the_kev

i dont have a pickguard yet, i'm buying a set of pickups from bareknuckle and they will now wire them into a pickguard for you, so i went for that option i used scotch block on the paint, i think it gives a more natural finish a lot faster than steel wool

you might have 40 years of playing behind you mate, but i dont as for the veneer, i'm working around it. It's a gallagher inspired guitar axe after all, i'm not after a carbon copy, so i'm thinking of leaving the sides painted and wearing the finish down as heavily as possible using a scotch block, and cover up the veneer already showing, i've used it already around some of the harder edges, like the neck anchor, and the result is great

in all honesty ageing the bare wood is terrifying me, it's the only part i have no idea whatsoever as to how to go about it, staining it is looking like the best option at the moment, but i think burning the wood a little to darken it before staining might do some good as well anyways, piccy time, keep in mind that this is far from finished; it will need sanding and staining and so on and so forth the front the back as for that pen finish for the dents, here is a better example, although a little out of focus

ok, yet more new pics up later, i've stripped the finish from the places i dont want it on the front and back, any advice how to make it look more natural?

it is miles and miles away from looking like a real relic, but i've gotten a little further in stripping the finish third time round i'll sand it down to get rid of that jagged 'chipped away' look, i've used a scotch block on the finish already to make it look aged and fade the gloss, that worked really well but you cant see it on the pic something that i'm quite happy about, though it wasnt deliberate at first, is the way i've 'stained' the dents i'd made with keys when i covered them up with marker pen. when i tried to wipe it off it had sunk into the dents, and it looks really natural, i'll get a closer picture sooner also, if you're gonna use kiwi shoe polish, use a heat gun on the stuff! the heat gun will melt the shoe polish but not the plastic, and it really sinks into all the recesses and makes it look old see?

update time first i tried to strip the finish using nitro mors, dabbed a bit around the area where the backplate goes so if it all went horribly wrong nobody would notice however, it had no effect on the finish whatsoever, not even one blister i really wanted to avoid sanding the guitar though, in my opinion for the look i'm going for it would make the lines too straight and perfect, i needed something that would look jagged and worn out so in steps the heat gun a 450C (no idea what that is in faranheit sorry) one, so nothing too powerful at that level though the epoxy goes really soft and easy to work with, using a paint stripper it came off really easily example it left the odd mark here and there from where i put a bit too much force into the stripper, but it's being relic'd, so i could probably pass that off as wear and tear the next step was to mark up the areas i want to keep with a dry wipe marker pen, the kind they use on whiteboards in school. This stuff wipes off really easily, so there's no worries about marking the finish, and it means i dont have to refer to pictures all the time you can just about see it on this i'll post again when there's further work done

that's some deep stuff, kinda reminds me of a jonas hellborg interview i read a while back

nahhhhh, gallagher all the way

i'm gonna start stripping the paint tommorow, i'll have some pics up to show

yeah, a fender finish is like a westone guitar; built like a tank what i'm probably gonna do then is sand down the finish a little, then nitromorse it to strip it off

eeek, sorry! i'll go edit that now that completely slipped my mind

ok, (finally) the pics one two three after a bit of a chat with my dad i think i'm gonna use nitromorse (sp?) to get rid of the finish, as it can be brushed on - it'll make it a lot easier to leave areas untouched and will give a better effect than using masking tape any ideas what woodstain i should use to make the bare wood look aged? I live in the UK so a lot of the brands mentioned on here arent available to me

once again thanks so much everybody, all this advice is really helpful, especially that site, this forum is great! just about to upload the pics now

lmao! kudos mate, you've got more guts than me i'll stick a few pics of it up when i get back from work

i've just bought a strat body and neck, and i want to relic it pretty heavily, almost to the point of rory gallagher's strat, but a little less extreme what could i do to make the body look really battered like that? Sandpaper would give a too perfect finish, and i've tried using a screwdriver and it just didnt work, any suggestions?