Aging Fenders

[FLICKOFLASH]

Making an aged knob:

Since the famous coffee soak or tobacco smoke method can fail
depending on a knob's coating material,
I tried to "relic" my strat knob using a tint spray and
lacquer coating.
Here is a BEFORE-AND-AFTER picture.



I could get this result in less than 30 minutes.
Notice the surrounding "grip" on the knob remains sharp.
I didn't sand that part on purpose,
because I wanted to make this a player-friendly knob.


Steps:

(1) Sand the knob so that the color firmly sticks on the knob.
I sanded it until I did not see any shiny spots.


(2) Spray the tint color coat.
I used ReRanch's Fender Neck Amber.


(3) Add this trick here.
I smeared a little bit of pastel powder to get an extra dirty look.
I think this is one way of commonly known weathering techniques
in the plastic model world.


(4) Clear coat the knob with nitro clear lacquer.


(5) Then show the knob to your family and friends!
Nobody will understand what you are doing.

[FLICKOFLASH]

Aging Results - MIM poly maple neck
SHOE POLISH WORKS!






(2000 model MIM, poly) with the brown shoe polish and it worked perfectly.


FWIW, buff the satin finish to higher-gloss with Turtle Wax clear coat polishing compound (done it a bunch on other guitars), to get more of the "vintage" look from my MIM Tele. Do this first. It just takes a few minutes, buff by hand, the result is just like a vintage high-gloss neck.

[FLICKOFLASH]

Aging '50s Classic Tele


Method:
First, I used rubbing alcohol to remove any wax/polish/gunky buildup from the finish.
My local tanning salon sells time in 20-minute sessions. I bought one session the first night,
three sessions the second night, and two sessions the third for a total of 2
hours. I requested the hottest tanning bed with the newest lights
(they had just been changed). I laid the Tele face down on its strings
balanced on a pack of cigarettes to allow it to lay level and elevate it
slightly from the glass. Each session I moved the guitar slightly so that the
tubes did not shine in exactly the same place each time. None of the
surface of the guitar (wood, metal, nor plastic) became hot to the touch,
but the wood did radiate some warmth after each session.

Results:
The first 20-minute session had interesting results. There was very little color
change (yellowing) but it had the effect of fading the underlying white
paint allowing the wood grain to show through more and enhance that
bluish cast that the grain in a white blond has in addition to softening the
white just a bit. The second night was for 1 full hour, which resulted
in a noticeable, although slight color change. With the pickguard removed, a
very subtle tan line was visible and the color of the exposed areas
became a softer, warmer off-white. The neck also darkened slightly.



1) the electromagnetic field generated by the tanning bed had
mellowed the pickup magnets,

2) the intense UV and resulting warmth generated by the lights
had dried the wood and opened the grain thus enhancing resonance,

3) the transformers in the bed generated high-frequency sound
waves that enhanced the resonance

[FLICKOFLASH]

YouTube - I modded my guitar, and so can you! PT 1 - Relic

YouTube - I modded my guitar, and so can you! Part 2

YouTube - I modded my guitar, and so can you! Part 3

[FLICKOFLASH]

YouTube - How they do it in the FENDER CUSTOM SHOP?

[FLICKOFLASH]

YouTube - How To Relic A Guitar


YouTube - Real Cool Guitars: Part 1

YouTube - Real Cool Guitars: Part 2 The Proccess

www.realcoolguitars.com

[Mr Bones]

Callaham ages their stuff with lacquer. the problem is that after a few weeks you get "negative" wear spots where the places that should look really aged look new because the lacquer has worn off.

[Liam]

I was pretty pleased with the results I got with this one:





Don't know how well it shows, but the knobs and pickup covers have yellowed beautifully, the neck has worn through, but is like driftwood where it has gone through the varnish.

The trick turned out to be...play it and sweat on it regularly for 24 years.

[gnr2206]

dats so kul^^^^^^^^^

[Sinmastah]

Originally Posted by FLICKOFLASH

YouTube - How they do it in the FENDER CUSTOM SHOP?

Thats really funny

[dennistruckdriver]

Originally Posted by Liam

The trick turned out to be...play it and sweat on it regularly for 24 years.

Right on, man!