Advice on aging tuner buttons

DazH

DazH

New member
Hi guys, i'm sure there are some of you with some prior knowledge/experience on this, particuarly octave/zerb/beandip etc.

I need to try and replicate some old tuners on this lovely old 60's hofner guitar - I bought some modern (and naturally, bright white) plastic replicas.

I have heard of the following:

colour::
[] leaving in hot coffee for 2 days or so
[] applying brown shoe polish to surface
[] applying tinted lacquer to the surface

warping/shaping::
[] dipping/applying acetone to the surface
[] scuff sanding the surface with [?grit] sandpaper

I only need to replicate 2 tuner buttons & I have a set of 6 to play with - so I have at least 4 different attempts to make these as close as I can.

The main thing I want to nkow is, is there a way of "checking" (i.e cracking) the plastic? a bit like when you put nitromors/paintstripper on paint & leave it, it checks up & creates little cracks.

Is there a solution/solvent that can help me replicate this on a plastic tuner button? here's why:

hofner_tuner_button.jpg


as you can see, it's very much checked on the surface - I figure if I can replicate that 1st, then stain/coffee it & then rub something dark to replicate the dirt, I should have a relatively authentic looking button.

Thanks guys.
 
Re: Advice on aging tuner buttons

I would save the remaining old tuners and change out all six. That way, you get tuners that work better in addition to having them all match.

Then, tint them with coffe or whatever and leave it at that. From five feet away, no one's going to bne able to tell if your tuner buttons are properly checked.
 
Re: Advice on aging tuner buttons

If you want a correct look, the etching/cracking of the tuners will have to be done by hand using an x-acto knife or something similar. You could spray with lacquer and use a few tricks to get it to check, but it won't look original.

As for staining, I'd suggest using a very fine grit paper (1000) to just slightly scuff the surface, then using alcohol soluable dyes, replicate the hue. From the picture you provided, the buttons aren't your averaged "yellowed" (more of a brown, actually) but have a slight green tint. I'd start with a light brown with 1 drop of green and let sit.

BTW: http://www.rsguitarworks.net/rsstore/product_info.php?cPath=38_69&products_id=222

Those are by far the best restoration tuners I've ever had the experience working with.
 
Re: Advice on aging tuner buttons

best way to get checking is to lacquer it and then heat it with a hair dryer. Then hit it with an air duster upside down (dont inhale propellant) which will instantly freeze it up. This rapid heat change will cause the laquer to crack as it can't expand or contract and you'll have that tiny spideweb like checking
 
Re: Advice on aging tuner buttons

Thanks for the advice guys.

Beandip - the photo doesnt really get the hue across - it's actually "SO yellow" that it's somewhat brown, if you know what I mean, dark & dirty yellow - like heavy smokers fingertips or amber tinted lacquer.

I think I might attempt acetone & scuff sand to begin with & then coffee - this should give me a yellow-ish base coat as it were.

Following that, some amber tinted lacquer & potentially milsart's way of cracking it.

Following that, perhaps a brown stain or brown show polish to fill into the cracks, creating the brown checks & somewhat darker/dirtier yellow.

That's my theory anyway, this thread has been a big help in determining that.

Thanks guys.
 
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