Old Black

paulnb57

Mrs nb57 uses Washi tape in art projects

https://www.amazon.co.uk/s?k=washi+tape&crid=19MHOKQLEA3ZJ&sprefix=washi+tape%2Caps%2C82&ref=nb_sb_noss_1

WezV

I do have some different types from amazon but am yet to find one that works as well for me as the wilkos one does

WezV

Kittyfrisk said:

OK, crappy photo's are here.

These look good.  I will check in with the owner 

WezV

a quick mock up with the templates peeled off.  Very hokey at the moment, but hopefully shows the way it is heading

Andyjr1515

I like the heel and volute paint feature very much

WezV

They will both be worn back into less consistent shapes.  I  didnt see the point spraying the whole neck black when so little of it remains.

WezV

step 2.  break up the template wear and add some dings and scratches.  just the top done so far.  Still hokey but progressing well


This is best done with relatively fresh lacquer.  Some wear will carry on through the gold to bare wood.   Some will get filled in with (fake)dirt and gunk so it is not so obvious

WezV

Back and neck to the same stage. 

paulnb57

Looks fabulous We your ageing always looks just right.
This is a proper interesting project

WezV

I think i'm pretty close as a starting point, but it will take a lot of work before I'm happy it looks right.

I think the pics I posted yesterday are close to what you could expect from a cheaper brands like Vintage.  Simple template wear in approximately the right shape.  Today's are closer to some of the other relic examples you see, but still too flat and two dimensional.  

WezV

Thats it for today.  A few more dings and wear round the trem

Supportact

I would never buy a relic guitar and have no interest in replicas but I'm loving the amount of attention to detail and pure effort that's going in to this! @WezV has some serious skills. Will be following the updates. 

roberty

Must take some balls to take a rock to a freshly painted guitar! Looks great

WezV

It gets easier the more you do it.   The advantage on this one is i never needed a perfect finish to start.

I can also add some black back on some areas if needed as the inspirarion is so textured with wear that  it will still work

This was all done with a few different blades, either flicking chips of paint off, or scraping away.  I also used a little wire brush to add some texture under the Bigsby bars.

The neck was just spot sanded where i needed to remove paint as i dont want any roughness there, even if the original is rough as a badgers arse.

ICBM

It’s also easier to make a relic that looks right if you copy a genuinely worn guitar. Most relics look wrong because the damage is too similar over the whole guitar - the worst being the ‘shotgun’ effect where the dings are all roughly the same size and depth, scattered randomly but evenly, and appear (for a reason!) to have been made with the same tool - or where the whole edge of the body is chipped in the same way. Real wear is more diverse and more localised - but even then, less is more… Old Black has been absolutely thrashed and abused for 50 years, and is still in better condition than a lot of ‘heavy relics’.

WezV

ICBM said:

Old Black has been absolutely thrashed and abused for 50 years, and is still in better condition than a lot of ‘heavy relics’.

i'm not sure that is totally true, but it does have more paint holding on than many of them.. but that paint is heavily gouged and textured in a way few relics are.


I have tried to only add chips where i can see chips or gouges on the original, in at least one of the photos.  I do this when doing most relic work, find an old example to copy.  I did have to add a few to  bring it all together.  Very few of them will show the gold once they are done.

That texture though.  Still not sure how close I will get to that, or even if i should,  but I will get a convincingly old look and feel

impmann

Whilst the guitar is a matter of opinion about its "coolness", the T-shirt above is unforgivable. Thats utterly minging...

WezV

Do I need to offer a heavy relic clothing line to go with the guitar?

Winny_Pooh

WezV said:

ICBM said:

Old Black has been absolutely thrashed and abused for 50 years, and is still in better condition than a lot of ‘heavy relics’.

i'm not sure that is totally true, but it does have more paint holding on than many of them.. but that paint is heavily gouged and textured in a way few relics are.

The edges of the top look like those Nashville flood rescue guitars, waterlogged and dried out.

WezV

I'm assuming at least some of the old gold top finish still exists under there, and has continued to age the way they do. It is a thick and flaky finish.  Then it was refinished black, but we don't really know what with as it was done at a time nitro was falling out of favour

Look by the switch and horn.  To me that looks like a lot of clear mostly fell off the black undercoat, and the bits that remained have smoothed out with wear

It's purely speculation, but i assume the texture comes from an unstable original finish and incompatible top coats.  Then add 50 years of playing and grime to get to what we see above.

The bits I am  interested in for my version are the mix of shiny and matte, and how to get that looking like a reasonably natural patina.