Feel free to destroy me for this post--aging chrome tuners

blakejcan

blakejcan

Well-known member
Howdy quarantine buddies!

I'm spending my at home time building a tele body from scratch which will be paired with a pair of bareknuckle mules with aged covers that I got a good deal on.

Seems like exposing chrome and/or nickel parts to muriatic acid vapors is the recipe most people in internet land like to use to age parts. I would normally never do this but I want it to look cohesive. Also easier to explain away any imperfections in the body and/or finish under the guise of "oh but it's aged". Reminds me of Pee Wee Herman saying "I meant to do that!"

so my question is......how do you age tuners? I'm worried the acid vapor treatment would just rust the internal workings?

Thanks friendos!


:chairshot:sword::wave::doh::flush::ban:
 
Re: Feel free to destroy me for this post--aging chrome tuners

Chrome doesn't age like nickel, Chrome gets rusty and ugly. Muratic acid is nasty stuff and dangerous. I use vinegar acid to age nickel.
 
Re: Feel free to destroy me for this post--aging chrome tuners

chrome or nickel--how do you handle the tuners?
 
Re: Feel free to destroy me for this post--aging chrome tuners

I haven’t done this in years, but when I built my relic guitar I remember I took all the metal parts that I could and dinged them up a bit. Things like screws, neck plate, saddles, and stuff. Then I used PC board etching fluid that I got at Radio Shack (*thats how long ago this was [emoji38]) to age and pit the metal parts.

I had Fender vintage tuners and I remember not wanting to age the internal parts and risk affecting the way they function, so they were the only parts I didn’t age that way. I used steel wool and just had at them a bit. Then you just wait. As you handle them over time they tarnish a bit and lose their shiny look.


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Re: Feel free to destroy me for this post--aging chrome tuners

vinegar is acid

I would scuff them
then cover them in an acidic solution
then while they are soaking in the acidic solution
heat the solution just a bit

when done
drop in a solution of baking soda and water to stop the acidic reactions

then rinse and dry

leave on the counter for a few days

if they havent froze slap up, from rust, the grooves from the scuffing should be discolored

repeat to taste

spray with clear to seal
 
Re: Feel free to destroy me for this post--aging chrome tuners

I usually go for 'light' if I'm aging hardware......especially tuners that generally don't get touched very much in the course of playing. In fact even other hardware benefits from this method.....knobs included.

I grab some gravel from my drive, put it in a takeaway container with a lid (and the tuners) and gently rattle them around for a bit. This gives them the small nicks and marks that are typical of aging of tuners on my legitimately old guitars.
I've gone away from the acid etching bit. It gives a heavy aging which requires a very beaten up guitar to match.
 
Re: Feel free to destroy me for this post--aging chrome tuners

blakejcan said:
vinegar acid? Or just vinegar?
Click to expand...

Talking about nickel parts here:

I heat some (white/distilled) vinegar in tupperware or something with a lid in the microwave so that it steams.
add the parts with something underneath so that they don't sit in the vinegar but only the steam gets to them.
sometimes needs to vent so that you don't get too much condensation on the part.
often works without scuffing.
make sure you don;t have fingerprints on the part.

It just puts some tarnish on the part that could be polished back out.
 
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Re: Feel free to destroy me for this post--aging chrome tuners

thanks all.

I just want to knock the shine off them a bit. Not full on rust buckets. I'll test some of these suggestions
 
Re: Feel free to destroy me for this post--aging chrome tuners

What guitarholic said. I put the cleaned parts in a smaller box, in bigger box with lid i fill with some destilled vinegar (that has around 20% acid) and put the smaller box with parts in and close the bigger box. The parts should not come in contact with the vinegar, only with the fumes. I controll it every few hours. It takes some hours up to a day. It depends on the parts, the strength of the vinegar and the amount of vinegar.
And it doesn't work with chrome parts.
 
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