‘Distressed’ Guitars Command Top Dollar
— August 26, 2007 1 28Apparently, Eddie Van Halen’s famous guitar is not the only one being duplicated by talented guitar designers. Other famous guitars are being copied to create what some are referring to as ‘distressed’ guitars. Brand-new guitars that are abused to some degree to make them look like veterans of a hard life on the road to rock ‘n roll fame and fortune.
The demand for these vintage-looking-but-not-quite-vintage guitars is driven, in part, by the 
skyrocketing cost of genuine vintage guitars. Some going for as much as $250,000 or more.
Much like Van Halen’s famous guitar, affectionately known as ‘Frankenstein,’ other guitars made famous by their legendary owners are being replicated and in some cases, being purchased and used by the artists that made them famous.
Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin fame is currently using a replica as well as Joe Perry of Aerosmith.
Andy Summers of The Police is currently using three copies of his beloved 1961 Fender Telecaster on the band’s reunion tour while leaving the original safe at home in Los Angles.
Again, the story is very similar to Eddie Van Halen’s experience with Summers being amazed by the quality and accuracy of the replicas. He even admits that he is not able to tell the difference between the replicas and the real thing.
Like the classic music that was played on the original vintage guitars, the guitars themselves have become something that some of us just don’t ever want to let go of.
Read more of this story at the Wall Street Journal.
1 Comment
I’m not sure how I feel about distressed guitars. They are pretty cool looking, but then again… it’s better if you make your own “character” on your guitar.
I recently heard about Rittenhouse Guitars (no affiliation) and really like the look of their guitars. I’ve never actually seen one in person, so I don’t know how they sound or feel. But from their website they look pretty cool.
.-= NeverTooLateGuitar´s last blog ..Rittenhouse Guitars =-.