Go Elwood.
Fake is a fake is a fake... A genuinely road worn bass can be a nicely rough looking instrument, and though a relic'd one can fool us for aminute... it just doesn't come with the actual aura of history. Reminds me of a funny anecdote:
In a bar conversation I once said that the old piece of shit V bass of mine doesn't need a new paint job, it rather needs a bullet hole. As it comes it sounds crap and it's only a spare piece anyway. One guy in the table said yeah image is everything and he'd get it painted for me looking exactly like that, for cheaps, and another guy said afterwards in the mens room that we should perhaps go to the outdoors range and give it a shot.One of them is my band mate/ associate and the other one is a helpful music store exec that just didn't quite know me yet back then. Neither of them is a bad person, no, but only one of them is the kind of guy I feel like sharing the stage, because I know he's not after the images.
And it translates pretty well to the relic'd instruments as well: one of them playes a relic'd Gibson SG, that is supposedly pretty good, and 'spensive, and an expensive looking PRS (I think). The other playes Rickenbacker 4001 bass from the late 70's and a new-ish well kept Fender Aerodyne bass. Guess who is who.
