tanks and adopt them as their own. Once the
Gretschs and Rickenbackers associated with
Beatlemania took hold in the mid-sixties and the
British blues movement would usher in the ‘burst
Les Paul, the Jazzmaster was considered kin-
dling at best. Those things were stacked to the
rafters in the back rooms of most pawnshops. It
wasn’t until fairly recently that Jazzmaster players
like Elvis Costello, Mascis, Renaldo and Moore
would receive signature guitars to help facilitate
the demand for the model, and bump up the
value of Jazzmasters on the vintage market. So
what does the story of this red-headed stepchild
of a Fender tell us about tone hunting and tone
hunters? Simply put, there’s a lot that goes into
the reputation of what might be considered
“desirable prey.”
instruments while adding the realistic side of
romance to the equation. True love survives
wear and tear; it lasts. The problem is, most
of us are incapable of working SRV “Number
One”-level love into our guitars, emotionally
and physically, but we want to participate in this
“older is better” way of thinking. Accidentally
or purposely putting a gank or two in your oth-
erwise new Strat just isn’t the same—a weath-
ered guitar has to look like it has been played
by a pro for a long, long time. That’s why many
companies offer a controversial relic’d version
of their classic lines these days.
“Guitars like Steinbergers and Parker Fly gui-
tars are amazing playing and sounding guitars
but are hardly going to topple the sales of
Telecasters, Les Pauls and Stratocasters, because
they just don’t have the same aura,” Dr. Levitt
surmised. “In the end, there will always be
identification with what we glorify, and there will
be iconic sounds and images in our collective
conscious that we respect, value and seek. We
want that connection to a story and
if we peek behind the curtain and
just see a washboard with a plank of
wood stuck on, it loses a bit of the
magic—and that’s what we’re after.”
If you ever want to see two guitar fiends
screaming bloody murder at each other, just
bring up the topic of relic’ing. People get
awfully testy when it comes to guitars bear-
ing chemically treated and artistically abused
armor. It makes sense that this is a sensitive
issue—the fake beat-up look threatens the
sanctity of an aesthetic that, until recently, was
reserved for guitars that were authentically
worn in and lovingly coaxed into producing to-
die-for tone over long periods of time. Those
are rare guitars. Naturally, one side of the
debate is very protective of that authenticity.
Does the hostility
of one side of this
relic’ing debate somehow offer an unconscious
glimpse into a deep-seated fear that newer,
relatively inexperienced
guitars can indeed sound
just as heavenly?
Although many of us don’t want
to admit it, Dr. Levitt’s theories do
dredge up some truth. One has to
look no further than the fetishists
who are knocked to their knees
when talking about the Peter Green/
Gary Moore ’burst, Roy Buchanan’s
“Nancy”, Billy Gibbons’ “Pearly
Gates,” Stevie Ray Vaughan’s
“Number One,” Clapton’s “Blackie,”
etc. Are those aficionados aware of
how much they love the associated narratives
behind those guitars, or is it truly the tones—and
only the tones—that they’re after?
True Relics?
Truly famous guitars are famously dinged,
and that helps differentiate them from other
“We are programmed as humans to be drawn
to stories and characters, and if there is no
story we tend to find it less sexy,” Dr. Levitt
confirmed. “For the most part, guitar play-
ers think ‘the older the better,’ and that’s
partly because quality control was better at
a lot of the major manufacturers in the fifties
through the early seventies. Despite quality
control lacking in the mid-seventies people
will still pay vintage prices for these guitars,
even though they may not be as well made as
guitars are today. These beat up guitars tell
stories, so when we see the relic’d look it trig-
gers the mind to question how that happened
and the mind begins to fantasize. When
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PREMIER GUITAR FEBRUARY 2010 113
