Quite pleased with how this one turned out. Started life as a Mexican Classic Series 50s strat, which I loved to play but felt the finish was too shiny and plastick-y. So it's had a full strip down and re-spray in Daphne Blue nitro, plus a light relic job. (Yeah, yeah I know, but I don't care - I love the look and feel of it now ...)
First time I've sprayed with nitro - have to say I prefer using it to anything else now. I should have probably gone for a few more clear coats as I ran into a little sand-through when flatting back, but I wanted as thin a finish as possible really. Body was sprayed daphne blue, then a couple of clear, then a light spray of tinted clear to dull the colour a little and finally a few more clear.
Body was given a few weeks to cure and then spent 72 hours in a freezer, the subjected to a hairdryer on hot. Cracks are subtle but look great.
Neck has also been stripped down and re-finished in nitro, with some light ageing. Didn't want the same contrived finger grooves that a few of the over-the-top relic jobs seem to go for. Turns out stripping a neck takes a long time and a fair few razor blades! Decal is now above the lacquer which I believe is period correct for a 50s strat.
Hardware has been aged by abrasion and ferric chloride, should start showing a few rust spots before too long.
Lost the string tree and strap buttons so have spares on order. Will probably re-do the volume and tone knobs as they're a little too much at the moment.
Anyway, here's before:
And after:
Before:
After:
And a few more shots ...
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as I don't know should it have a more aged pickgaurd looks a bit stark to the untrained eye
Woodstain / dye, wiped on and left for a few minutes then wiped off the middle of the frets. Was an idea I tied and seemed to work well.