My first relic

AustrianJohn

My first ever build earlier this year was a Harley Benton Tele which, apart from poor pickups, was a very playable little guitar.



I had planned to rebuild it with Iron Gear pickups, and when a friend asked if I could build him a Strat in the style of the John Mayer Black One, I said I didn't know, but I'd experiment. So I rebuilt the Tele with the new pickups in the style of John Mayer's heavily reilc'd Strat.



My attempt to relic the scratchplate and chrome parts failed miserably, but I'm pleased with the body.

Any advice on how to relic the scratchplate and chrome parts without using seriously noxious stuff would be gratefully received.

Sambostar

Ferric Chloride, but it does a shit job on chrome unfortunately.  I mean, it will look old and that if you scuff it up first, but it will deeply etch the starched parts and leave the unscratched parts untouched.  About the best you can do with chrome though.

equalsql

Got a nice 'Rory' vibe going on there

WezV

Sambostar;836386" said:

Ferric Chloride, but it does a shit job on chrome unfortunately.  I mean, it will look old and that if you scuff it up first, but it will deeply etch the starched parts and leave the unscratched parts untouched.  About the best you can do with chrome though.

Its the best you can do on chrome... With etchant. It works great on nickel though.

For chrome you need acid