The UK's Monty's Guitars is best known for its pickups – and we recently talked with founder Matt Gleeson (opens in new tab) all about them – but now it's moving into a new area; guitar relic'ing. And its brand new Monty's Montypresso Original Guitar Relic Wax aims to help all you relicly inclined players age your guitar's wood.
"Applying it to open-grained woods darkens and relics the lightest shades of grain while giving a smooth, gloriously grubby finish," says Monty's, "and let’s be honest who doesn’t like one of those."
Who indeed! When applied to an open grain fingerboard of woods such as rosewood or pao ferro, it will darken the wood to the "rich, shade of golden-era Brazilian rosewood with the look and feel of a well-played board."
The second application is to give the open grain on the back of a guitar neck the worn and well-played appearance of "an instrument that has seen many a sweaty palm and the open, worn areas of a body the grubbiest of hues."
We're liking the sound of this. Monty's advises you simply rub a generous amount of Montypresso on the area of your guitar you wish to darken and then leave for five to ten minutes. After that you simply take a clean cloth and buff it off. The company recommends repeat applications over time to allow the wax to soak deeper into the wood.
And therein lies the pretty obvious warnings: it's a stain that has a permanent effect on your guitar's wood so not start rubbing without careful consideration. And although it may be packaged like coffee in expresso cups, don't drink it!
Matt Gleeson told us in our recent interview (see below) that Monty's are also planning a series on video guides on relic'ing so keep an eye on the Monty's Guitars Instagram (opens in new tab) for more in the future.
Montypresso is priced at £16 usually but has a generous 20% off (along with everything else Monty's sells) until the end of December 2020. It's also available package in Monty's Guitars mugs. Check it out over at montysguitars.com (opens in new tab)
And you can check out our recent video interview with Matt below.
