Fender Roadworn Strat set up

In my head I tell myself 'I don't care much for deliberately relic'd guitars'; I'm not that kind of person. But then I get one in my hands and even though it's obvious that the big chunks of finish scraped back to the wood are not the result of years of genuine play wear, I can't help but like it. It's probably more to do with the overall scrubbiness of the finish (which does look and feel more credible), the faded looking scratchplate and hardware... the feel of the neck and the tone. Thankfully the most obvious relic'ing, while clearly deliberate, is live-able-with. From 3 feet away you stop noticing and to be fair, it IS a lot better than, say, Vintage's relic'ing on their Icon strats and Double cuts.
So altogether, this does work because the feel of it, then the tone, and then the look of it add up to more than the sum of its parts. Funny how I dread the sight of most USA and Mexican maple-boarded, gloss-finished Fenders because of the risk of their poly finishes flaking off during the set up & fret levelling process. Here the finish has been helped! Of course, the difference is that this is a nitro finish and the regular Strats are a poly (or more correctly a 'urethane') finish if I'm not mistaken.