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Dings and Dangs vs. Road Worn, Vintage Original Spec and Murphy Aged

If you regularly play a new guitar, you’re going to get — what I call — “Dings and Dangs” and that means bumps, scratches and bruises that always and inevitably break your heart.  Nobody appreciates new damage to a guitar — even cosmetic — because your baby is sullied and broken forever by everyday life.

For that reason of careful guitar ownership, I am fascinated by the “New Old Stock” movement in the guitar industry where brand new, beautiful, guitars are purposefully “aged” at the factory — beaten up, really — so they can be sold as “Road Worn” or “Vintage Original Spec” or “Murphy Aged” guitars when they’re actually just brand new replicas.

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ColorTone Touchup Markers Review

When I purchased my used 1998 Gibson L5 CES, I noticed a few dings and dangs that I wanted to cover up or fix or remove.  The seller suggested I go to Stewart-MacDonald online and buy an amber ColorTone marker to touch up the scratches and dings to help make them disappear:

ColorTone Touch-up Markers are supplied in traditional sunburst colors that match the ColorTone Aerosol Guitar Lacquers: Vintage Amber, Cherry Red, Red Mahogany, and Tobacco Brown. They are in a permanent marker (solvent) base and are compatible with all ColorTone solvent and nitrocellulos products. They are intended for touching up a variety of finish problems where the color has been lightened or removed from the instrument’s surface. This can be on an instrument in the finishing process, or any guitar that has been dinged or whose color has been abraded off.

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