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Famous Rock Stars that played Relic guitars when they started

Discussion in 'Bad Dog Cafe' started by jvin248, Sep 29, 2019.

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  1. Sep 29, 2019 #1
    jvin248

    jvin248 Poster Extraordinaire

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    Most of the famous guitarists bought their first stage guitars in pawn shops. Someone else beat up those guitars and pawned them for those later-to-be-famous players to buy them cheap. Today's forum relic haters would cringe at seeing pre-beat up/damaged/relic'd guitars with Other People's Mojo, but there is a certain romance in the old days of rock stars dredging up worn guitars from pawn shops.

    Maybe there are some pictures of guitars that players had when they started and then the same guitars years later? How much new \mojo/ did they add, if any?

    "Trigger" and that Strat with all the paint gone after the theft and found floating in a ditch would be the outliers of significant wear after purchase. Didn't Clapton get his Blackie guitar from parts traded around with other guitarists at the time? How worn-in was that? EVH's red Frankenstrat was "seconds" scrap that while new he self painted and relic'd a few times, famously. Hendrix borrowed a lot of Strats, setting a few on fire. Cobain got his offsets from pawnshops and cobbled some things together. Townsends made splinters of new guitars. Who started with the mojo of a relic guitar (most of them I suspect)? Bonamassa could be included with pictures of his first (Strats?) before/after but not for buying old 50s guitars now for big money.

    Obviously, marketing departments pushed new guitars onto the famous player's stages when they were obviously big ticket sellers with massive fans but earlier years some had their favorites, bought used and abused and Relic'd -- what were those?

    Sorry if popcorn inducing ;)
    .
     
  2. Sep 29, 2019 #2
    Brad Pittiful

    Brad Pittiful Doctor of Teleocity Ad Free Member

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    not youtuber matthew scott...he is all about vintage guitars...if he ever made it big...he will be using his 59 start no doubt
     
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  3. Sep 29, 2019 #3
    Mike Eskimo

    Mike Eskimo Telefied Ad Free Member

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  4. Sep 29, 2019 #4
    David Barnett

    David Barnett Doctor of Teleocity

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    I'm just going through mental images of famous players from bygone days who were seen in public with beat-up axes. Rory Gallagher's Strat and Jaco Pastorius' Jazz Bass come to mind. Springsteen's Esquire. Kossoff's Les Pauls were pretty worn.
     
  5. Sep 29, 2019 #5
    stnmtthw

    stnmtthw Friend of Leo's

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    SRV
     
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  6. Sep 29, 2019 #6
    PlainAllman

    PlainAllman Tele-Afflicted

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    From what I read about Rory Gallagher he bought his strat new and had to make payments on it for a while.
     
  7. Sep 29, 2019 #7
    brookdalebill

    brookdalebill Tele Axpert Ad Free Member

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    “Clarence”, the guitar.
    It’s been owned, played and modded like no other.
     
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  8. Sep 29, 2019 #8
    bumnote

    bumnote Tele-Meister Ad Free Member

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    Pete Townshend may have "relic'd" a lot of guitars...but he's also go to be the "Mod of Mods".
    From Danelectro necks on Teles...
    226958CF-30F1-422A-990E-851CDDF1632C.gif

    Adding a third pickup...
    5445CDE0-F832-4BC5-9E8E-3628D0F70839.jpeg

    Beating Clapton to the punch on Strat neck on a Tele body...and God knows what that neck pickup is.
    5C887D7F-1A42-4EF9-A647-66DA7470E03C.jpeg

    To forcing a Tele neck on to a Strat...
    FF09BDAD-E53E-4DF3-8B06-6BC6B8EE71BC.jpeg

    The guy may be the Father of the Fender Relic Department and the Mod Shop.
     
    Last edited: Sep 29, 2019
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  9. Sep 29, 2019 #9
    pondcaster

    pondcaster Poster Extraordinaire

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    [Snarky comment deleted]
     
    Last edited: Sep 29, 2019
  10. Sep 29, 2019 #10
    bgmacaw

    bgmacaw Friend of Leo's

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    I think that's a lot of the appeal of relics, that certain romance of finding a really cool pawn shop guitar.
     
  11. Sep 29, 2019 #11
    monkeybanana

    monkeybanana Tele-Meister

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    mmhmm
    I had no idea about those P Townsend guitars. Pretty interesting. Thanks for putting up all those photos.
     
  12. Sep 29, 2019 #12
    Mike Eskimo

    Mike Eskimo Telefied Ad Free Member

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    Pete modded because he relic’ed.

    “Gig tonight. Hmmmmm...what have I got left...”
     
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  13. Sep 29, 2019 #13
    muchxs

    muchxs Doctor of Teleocity

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    John Hall of Orleans had the most beat '50s Strat I'd ever seen when I saw them in '79 (or so). I could tell it had been a sunburst although it had no paint left on its body.

    Pretty sure it's the same one now with no paint whatsoever.

    There's a good view of it around 2:00

     
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  14. Sep 29, 2019 #14
    rangercaster

    rangercaster Poster Extraordinaire

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    A real relic is cool ... A phony relic is what it is ...
     
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  15. Sep 29, 2019 #15
    2 Headed Goat

    2 Headed Goat Friend of Leo's

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    ^^^ This ^^^ Relic to me means something entirely different from a used, worn, battered guitar.
     
    Last edited: Sep 29, 2019
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  16. Sep 29, 2019 #16
    sonicsmitty

    sonicsmitty Tele-Holic

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    I don't think any of those guys were looking for relics. They were just looking for great sounding guitars that they could afford. They just didn't mind that they were worn or had dings.
     
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  17. Sep 29, 2019 #17
    rz350

    rz350 Friend of Leo's Ad Free Member

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    Rory...

    The-Late-Rory-Gallagher-.jpg
     
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  18. Sep 29, 2019 #18
    rze99

    rze99 Poster Extraordinaire

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    Real life play wear, ladies and gentlemen.

    This is not not the correct thread.

    The OP, by choice of language, is looking for pros that made it while playing relics - artificially aged guitars. Not actual real old guitars with real life play wear, like Rory’s.
     
  19. Sep 29, 2019 #19
    rze99

    rze99 Poster Extraordinaire

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  20. Sep 29, 2019 #20
    Fuelish

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    Dunno about pawn shops and relics, per se.....I scored a '64 Harmony H15 in near mint condition for less than half the price fools on Reverb want for rotted out POSs of the same model. It was the guitar I learned on and grew up with, near mint, and the DeArmond gold foils are still kick ass....very "unique" single coil sound, to me, even after all these years....not a "fine" guitar, but just as much fun as any of my others.....strongly suspect it was played a bit and put in a case for 54 yrs, it's all original :cool:
     
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