Before we start, let's all take a moment to acknowledge the opinions of those who think that cosmetic wear is only legitimate if you put it there yourself by accident while playing your shit cover of All Right Now in some backwater dive pub to three drunks and a fat dog.
Riiiight.
Now that's over with, I have decided that once my refin on my Tele body is complete, I fancy giving it a Closet Classic finish. That's Fender's CS Time Machine option where the idea is the guitar is fifty years old but has only been played rarely and mostly kept in the case, so has very minimal actual damage and wear, but it does have weather checking, natural discolouration of the finish and plastics, slight oxidation of the hardware, and an overall patina that suggests age in a subtle but unmistakable way.
I don't want big dings, chunks missing, sanded arm contours, exposed wood or any of that stuff. I like it fine, just not for this project.
I'm interested to know if anyone here has successfully reproduced such a finish, and if so what techniques they employed to do so. So far I know:
Weather checking: Freeze the neck and body for several hours and then quickly introduce it to a warm environment, repeat as needed. I hear this gives a much more authentic looking weather check, as it actually reproduces the conditions of checking, than using the old freeze-spray can upside-down thing, which I understand gives a more spiderweb kind of effect. I'm also told that wiping on a mild stain of some sort immediately after the cracks appear will accentuate the check pattern.
Oxidising metals: I've been told muriatic acid, but I hear that this can very quickly get to heavy relic territory and even damage some of the parts, so I was thinking of making a salt-and-vinegar solution, placing this in a dish and then sealing the dish into a tupperware container with the parts, then exposing to low heat to create fumes, and letting that do the work. I understand this might take longer, but I'm hoping that the more gradual oxidation will achieve an effect closer to the real thing.
Yellowing/discolouration: I'm wary of using a tinted lacquer spray, although I hear this is a commonly-employed method, as again I'd rather try to keep the effects as close as possible to the actual natural process. I'm not going to take my guitar to a tanning salon but I'm not against leaving it in a sunny window (for the eight minutes of the year we actually get sun in Preston). I'm thinking again mild abrasion and then the application and cleaning off of diluted stains might get me closer. I'm also a smoker, so I've been debating how realistic it would be to make a little hood and put the guitar under it with an ashtray full of lit cigarettes. I'm not exactly in love with that idea though because it's nasty.
Any other tips and tricks?
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It was a serious suggestion, as nitro will readily darken from the tar, but as we both said, it will get pretty nasty-smelling, and I'm not sure I'm prepared to have a guitar that smells of fag-ash. I personally don't entirely dislike the smell as I grew up with it, but some people are less fond of it.
The picture you've posted it a bit too much for what I have in mind, it looks like it's been corroded them polished back. I'm talking literally like a bit of darkening, a hint of greening, I think from what I've seen etchant or muriatic acid are too strong unless diluted heavily, in which case the acid content in vinegar is similar. Has anyone tried lemon juice?
No rubbing back on that set. Just an illustration of what you can do with etchant. Not trying to talk you out of using vinegar etc - lots of folk use that method with great results. In fact that's exactly how they aged copper in the old days.
That's pretty close. Maybe less rust on the bridge pickup screws. This particular guitar is actually a Closet Classic in shoreline gold, so barring the maple fretboard it's quite close to what I'm going for. This pic shows it quite well:
As you can see it's quite subtle compared to what most people think of as relicing, but that's what I'm going for. Not damaged, just really old. That's what the actual vintage Teles I've seen in person tend to look like.
When you say your lightest brown, do you mean a tinted clear?
(formerly miserneil)
contactemea@fender.com
Well, after about a day and a half I got the results I wanted with the nickel hardware. It's super subtle, mainly textural with some darkening here and there. I especially like the way the tuners have turned out, I actually spent quite a bit of time with steel wool getting most of the tarnish off so there's just a hint of it. I'll get some pics up soon.
However the control plate, the knobs, the neck plate and the ashtray bridge are all chrome-plated. I'm going to spend some time shaking them up in a box full of screws and various other sharp metal bits, but does anyone have any specific pointers from there? Have you found that that alone is good enough for a worn chrome look? I'm considering leaving it like that because I've seen a few vintage teles with chrome parts that look pretty shiny apart from a few micro-scratches. I don't mind the chrome being intact, I just don't want it to look as perfect and "factory-fresh" as it does now, if you get my meaning. Right now it looks like it was plated yesterday.
If you want a better explanation of the process look up the fake burst that Capsule Music in Toronto Canada almost sold - it was not Capsule Music's fault they where scammed, to Rush's Geddy Lee.
Here is a good thread that mentions the process and how it is done to achieve an authentic look:
http://www.mylespaul.com/forums/vintage-les-pauls/339121-clean-untouched-1960-burst-capsule-music-toronto.html
As well as here:
http://www.thegearpage.net/board/index.php?threads/clean-untouched-1960-les-paul-burst-at-capsule-music-toronto.1581539/
Though the mylespaul.com forums, especially their vintage section is full of information on how the people who build replicas do it, and some of them have actually been caught trying to pass of their replicas off as the real thing and nearly gotten away with it.
http://www.guitarworkz.co.uk