New Project, Relic'ed Strat!

[ZiKi]

I bought some parts left and right off ebay for my next project. I plan to put together a strat using vintage or reissue parts and making a relic. The most recent thing I bought was a steal (in my opinion):

Relic Strat Copy Neck

I also am using my 8 hole pickguard from my squire (interesting that they're 20 some bucks and hard to find on ebay, yet fender slaps them on their low end guitars) and a sunburst Aria body. I'm waiting to find a vintage tremelo and pickups at a good price. I got some cheap kluson knockoffs. Why spend alot of money on parts you're going to beat up. Pictures will come very soon, any tips or thread links are appreciated. Thanks

[westhemann]

good for you...keep in mind though that relicing is an art,so do it right...don't just beat the crap out of it and expect it to look good.

the "wear and tear" needs to look as if it was done by years of playing...worn paint on the armrest...below the pickups where your hand would rest on the pickgaurd...things like that.

someone on this board had a way to get the paint to "check"..but i forget who or where..

[american_jesus]

if i remember correctly they used air conditioning stuff...i forget the name, but it's some stuff that comes out freezing cold, and when it's sprayed on the body, it checks really natural looking.

anyways, relics are cool. remember to scuff the paint behind the bridge with a phillips screw driver, and get the cigarette burn on the headstock...

also make sure to wear the neck out enough, and use a piece of black died leather, and rub it all over the neck. it'll make it look really authentically worn.

[Jehle]

Oh, and don't forget the "belt buckle rash" on the back.

my cat who just walked across the keyboard adds:

sd6tttttttttttt555555555556

[Pekollio]

That cat makes a seriously good point

[jmrentis]

my cat who just walked across the keyboard adds:

sd6tttttttttttt555555555556

That cat makes a seriously good point

[Pr3Va1L]

lolll that's an old chatting joke... but in the last days I'm living the same thing! On the couch with the laptop and the baby dog decides the keyboard seems to taste good

anyways,

don't forget the few bumps here and tere, and leave a few screws out of the pickguard!

[Mickguard]

if i remember correctly they used air conditioning stuff...i forget the name, but it's some stuff that comes out freezing cold, and when it's sprayed on the body, it checks really natural looking.

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Yeah, that would be freon...extremely toxic and one of the worst pollutants out there. Releasing the contents of an air conditioner would cause more pollution than something like 1,000 cars would make in 10 years...well, you get the idea....there's no mystery--the true devastation to the planet began with the invention of air conditioning. Anyway, freon's not something to play around with.

Besides, I thought checking only happens with nitro?

[jnewman]

You could always use liquid nitrogen... which makes up 70 percent or something of the earth's atmosphere already anyway . You can go get a small styrofoam cooler full at a welding supply shop at the loading dock for a 6-pack of cold beer most of the time - it's a waste product from the process of making welding gasses.

[GodBlessTexas]

if i remember correctly they used air conditioning stuff...i forget the name, but it's some stuff that comes out freezing cold, and when it's sprayed on the body, it checks really natural looking.

Freon. Unfortunately, it's expensive, requires a license to get, and the EPA fines you for venting it to atmosphere due to CFC's.

Remember the Alamo, and God Bless Texas...

[GodBlessTexas]

You could always use liquid nitrogen... which makes up 70 percent or something of the earth's atmosphere already anyway . You can go get a small styrofoam cooler full at a welding supply shop at the loading dock for a 6-pack of cold beer most of the time - it's a waste product from the process of making welding gasses.

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A good thermos would probably be better, and you have to be EXTREMELY careful with that stuff. You won't be playing guitar anymore if you get that stuff on your hands. I remember dipping hot dogs in that stuff in high school chemistry and then shattering them to prove the point to the freshman that it wasn't stuff to be played with. I loved being the lab manager.

Remember the Alamo, and God Bless Texas...

[Mickguard]

I spent some time working in the freezer hold on a processor off the coast of Alaska...the fish was sent through a blast freezer first before it got to us...took about a minute to turn a fish into solid ice...

There might be a similar processing facility near you that'll be willing to send your guitar through their blast freezer...just ask them to hold the brine...

[westhemann]

i bet if you refinished the guitar in a new coating of nitro,and then sent it through one of those things as soon as it flashed,you would get instant checking...

but i really have no idea what i am talking about

[rhoads56]

ive just relic'd a brand new guitar, and i have to say it was really fun. Chucked it around the carpark, scratched it, sanded it, rusted it, wore it in, wore it out, deglossed, bumped, bashed, bla bla.

Couldnt bring myself to wear out the brand new floyd or gotoh tuners, but the electronics didnt miss the aging process

The audience reaction... "WHOAAAA thats fricken cool!!"

Chuck the body and neck in the freezer for a few hours, then out into the warm sun. You'll hear it cracking INSTANTLY. The hotter the sun, or colder the body, the bigger the cracks

[i-j-c]

Any before and after pics of that...?

[rhoads56]

id love to, but i need to keep this one on the quiet so i dont risk any sort of warranty/authorized repairer deals i have

Ya, politics....

[Jehle]

I can just see it now. Oi, Perry, I put this guitar you built for me in the fridge, right, and it's gone all crackly on me.

[mledbetter]

with nitro i've known people that used compressed air (which is probably what the original "freon" post was referring to). It's not freon but it's got some sort of propellant in it that if you turn the can upside down it will spray out a white frost and freeze whatever you spray it on. I'm talking about the canned air you get for spraying out your keyboard and stuff. any office supply store has it.

research aging hardware too. people throwing all their hardware in a box of rusty nails for a couple of weeks and stuff, that's just not natural. Rust does not equal age. google Nash Guitars and check out his stuff. He makes a living selling relics and he's one of the only ones i've seen that actually look nice and people say that they actually feel 50 years old and broken in, and that is the ultimate goal. You get half the props if it looks worn in, and the rest come if it actually plays like an old classic too.

If playing your relic requires that you get a tetanous shot then you've gone about it all wrong

[marksound]

I think that's CO2 propellant.

EDIT: Hey, now that I think about it, you could get one of them CO2 fire extinguishers and go to town, buddy.

[mledbetter]

apparently it's all the rage for huffing these days which is just sad.. dumbasses getting frostbite on their tongues and stuff. Apparently several kids have died recently. I swear some people will try anything once no matter how stupid it is.

[ZiKi]

Thanks for the responses guys, i didnt know this topic was so alive

Here's the news.

The guitar was going to be a 50s relic. But then I realized my parts werent too exact, so now i'm trying for a 50-60s relic

I got more parts off ebay. have a look

Tremolo Cover

8 hole pickguard

67 pickups

50's reissue bridge pickup

And i got the neck in today!

Although it is slimmer than my neck pocket (which is weird, the original neck i was going to use was too big), i think itll work! I'd have to do some modifications like relocating the neck screws and switching the black nut with a white one.

Speaking of nuts, does anyone have a white nut to trade for my black nut? *that sounds awkward*

Anyways, i talked to the guy at guitar center and he was like the "fender expert" he told me some suggestions. One thing i would never do is buy reissue parts from guitar center when i have ebay. LOL

anyways, Thanks for the input

One more question: anyone have info on relicing the plastic? also, does the finish have to be nitro to check or could i just throw my body into the freezer and then the sun?

Once again, THANKS GUYS! keep it comin

[mledbetter]

Nitro checks because it is fragile. Shellac also checks. Poly might check if you drop it but i don't know that temp extremes will check it. Modern finishes are made to withstand much more temp and condition extremes than the old style finishes.

On the plastic, don't bother with coffee soaking and crap like that. The best relicers will age plastic with lacquer. Some people use a can or neck amber lacquer from reranch and you control the darkness of the effect by the thickness of the coat. Light dustings and careful placement of the color will be important. Think about where the pick scratches are, how shadows would effect the yellowing, etc. Check out that nash place and you'll see great examples of aged pickguards.

For the metals, I don't know the specific chemicals, as the good relic guys keep those a secret (and I have never aged any metal parts) but check with someone that is into sculpture or artistic metal work. Or just dig online and find out what concoction will put a nice patina onto nickel. Years of sweat, smoke and abrasion will yield corroded metal with some greens and browns in it. It should be smooth and not a sharp, jagged thing with rust flakes coming off of it. The metal corrosives are crucial for a realistic look as they accellerate a something that happens naturally by the salt and other corrosives in sweat.

addition: There is a builder about 30 minutes from me that specializes in strat and tele copies and he relics a lot of them. Something he does, and a lot of folks do to some extent, is start first by creating a story for your guitar. If it's a 50s strat, write up a story of where it's been who all has owned it, any important milestones (aka. accidents, occasions, etc. in the life of the guitar). Not trying to be too artsy-fartsy here but doing stuff like that will make it believable instead of just throwing keys and beating it with chains. That's just distressing. Relicing is all about adding a compelling story to an otherwise virgin guitar.

[ZiKi]

Thanks for the fast input. I emailed bill nash but i later found out he doesn't give away techniques. Anyways, what would the difference between sand paper and steel wool do to the guitar, and is the chip-away-with-screwdriver technique a good idea?

Edited August 10, 2005 by ZiKi

[mledbetter]

i say there's nothing wrong with the screwdriver chip as long as there is a reason for it. What made that ding, and will a screwdriver really look like that? Dings often came from instrument cable ends (my taylor acoustic has a nice beauty spot on the front where someone slung a mic cable a little too close to her)

Something as sharp as a screwdriver is going to leave a distinctive mark and that can look repetative.

The other nice thing about the story idea is it will keep you authentic. Light a cig and let it burn down in the headstock. The best way to approximate these wear and tear looks is to study a lot of pictures of worn out guitars. one nice thing about nash's site is it's chock full of pictures. For dings and stuff, i'd use sandpapers, rasps, whatever to expose areas of wood. steel wool would be good for scuffing, deglossing stuff, anywhere you want random light abarasion. Sandpaper is much more agressive for actual paint/wood removal.

A little goes a long way. You can always take more off but it's always much harder to add back, so don't go crazy. It's like getting tatoos, you can always add another one - and likewise the relic can be a work in progress.

[Mickguard]

i say there's nothing wrong with the screwdriver chip as long as there is a reason for it.

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Zen and the Art of Relic'ing!