Modern tele relic hotrod .... and loads of other things to disturb the purists

Bridgehouse · January 2017

How you relicing your hardware? Good old vinegar or something stronger?

WezV · January 2017

nothing yet - these are all parts i have had on other guitars for the last 5 years. I got a new 5-hole plate i need to relic.

Generally i do actual physical wear and use circuit board etchant, but that is more successful on nickel. I just picked up an aged neckplate of ebay. In my experience chrome ages a lot less than most relic examples you see. You get surface scratches and pitting, but very little actual discolouration

you can see my usual methods for nickel over here:
http://www.thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/55672/build-thread-pancake-body-les-paul-deluxe/p8

but i am trying new things on this one

Bridgehouse · January 2017

WezV said:

nothing yet - these are all parts i have had on other guitars for the last 5 years. I got a new 5-hole plate i need to relic.

Generally i do actual physical wear and use circuit board etchant, but that is more successful on nickel. I just picked up an aged neckplate of ebay. In my experience chrome ages a lot less than most relic examples you see. You get surface scratches and pitting, but very little actual discolouration

you can see my usual methods for nickel over here:
http://www.thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/55672/build-thread-pancake-body-les-paul-deluxe/p8

but i am trying new things on this one

I found the mix-it-up-in-a-bag-with-other-metal-bits really successful for chrome. Followed by vinegar and then some light rubbing. Pitting is difficult to get right but I was reasonably pleased with the results.

WezV · January 2017

I have done decent looking pitting before by manually making dents first, the only struggle is making it look random

WezV · January 2017

just got this out the freezer and gave it a blast with a hairdryer for a few minutes

and nothing:

but hold on, whats that you see with a flash?

WezV · January 2017

so yeah, its getting there

SteveRobinson · January 2017

How much clearcoat did you put on? It needs to be fairly thick to crack. This films are just too flexible.

WezV · January 2017

i did keep it relatively thin as i wanted some grain sinkage, which is happening too. Still only a month since painted so its all early days yet but going in the right direction

WezV · January 2017

It's more visible this morning. Which is just as likely to be poor lighting and bad eyesight as it is an actual change in the lacquer

scalino65 · January 2017

@wezV , I like the amount of forearm wear youve done on this. Not over the top and shows the white undercoat..any tips on getting that? just feather in with different grades of wet and dry? Did you then do the vinegar and wire wool thing to "grey" the exposed wood? Looking nice! cheers. Will

WezV · January 2017

thanks. There is no real trick to it just stay away from the belt sander or anything too aggressive.

I think I used an orbital sander with 400 g to go more fo the way, then increased to 800 and 1200g to finish.

You can see on the contour where the blue is obviously very thin and quite patchy next to the worn through bits, a little more sanding and that would all be white - so just pay close attention to what's happening as you go

WezV · April 2017

I think I like this plate more

The guard cost £3.68 from china and its actually pretty good. I picked it up as I wanted to try there self adhersive acoustic guard material. Its proper 4-ply with see through "celluloid" style top layer rather than printed, and whilst the patterns are a bit vague they are on a par with other modern celluloid reproductions. Okay, its not a Spitfire guard, but its alright

The neck pickup is ordered too, So i will be modding the guard once it gets here. and i need to get some pics of the checking as its looking rather nice now