How do you relic a guitar?

[KevinTJH]

Just another fun project to add to my collection. I've got a cheap, brand-less, brand new-looking stratocaster in gloss Sunburst finish with a Maple fretboard that I'd like to add 50 years or so to it. It's not a horrible guitar, but I'd like to add some character to it.

 

The goal is to get it close to Yngwie Malmsteen's custom shop fender stratocaster. I would've been happy with just tying to the back of a vehicle and dragging it along the road, but I don't want to in any way damage the playability or electronics of this guitar.

 

I've got sandpaper, tools, blowtorch, knives etc... Will burning the finish release harmful toxic fumes?

 

 

Has anyone here done something like this before?

[Freeman Keller]

Why don't you relic the best guitar in your collection. You know, take a nice new LP and make it look like a '57 'burst - they're worth the big bucks. On the other hand, when I met Joanne Conner and asked how old her LP was she said "oh, its pretty new, I just play the sh*t out of it"

[KevinTJH]

Unfortunately the only LP I have is a re-finished Gibson LP Junior, which is one of my least favourite guitars due to the amount I've spent on getting it intonated - Drop C with 11-56 custom gauge strings, which I eventually had to get a new bridge installed because the original didn't allow for sufficient adjustments. Even after all that, it still intonates horribly. The guy who re-finished the guitar for me also used the wrong tone of red and I wasn't bothered to get the whole thing re-done again. (Anyway that's a complete different topic)

 

One of my favourites would be my Fender Telecaster, which I invested so much into making it my own (killswitch, coilsplit, custom pickguard etc..).

 

Here's some of my Red&Black themed collection (which are not relic worthy):

 

I've got a couple more, but maybe I should practice on a cheap one first?

[Freeman Keller]

 

...... I don't want to in any way damage the playability or electronics of this guitar....

 

 

Actually, whats the point in making a guitar look like crap if it doesn't play like crap. The mark of a really good relic job is to screw up both the playability and the elctronics. A little sand (valve grinding compound is better) in the tuners, take a hammer and hit the strings over the frets to put grooves in them (the corner of a file works but isn't very elegant). A chisel will put some nice divots in the fretboard. Screwing up the action is pretty easy - stripping the truss rod is the sign of an experienced relicer. Take a couple of saddle screws out and throw them away. Obviously the oldest strings you can find

 

If you wiggle the pickup wires you can usually break them so they still work, sorta, but cut in and out. Water in the pots (mild acid like vinegar is better) will make them intermittent - you want a nice scratchy sound as you turn them. Wiggle the plug in the jack until you get it to cut in and out too.

 

Come on, don't be half assed about this - lets see what you can do.

[billybilly]

Mail it to me and I'll drag it around the block a couple of times tied to my car with a rope and charge you $300 bucks, lol.

 

Obviously, I'm no help as the only relics that appeal to me are those which occur naturally.

[MarvelUndies]

Leave it in a damp shed or garage for about twelve years. Worked pretty well for a 70s Jedson Tele copy I was given...

 

 

I'm with Billy, though. I wouldn't want to pay over the odds for a guitar someone else has just taken a belt sander and a hammer to, nor would I want to do it myself to something I'd just bought. Definitely prefer to let it happen over time on its own. That's how it's supposed to be done

[mikesr1963]

Take your favorite guitar and play it every day. Play at open mic nights, church outings, back yard bbq's, birthday parties, band practice, firehouse jams, uncle Joey's funeral, aunt Rose's 100th birthday party. The National Anthem at Little League opening day and on and on and on. Not only will you have a hell of a guitar but you'll be able to play the hell out of it too and you can't put a price on that.

[Bucksstudent]

Don't do what I did years ago and try it yourself. Be prepared to spend a pretty penny and find someone who has pictures of their previous relics. Get someone else to do it for you.

[Grant Harding]

I'm still working on mine. Fingertips and forearm sweat are proving slower than expected.

 

But seriously, just beat the crap out of it until it looks beat to crap and you're there.

[KevinTJH]

I probably wouldn't have the patience to wait all those years for it to occur naturally, even my most used/favourite guitar (the Redline in the photo), which I have taken to countless gigs still looks pretty much brand new from afar. This is mainly because of the heavily padded gig bags I use and my own quick re-touching whenever a scratch/ding pops up.

 

This cheap stratocaster, however, I couldn't care less if I lost it or if it got stolen. Heck, I might as well have some fun with it to help me cherish it a bit more. The biggest challenge is - how do I stain the wood? Do I just use cigarette buds to do that?

 

Also, still waiting on someone to share their opinions on the blowtorch.

[Les Paul Lover]

Angle grinder ????

[WRGKMC]

I could easily do a bang up job on making a guitar look vintage but having spent a lifetime doing just the opposite

Its against my religion to intentionally screw up an instruments just to make it look battle worn when it in fact hasn't seen that kind of action.

 

Battle wounds have to be earned to be valued and you cant value them until you own the real deal and have aged with the instrument.

 

There are NO shortcuts and you don't acquire that Mojo by faking the instrument. The closest I do is build instruments from antique woods I know to be hundreds of years old.

 

You want the worn look, you buy a new instrument and play it for 50 years. It will age like you do. Its skin becomes cracked, its neck may not have the posture it did, and its body may not look so pretty any more, but what's inside of you and it cant be faked. You know that instrument inside out and can make it speak in soft tones to you. The fakers only wish that had that experience.

 

If a musician is real lucky he may have one of these rare instruments passed down to him. Its not the same as buying a vintage instrument either. The instrument comes with the blessing by its previous owner, often times a family member who charges you with preserving his old friend and companion of so many years of his life. You do so with the reverence of an individuals life's dedication to the art of music in hopes to preserve the instrument for others to enjoy the same way as they did making multitudes of people happy.

 

Sure you can say a cheap guitar has no value, good chance it doesn't, but what actually does give it that value? Its the knowledge that someone dedicated their life using it to make others happy and forget about their problem's for a short time while they listen to it being played. It doesn't have to be a world class instrument costing tens of thousands of dollars for that, it simple has to be identified with the person using that tool to develop reverence and appreciation.

 

 

To the OP. Two things you can use is sand blasting and or salt solution or acid on hardware. It will eat the metal up and discolor it in no time. Manufacturers who sell reliced instruments often sand blast the chrome and pickup covers to give it that frosted look. the body is a matter of how it was finished. If its poly you can ding it up and use sandpaper to remove gloss in normal wear spots. If its lacquer using denatured alcohol in a hand squeeze sprayer will eat the hell out of the finish. Normal wear on lacquer is very difficult to copy however because it dries out and cracks with aging. Putting the body in the freezer then quickly heating it and vice versa, baking it a bit then freezing it should cause some nasty cracking.

[Freeman Keller]

Sure you can say a cheap guitar has no value, good chance it doesn't,....

 

I disagree with that - I buy cheap guitars at yard sales and such, fix them up so they play well and give them to a music program in our local schools. That way I get practice on my repair chops and some kid gets a guitar that he can't otherwise afford. I think there is big value there.

 

 

 

[WRGKMC]

I was strictly talking about resale value, not human value.

 

That has merit and I'm all for that. I've done that many times myself.

[gdsmithtx]

https://www.wood-finishes-direct.com/blog/art-aging-guitars/

[h=3]How to age a guitar – 7 top resources[/h] Here are some really good resources to help you create something special.

 

1. – An excellent YouTube video
   
2. A great guitar relicing website dedicated to the subject
   
3. How to age an electric guitar
   
4. Wikihow on guitar relicing
   
5. A great article about why to relic your guitar
   
6. And finally, to whet your creative appetite, the absolutely inspirational Fender Custom Shop site, including galleries and collections, a shop and a section on master built masterpieces. The real deal from Fender’s craftsmen costs a fortune. But you can learn how
   

 

[Out of the Past]

relic'ing, as dumb as it can be is difficult to do well. impossible to do it convincingly unless youre danocaster or kline et al and those guys use nitro.

like anything else.... how do I get to carnegie hall? practice!

 

good luck! dont forget to post pics...

[Emory]

Send guitar to me in Thailand. The beach climate here can do wonders to metal (even plastic) parts you wouldn't believe. None of this "aged plastic" stuff: I'm talking serious corrosion! Why stop with just knocking the crap out of the wood if pickups etc still look newish?

[MarvelUndies]

Try to find a fairly old (between 10 and 20 years old) used guitar in a pawn shop to relic. Chances are it'll be in a pretty "used" condition and you can take it from there. A lot of my collection came from such shops and they all have an amount of wear. The only "relic'd" guitar I really own is my second guitar I ever got. My mum bought it for me new in 2003 and I played it consistently for a good six years until I started to buy more. Needless to say, it's pretty beaten up now. My first ever guitar was a 1989 Squier Bullet and it's in a similar condition. My old man bought it in '92 just after I was born and used it for five years before giving it to me. I like to think that the damage to them has all come from me through general use. There's a story behind every dent and scratch and all that stuff.

[badpenguin]

Relicing is a stupid concept, created by people who don't want to take the time to allow the guitar to become what it becomes. Then they pay for the privilege of owning a beat up guitar. I've always thought that a new, manmade relic guitar, was a poser instrument.

[KevinTJH]

Thanks for the responses, guys. Unfortunately I'm extremely busy at the moment and won't be able to start on anything just yet...if I were to post photos of this, it wouldn't be up for at least another 2 weeks.

 

Anyway here's what I have to work with at the moment.

 

 

 

The neck is a cheap $30 neck I got from China to be used as a reference for a previous project I was working on. Built very nicely but there are parts where the lacquer appears a little uneven and scrapped off. (The relic process already got started there)

 

The body is from a wholesale store which I got for $49 fully fitted. The finish actually looks ridiculously impressive and it looks top notch! Unfortunately, both strap buttons had completely dislocated (screws were bent) and they left a big hole in the body. I'll have to fix that up with epoxy or something and re-drill new holes somewhere else. The body also has a number of noticeable scratches from poor packaging with screws and hardware.

 

 

So this guitar probably cost me $80 in total, which is a very small price to pay for an instrument to experiment on.

 

 

I'll definitely be trying out the acid and salt water trick that WRGKMC mentioned before. I could also let out all my work-related stress and frustration on this guitar over the next 2 weeks as part of this project.

[MarvelUndies]

The answer to that question is only ever "yes"

[thatsbunk]

I'm another one in the camp of not getting the whole relic concept. It seems to me that after you waste your time trying to "age" that guitar you'll probably still have to throw a lot more money into it... Looks like you'll need tuners & a nut for the neck, & there's probably a reason that the body cost $49 as it's most likely loaded with junky bridge, electronics & pickups. And your gonna wind up with a guitar that's not worth the sum of it's parts.

 

If it were me I'd much rather waste my time by buying a nice used MIM strat for about the same money & play the snot out of it for 20 years or so.

[cgibsong002]

Maybe not overly helpful as you're doing something totally different (new guitar), but here's mine that I did. The first picture is how I obtained the guitar. So I did relicing to match, rather than on a new looking guitar. I disagree you need to take it to a pro, but it really depends on your goal, and how much the guitar means to you. Certain things can definitely be ruined if you're doing things improperly. In my case, I semi-cheated and bought these 'battle-worn' pickups from BKP. The bridge and tailpiece, I literally put under my foot and dragged around my basement floor. I also did some careful painting and sanding on the body to blend things in (you'd never notice there used to be a kahler there).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Les Paul Lover]

Thanks for the responses, guys. Unfortunately I'm extremely busy at the moment and won't be able to start on anything just yet...if I were to post photos of this, it wouldn't be up for at least another 2 weeks.

 

Anyway here's what I have to work with at the moment.

 

 

 

The neck is a cheap $30 neck I got from China to be used as a reference for a previous project I was working on. Built very nicely but there are parts where the lacquer appears a little uneven and scrapped off. (The relic process already got started there)

 

The body is from a wholesale store which I got for $49 fully fitted. The finish actually looks ridiculously impressive and it looks top notch! Unfortunately, both strap buttons had completely dislocated (screws were bent) and they left a big hole in the body. I'll have to fix that up with epoxy or something and re-drill new holes somewhere else. The body also has a number of noticeable scratches from poor packaging with screws and hardware.

 

 

So this guitar probably cost me $80 in total, which is a very small price to pay for an instrument to experiment on.

 

 

I'll definitely be trying out the acid and salt water trick that WRGKMC mentioned before. I could also let out all my work-related stress and frustration on this guitar over the next 2 weeks as part of this project.

 

Before you start damaging those, are you sure they fit properly and make a playable axe?

 

Once you feature tuner and the likes, you will have more than $80 in that...... 1St, i would make sure it can play properly.

 

If it can, you cam start thinking about pick up, electronics, and which angle grinder you'd like to use to relic the body, sander for the neck.

 

I'm not even kidding with the angle grinder malarkey, a belt sander will be a pain with poly finish.

 

Or a hot air gun to take the finish away.

[KevinTJH]

Thanks again for all the info, guys! I have so much information to refer back to now.

 

I don't think anyone has mentioned yet, but how would you stain the fretboard? What sort of substance would you use to replicate finger shaped stains on the wood?

 

This guy replicated the strat himself:

 

 

 

Before you start damaging those, are you sure they fit properly and make a playable axe?

 

Once you feature tuner and the likes, you will have more than $80 in that...... 1St, i would make sure it can play properly.

 

If it can, you cam start thinking about pick up, electronics, and which angle grinder you'd like to use to relic the body, sander for the neck.

 

I'm not even kidding with the angle grinder malarkey, a belt sander will be a pain with poly finish.

 

Or a hot air gun to take the finish away.

Nah, I've got tons of spare parts lying around - pickups, tuning heads, plenty of nuts etc..

 

I also have access to a wood workshop with plenty of tools and machinery to use, including various types of oil stains, finishes, and sealers.

 

If I have to spend a single cent more, I'm probably doing something wrong.