Anyone Age Or Relic A Guitar Some?

[Derek S]

I know that's a taboo idea, and I am one of those guys who rolls his eyes when I see the fake looking, intentionally and often OVERLY done aged guitars (that are usually just a few years old lol). BUT, if you had a guitar with a finish you hated, would you consider just stripping it to hell and giving it a scuffed up, aged look? Any one have pics or examples of their projects?

I have a super cool (but ugly) and kind of rare Fender HRR from the early 90's, the "photo flame" topped series. They're killer guitars specs wise, made in the Fujigen plant with usa parts, Duncan pickups, coil tapping, etc, but damn, the fake finish has always bugged me. So I was thinking of just stripping away a lot, but not quite all of the red and making it look worn ala Joe Holmes strats (and many others). The hardware is already naturally aged (vintage kluson tuners, MIG floyd, etc), so I just need to do something about the body. It's basswood though so it's never gonna be that pretty, but I thought if I leave some of the red it might be decent looking as a relic'd guitar. Thoughts? Will removing the poly kill the tone (or help it)?

This is the guitar..

 

[SRD]

https://www.dropbox.com/s/vxcea89kupsqqkz/20180913_223401.jpg?dl=0

this is my first and probably only attempt at it because when I bought the body it had some screw holes in it from maybe a bigsby or something so I googled and looked at a lot of different relic jobs, watched some videos and finally said F it, here it goes.

 

[KraftyBob]

This may give you some ideas. Darrel Braun relic’d a Squire after he rebuilt it. It was painful to watch...

 

[stringtree]

Great subject for a thread!

Its an opportunity to make the guitar your own, whatever you choose. Have you thought about changing parts....

I dig the relic look. From looking at pics, its seems less is more.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/vxcea89kupsqqkz/20180913_223401.jpg?dl=0

this is my first and probably only attempt at it because when I bought the body it had some screw holes in it from maybe a bigsby or something so I googled and looked at a lot of different relic jobs, watched some videos and finally said F it, here it goes.

Nice work on your guitar! Looks Great!

 

[SRD]

thanks stringtree

 

[Derek S]

Thanks for the input, gents!

SRD, I'd love to see yours but my browsers are not cooperating (firefox, IE, Chrome, all not allowing me for some reason..maybe when I get home on my PC it'll work).

 

[SRD]

I hear you, I can't even see it on my pc at my office, I just added the link hoping it would work!

 

[stringtree]

This is SRD pic!

 

[Derek S]

I like it!!!! Reverse head stock on that really kicks it up.

 

[SRD]

thanks, I've had that neck for a long time and finally figured out what i wanted to do with it.

 

[crossroadsnyc]

I don't know, dude, as a relic on a poly finish just doesn't seem right to me. How about just removing the poly and repainting the guitar in a color/finish you prefer? That sounds like a project that would not only be fun, but would be more satisfying in the end.

 

[johnfv]

I don't know, dude, as a relic on a poly finish just doesn't seem right to me. How about just removing the poly and repainting the guitar in a color/finish you prefer? That sounds like a project that would not only be fun, but would be more satisfying in the end.

I'm no expert (the only relic work I have done is by banging guitars around) but I do own some nice aged MJT bodies and can highly recommend them. My understanding is poly can be quite difficult to remove (even in small areas). A friend of mine even tried a blow torch Nitro finishes (in particular the older ones, or ones purposely done in that style) get brittle, crack and flake off pretty easily. I think you'd have a much better chance of success with a nitro body. Best of luck!

 

[Derek S]

I do have access to a torch, so if it came to that lol, I might. I WILL do something, just not sure yet...I suppose I'll use the backside as the experiment and see how difficult it will be. I know one thing, I'll be stuck with this guitar for life after I do this lol (but that's okay, anything I do to it from here on is an improvement IMO, even just adding some fake, aged character).

 

[paul-e-mann]

I know that's a taboo idea, and I am one of those guys who rolls his eyes when I see the fake looking, intentionally and often OVERLY done aged guitars (that are usually just a few years old lol). BUT, if you had a guitar with a finish you hated, would you consider just stripping it to hell and giving it a scuffed up, aged look? Any one have pics or examples of their projects?

I have a super cool (but ugly) and kind of rare Fender HRR from the early 90's, the "photo flame" topped series. They're killer guitars specs wise, made in the Fujigen plant with usa parts, Duncan pickups, coil tapping, etc, but damn, the fake finish has always bugged me. So I was thinking of just stripping away a lot, but not quite all of the red and making it look worn ala Joe Holmes strats (and many others). The hardware is already naturally aged (vintage kluson tuners, MIG floyd, etc), so I just need to do something about the body. It's basswood though so it's never gonna be that pretty, but I thought if I leave some of the red it might be decent looking as a relic'd guitar. Thoughts? Will removing the poly kill the tone (or help it)?

This is the guitar..

I'd take it apart and sell the body online and buy a new body in the finish and wood that you want. Have you seen some of the nice bodies you can get from Warmoth? http://www.warmoth.com/Guitar/Body/Stratocaster/Standard/

I'd get an alder body with a goldtop paint job to match my LP.

 

[Derek S]

I'd take it apart and sell the body online and buy a new body in the finish and wood that you want. Have you seen some of the nice bodies you can get from Warmoth?

Thanks....and yes, that thought has crossed my mind, great tip. Mostly I'd do that because other than stripping it in a crazy semi planned way (not really caring what it turns out like might be cool for a relic attempt) I don't trust myself to sand, refinish/stain or paint it.

 

[Dogs of Doom]

I'd sell it & get what it is that you want. There are plenty of other guitars that you can get w/ those spec's or better. That's a nice looking guitar, that someone else would enjoy as-is.

I think that the flame top is a very thin veneer. If you start scraping at it, it could peel...

 

[67Mopar]

While you're at it, how about hacking-up the tolex on your Marshall...

That is a beautiful guitar. Leave it alone.

 

[Dogs of Doom]

here's an example of the foto flame peeling naturally:

trying to make a natural looking wear on these doesn't even happen naturally, let alone trying to scuff it by machine...

more pic's:

https://forums.fender.com/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=57459

there's plenty of examples of the foto flame peeling, if you do a search on google, etc.

 

[Australian]

I know that's a taboo idea, and I am one of those guys who rolls his eyes when I see the fake looking, intentionally and often OVERLY done aged guitars (that are usually just a few years old lol). BUT, if you had a guitar with a finish you hated, would you consider just stripping it to hell and giving it a scuffed up, aged look? Any one have pics or examples of their projects?

I have a super cool (but ugly) and kind of rare Fender HRR from the early 90's, the "photo flame" topped series. They're killer guitars specs wise, made in the Fujigen plant with usa parts, Duncan pickups, coil tapping, etc, but damn, the fake finish has always bugged me. So I was thinking of just stripping away a lot, but not quite all of the red and making it look worn ala Joe Holmes strats (and many others). The hardware is already naturally aged (vintage kluson tuners, MIG floyd, etc), so I just need to do something about the body. It's basswood though so it's never gonna be that pretty, but I thought if I leave some of the red it might be decent looking as a relic'd guitar. Thoughts? Will removing the poly kill the tone (or help it)?

This is the guitar..

I like it. All I would change is the pickguard to a different color.

 

[Derek S]

I'd sell it & get what it is that you want. There are plenty of other guitars that you can get w/ those spec's or better. That's a nice looking guitar, that someone else would enjoy as-is.

I think that the flame top is a very thin veneer. If you start scraping at it, it could peel...

I hear you...you're correct, it is a thin veneer, it's the only thing that bugs me about the looks of the guitar, it plays great, feels and sounds great and I've had it for a long time, I do think I'll keep it. I'm going to run it by a good friend who is a model building junkie, has the finishing booth in his studio and everything, I'm sure he could re-finish it if I strip the poly (I actually found that very thread you posted too after I started this one - don't think I'll bother trying to remove only parts of the "top"...got to be all or nuthin').

Thanks again!