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Failing that resort to what Tom Murphy and Gibson do, which is creating all the cracks by hand using a razor blade.
I guess with the first method you also run the risk of it cracking in ways which aren't aesthetically pleasing... I'm not chucking any of my guitars in the freezer.
I've got a couple of Gibsons aged by a bloke called Chad Underwood, he definitely used the blade method.
(formerly miserneil)
I've never heard of any freezer checking affect any guitar and those old guitars were just left in boots of cars all night then brought in and they never fell apart
If you want nitro checking you have to use the right laquer, these are recent builds I've done and they look right to me, not all nitro will check either
(formerly customkits)
This one was freezer checking on the left on 90's gibson nitro.. I redid it with new paint...mostly aged with a razor, but a bit of freezing to add some additional randomness
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I still stand by my original statement that freezer checking is the best, i won't ever do razor checking, alot of this checking is best done over a long period too when the laquer is really hard and thin, this is just my personal choice
(formerly customkits)
Anyone know what method Fender use?
I'm pretty sure it's not done with a blade, but if it's freezing they, of course, have the luxury of being able to treat necks and bodies separately.
(formerly customkits)
IMO, regardless of how thin the blade is, this cannot be accomplished with a razor.
It's also interesting in this, and most other vintage examples, that the crazing emirates from the various dings and dints that the guitar already has. The Murphy checked guitar has none of this.
(formerly miserneil)
I even use an upside down air duster on some stuff. At the moment I am finding that mixing 2 techniques gives me better results than either on their own. i.e. razor checking followed by freezer cycles or freezer cycles followed by an air duster.
They can all produce terrible checking when done badly.
I need a bigger freezer for les pauls though
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(formerly customkits)
On many of the vintage Gibson examples I've seen, the bodies tend to have the long, thin parallel checking while on the sides and neck heel, it is far more crazed/shattered mirror like:
So I would certainly try the air duster technique to accomplish this.
As you can see though, the examples posted are a world away from the Murphy aged guitars.
(formerly miserneil)
nah, you don;t get the same effect as that with a razor. you also don't get it when you freeze and stain the cracks like many do
the point of showing the TM was that it is a bad example,that's how people judge the whole technique.
If you look at my example above it, it has different wear visible from different angles and the cracks do respond to dents and dings..... but its 90% razor work.
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fenders - depends on the finish. Custom colours don't age the same as sunbursts for example
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