Anyone Age Or Relic A Guitar Some?

[Dogs of Doom]

Isn't that called the violin finish...
At least that what your strat reminds me of.

Very Beautiful!

this is violinburst...

 

[Wildeman]

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.

I got a big chip on my Pacifica and hate it! Friggin Foto flame. Upper bout where my forearm rubs, i do love this guitar and got it cheap but that chip bugs me for some reason.

 

[stringtree]

I LOVE that first one!

I like that one too, if one were not going to relic.

I like the maple neck and appointments matching. That color scheme carries through the body.

 

[Geeze]

To answer the OP I naturally relic when I do dumbshit moves with the guitar - it doesn't need any help. I do enjoy improving guitar tops though.

I drop topped a Fender - ran it through a drum sander to take 3/16" for the top. I was limited on resaw width.

I did another - still have the body as I screwed up the clear coat. Maybe some day I'll get around to finishing it.

Funny thing is I like the Tele look I don't like the sound or playing them - they always seem harder to play than a Jackson or LP.

Russ

 

[stringtree]

To answer the OP I naturally relic when I do dumbshit moves with the guitar - it doesn't need any help. I do enjoy improving guitar tops though.

I drop topped a Fender - ran it through a drum sander to take 3/16" for the top. I was limited on resaw width.

Russ

The great thing is, you found a way to make it your own!

You redo the tops to your taste, and that Rocks!

Looks Great by the way!

 

[axe4me]

I play my guitars.

I don't abuse or use them as a hockey stick.

They have honest play ware.

IMO, relic'd or a guitar made to look old are those that are marketed to be expensive.

Is there someone with a hammer hitting them at $50.00 a hit or doing some ass finish work and charging you more?

WTF do I know?.

I buy good clean guitars.

New or used.

IMO, if it's good......it's good.

Buy 'em all.

 

[johnfv]

As for natural wear, the modern finishes (even the nitro ones) are so tough they typically don't show age that much. The old finishes would get brittle, crack and flake much more easily. This is my Strat from '83 that has been played a LOT. There's a lot of nicks but they don't knock the finish off. An old brittle nitro finish would flake off and show wood or primer in a lot more places:

MJT uses more fragile nitro on their aged finishes (I assume this is intentional). If you whack it on something, there's a good chance you will knock some paint off. They continue to self relic

 

[jmp45]

Just relic'd hardware for me, finish will relic on it's own. I'm not a big fan of chrome, nickel and aged nickel I prefer. Only on this Traditional and an SG, others are stock.

 

[dptone5]

Great idea Derek. Not sure how I'd like the relic on a flamed guitar? But lots of great ideas here.

I for one never liked any sort of relic, until I got a great deal on a Fender Custom Shop 1960 Strat. It is not a heavy relic, but it's not light either. More in the middle. The guitar has such a great vibe to it. I actually love a well done relic now. The attention to detail on mine is great. Relic'd in all the right places. Even has pick swipes above the low E string. It is so cool......

Can't wait to see the finished product!!

DP

 

[stringbender11]

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)?

That Strat is a beauty, I like it just the way it is, personally. I think it will be damm shame if you relic it, especially as it's fairly unique guitar.

 

[BftGibson]

Got this last week, guy made a some sort of attempt on a mim Jimmy vaughn.. love it, tex mex pups & he sanded the neck down just right it seems. really enjoy the feel of the guitar. I rubbed out the scratches and got the fake wear to blend a lil ..it looks more worn than the photo

 

[jimmyjames]

Isn't that called the violin finish...
At least that what your strat reminds me of.

Very Beautiful!

Cheers Triburst, 'tis a Fender Japan RI. Body was on ebay and local, had to have it. 300 Ozbucks, 62 neck he thought was shot for an extra fiver

 

[Australian]

this is an idea, you could get a matching red wood flamed pickguard...

Matt uses this guy:

https://www.bobscustomplates.com/customer-pics

from his FB page:

QUOTE]

That does look good.

 

[axe4me]

Played and treated well since 1975.................



Since the mid 90's.................



Since the early 80's...................

 

[Derek S]

Damn, great looking guitars, brothers, thanks for sharing them and more feedback on what other options I have.

@DP...thanks, but it's not actually a real "flame" top, just a cosmetic veneer, so aging a bit wouldn't be any great loss (I'd never consider something like that on one of my real flame or quilt top axes).

Seems like more than a couple of you are suggesting just leave it be so I'm leaning that way except I do like the idea of d-shinning it ala jimmyjames (your strat looks great that way IMO) but I dunno, that poly coating might be helping the veneer stay in place. Maybe I'll just play it more and not exactly be careful with it and if more scuffs and dings happen, so be it, just adds character that might distract me from the cheesy fake top lol.


thanks again, all!

 

[crossroadsnyc]

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!

Oh, for sure, it could take some considerable effort depending on the thickness of the poly coating. Hell, even with an application on the thin side, it's still going to take some work. While I could be way off base, my guess is that the finish on that guitar is on the thin side, so I had have a go at it with a heat gun and a scraper (though, a blow torch does sound more fun!).

 

[crossroadsnyc]

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).

Try a heat gun and a scraper if you're going to strip it.

 

[Derek S]

Try a heat gun and a scraper if you're going to strip it.

I doubled checked it last night, and oddly the back is also "flamed", which seems weird, I mean why fake the back (or, possibly that's more proof the entire body is indeed basswood so they covered it). But anyway, since the back looks like the front, I can experiment on it with little concern. I do have a large torch that could probably reduce the whole thing down to kindling lol.

 

[crossroadsnyc]

I doubled checked it last night, and oddly the back is also "flamed", which seems weird, I mean why fake the back (or, possibly that's more proof the entire body is indeed basswood so they covered it). But anyway, since the back looks like the front, I can experiment on it with little concern. I do have a large torch that could probably reduce the whole thing down to kindling lol.

Having just read through the rest of your thread, I love the suggestion of de-shining it (and that Strat example shown was an absolute beauty). I wouldn't know how to go about doing it, but that's probably the route I'd research and try first. Reading his post was a real "duh!" moment for me, as I've experienced something along the same lines recently. I have two EVH striped guitars, and whereas one of them (franky tribute) has a shiny finish, the other (5150 tribute) has a matte finish, and I find myself reaching for the 5150 more than the Franky because I prefer the look of the finish on the guitar. Cool idea, and if you can pull it off, I bet it'd look pretty spectacular.

 

[Derek S]

I finally found a picture of what looks to be a guitar just like mine and somebody did exactly what my initial idea was, only they REALLY went crazy with the relic job, I wouldn't go that far if I go that route. It looks like maybe the guy just went at it with a power sander with no care, an "anything is better than the fake top" attitude. Halfway down this page, post #67, the guitar even has the foto flame job on the back like mine, and in red no less too:

http://www.strat-talk.com/threads/foto-flame-strat-owners-club.96581/page-4

I kinda like the look of that, only I still think I'm gonna "try" the JJ "d-shine" thing first and if that looks groovy, I'll stick, if not, I can bust out the torch or pwr sander (but a little more restrained than the linked pic).