Relic'n Tips
- Thread starter razmataz
- Start date
I'm not normally a big fan of relicing bodies and necks. I tend to let them age naturally, as most relic jobs in my opinion look fake. One thing I do like, is too give the back of my poly neck a good rub with #000 steel wool, and then a scothbrite pad to take the shine off. This isn't really for relic purposes. I just don't like the sticky feeling of shiny poly, as I get sweaty hands in summer.
razmataz said:
No problem, that wasn't my intention either. :icon_thumright: A good friend of mine uses the vapor from Muriatic acid to age all of his chrome and nickel hardware. I know as a rule that he puts his tuners, tailpiece, etc into a box and gives them a good shake first to create little dings and scratches. I think some parts he even scratches with steel wool.
[youtube=425,350]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AoA0O6kSBqk[/youtube]
Jusatele
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tie it to a bumper and drive around the block twice, untie it and dump it into the salt water aquarium your Doctors office. then lay it in the collection pond outside the local paper plant.
After a week bring it home, dry it off and seal it with a good nitro.
reliced, aged and rust all in a week.
After a week bring it home, dry it off and seal it with a good nitro.
reliced, aged and rust all in a week.
Rickgrxbass
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Jusatele said:
Sounds like my former high school band director's method of giving his Fender JJ Powerbucker a "dirtier" sound...
For the back of the neck if you want that gray/dirty color there is a method to do that but the fretboard I'd practice with a cheep a$$ guitar first. I know you can use a dremel with a buffing wheel or wire brush but there is a lot of layout work and skill to make it not look "forced." If you decide to do the back use your playing style and areas on the back you use a lot, I think when people tape off a nice half circle at the nut and one at the heal and relic the whole neck looks fake....should be random, and always remember... less is more!! ......just my .02
Graffiti62
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One thing you may wanna consider doing is using either a bead blast or a tree nut aggregate shell blast with a reduced pressure. Glass beads and tree nut aggregate (ground up almonds & shells/walnuts & shells/pecans & shells) are used for metal restoration applications when you want to have the strength to fleck off paint, but not etch the metal underneath. Playing around with the air pressure will help you get the bite that you want to work with. This will give you the chance to randomly get bits of the metal exposed from under the nickel, without it looking like the part was finished, then aged. Aging should never be rough, as it naturally develops from years of contact from the oil and sweat of your hands, as well as the possible Pabst bottle that was deflected with the guitar during a rowdy gig. As for rusting the metal, I think the muriatic acid approach would work well, as well as one trick I heard about with calcium chloride salt dilute (the same stuff put on the roads in the upper half of the United States). I'd advise against using sand (unless you dilute it down with beads/aggregate) as you don't want to consistently clean the metal, although that would work well on screw heads and such to get to bare metal on those.
Best of luck!
Best of luck!
I'd like to offer some constructive advice so PLEASE don't take this the wrong way. I would never use steel wool or sandpaper when aging parts, it looks forced. I almost did the steel wool thing on my tuners, did a tiny spot and thought it looked to “forced.” Again, just trying to help out.
Here is the process I use and it works great……take a bridge for instance. First I take the saddles off leaving only the bridge plate. Since a bridge plate, jackplate, and neck plate have a more durable finish these parts are aged separately. I take the bridge plate with some other screws and tiny nuts, put in box or bag and bang around to get the random dings/dents.
I take the mounting screws, intonation screws and saddles and set them aside. I personally never relic bridge springs, they are to small and the relicing process may damage them making them less…well springy. I then take a roughly 12x12ish Tupperware bowl with lid and a smaller 5x5ish bowl. Fill the large bowl with ¼ inch of Muriatic Acid (you don’t need more), place the bridge plate only in the smaller bowl and set inside the larger bowl. Place the lid on the large bowl and let sit for about 25 minutes and check. I normally find 30-35 minutes is good for a nice relic job…not overdone. Take it out of the little bowl and let air dry for another 15 minutes then rinse off with soapy water. You can always repeat the process, you can’t undo what is done. Once that is aged to your liking add the saddles, intonation screws and mounting screws to the small bowl. Cover and check after 25 minutes….they will age faster. I do about 25 minutes and let air dry for 10-15 minutes. Again wash with soap and water when finished. When I took my saddles out of the acid I immediately wiped one saddle off to give the impression that I may have been replaced at one point in time, it’s aged but not as much as the others.
Sorry for the long post……if you have any questions please let me know and I’ll be happy to help.
Here is the process I use and it works great……take a bridge for instance. First I take the saddles off leaving only the bridge plate. Since a bridge plate, jackplate, and neck plate have a more durable finish these parts are aged separately. I take the bridge plate with some other screws and tiny nuts, put in box or bag and bang around to get the random dings/dents.
I take the mounting screws, intonation screws and saddles and set them aside. I personally never relic bridge springs, they are to small and the relicing process may damage them making them less…well springy. I then take a roughly 12x12ish Tupperware bowl with lid and a smaller 5x5ish bowl. Fill the large bowl with ¼ inch of Muriatic Acid (you don’t need more), place the bridge plate only in the smaller bowl and set inside the larger bowl. Place the lid on the large bowl and let sit for about 25 minutes and check. I normally find 30-35 minutes is good for a nice relic job…not overdone. Take it out of the little bowl and let air dry for another 15 minutes then rinse off with soapy water. You can always repeat the process, you can’t undo what is done. Once that is aged to your liking add the saddles, intonation screws and mounting screws to the small bowl. Cover and check after 25 minutes….they will age faster. I do about 25 minutes and let air dry for 10-15 minutes. Again wash with soap and water when finished. When I took my saddles out of the acid I immediately wiped one saddle off to give the impression that I may have been replaced at one point in time, it’s aged but not as much as the others.
Sorry for the long post……if you have any questions please let me know and I’ll be happy to help.
Jusatele
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I went to the mall today and while there went into Sam Ash to look at a Axe
I am having a major GAS since I retired my 62 tele. (that thing is never going play right again, I just keep it now for an investment)
Anyway over half of the Tele's I saw were aged. The trend is really getting bad. I saw one with a beautiful clear finish and when I got close it had an early Style Bridge, I had put up with one of those long enough and want a modern one that stays in tune.
I guitar was all they had, A American Deluxe.
Now the Sad part
most of the pre aged guitars looked like someone had wacked away at them with a belt sander, the wear areas were not natural and the hardware looked like JUNK.
I saw very few of them had wear in areas I know an old tele has wear or if it did the wear looked natural. It looked like they had taken a old Strat as a example. Well because of body contours the bodies age different and that aging does not look like the ones on the walls, not only that but the pickguards were really off. the wear marks were not curved like you had been strumming, no worn in finger marks, the necks also were missing places that wear from guitar stands and such.
I think they are more interested in rub wear than seeing that a lot of wear is nicks and scrapes.
My advice on if you want an old looking guitar, go find a old axe and take pictures because the stuff they are not doing a good job of it from the factory.
I am having a major GAS since I retired my 62 tele. (that thing is never going play right again, I just keep it now for an investment)
Anyway over half of the Tele's I saw were aged. The trend is really getting bad. I saw one with a beautiful clear finish and when I got close it had an early Style Bridge, I had put up with one of those long enough and want a modern one that stays in tune.
I guitar was all they had, A American Deluxe.
Now the Sad part
most of the pre aged guitars looked like someone had wacked away at them with a belt sander, the wear areas were not natural and the hardware looked like JUNK.
I saw very few of them had wear in areas I know an old tele has wear or if it did the wear looked natural. It looked like they had taken a old Strat as a example. Well because of body contours the bodies age different and that aging does not look like the ones on the walls, not only that but the pickguards were really off. the wear marks were not curved like you had been strumming, no worn in finger marks, the necks also were missing places that wear from guitar stands and such.
I think they are more interested in rub wear than seeing that a lot of wear is nicks and scrapes.
My advice on if you want an old looking guitar, go find a old axe and take pictures because the stuff they are not doing a good job of it from the factory.
Rickgrxbass
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Jusatele said:
I've seen how Fender "ages" their relics, such as beating the neck and headstock with a flagella of belt buckles; not very natural indeed.
Tonar8352
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Use a Dremel with polishing compound on a polishing wheel to rub through the finish. See the cotton wheel, use that with a course rubbing compound and it will burn through the finish fast.http://www.toolup.com/dremel_750-02_48v-minimite-cordless-rotary-tool-kit.aspx
