of a botched relic job if you handle it well.

Good luck, and remember, itll still play fine with a botched relic job. (Then surface sanding nonsense is the biggest tell of what happened. Even mutants with volatile sweat dont do that to poly...)

The back might need something slightly abrasive with a soft cloth to degunk, then handle as normal. If you give up on the BS faux buckle rash, you can always pop on something 3d as a belt buckle (sacred heart, motorhead logo, etc) and hula dance in some real buckle rash

 

I'd pay a dollar to see that!