fake dirt and ageing plastics (& a bit of metal)

WezV

A friend has just picked up a vintage musicmaster and wants to convert it to duo-sonic specs.  this invloves adding a pickup and some slide switches

problem is finding parts - you can find plently of old switches and musicmaster/duo-sonic pickups, but the price is daft and you take a real gamble on quality.   there are some repro parts out there, but again the price makes it a bit daft... So i said I would have a go at doig something 

My experience ageing plastics has been a mixed bag.  I have done teas, coffees, stains and shoe polishes and some work on some and not on others. generally, modern plastic just doesn't want to know.  most of the ones that do work clean off a bit too easily for my liking.

But I have something I have used a few times now that seems to work well.... we will get to that in a second

here is the guitar in question

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e31/WezV/_57 1_zpsfrgthleq.jpg

the pickup next to some paper

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e31/WezV/muspup_zpsbhqtatho.jpg

and a similarly aged Duo-sonic on reverb to show the aim

https://reverb.com/item/342752-fender-duo-sonic-1966-olympic-white

https://reverb-res.cloudinary.com/image/upload/a_exif,c_limit,fl_progressive,h_620,q_85,w_620/v1415768056/oqszs8er7fjjbikufqjs.jpg

https://reverb-res.cloudinary.com/image/upload/a_exif,c_limit,fl_progressive,h_620,q_85,w_620/v1415768063/fkugbacnjktwexudayb7.jpg

you can see these covers go a kind of mint green - tan colour.  they are slightly translucent and you can see the poles through them.   that's not something I am going to be able to achieve  without going to extreme lengths (casting slightly translucent covers perhaps) so I am going to do a pair of new aged covers as I will never make a perfect match for the original one

WezV

here is my secret weapon, usually available from your local wilko's or B&Q.  I believe its a shellac and wax mix

looks messy

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e31/WezV/temporary_zps39e3e8c4.jpg

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e31/WezV/temporary_zpsc8ffa482.jpg

give it 30 minutes and wipe it all off (can leave it on longer if needed)

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e31/WezV/temporary_zpsd6535a8e.jpg

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e31/WezV/temporary_zps018166b3.jpg

and a bit more buffing to even it all out

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e31/WezV/temporary_zps247a652d.jpg

thats without any surface prep or anything, although these pickups are not super gloss plastic, if they were i would have needed to key the finish with very fine grit wet& dry first

now I know its going to work on these plastics I will spend some time softening the edges to get a shrunken plastic look and repeat the process on the parts again.

I like using this method on switches too because its not going to corrode any contacts, although the screws will get some corrosion too - away from the switch.  they do look a bit disney in the pics above - but that will change once  i have added actual wear  and redone the fake dirt

this is the hardest wearing fake dirt I have found so far, you will be able to buff it off, but not easily

xmrchi

Brilliant stuff! I'm looking forward to seeing the finished product!, always love following the wez threads.

ICBM

It seems a real shame to modify an original, undamaged Musicmaster like this - yes I know the bodies are routed for both pickups, I've owned both of these models at the same time - particularly as the slide switches are a total pain in the bum, being right where you constantly catch them, are nuisance to switch on the fly when you actually want to, and only give four sounds (plus off) from a total of nine switch positions.

I would modify the control circuit to give a "pseudo bridge pickup" sound, which will avoid all the hassle and damage of trying to add another pickup. You can do that by adding an oversized treble pass cap between the unused terminal on the tone pot and the middle terminal on the volume pot. (Try .002uF or .0047uF). That will give you a "bridge pickup" type sound if you turn the tone up full and back the volume off a bit.

WezV

I don't have an issue with it, although I won't be doing the mods, just ageing some parts for it

I assume he is going for 2 totally separate pickguards, then it could be put back totally stock with a couple of solder joins being the only hit on originality - no woodwork required at all for this.    

I made this one for him a few years ago - not a copy of any actual fender model, instead it borrows the features he wanted from various different ones

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e31/WezV/complete guitars/done1-1.jpg

WezV

I had a few small metal parts to age too, not for the vintage fender but I am testing a new technique for the screws for its switches

these parts are going on my copper stratele.  Normally I use ferric chloride to age nickel, but I had none in.   I do however have two bottles of ageing solution that go with the copper and bronze paints, so as a test the parts go into the acid

the jack socket was scuffed with 400g first, the rest are went in as is

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e31/WezV/temporary_zps0fa15967.jpg

about 10 mins later

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e31/WezV/temporary_zpsa9ed364a.jpg

jd0272

Can I ask what the solution is? It seems a much 'gentler' way to do it, the way I normally do this is with PCB etchant, which is quite brutal.

ICBM

WezV said:

I don't have an issue with it, although I won't be doing the mods, just ageing some parts for it

I assume he is going for 2 totally separate pickguards, then it could be put back totally stock with a couple of solder joins being the only hit on originality - no woodwork required at all for this.

Ah, I thought you meant he was going to cut the guard. Don't do that...

My warning about the switches being a right pain in the bum still applies though . I gigged with the Duo-Sonic once, and after that I lent it to my singer .

WezV

jd0272 said:

Can I ask what the solution is? It seems a much 'gentler' way to do it, the way I normally do this is with PCB etchant, which is quite brutal.

that's what i normally use too, and probably would have done if I had any here.  it would have been a quick wipe on a wipe off with that stuff

this time i used this, purely because I had some and it was worth a go

https://www.goldleafsupplies.co.uk/acatalog/ONLINE_SHOP_Metal_Effects___Ageing_Solution_Blue_Patina_3665.html

here is a better shot

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e31/WezV/temporary_zps67da2997.jpg

jd0272

Cheers Wez, obliged

WezV

today i softened the edges of all the plastic parts before doing another go with the gunk

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e31/WezV/temporary_zps14544155.jpg

WezV

So i decided to do a bit more buffing on the aged pickups to lighten them a bit.  the good thing about this fake dirt is its pretty resilient, so even though i buffed it with a drop of fine buffing compound on a micro fibre cloth it has not destroyed the ageing.   A lot of other fake dirt recipes wipe off far too easily

here we have the original cover, finished light relic and heavy relic version

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e31/WezV/temporary_zpsd5fdb96e.jpg

which then became two finished light relic covers

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e31/WezV/temporary_zps2139ac99.jpg

Andyjr1515

WezV said:

today i softened the edges of all the plastic parts before doing another go with the gunk

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e31/WezV/temporary_zps14544155.jpg

Those switches look EXACTLY like the switches on a 1960s hofner violin bass panel I recently worked on, @WezV ! Wish I'd seen this a few months ago....I had to add a second ( brand new) panel onto it. Aging them like this would have been perfect. Another great thread

ICBM

Andyjr1515 said:

Those switches look EXACTLY like the switches on a 1960s hofner violin bass panel I recently worked on

No, they aren't. The Hofner ones are a different size - from all other known switches, it sometimes appears! They're a complete pain to replace usually...

Niallmo

Some great results there. Would the ageing solution work with chrome @wezv ?

WezV

It buffs off polished chrome pretty easily even when fully dry, but I have used it on some chrome parts to add dirt to crevices with success.

I don't think it gives authentic results in this way, but can be enough to take the newness away

WezV

Sorry, that relates to the fake dirt. The ageing solution won't touch chrome unless you wear through the chrome first

jd0272

Chrome is the Devil's work.

WezV

Nah, its great... Just have to accept it does not wear as much as most relicers seem to think.

It pits, and it will wear, but the actual chrome doesn't corrode

Ageing chrome is all about damage and dirt, not discolouration or corrosion

WezV

here is the scratch remover trick on brand new shiny chrome

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e31/WezV/cabrel20_zpsd2688ca1.jpg

not totally authentic, but enough to soften the impact of new parts

and real old bits of chrome to show how it can age

40 ish yeard old

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e31/WezV/ebay/wr1.jpg

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e31/WezV/ebay/wr2.jpg

40-40 ish years old

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e31/WezV/John birch singlecut/jb28.jpg

75 years old+

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e31/WezV/temporary_zps6884723c.jpg

the chrome is still chrome.  It has been scratched, dirt has got into the crevices,  but it only starts to discolour in the patches where the chrome has been worn through

jd0272

Nah, I'm not sold. I'm still a nickel man