zyonsdream Posted June 12, 2008 Report Share Posted June 12, 2008 'll start by saying that being able to beat on a Brand new Shiny Fender Telecaster was the trill of a life time. I personally have no love for any Fender newer than 20 years. I find their quality to be sub par and their components to be less than top shelf. However, a buddy of mine asked me to take his 1950's Telecaster reissue and make it look like it was from the 1950's. I started with a poorly (factory) set up blond see through Ash Telecaster that came with the Fender/Bigsby tail piece and bridge. The owner wanted the paint to be abused (but recognizable) and he wanted three humbuckers in it. He primarily plays blues so he wanted this to be a tone machine. The guitar in it's original state had very little tone what so ever. First, I replaced the single ply black pickguard with a three ply B/W/B cut to fit two humbuckers and then retrofit it into the existing holes. I then abused the existing hardware and paint. I removed some on the front and back down to the wood and removed some of the nitro so the owner, when playing it will cause it to age faster but in a natural way. I tried to keep the chipping on the edges and maintain a natural wear pattern with the paint. I took the shine off of every part of the guitar, including the neck. I sanded, dinged, scratched and did everything I could to get a pitted, aged chrome look to the hardware. The pictures really don't show a lot of the dings and chips in the body but it turned out nicely. I replaced those crappy Fender mini pots with full sized switchcraft 500K pots and added a mini switch to control the middle pickup. The 3 way switch functions as usual an you can kick in the middle pickup with the mini. I also used a Sprague Drop orange cap for added tone. The neck and middle pickup are Golden age pickups and the bridge is a 59' from SD. Needless to say the tonal response is huge. With the bridge pickup on only you still get a telecaster sound (with a bit more beef) and with the bridge and middle on you get an awesome blues tone. After that you get into the Les Paul range of tones. I have to say that I'm personally not into relic guitars as I like to see them age over time but this was fun and was a pretty cool learning experience. I'm sure I could improve my process and produce a better (looking) guitar but the major focus was on tonal improvement which was not super easy given the crappy bridge (and the fact it's a Fender) I started with this: This is what I ended with Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WezV Posted June 12, 2008 Report Share Posted June 12, 2008 looks really cool.. i just reckon it needs a bit more DIRT!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thirdstone Posted June 12, 2008 Report Share Posted June 12, 2008 yep more dirt, more rust and a cigy burn on the headstock near the low e string tuner and finger wear on the fret board. Oh yeah get the clear to crack. I have read that sticking the body in a freezer will do it, don`t know if its true though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cactus Posted June 12, 2008 Report Share Posted June 12, 2008 I Agree with the previous posters; MORE DIRT! Also, you might like to do something with the chromed parts - dunno how to do it, but I've seen people here doin stuff to chromed metal parts. Perhaps some sort of wear on the pickguard would be 'authentic'.. ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zyonsdream Posted June 12, 2008 Author Report Share Posted June 12, 2008 The picture doesn't show much of the wear on the pickgurd and chrome. The owner didn't want me to get too aggressive with the neck. He wanted used, not abused and he wanted to do some aging naturally. Scoring the chrome will help accelerate the pitting process. The camera finish made some of he chrome look shiny but it looks much more beat up in real life than it does in the pictures. I suggested the freezer idea but spider cracks didn't suit their wants. I looked at several well played and well maintained guitars from the 50's and not all of them look like they were drug through WW2. The only thing I would have liked to see was more wear n the fretboard but I was specifically asked to take the shine off the hardcoat and leave it at that. I did go as far as to dull the frets and ding up the headstock a bit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WAK Guitars Posted June 12, 2008 Report Share Posted June 12, 2008 (edited) Theres some good reliced basses in this: http://www.talkbass.com/forum/showthread.php?t=435082 The guy with the AriaProII bass says he got the crackling with a heat gun and liquid nitrogen. The idea of putting it in the freezer would be ten times cooler though. No pun intended. Yeah I agree that it needs more dirt. +1 for the cigarette burn. EDIT: My bad, didn't see your post zyonsdream. Edited June 12, 2008 by WAK Guitars Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dana Posted June 12, 2008 Report Share Posted June 12, 2008 looks new but damaged in shipping to me... maybe its all the shiny chrome and perfect neck. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mickguard Posted June 12, 2008 Report Share Posted June 12, 2008 Yeah, the big problem with those 50s reissues is that they're coated in polyester armor. There's no way to get that stuff looking like a real old guitar. Your buddy should let you go all the way and strip the body down and refinish it in nitro. Then the guitar will age naturally. I can say that the 50s reissue Esquire I have here is one of the nicest teles I've ever heard, awesome beefy twang. Ash body, stock pickup. Great neck too, love the radius. Fit and finish were pretty good, and a quick setup was pretty much all it took to turn into one of my favorite guitars ever. Except for the finish, which I'd love to strip off and refinish (but the guitar's not mine, so I'm not allowed). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zyonsdream Posted June 12, 2008 Author Report Share Posted June 12, 2008 Yeah, the big problem with those 50s reissues is that they're coated in polyester armor. There's no way to get that stuff looking like a real old guitar. Your buddy should let you go all the way and strip the body down and refinish it in nitro. Then the guitar will age naturally. I can say that the 50s reissue Esquire I have here is one of the nicest teles I've ever heard, awesome beefy twang. Ash body, stock pickup. Great neck too, love the radius. Fit and finish were pretty good, and a quick setup was pretty much all it took to turn into one of my favorite guitars ever. Except for the finish, which I'd love to strip off and refinish (but the guitar's not mine, so I'm not allowed). Actually it is nitro Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mickguard Posted June 13, 2008 Report Share Posted June 13, 2008 Actually it is nitro Didn't think Fender used that anymore... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ArieBombarie Posted June 13, 2008 Report Share Posted June 13, 2008 (edited) I think the damage is a bit too local and the shiny chrome is a kind of a give-away ... you should add some more wear and tear to it... for inspiration: check out this video tutorial about relicing.... Relicing An Electric Guitar Video Tutorial It also shows how to relic the hardware and the fretboard.... he started out with a brand new tele-clone and ended up with this: good luck, Grz Arjan Edited June 13, 2008 by ArieBombarie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WezV Posted June 13, 2008 Report Share Posted June 13, 2008 well i reckon that one has gone too far and isnt particularly realistic for a subtle relic i reckon zyon just needs to add some crazing (try an exacto blade) and rub in some dirt... the dirt bit will happen naturally if he play it heavily for a few years my favoriute relics are subtle ones, like this 62 bravewood strat the attention to detail is superb and the relicing never feels over the top Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zyonsdream Posted June 13, 2008 Author Report Share Posted June 13, 2008 I did rub some dirt into it which really did not shine through on the pictures. I modeled this after my 1976 Guild S100 which has seen a lot of road time in it's day. The tele that was pictured above this post is drastic and to be honest I've never actually seen an authentic (with an owner who cared for his instrument) that looked like that. My Guild was used a lot but was cared for. I would have liked the ash to take a bit more of the dirt on the face of the guitar but I didn't want to leave the wood too rough. Most of the chips and dents in the body wood have had a healthy dose of dirt. BTW, I gave it back to the owner today who was floored with it. Like I posted earlier, they wanted some age and road abuse and compared to my naturally worn Guild it measures up. I have a lot of respect for the work that goes into an extreme relic but in most cases, you never see a well taken care of instrument in that condition. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WezV Posted June 13, 2008 Report Share Posted June 13, 2008 just to reiterate in case we have been a bit too critical... i do love the way the guitar looks as it is!!! relics are always something that divides people... even amongst those that like them there is a 'more vs less' vibe going on Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zyonsdream Posted June 13, 2008 Author Report Share Posted June 13, 2008 I've always loved what you do with your relic'd guitars because you don't go overboard with them WezV. The encouraging words mean a lot! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim37 Posted June 14, 2008 Report Share Posted June 14, 2008 if he just worked over the chrome it will take a little while for it to really start to show remember there is shiny silver metal under there that needs to tarnish alittle to if you try to tget that too soon you will end up going over board. any way nice job i don't really like these relic jobs where it lookes like the guitar has been to hell and back. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zyonsdream Posted June 14, 2008 Author Report Share Posted June 14, 2008 The biggest thing about this job for me was the fact that this was the first time I used a little 59' from Seymour Duncan and wow, was I ever impressed. With the bridge and tail on this tele it seiously lacked in the tone and sustain department and that pickup really brought it to life. This is the first Fender I would actually want to own. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
toneslinger Posted June 21, 2008 Report Share Posted June 21, 2008 I think the damage is a bit too local and the shiny chrome is a kind of a give-away ... you should add some more wear and tear to it... for inspiration: check out this video tutorial about relicing.... Relicing An Electric Guitar Video Tutorial It also shows how to relic the hardware and the fretboard.... he started out with a brand new tele-clone and ended up with this: good luck, Grz Arjan Yup. those are my vids. The one in the video series is "VERY" reliced. I was trying to demo almost all techniques so it came out pretty beat to snot. Relicing a guitar is like getting a haircut. You can take a little off, then a little more... but you can never go back. LESS IS MORE! The more subtle the better. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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