relic

Etymology

From Middle English relik et al., from Old French relique, from Latin reliquiae (“remains, relics”), from relinquō (“I leave behind, abandon, relinquish”), from re- + linquō (“I leave, quit, forsake, depart from”).

noun

1. That which remains; that which is left after loss or decay; a remaining portion.
   1797, Ann Radcliffe, The Italian, London: T. Cadell Jun. & W. Davies, Volume 2, Chapter 6, p. 184, It appeared, from […] the ruins scattered distantly along its skirts, to be a part of the city entirely abandoned by the modern inhabitants to the reliques of its former grandeur.
   She exerted the last relics of her wasted strength to gain a prominent position upon a ledge of the rocks behind her […] 1850, Wilkie Collins, chapter 1, in Antonina, or, The Fall of Rome, volume I, London: Richard Bentley, pages 10–11
2. Something old and outdated, possibly kept for sentimental reasons.
   Published in 1982, the now out-of-print computer guide is a real relic, full of dozens of black-and-white pictures of large, bulky computers that you would sooner find in the Smithsonian than on anybody's desk today. 1991, U.S. News & World Report, volume 116, numbers 9-16, page 72
3. (religion) A part of the body of a saint, or an ancient religious object, kept for veneration.

verb

1. (transitive, uncommon, often of guitars) To cause (an object) to appear old or worn, to distress.
   Age has become a fetish in the world of guitars where large amounts of money are paid for a specially “reliced” guitar. As one company, Relic Guitars, which offers this service claims, “The idea behind relicing a guitar is to artificially replicate the natural wear that occurs over many years […]” 2009, Trevor Pinch, David Reinecke, “Technostalgia: How old gear lives on in new music”, in Karin Bijsterveld, José van Dijck, editors, Sound Souvenirs: Audio Technologies, Memory and Cultural Practices, page 152
   The whole idea of relicing an instrument is to accelerate the wear and tear that normally occurs over decades. 2012, Will Kelly, How to Build Electric Guitars, page 81
   He's since run his own shop, building, winding/making pickups, doing restorations and relicing guitars. January 19, 2017, “Fender® Custom Shop Commemorates 30th Anniversary Milestone With Founders Design Project Debuting At 2017 Winter NAMM”, in PR Newswire