A Relic'd Collings MF-5: Beauty or Blasphemy?

[Brad Maestas]

I just happened to be perusing Elderly after seeing the post about the $750+ Collings case (which is no longer listed) and I saw this used MF-5 for sale. At first I thought it had just been played...a lot...by a pinky planter. But the description says it's been relic'd and the pictures sure bear that out. Be warned. It's not a pretty sight. Has anyone heard of a relic'd Collings?

http://www.elderly.com/collings-mf-5-recent-124994.htm


http://www.elderly.com/media/catalog...s/dscf8228.jpg

I've seen this a lot with solid body guitars and basses lately and I think it's pretty tacky. I have strong feelings about putting the wear on your instruments there yourself by playing them but that's just me. Sure, I've owned some old Fender basses that have lost the finish on the back of the neck but they'd obviously been played through over time. There's nothing more ridiculous looking than shiny, flawless finish next to raw wood as can be found on the abrupt transition on the back of the neck. I don't know who did this but it looks awful. The 'work' on the scroll is particularly bad.

http://www.elderly.com/media/catalog...dscf8239_1.jpg

Any way, you know how I feel. How do you feel? Beauteous or blasphemous?

[MediumMando5722]

If you work at the Fender Custom Shop, you're allowed to relic an instrument. Those dudes can scratch up a Strat so convincingly you'd never believe it's not 40 years old. Anyone else, bad idea.

Overall, I agree with you that it's tacky. That Collings looks awful. If I bought it I'd steel wool the gloss off. I'm not opposed to instruments being dinged up, but that is just silly.

[Mark Wilson]

I've seen some reliced(sp?) mandolins I do like but would pass on this one. Looks like someone played it rough and then decided to cover that by adding more and calling it reliced.

[sgarrity]

A properly relic'd instrument can be a thing of beauty. This was a ham-handed attempt on the Collings!

[Jim Garber]

I understand the pinky plant "wear" and sort of get the slight wear on the scroll (hot chopping?) but how do you explain the right arm location wear? Was this fictional player wearing a sandpaper sleeve?

[Jstring]

Ugh... That's a shame. Whoever did that should go take a lesson from Ken Ratcliff... He knows how to distress a Silverangel and make it look right.

[allenhopkins]

I do a first-rate job of "relic-ing" my instruments by playing the poop out of them. Don't need to have it done artificially.

The idea of making, say, a Stratocaster that looks like Jimi Hendrix dragged it behind a Harley, and selling it to some teenage kid with lots of Dad's money -- so that Jimi Junior can get some undeserved "cred" -- has always seemed sort of poser-ish to me. I know Gibson made some Distressed Master Model F-5's, where the aging was quite artistically done. But when I read of tuners being soaked in acid to make 'em look like they're 50+ years old, I just wonder why so much price-increasing extra work is done just to make an instrument look worse.

Oh well, that's why I'm not in marketing, I guess. As for the Collings in question, yuck. Bet it sounds good, though.

[foldedpath]

Nope, uh uh, no way.

That's an instrument distressed by someone who has no idea how real wear happens or what it looks like. Maybe combined with a hard lacquer finish where it's hard to pull off anyway?

I sanded the finish off the neck of my Lebeda F5, but at least I knew what both real wear and a "violin neck" looked like before I started. And it doesn't look anything like this. What a shame, because I'm sure it's a good-sounding instrument and someone is going to have to finish the job (or a total refinish) before this looks right.

[Bob Clark]

It hurts to look at it. What a shame. I am sure it is a wonderful instrument.

BTW, don't loan your car to this guy!

[Jim Bevan]

Like the guitarist I used to work with said, "Be a man -- break in your own jeans".

[Marty Jacobson]

Haha, I like how the top shows extreme wear but the back, sides and neck are pristine. Hmm.

[darrylicshon]

I don't care for fake relic'd instruments, i did buy my the loar 600 really badly distressed, looked like Mike Marshall's mandolin. Only reason i bought it was the price a really good deal and i did a total refinish myself. I have a few instruments that have actually wear and I'm fighting refinishing them.

[darylcrisp]

I don't care at all for any of the relic tactics going on for the last few years-I want it real if its there.

really poor job on that beauty of a mandolin-Bill Collings would have to be tied down if he saw that-I would think.

d

[billykatzz]

I will admit that relic-ed or unrelic-ed instruments are a matter of personal preference. In this case, it just looks WRONG!

I've seen some examples of beautifully "relic"-ed Tele's, Strat's, & Les Paul's by some incredibly gifted craftsmen (Clive Brown in the UK comes to mind). Done correctly, they really ooze mojo.

[Ivan Kelsall]

IMHO - That's the very worse attempt at relicing i've ever seen. Most instruments present a pattern of 'surrounding wear',not simply a huge chunk out of the finish. I like a good relic'd finish if it's well done & the mandolin looks antiqued,but that one's simply bad,
Ivan

[Francis J]

I hope the people at Collings' finishing department are being offered counselling, this is an affront to them. Comes close to criminal damage IMHO.

[almeriastrings]

Random hippie DISC sanding? Or maybe an angle grinder....

[Ron McMillan]

Why anyone would ever attempt to emulate the most unnecessary, ugliest sign of playing wear ever - the dreaded pinkie rub - I'll never understand.

[Timbofood]

I have one word that I try to use infrequently and, that word is, stupid.
The term used to be "distressed" now it's "relic'd"? Making up words has become a real peeve for me, almost as big a irritant as people doing wasteful, harmful things to instruments.i do not think damaging something does not make it a "relic!"
There is a big rant brewing in my head about the demise of the English language which I shall restrain from issuing. These pages generally maintain a higher degree of grammar and proper laguage skills.

[9lbShellhamer]

Not purty, but could be an awesome sounding MF5 still under that botch job. (and for a cheap price...) Someone needs to buy this mando and give it some love.

[Jim Garber]

On the general topic of relicking, distressing, antiquing or whatever you want to call it. There is a long history of it in violin making but it is usually copying a highly prized historic instrument with an attempt to reproduce it as close as possible. I have a friend who is considered one the best violin makers in the world and he started out copying famous instruments for some famous owners. This way the players could take their priceless Strad or Guarneri to the beach and no one would know the difference.

Of course the Collings above is not a copy of anything, just a nice instrument gone wrong. Oh well...

[allenhopkins]

...There is a big rant brewing in my head about the demise of the English language which I shall restrain from issuing...

Glad you're "defensing" against those rant impulses. Discussing grammar and usage would be a "whole nother thing..."

[lenf12]

Seems like an exercise in how to diminish the value of a $6000 mandolin. And Marty's observation is spot on. The back and side are pristine while the top and neck are ruined. Looks quite convincing...NOT!!

Len B.
Clearwater, FL

[Mandolin Cafe]

I have one word that I try to use infrequently and, that word is, stupid.
The term used to be "distressed" now it's "relic'd"? Making up words has become a real peeve for me, almost as big a irritant as people doing wasteful, harmful things to instruments.i do not think damaging something does not make it a "relic!"
There is a big rant brewing in my head about the demise of the English language which I shall restrain from issuing. These pages generally maintain a higher degree of grammar and proper laguage skills.

Not to mention stellar examples of punctuation and spelling. What'd they teach us in school long ago? Right, point a finger and four are pointing back at ya.

You're welcome.

[lenf12]

Restrain? Refrain? I'll pick the latter but I've never been accused of being a practitioner of the linguistic arts.

Len B.
Clearwater, FL