Basic strat relicing tips

Re: Basic strat relicing tips

Anything you see in this video will work...

 
Re: Basic strat relicing tips

Jeff Becks main Custom Shop white strat has been with him since the late 90's... he has about 6 of them but his tech says he only likes the original one... and that white one even has one of the necks off his green one according to a youtube interview with his tech... and the body on his guitars are basswood not alder like the production models... his guitar has been abused, broken, glued back together, dropped, and plain used for years... it has yellowed somewhat... i wonder if his are nitro or poly...
 
Re: Basic strat relicing tips

i saw a guys 2008 MIM Standard that he tried to relic himself... holy hell did he almost have to drill down to get to the body wood where he chipped away at it... LOL hope the American Standards are way way way WAY thinner then that white MIM i saw...

i'm not a huge relic fan.... somedays i wish my CS Closet Classic 66 Time Machine strat was a NOS... if given the choice to do a do over i would of gone the NOS route.... but the price was right on this one...

but i do have to say if i was serious about doing a relic myself i'd do a build out of Warmoth parts... paint it and age it myself... experiment along the way...

an experiment i have had in mind is to make a guitar for myself since i make the odd body and neck by hand myself, and leave it raw... see how many years (or days) it lasts... LOL i have a poplar tele body i made a few years back that could fit this experiment... and i have a tele neck roughed out
 
Re: Basic strat relicing tips

play while wearing chain mail
should naturally enhance the wear-process

my buddy left his in a tin shed for a month
during a southern summer

finish cracked and split
when brought back inside
yellowed

gloriously weathered







he hates it
 
Re: Basic strat relicing tips

No. Playing it wears down the frets. Being careless with it, leaning it up against objects, dropping it, etc... leaves all the marks.

nah,

Loving it, caring for it, treating it like your baby and then having occasional accidents is the way forward. My squier has it's own little dings and knocks from where i have had the occasional accident, including clouting someone's pacific with my neck because i didn't know they were behind me.

Like wise, an accident was my college mate leaving his guitar on a chair, and it slipped off, smashing some of the finish off (that wasn't actually carelessness, the chair had bad metal legs and went under the pressure O_o )

EDIT: know any Chain smokers? hang it from their lounge cieling and the smoke will tint it nicely :D
 
Re: Basic strat relicing tips

Fill a recycling box half with gravel. Put the body on top, with the side you want to work on down.

Put into trunk, drive to work for a week.

That's what I've been told breaks up poly in a good looking way.
 
Re: Basic strat relicing tips

Trade it for a Road Worn.

IMHO This is the way forward for an immediate cost effective fix. Other routes will cost you more in time, money, likely both, and may end up with a horror 'o look he tried to relic that' guitar.

Another cost effective approach is if you have young kids, have an at home birthday party for their whole class. The relicing affect tends to exend to everything you own, but seems to particularly center on expensive musical instuments.
 
Re: Basic strat relicing tips

I can't remember the name, but I'm involved in some reproduction 356 Porsche pieces. The metal buckles needed to look aged for that NOS look. We used a chemical that took the shine right off giving it that 50+ year look while still allowing the metal the sheen. I'll see if I can find that bottle and let you know. Worked great.

That would be cool. Let me know if you do find it, thanks.
 
Re: Basic strat relicing tips

Chrome plating isn't like bare metal. You don't want to do anything that has large flakes of chrome fall off.

BTW, chrome is poisonous, so if you mess with this keep you kids and husbands away.
 
Re: Basic strat relicing tips

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