I enjoyed watching this. I've reliced many guitars and typically spend 50-100hrs getting them to look natural. Your comment of how hard it is to be random is spot on. Our natural tendency is to create some visual order compounded by making repetitive movements with the tools we are using. This only improves with conscious practice. A few ideas that might be worth investigating would be using a wire brush on the the exposed wood to age it. This brings out the grain very effectively. Also using steel wool dissolved in vinegar for a darkening stain is a popular choice. 1000 and higher grit sand paper will remove the "I obviously sanded this" look by taking off the shine and leaving a matte finish. One not so obvious trick to relicing is being able to somewhat undo everything to get it to the proper level of finish. For this I always use a polish like Meguir's Scratch X. I also recommend using different tools for cutting. The obvious choice is a Xacto #11 blade but I use all manner of things I have laying around to get different effects. I'd be glad to send you pictures or a better explanation of what I'm talking about offline if you're interested. Can't wait to see how this progresses. All the best.
Polyurethane is so much harder than nitro to beat up since its designed to be a super hard coating. If you want to get a darker coloring on the neck and other places, brew a cup of coffee and then take the used coffee grounds and rub the paste into the areas. Do it to your liking, clean everything off and let it dry. Then follow it up with some Danish Oil. You should be able to find it at your hardware store. It should come in either natural, medium walnut or dark walnut finishes. I would guess you would want at least the medium walnut, possibly the dark walnut. You can always dilute the oil down with water to lighten it up so you would want to test it on a similar piece of wood to get your desired color. Definitely test it first because it penetrates into the wood and doesn't just coat the top so sanding and redoing it if it doesn't come out to your liking at first won't be really doable. Then you just let that soak in and you should be good to go. It may also work to darken up the poly on the rest of the guitar in general. The poly would need to be super scuffed and almost through to the wood completely for it to change its color though. I'm recommending this not as a luthier but as a woodworker. Danish oil is my favorite finish. With that being said, the easiest way to have tried to relic a poly guitar is to pull all of the electronics, tie it to a rope and drag it up and down your driveway.
Shane, I just went into the yard and got some dirt from the garden. I rubbed all over the guitar. The bare wood and the finished parts. The light abrasives in the soil did a great job a scratching the finish and the dirt gave it a lived in look. Then I added some oil to the bare wood to protect it a bit and help the dirt work it's way into the wood pores. For the pickguard, I use a dime and the hit the pickguard as though I were using as a pick. Do that a few hundred times and you get some genuine wear.
From Leo: I grew up poor enough that everything where ever we lived was very "relic'd". I determined to work hard enough to always have stuff in great condition, so I don't choose the relic style. I have no problem if someone else desires to have beat up stuff. I am genuinely happy for people that have what they like. I see you put a lot of work in the job, and I think you succeeded in your quest. Thanks for all the entertainment this year, I enjoy your work.
I grew up poor in a third world country where good american instruments were simply unaccessible, with that said, i still really like the look of relic instruments... so, to each their own i guess.
I sanded the finish off the back of a neck...then applied 3 coats of TUNG oil...it feels amazing and the tung oil seals the bare wood from soaking up moisture....great job Shane!!!!
What I’ve found is for the back of the neck works best is vinegar and steel wool and just letting that soak for about 6hours, basically the bucket of vinegar should go a dark rusty brown colour and then just apply that with a cloth for a cool stain
Nice job Shane. To age the metal parts. Remove them from the guitar. Get a wide plastic container lid and fill it with vinegar and poor salt in, stir. Place a another container in the midle of the pool creating an island. Place all the parts on the island making sure they dont get wet. Place another large container or low roof bowel over the entire setup. The reaction between the vinegar and salt will create gasses in the short space and will age, patina the parts. Leave it in for as long as the desired effect. Make sure their is no gaps for fumes to escape and make sure the parts dont get wet, and the outside container is not too big to create a tight space and it works really well. Can be done using everything you already have in the house.
Cigarette ash works a treat, I used it on my telecaster. Has the effect of making it look like it's been picked up and played by too many hands. Wet the bare wood where you've sanded then rub the ash into it with your fingers. Rub off where you think you've over done it with fine grade wire wool. Just apply polish over the top of it when you're done.
To dirty it up and tint the sanded areas I use brown kiwi shoe polish. You can also use strong coffee (I just use instant, taste is hardly an issue) or just ordinary mud from the garden. All dirt sticks to the sanded areas but not the varnish. Hope this helps.
You can strip the polly with paint striper, then repaint with some auto body spray paint then find some rocks for rubbing and lightly hitting. You can get some great looking stuff like that.
I have a Gear4Music guitar in ash with the same kind of gloss on it. It’s an absolute tank of a coating to get through! I tried everything from a heat gun to a scraper and coarse sandpaper. I had to take to machine sanding it in the end…and I still haven’t finished it. If you wanna add a dirty discoloration to the wood and especially on the neck, try graphite powder- basically pencil in powder form, or a steel wool evaporated in vinegar solution. Both work very well and look authentic.
My brother used to install distressed hardwood floors - so install new maple or other hardwood and then distress it. To do the dents in the wood they flailed it with heavy chain and beat it with hammers of various sizes - that would crack the finish and dent the wood giving it the aged look. In your case try mechanic's tools like heavier spanners or the like to get the dents giving it that "I fell off the stage drunk and relic'd my guitar in one go" look:) Think about how an old vintage got its marks and simulate that. You would obviously have to disassemble the guitar to do this, but it wouldn't cost anything to do - I'm sure you've got mechanic subscribers in your area happy to help you beat it up:)
Use paint stripper. Don't leave it on that long, but you can use it to make the design on the back to eat through the finish, then wipe it of carefully, and sand to get the right look. Works like a charm. You can use it on every part your sanding. It will save you hours. I never even thought of just sanding. Stripper is the only way to go, or a belt sander.
coffee is great for lightly staining the back of the neck and sanded down sides - I used instant coffee with some salt dissolved in it (if you dont want to buy actual stain) plus a light rub of sunflower oil onto the raw bits works, I found it kind of simulates the oil from your hands over the years, especially with the salt
Funny - I wanted one of these to do the same thing with. Looks pretty cool. Just a few things: instead of a saw, use an old set of keys and just throw them at the body - the results will be more random. On the top/front "wear" areas: use the medium grit and go across the grain to get rid of the grain line grooves. Also, an old shop towel run across for a while will create friction and heat to make the marks more realistic. For the neck: buy a mechanical pencil and crush up the graphite stick and mix with a little alcohol into a thick paste/slurry. You can dab it on and sand it off. I hope this helps.
for the body part and the relick handle, it uses wine vinegar and steel wool. leave the wool in bagpno in vinegar for 2 days then pass it in the parts you brought back to wood. Hello
Another cool thing you can do is get a few rocks out of the drive way and some popsicle sticks, glue the rocks to the sticks and place the rock side down on the sides of the guitar and tap it with a hammer. Use the weird angles of the rocks to make dings and dents in the guitar. Looks cool for a first time relic!
To get it dark I would suggest used cooking oil but rubbing the crap at the bottom of the pan only. That is probably the nearest thing to the oils and gunk on our dirty hands. Maybe apply a little heat to open the pours of the wood.
How about some graphite powder on the back of the neck and fretboard? If you mist it on, and lightly rub it in maybe. Also, I’d try to lightly tarnish the hardware, perhaps with some very high grit sandpaper, to take the shine off.
Smear on some Burnt Umber acrylic paint, allow to partially dry and wipe off with a damp rag to taste. Works great especially in open grain wood and "dings".
Look up vinegar and steel wool stain. Basically you place steel wool in vinegar and then wait for the steel wool to completely dissolve. It will darken all of bare spots. I personally used it on a partscaster I made. You might be able to dilute the mixture to get a lighter color. I would definitely experiment first before putting it on your guitar.
to get the wood gray, the easiest and best way to do it is to soak some screws or steel wool in vinegar, then when it gets all brown and rusty, brush it onto the bare wood and let it dry
I`ve done two Godins now, both with incredible AAA grade flamed maple tops which were kinda lost with heavy dye and poly coating. I found the best way was to completely remove all the coating (I used a heat gun of the first and a chisel set on the second one, each worked a treat.) Once I had it all back to the bare wood I sanded off the dye and Tru-Oiled the wood which made the beautiful grain pop like molten lava. I wish I could add images here but these guitars are now all kinds of epic and truly unique to my own personal taste. Took friggin` ages to do them but the time was well worth the end result. Jelly arms, dust lungs and sanded off fingers!
The first time I re-worked a poly finish, my goal was just to thin it down. We all know how much we dont like that 1/4" (10mm) thick clear coat. When I started getting the thickness of the clear down to about where I wanted it, the color started to disappear. IT was a black guitar. Im pretty sure It was a epiphone LP jr. . It was as if the factory sprayed 1-2 coats clear then a they layed the black, then a couple more coats of clear. I easnt originally going for a "relic look". I just wanted a thinner finish. I ended up sanding down through the black to bare wood in many spots. So, I stained the bare wood with a darker stain then sprayed black and then a thin layer of clear.
Shane if there's any gloss on the body and you want that checked crack like finish do this. Take the guitar apart, all the parts off the body, now you can use the oven in the kitchen or if you have a hooded BBQ, go for 200 - 220 degrees, make a stand or something out of steel coat hangers to put the body on, you don't want rack or grill marks on the body. Place body in oven or BBQ which ever fits, now time to be careful, give it 10 - 20 minutes and its going to smell so plenty of ventilation. Now use tongs or something that you can hold the body with, take hot body out of oven or hooded BBQ, then get cold water into a spray bottle and from a distance spray in a down/up motion along the body - you just want mist to hit the body not water drops. Hopefully you get some results, you might have bake the body longer than 20 minutes it all depends on how much of the gloss finish you've taken Shane. Also safety first and make it a 2 man job, so Dr Ric get your gloves and apron on..... have fun.
Steel wool also works for the pickguard(tape up pickups to keep steel wool from magnets) . Boiled linseed oil would work for the raw wood, and it seals and darkens it, several coats ads a nice satin feel to it, and it leaves a hard finish with several coats. Also a gunstock finish would work. Rattle can lacquer would work on back of neck, it would take at least three coats, sand lightly in between coats, and finish with steel wool. Let it dry a few days before rubbing out the last coat.
I have a MIM Telecaster that had a gloss polyurethane finish on the neck, fretboard, and body, and I absolutely hated it LOL I spent the good part of a few days scraping off the polyurethane. Stuff’s a good 2 millimeters thick! I can’t see how you’d get “natural wear” on such a thick, hard-wearing finish like polyurethane. Very cool for you to make a guitar feel how you want to feel! 👍🏼
Hey Shane, it looks quite authentic to me. I heard someone say that these guitars aren't solid wood and that they have some sort of laminate veneer. From what I see here it looks like nothing but wood under the lacquer.
I like it but two suggestions. 1. Maybe it is better to scuff the scratch plate in a more vertical pattern instead of circles to mimic the vertical hits with the pick. 2. Ins't it better to relic the fingerboard in the places where you would typically play the most? Like the country cord positions and the most used pentatonic positions?
•0000 grid steel wool for the body to take the gloss off •Turn a can of compressed air upside down spray it on and heat it up and it will add that checking •Shoe polish and furniture touchup pen will work well to add grit and grime •Mularic acid will take the shine out of the chrome hardware
Well...it looks like _fun_ ! And isn't that the point? Here's a tip for the very end of the project: Let the guitar get warm, then hit it with a can of compressed air, the kind you use to blow the dust off keyboards, turned upside down. Be careful though, this stuff is freezing. If you do it right and the finish is ridged and thin enough, it should give you those aged surface cracks. Get a little oil and dirt rubbed into the cracks then buff out the finish by hand.
place a piece of wire wool in a jar with some white vinegar and let it sit over night. The next day you can brew a cup of black tea.. Wipe the tea on to the exposed area of the neck... when dry wipe with a rag saturated with your wire wool vinegar. Watch the change. If it's too dark you can sand back a bit.
Cool effort for a first time, I've been relic-ing my guitar for a number of years. For the neck I'd suggest a heavily watered down acrylic paint dabbed on and wipped off. Try dropping something on the body to "crack" the gloss finish and then try and splinter it off with a chisel or similar.
I’ve got a Strat with a poly finish that I have been playing 25 years, it still looks near new. I wish I bought a guitar with a nitro finish back in 1993.
Just did my first as well. Nice! Used leather dye on the exposed wood. Looks great! Then 2000 sandpaper to really smooth things out. Finally, slathered it all with coconut oil. Cheers from Cali!
Adding: If you leave the guitar dusty from that sanding session or flour or something,, and play your favorite song, you'll see where you rub the dust off. Take a picture and then wear those areas for a more personal look like you've played it for twenty years. You might even change the oil in your car and leave a little grubby oil on your hands and see where that marks the guitar handling it and wear those locations. That will also make the back of your guitar neck darker like you want. Some use "Kiwi"-brand (you probably have a different brand over there, lol) shoe polish to darken.
If you steel wool then wipe on some danish oil (or something similar) on the neck it will feel silky smooth. Just wipe on, wait a few mins and wipe off. I do that on my necks and love how it feels.
For getting the "dirty" look on the neck mix coffee grounds with a small amount of water to make a paste. Rub it into the neck with a cloth and let it sit for 30 seconds or so then wipe it off. Keep repeating the process till you get the stain you want
I think the looks you are going for when it comes to the neck. I looks worn for years. If you think of it organically it would be worn finish and the wood will have absorbed dirt, oil, and sweat. I'd try a mix of Oil, salt water and dirt. I'm sure there is a wood stain that could get similar but this is just what came to my mind. I think the key will be to get a rag and get it to really soak into the wood fiber. The Graphite from the pencil was a good Idea but it never had a chance to "soak" in. A mix of gray and light brown stain would work I think.. Really the best way to test would be to get a piece of scrap maple and do a few tests with different mixes till you get one you really like.
These are the only valid reasons I have ever heard for considering making a new guitar look like a relic. I would never do it myself, but the point is well made.
@@richardwhite8484 I understand. They're not for everyone. If ya get a chance to play one, it may change your mind. I love mine and I also have pristine guitars as well. I just love the beat up relic!👍😎🎸🎶
Lampblack to darken the wood and make it look older and heavily played. Then come back with some tung oil or something of the sort to add a little protection while keeping the worn look. It isn't so much the wood, it's the finish. Modern poly finishes are really difficult to "relic" and make look good.
There’s a recipe on UA-cam for the stain you want. I used it an it turned out pretty decent. All ya need is a Mason jar, white vinegar, 0000 Steel wool and tea. You’ll basically pull the steel wool completely apart and put it in the jar with the vinegar. Close it up and let it sit over night I think until it all kinda turns grayish. After that boil like 5 tea bags for about twitch as long as ya normally would. Grab a rag and apply your vinegar mix to the raw wood. Then take your tea and just cut the bags open and rub it right into the grain. The tannins in the tea and the steel should give ya the desired gray color after they sink into that wood grain. You can relic the hardware with some steel wool and sandpaper and then apply some PCB etching solution from a RadioShack like store or Amazon for that tarnish you’ll want. You should be able to find some good videos on both of these but I thought things might give you a good breakdown on the steps.
You went to Bunnings - And let me guess, no one around to help? Shane, try using a weak tea solution to colour stain. Add more tea if you want it darker. You can use it for white pickup covers too! I'd also scuff up the hardware, but there are ways of semi oxidising them as well (or you could just buy some aged hardware - especially since you didn't like the tuners). Personally I'm not into the whole damaging the guitar. I like it to look aged, not worn.
For the staining, I think that if you went down to the grain of the wood, and then used a wash of dark watercolour paint then it would work its way into the wood, and perhaps with a bit of sanding look a bit more natural. The key is to open the pores so that the stain works its way into the wood. Of course, there are stains intended for this, but I think that any cheap watercolour paints in a wet solution would do well.
Turned out pretty good! For the checking laquor look which would really sell it I'd recommend heating a section with a hairdryer then spraying a dust spray can be a upside down on the same spot. Then you'll have immediately aged it 20 years. Also rub some shoe polish and dirt or coffee grounds in the spots where you see wood to darken in it and get bits in the deep grooves giving another 20 years of touring grime appearance.
Chimmy soot is the best thing to rub into raw wood. You'd need to apply a few time before it starts to look good....but you get that lovely worn Gray colour.
I bought a CV 60"s Tele, and it had a very glossy mirror finish, which I did not like. I used 000 steel wool, and lightly de-glassed the front of the guitar. The finish could be restored with some rubbing compound. I like it a lot better than the mirrory finish.
You can buy powdered graphite instead of working in a pencil. They're used as lubricants for locks and machinework. It comes in a small tube. You can purchase them from hardware stores. I've heard of people use either Tung oil and or Tru oil for bare wood on necks. Never tried it, so I can't really recommend. Man, I felt how tiring this process was with your heavy breathing from that poly finish haha
Great video Shane. I am a relic lover. I’m a fairly gentle guitar player and 52 years old so guitars ain’t going to age naturally for me. Nice to hear the shoutout for Dave Simpson too, one of the absolute best people I know.
The main reason I enjoy a relic’d Strat or Tele is for the way it feels (for some reason it doesn’t appeal to me on set neck gtrs even though I LOVE Gibson’s VOS finish). The way a guitar PLAYS/FEELS is paramount. I need to be inspired to play it. I sold a 52 AVRI Tele bc while it SOUNDED great, it felt awful to play and I never played it (Vintage radius, small frets, sticky nitro neck, etc). If a relic’d guitar inspires you to play, then I say relic away 🤙🏻😄
This is cool. I know there are folks who really dislike relic-ing a guitar, but to each their own. I've got a build going on now that's meant to look like a cross between Joe Strummer's Tele and Stevie Ray Vaughn's strat. I dig the old and beat up look. Wish I could spend the 20 years you'd need touring and such to get there, but I've got a mortgage to pay, so I can't. taking the guitar apart may help. A heat gun will help cut through some of the lacquer. I really dig what you came up with. Great work.
Use graphite lead powder, coffee grounds in water, and even a bit of dirt for the darkening of the worn parts Also some cigarette burns on the headstock if your up for it ! Anyways great job man it came out great!
David Kastin if they’re only 20 years out, that’s probably because they’re not nitrocellulose. Poly finishes don’t age unless you do it yourself or you beat the living hell out of the guitar. Nitrocellulose guitars age themselves as the lacquer wears away
@@zerohourdrift Yes they are not nitro and are not my daily players. They have never been abused or seen much daylight lofl. One is an MIA Strat with lace sensors and plays like buttah
I used brown shoe polish on a neck of a guitar that I reliced. I also scuffed the chrome parts with a green scratch pad, then used fumes from hydrochloric acid to age them. It worked well. I know a pot of people don't like relicing, but if they haven't tried it, it's a lot if fun! I did it to a cheap Strat style guitar and got a lot of good comments on it!👍😎🎸🎶
For the neck or fretboard you could get some satin polyurethane, put on a few thin coats it'll put a small amount of tint to the natural wood then sand with a very fine sandpaper. The coffee grinds idea is good too
I've done all of this before. 1. Get a hot air gun and a scraper to remove the laquer and the base code 2. Make a stain for the wood from vinegar and steel wool. There are tutorials on both of these on UA-cam.
P.s Dave Simpson is who recommended Jet guitars in his videos for their amazing necks and he wasn't wrong ,The guy with head tatts is Ben Crowe of Crimson guitars btw ,he's great to watch too .
You can get a water based wood dye to just a normal wood stain to tint those exposed spots. You go dark then sand most of it off which will leave the darker spots in the grain. Its a cool effect. I would also relic the hardware because it completes the relic look in my opinion.
What you want is for dirt to get into the pores of the Maple on the neck. On Rics guitar it looks as though they used powdered Graphite on the raw wood and then sealed it in with a thin coat of wood oil. On this neck due to it being previously finished you might get away with steel wool & vinegar mix that been allowed to sit for a few days, though a lot of Black Sharpie and some delicate sanding may get similar results. Alternate is some $8.00 Feast-Watson Black or Brown wood stain from Bunnings paint section followed by appropriately repedative and creative damp wiping and sanding...
Hey man my neck I made up a combo of soy sauce coffee and tea bags and rubbed into the wood, I also got some old grease from my lawn mower and rubbed it in as well and chipped up the ends of the board and head stock, great first attempt mate
I don’t care what anyone says. I like the way my guitars feel after theyre beat up. I’ve even used a heat gun on the nitro and used the upside down compressed air keyboard cleaner to crack the finish. Hey wire wool will make the back of the neck even more slick. It’s worth to couple of dollars to try it out. Buy the finest grit.
@intheblues You can use old coffee grounds on the neck. Works awesome for the dirty look. Makes it look gritty and naturally worn in. best part is it's free. Take the grounds after they have cooled down then grab a little bit and rub it in on the desired areas. I have used this method a few times. Hope this helps my brother, cheers
Shane, great work. I did see someone use a cloth with some black boot polish (extremely light amount) to get that dirty warm in look on the neck. Again looks great 🤘🎸
The most rewarding thing I have gotten from re-working the finish, as you did here shane. It gave me the opportunity to wear down the neck and the fretboard edges. Getting that worn in guitar feeling out of it.
I'm not a fan off relic guitars at all but I bought a Ibanez semi-hollow a short while back, loved the guitar overall and it setup great but the thick gloss on the neck and where my right arm touched felt like they had a bit of stick to them. So I took some fine sandpaper and took 95% of the finish from those two areas and left then with a nice satin finish. Not only did it feel better to play but it removed the urge to treat the guitar with kid gloves. Now I have been asked a few times to light relic peoples guitars after they saw it. Answer is always a not on your Nelly. Only time to dig into a instrument should be to improve the sound you can get from it!
I took the pickguard off of my tele and I got chips on the guitar by randomly hitting it, also if only the guitar wasn't drowning in that gloss and dark finish it would look a lot more worn if the guitar finish was a bit faded. But anyway good job man looks Great! And it was Greta of you to mention Dave Simpson he's an underrated youtuber and player
Keeping with the Bunnings theme... for your neck colouring, have you thought about using Tung oil (not the one with hardener) mixed with a LITTLE black stain, added incrementally? I used it on the bass I hand built, and couldn’t be happier. I can’t remember the brand, but it’s the only one Bunnings stocks.. I think it’s in the decking Isle at my Bunnings (in Brisbane)
This is a good example of why all my guitars have nitro finishes. You'll need about 200 years of daily play to relic the remaining poly any further. The fretboard doesn't look like playwear at all. Each to their own though.
Looks real cool! I would use thin CA/superglue on all the exposed wood then sand it back just a little with 0000 steel wool to knock down the gloss. A CA finish is very tough so it’s not going to wear/relic much after your done, make sure your 100% on the look before you apply your CA. Use a fine scotch bright pad on all the glossy spots left over after your relic job, it will give it a uniform worn look without looking like you deliberately did it.
Propane boys. Buy propane canister hold it upside down and spray it . Put good cracks crazing look. Then a black texta to fill in the cracks. Makes them look good. Just need to know how to do good chips etc
This video took a LOT of work. I hope you get a kick out of it even if the relic thing isn't for you. I plan on going over this maybe one more time once I get feeling back in my sanding arm! 😆 If you've done this sort of work before please feel free to offer some clear suggestions in the comments. Many thanks! Edit - Part 2 Here - ua-cam.com/video/bXsWatJVMXY/v-deo.html
I wonder, why didn't you fully dissemble the guitar? Few suggestions, steel wool is good to lightly age the finish, and what i do with my relics, i put body in a box loaded with some nuts, bolts etc. and shake it until surface gets random small dings and distressed look. On places where wood is showing, either some light wood stain or shoe polish to darken it . :)
@@intheblues Sorry, not for me! I think it's BS. You wasted your time. Yes, I don't want a Steinberger kinda guitar, I like to watch things for their beauty, but this was not needed. Play that thing, I'd be more pleased.
Pencil lead is the trick for darkening the fretboard and neck. Sharpen the neck really really sharp, and use the side on the pencil lead, do a shading technique, and then smudge it this your fingers, don't do to deep with the pencil or not, it will be too hard to smudge. Loved the relic job, all for it.
I absolutely hate the idea of relicing guitars, BUT you did a good job, looks good to me for what you're going for, and we all have opinions about relicing. If I came home and saw my TE-52 looking like this I'd be heart broken, lol, cheers Shaner, well done.
if you want that greyish look on the neck in your photo, I think the steel wool/vinegar method might work. there are a lot of videos online about using this method to make wood look aged and finishing guitars with it. I think Crimson Guitars (the english guy with head tattoos) have a video about it too.
Say goodbye to your pots, before this type of service it is necessary to remove all the electric components of the guitar, the dust of the wood enters the potentiometers and the coil of the pickup, it is really necessary to disassemble the guitar before this type of work, am sorry
@Quiksilver taking the knobs off and adding masking tape to the posts should keep dust out of the pots and switch, and is a lot faster than taking it apart.
It would be hard to get the wear around the hardware like what would occur naturally if they weren't on the guitar. It is cheap hardware. So when finished doing the work to the guitar he can get proper hardware to rellace the cheapo asian stuff.
looks pretty good without all the shine.. grab one of those little finishing sanders to knock down the laquer on the body, save your hands/time.. like someone else said burn it a bit (outside). to some of hte people saying the guitar is ruined i am calling bullshit on that!!
Didn’t see the link you were talking about by the bald British dude but pretty sure it’s a video I saw a couple times about relicing an older PRS. That PRS looks incredible at the end. I tried relicing a a Squier a few years ago, not easy to get a good result is it? I have seen people use coffee for darkening up some of the spots like the back of the neck you were looking to stain. Coffee is also good for “aging” plastic knobs etc. Great video.
To stain the bare wood I use cigarette ash and fretboard conditioner! (lemon oil or whatever!) Rub on some oil, then rub on some cigarette Ash, smudge it on with your finger then wipe off the excess with a cloth. done!
Take some graphite powder, put it on a sock, put the sock on your hand and rub it all up and down the neck. Makes it a greyish color like an actual vintage neck would
Unfortunately it looks like a guitar that has undergone the methods you used.
ua-cam.com/video/bXsWatJVMXY/v-deo.html Part II
I enjoyed watching this. I've reliced many guitars and typically spend 50-100hrs getting them to look natural. Your comment of how hard it is to be random is spot on. Our natural tendency is to create some visual order compounded by making repetitive movements with the tools we are using. This only improves with conscious practice. A few ideas that might be worth investigating would be using a wire brush on the the exposed wood to age it. This brings out the grain very effectively. Also using steel wool dissolved in vinegar for a darkening stain is a popular choice. 1000 and higher grit sand paper will remove the "I obviously sanded this" look by taking off the shine and leaving a matte finish. One not so obvious trick to relicing is being able to somewhat undo everything to get it to the proper level of finish. For this I always use a polish like Meguir's Scratch X. I also recommend using different tools for cutting. The obvious choice is a Xacto #11 blade but I use all manner of things I have laying around to get different effects. I'd be glad to send you pictures or a better explanation of what I'm talking about offline if you're interested. Can't wait to see how this progresses. All the best.
Next time, hit that finish with a heat gun where you want to scrape that finish off. Especially if you’re dealing with poly.
Polyurethane is so much harder than nitro to beat up since its designed to be a super hard coating. If you want to get a darker coloring on the neck and other places, brew a cup of coffee and then take the used coffee grounds and rub the paste into the areas. Do it to your liking, clean everything off and let it dry. Then follow it up with some Danish Oil. You should be able to find it at your hardware store. It should come in either natural, medium walnut or dark walnut finishes. I would guess you would want at least the medium walnut, possibly the dark walnut. You can always dilute the oil down with water to lighten it up so you would want to test it on a similar piece of wood to get your desired color. Definitely test it first because it penetrates into the wood and doesn't just coat the top so sanding and redoing it if it doesn't come out to your liking at first won't be really doable. Then you just let that soak in and you should be good to go. It may also work to darken up the poly on the rest of the guitar in general. The poly would need to be super scuffed and almost through to the wood completely for it to change its color though. I'm recommending this not as a luthier but as a woodworker. Danish oil is my favorite finish.
With that being said, the easiest way to have tried to relic a poly guitar is to pull all of the electronics, tie it to a rope and drag it up and down your driveway.
Recent trick from Kris Barocsi was to use ash (from a firewood) and rub in. Looks awesome.
Shane, I just went into the yard and got some dirt from the garden. I rubbed all over the guitar. The bare wood and the finished parts. The light abrasives in the soil did a great job a scratching the finish and the dirt gave it a lived in look. Then I added some oil to the bare wood to protect it a bit and help the dirt work it's way into the wood pores. For the pickguard, I use a dime and the hit the pickguard as though I were using as a pick. Do that a few hundred times and you get some genuine wear.
That poor guitar
and remember to drive safely during this holiday season so you don't relic your car and yourself too
Relic cars are easy all you need is a 24 Pack of your fave beer
@@momojinsei that's the problem. If it has been just a Fender or even a Squier-crap no one would have cared...
Thank you sir. May the Lord Jesus Christ bless you and be with you and keep eternal love in your heart forever and ever ♥
When I dropped my Strat in the rehearsal room and cracked the finish I cried.
I think it's funny this is the top comment
@@willfowler8540 so do I !
My dog knocked over my fender I almost killed him lmao
i dropped mine too when i was in highschool, i never touched it again 😂
From Leo: I grew up poor enough that everything where ever we lived was very "relic'd". I determined to work hard enough to always have stuff in great condition, so I don't choose the relic style. I have no problem if someone else desires to have beat up stuff. I am genuinely happy for people that have what they like. I see you put a lot of work in the job, and I think you succeeded in your quest. Thanks for all the entertainment this year, I enjoy your work.
Is that a quote from leo fender ?
Nope, just a guy that does not have youtube on his own computer
Lol
I grew up poor in a third world country where good american instruments were simply unaccessible, with that said, i still really like the look of relic instruments... so, to each their own i guess.
used wet Tea and coffee grinds gunk mixture my man, gives a nasty used stain look, specially on the fretboard to give it that grubby finger look
great idea I'm take that thanks
I‘d try that, too... sounds promising with coffee powder.
I sanded the finish off the back of a neck...then applied 3 coats of TUNG oil...it feels amazing and the tung oil seals the bare wood from soaking up moisture....great job Shane!!!!
What I’ve found is for the back of the neck works best is vinegar and steel wool and just letting that soak for about 6hours, basically the bucket of vinegar should go a dark rusty brown colour and then just apply that with a cloth for a cool stain
Nice job Shane. To age the metal parts. Remove them from the guitar. Get a wide plastic container lid and fill it with vinegar and poor salt in, stir. Place a another container in the midle of the pool creating an island. Place all the parts on the island making sure they dont get wet. Place another large container or low roof bowel over the entire setup. The reaction between the vinegar and salt will create gasses in the short space and will age, patina the parts. Leave it in for as long as the desired effect. Make sure their is no gaps for fumes to escape and make sure the parts dont get wet, and the outside container is not too big to create a tight space and it works really well. Can be done using everything you already have in the house.
Cigarette ash works a treat, I used it on my telecaster. Has the effect of making it look like it's been picked up and played by too many hands. Wet the bare wood where you've sanded then rub the ash into it with your fingers. Rub off where you think you've over done it with fine grade wire wool. Just apply polish over the top of it when you're done.
To dirty it up and tint the sanded areas I use brown kiwi shoe polish. You can also use strong coffee (I just use instant, taste is hardly an issue) or just ordinary mud from the garden. All dirt sticks to the sanded areas but not the varnish. Hope this helps.
Yesterday I unintentionally got a scratch on my tele and got totally bummed... go figure
Use a Dremel tool on the fretboard to get specific and more accurate/believable wear marks. Go back and forth slowly until you get the pattern down.
You can strip the polly with paint striper, then repaint with some auto body spray paint then find some rocks for rubbing and lightly hitting. You can get some great looking stuff like that.
I have a Gear4Music guitar in ash with the same kind of gloss on it. It’s an absolute tank of a coating to get through! I tried everything from a heat gun to a scraper and coarse sandpaper. I had to take to machine sanding it in the end…and I still haven’t finished it. If you wanna add a dirty discoloration to the wood and especially on the neck, try graphite powder- basically pencil in powder form, or a steel wool evaporated in vinegar solution. Both work very well and look authentic.
My brother used to install distressed hardwood floors - so install new maple or other hardwood and then distress it. To do the dents in the wood they flailed it with heavy chain and beat it with hammers of various sizes - that would crack the finish and dent the wood giving it the aged look. In your case try mechanic's tools like heavier spanners or the like to get the dents giving it that "I fell off the stage drunk and relic'd my guitar in one go" look:) Think about how an old vintage got its marks and simulate that. You would obviously have to disassemble the guitar to do this, but it wouldn't cost anything to do - I'm sure you've got mechanic subscribers in your area happy to help you beat it up:)
Use paint stripper. Don't leave it on that long, but you can use it to make the design on the back to eat through the finish, then wipe it of carefully, and sand to get the right look. Works like a charm. You can use it on every part your sanding. It will save you hours. I never even thought of just sanding. Stripper is the only way to go, or a belt sander.
coffee is great for lightly staining the back of the neck and sanded down sides - I used instant coffee with some salt dissolved in it (if you dont want to buy actual stain) plus a light rub of sunflower oil onto the raw bits works, I found it kind of simulates the oil from your hands over the years, especially with the salt
Funny - I wanted one of these to do the same thing with. Looks pretty cool. Just a few things: instead of a saw, use an old set of keys and just throw them at the body - the results will be more random. On the top/front "wear" areas: use the medium grit and go across the grain to get rid of the grain line grooves. Also, an old shop towel run across for a while will create friction and heat to make the marks more realistic. For the neck: buy a mechanical pencil and crush up the graphite stick and mix with a little alcohol into a thick paste/slurry. You can dab it on and sand it off. I hope this helps.
For the back of the neck just use ash from the wood oven! Spit a bit on your fingers, get it in the ashes and rub it into the wood. This works!
for the body part and the relick handle, it uses wine vinegar and steel wool. leave the wool in bagpno in vinegar for 2 days then pass it in the parts you brought back to wood. Hello
Another cool thing you can do is get a few rocks out of the drive way and some popsicle sticks, glue the rocks to the sticks and place the rock side down on the sides of the guitar and tap it with a hammer. Use the weird angles of the rocks to make dings and dents in the guitar. Looks cool for a first time relic!
To get it dark I would suggest used cooking oil but rubbing the crap at the bottom of the pan only. That is probably the nearest thing to the oils and gunk on our dirty hands. Maybe apply a little heat to open the pours of the wood.
How about some graphite powder on the back of the neck and fretboard? If you mist it on, and lightly rub it in maybe. Also, I’d try to lightly tarnish the hardware, perhaps with some very high grit sandpaper, to take the shine off.
Smear on some Burnt Umber acrylic paint, allow to partially dry and wipe off with a damp rag to taste. Works great especially in open grain wood and "dings".
Look up vinegar and steel wool stain. Basically you place steel wool in vinegar and then wait for the steel wool to completely dissolve. It will darken all of bare spots. I personally used it on a partscaster I made. You might be able to dilute the mixture to get a lighter color. I would definitely experiment first before putting it on your guitar.
to get the wood gray, the easiest and best way to do it is to soak some screws or steel wool in vinegar, then when it gets all brown and rusty, brush it onto the bare wood and let it dry
I`ve done two Godins now, both with incredible AAA grade flamed maple tops which were kinda lost with heavy dye and poly coating. I found the best way was to completely remove all the coating (I used a heat gun of the first and a chisel set on the second one, each worked a treat.) Once I had it all back to the bare wood I sanded off the dye and Tru-Oiled the wood which made the beautiful grain pop like molten lava. I wish I could add images here but these guitars are now all kinds of epic and truly unique to my own personal taste. Took friggin` ages to do them but the time was well worth the end result. Jelly arms, dust lungs and sanded off fingers!
The first time I re-worked a poly finish, my goal was just to thin it down. We all know how much we dont like that 1/4" (10mm) thick clear coat. When I started getting the thickness of the clear down to about where I wanted it, the color started to disappear. IT was a black guitar. Im pretty sure It was a epiphone LP jr. . It was as if the factory sprayed 1-2 coats clear then a they layed the black, then a couple more coats of clear. I easnt originally going for a "relic look". I just wanted a thinner finish. I ended up sanding down through the black to bare wood in many spots. So, I stained the bare wood with a darker stain then sprayed black and then a thin layer of clear.
Shane if there's any gloss on the body and you want that checked crack like finish do this. Take the guitar apart, all the parts off the body, now you can use the oven in the kitchen or if you have a hooded BBQ, go for 200 - 220 degrees, make a stand or something out of steel coat hangers to put the body on, you don't want rack or grill marks on the body. Place body in oven or BBQ which ever fits, now time to be careful, give it 10 - 20 minutes and its going to smell so plenty of ventilation. Now use tongs or something that you can hold the body with, take hot body out of oven or hooded BBQ, then get cold water into a spray bottle and from a distance spray in a down/up motion along the body - you just want mist to hit the body not water drops. Hopefully you get some results, you might have bake the body longer than 20 minutes it all depends on how much of the gloss finish you've taken Shane. Also safety first and make it a 2 man job, so Dr Ric get your gloves and apron on..... have fun.
Steel wool also works for the pickguard(tape up pickups to keep steel wool from magnets) . Boiled linseed oil would work for the raw wood, and it seals and darkens it, several coats ads a nice satin feel to it, and it leaves a hard finish with several coats. Also a gunstock finish would work. Rattle can lacquer would work on back of neck, it would take at least three coats, sand lightly in between coats, and finish with steel wool. Let it dry a few days before rubbing out the last coat.
I have a MIM Telecaster that had a gloss polyurethane finish on the neck, fretboard, and body, and I absolutely hated it LOL I spent the good part of a few days scraping off the polyurethane. Stuff’s a good 2 millimeters thick! I can’t see how you’d get “natural wear” on such a thick, hard-wearing finish like polyurethane. Very cool for you to make a guitar feel how you want to feel! 👍🏼
Hey Shane, it looks quite authentic to me. I heard someone say that these guitars aren't solid wood and that they have some sort of laminate veneer. From what I see here it looks like nothing but wood under the lacquer.
I like it but two suggestions.
1. Maybe it is better to scuff the scratch plate in a more vertical pattern instead of circles to mimic the vertical hits with the pick.
2. Ins't it better to relic the fingerboard in the places where you would typically play the most? Like the country cord positions and the most used pentatonic positions?
•0000 grid steel wool for the body to take the gloss off
•Turn a can of compressed air upside down spray it on and heat it up and it will add that checking
•Shoe polish and furniture touchup pen will work well to add grit and grime
•Mularic acid will take the shine out of the chrome hardware
Well...it looks like _fun_ !
And isn't that the point?
Here's a tip for the very end of the project: Let the guitar get warm, then hit it with a can of compressed air, the kind you use to blow the dust off keyboards, turned upside down. Be careful though, this stuff is freezing.
If you do it right and the finish is ridged and thin enough, it should give you those aged surface cracks. Get a little oil and dirt rubbed into the cracks then buff out the finish by hand.
place a piece of wire wool in a jar with some white vinegar and let it sit over night. The next day you can brew a cup of black tea.. Wipe the tea on to the exposed area of the neck... when dry wipe with a rag saturated with your wire wool vinegar. Watch the change. If it's too dark you can sand back a bit.
I’m here for the comments
Me too. I can't wait to see what sort of individuals come out of the woodwork. No pun intended. lol
LMAO
Cool effort for a first time, I've been relic-ing my guitar for a number of years. For the neck I'd suggest a heavily watered down acrylic paint dabbed on and wipped off.
Try dropping something on the body to "crack" the gloss finish and then try and splinter it off with a chisel or similar.
I’ve got a Strat with a poly finish that I have been playing 25 years, it still looks near new. I wish I bought a guitar with a nitro finish back in 1993.
Just did my first as well. Nice! Used leather dye on the exposed wood. Looks great! Then 2000 sandpaper to really smooth things out. Finally, slathered it all with coconut oil. Cheers from Cali!
Adding: If you leave the guitar dusty from that sanding session or flour or something,, and play your favorite song, you'll see where you rub the dust off. Take a picture and then wear those areas for a more personal look like you've played it for twenty years. You might even change the oil in your car and leave a little grubby oil on your hands and see where that marks the guitar handling it and wear those locations. That will also make the back of your guitar neck darker like you want. Some use "Kiwi"-brand (you probably have a different brand over there, lol) shoe polish to darken.
If you steel wool then wipe on some danish oil (or something similar) on the neck it will feel silky smooth. Just wipe on, wait a few mins and wipe off. I do that on my necks and love how it feels.
Tea, graphite, & ashes work great. I've never actually relic'd a guitar but I've watched sooo many videos where people use these.
For getting the "dirty" look on the neck mix coffee grounds with a small amount of water to make a paste. Rub it into the neck with a cloth and let it sit for 30 seconds or so then wipe it off. Keep repeating the process till you get the stain you want
I think the looks you are going for when it comes to the neck. I looks worn for years. If you think of it organically it would be worn finish and the wood will have absorbed dirt, oil, and sweat. I'd try a mix of Oil, salt water and dirt. I'm sure there is a wood stain that could get similar but this is just what came to my mind. I think the key will be to get a rag and get it to really soak into the wood fiber. The Graphite from the pencil was a good Idea but it never had a chance to "soak" in.
A mix of gray and light brown stain would work I think.. Really the best way to test would be to get a piece of scrap maple and do a few tests with different mixes till you get one you really like.
Once you relic a guitar, it gets that awesome worn in feel. You don't ever have to worry about scratching it, either!👍😎🎸🎶
These are the only valid reasons I have ever heard for considering making a new guitar look like a relic. I would never do it myself, but the point is well made.
@@richardwhite8484 I understand. They're not for everyone. If ya get a chance to play one, it may change your mind. I love mine and I also have pristine guitars as well. I just love the beat up relic!👍😎🎸🎶
Lampblack to darken the wood and make it look older and heavily played. Then come back with some tung oil or something of the sort to add a little protection while keeping the worn look. It isn't so much the wood, it's the finish. Modern poly finishes are really difficult to "relic" and make look good.
There’s a recipe on UA-cam for the stain you want. I used it an it turned out pretty decent. All ya need is a Mason jar, white vinegar, 0000 Steel wool and tea. You’ll basically pull the steel wool completely apart and put it in the jar with the vinegar. Close it up and let it sit over night I think until it all kinda turns grayish. After that boil like 5 tea bags for about twitch as long as ya normally would. Grab a rag and apply your vinegar mix to the raw wood. Then take your tea and just cut the bags open and rub it right into the grain. The tannins in the tea and the steel should give ya the desired gray color after they sink into that wood grain.
You can relic the hardware with some steel wool and sandpaper and then apply some PCB etching solution from a RadioShack like store or Amazon for that tarnish you’ll want.
You should be able to find some good videos on both of these but I thought things might give you a good breakdown on the steps.
You went to Bunnings - And let me guess, no one around to help?
Shane, try using a weak tea solution to colour stain. Add more tea if you want it darker. You can use it for white pickup covers too! I'd also scuff up the hardware, but there are ways of semi oxidising them as well (or you could just buy some aged hardware - especially since you didn't like the tuners).
Personally I'm not into the whole damaging the guitar. I like it to look aged, not worn.
For the staining, I think that if you went down to the grain of the wood, and then used a wash of dark watercolour paint then it would work its way into the wood, and perhaps with a bit of sanding look a bit more natural. The key is to open the pores so that the stain works its way into the wood. Of course, there are stains intended for this, but I think that any cheap watercolour paints in a wet solution would do well.
Turned out pretty good! For the checking laquor look which would really sell it I'd recommend heating a section with a hairdryer then spraying a dust spray can be a upside down on the same spot. Then you'll have immediately aged it 20 years. Also rub some shoe polish and dirt or coffee grounds in the spots where you see wood to darken in it and get bits in the deep grooves giving another 20 years of touring grime appearance.
Chimmy soot is the best thing to rub into raw wood. You'd need to apply a few time before it starts to look good....but you get that lovely worn Gray colour.
Thank you for the shout out. I think it looks great. :)
I bought a CV 60"s Tele, and it had a very glossy mirror finish, which I did not like. I used 000 steel wool, and lightly de-glassed the front of the guitar. The finish could be restored with some rubbing compound. I like it a lot better than the mirrory finish.
Awesome you mentioned Dave Simpson! His channel is great and he seems like a really good dude.
You can buy powdered graphite instead of working in a pencil. They're used as lubricants for locks and machinework. It comes in a small tube. You can purchase them from hardware stores.
I've heard of people use either Tung oil and or Tru oil for bare wood on necks. Never tried it, so I can't really recommend.
Man, I felt how tiring this process was with your heavy breathing from that poly finish haha
Great video Shane. I am a relic lover. I’m a fairly gentle guitar player and 52 years old so guitars ain’t going to age naturally for me. Nice to hear the shoutout for Dave Simpson too, one of the absolute best people I know.
The main reason I enjoy a relic’d Strat or Tele is for the way it feels (for some reason it doesn’t appeal to me on set neck gtrs even though I LOVE Gibson’s VOS finish). The way a guitar PLAYS/FEELS is paramount. I need to be inspired to play it. I sold a 52 AVRI Tele bc while it SOUNDED great, it felt awful to play and I never played it (Vintage radius, small frets, sticky nitro neck, etc). If a relic’d guitar inspires you to play, then I say relic away 🤙🏻😄
This is cool. I know there are folks who really dislike relic-ing a guitar, but to each their own. I've got a build going on now that's meant to look like a cross between Joe Strummer's Tele and Stevie Ray Vaughn's strat. I dig the old and beat up look. Wish I could spend the 20 years you'd need touring and such to get there, but I've got a mortgage to pay, so I can't.
taking the guitar apart may help. A heat gun will help cut through some of the lacquer.
I really dig what you came up with. Great work.
Use graphite lead powder, coffee grounds in water, and even a bit of dirt for the darkening of the worn parts
Also some cigarette burns on the headstock if your up for it ! Anyways great job man it came out great!
Sorry people, I just do not like relic guitars. 2 of my guitars are 20 years old and they look brand new still.
David Kastin if they’re only 20 years out, that’s probably because they’re not nitrocellulose. Poly finishes don’t age unless you do it yourself or you beat the living hell out of the guitar. Nitrocellulose guitars age themselves as the lacquer wears away
@@zerohourdrift Yes they are not nitro and are not my daily players. They have never been abused or seen much daylight lofl. One is an MIA Strat with lace sensors and plays like buttah
You don't like relic guitars but you did not only watch a guitar relicing video but also left a couple of comments on it...
@@indoshakermaker so what is your point?
@@indoshakermaker my comments and opinions were not offensive to people that like relic guitars
I used brown shoe polish on a neck of a guitar that I reliced. I also scuffed the chrome parts with a green scratch pad, then used fumes from hydrochloric acid to age them. It worked well. I know a pot of people don't like relicing, but if they haven't tried it, it's a lot if fun! I did it to a cheap Strat style guitar and got a lot of good comments on it!👍😎🎸🎶
Ammonia salt and mustard mixture works good on metal too.:-)
@@toddflowers8052 I saw that done on copper...Crimson Guitars had a video. It turned out beautiful!👍😎🎸🎶
@@74dartman13 Yep ! I did one like that on my Barncaster,did the pick guard and a headstock cover.
@@toddflowers8052 Awesome!👍😎🎸🎶
For the neck or fretboard you could get some satin polyurethane, put on a few thin coats it'll put a small amount of tint to the natural wood then sand with a very fine sandpaper. The coffee grinds idea is good too
I've done all of this before.
1. Get a hot air gun and a scraper to remove the laquer and the base code
2. Make a stain for the wood from vinegar and steel wool.
There are tutorials on both of these on UA-cam.
Maybe scratch the pick guard in the direction a plectrum would go versus the circular motion you did. I’m gonna try it on an old Olympia s-type.
Brave man asking UA-cam to 'tell you want they think' ha 😁
Steel wool and vinegar. Put steel wool in a jar of white vinegar and leave for about a week then rub it on the wood. It will look really old and dark.
P.s Dave Simpson is who recommended Jet guitars in his videos for their amazing necks and he wasn't wrong ,The guy with head tatts is Ben Crowe of Crimson guitars btw ,he's great to watch too .
You can get a water based wood dye to just a normal wood stain to tint those exposed spots. You go dark then sand most of it off which will leave the darker spots in the grain. Its a cool effect. I would also relic the hardware because it completes the relic look in my opinion.
What you want is for dirt to get into the pores of the Maple on the neck.
On Rics guitar it looks as though they used powdered Graphite on the raw wood and then sealed it in with a thin coat of wood oil. On this neck due to it being previously finished you might get away with steel wool & vinegar mix that been allowed to sit for a few days, though a lot of Black Sharpie and some delicate sanding may get similar results. Alternate is some $8.00 Feast-Watson Black or Brown wood stain from Bunnings paint section followed by appropriately repedative and creative damp wiping and sanding...
Hey man my neck I made up a combo of soy sauce coffee and tea bags and rubbed into the wood, I also got some old grease from my lawn mower and rubbed it in as well and chipped up the ends of the board and head stock, great first attempt mate
I don’t care what anyone says. I like the way my guitars feel after theyre beat up. I’ve even used a heat gun on the nitro and used the upside down compressed air keyboard cleaner to crack the finish. Hey wire wool will make the back of the neck even more slick. It’s worth to couple of dollars to try it out. Buy the finest grit.
@intheblues You can use old coffee grounds on the neck. Works awesome for the dirty look. Makes it look gritty and naturally worn in. best part is it's free. Take the grounds after they have cooled down then grab a little bit and rub it in on the desired areas. I have used this method a few times. Hope this helps my brother, cheers
Shane, great work. I did see someone use a cloth with some black boot polish (extremely light amount) to get that dirty warm in look on the neck. Again looks great 🤘🎸
The most rewarding thing I have gotten from re-working the finish, as you did here shane. It gave me the opportunity to wear down the neck and the fretboard edges. Getting that worn in guitar feeling out of it.
Nice work man, I like stain wood with used motor and gear oil makes it look more natural and also you can get it dirt cheap or even free in car shops
I'm not a fan off relic guitars at all but I bought a Ibanez semi-hollow a short while back, loved the guitar overall and it setup great but the thick gloss on the neck and where my right arm touched felt like they had a bit of stick to them. So I took some fine sandpaper and took 95% of the finish from those two areas and left then with a nice satin finish. Not only did it feel better to play but it removed the urge to treat the guitar with kid gloves. Now I have been asked a few times to light relic peoples guitars after they saw it. Answer is always a not on your Nelly. Only time to dig into a instrument should be to improve the sound you can get from it!
I took the pickguard off of my tele and I got chips on the guitar by randomly hitting it, also if only the guitar wasn't drowning in that gloss and dark finish it would look a lot more worn if the guitar finish was a bit faded. But anyway good job man looks Great! And it was Greta of you to mention Dave Simpson he's an underrated youtuber and player
try rubbing wet tea leaves on the bare wood to age them. or just use wet tea bags if you don't want to deal with the leaves getting everywhere.
Keeping with the Bunnings theme... for your neck colouring, have you thought about using Tung oil (not the one with hardener) mixed with a LITTLE black stain, added incrementally? I used it on the bass I hand built, and couldn’t be happier. I can’t remember the brand, but it’s the only one Bunnings stocks.. I think it’s in the decking Isle at my Bunnings (in Brisbane)
This is a good example of why all my guitars have nitro finishes. You'll need about 200 years of daily play to relic the remaining poly any further. The fretboard doesn't look like playwear at all. Each to their own though.
Oil, like oliveoil is a way to stain dry wood. Espresso could also be an option. Seen someone do that once.
I heard to use tea or some polish oil to make it look more worn you can also use some thinned down paint(with water)to give it a wash 😉
Looks real cool! I would use thin CA/superglue on all the exposed wood then sand it back just a little with 0000 steel wool to knock down the gloss. A CA finish is very tough so it’s not going to wear/relic much after your done, make sure your 100% on the look before you apply your CA. Use a fine scotch bright pad on all the glossy spots left over after your relic job, it will give it a uniform worn look without looking like you deliberately did it.
Propane boys. Buy propane canister hold it upside down and spray it . Put good cracks crazing look. Then a black texta to fill in the cracks. Makes them look good. Just need to know how to do good chips etc
This video took a LOT of work. I hope you get a kick out of it even if the relic thing isn't for you. I plan on going over this maybe one more time once I get feeling back in my sanding arm! 😆 If you've done this sort of work before please feel free to offer some clear suggestions in the comments. Many thanks!
Edit - Part 2 Here - ua-cam.com/video/bXsWatJVMXY/v-deo.html
I wonder, why didn't you fully dissemble the guitar? Few suggestions, steel wool is good to lightly age the finish, and what i do with my relics, i put body in a box loaded with some nuts, bolts etc. and shake it until surface gets random small dings and distressed look. On places where wood is showing, either some light wood stain or shoe polish to darken it . :)
I didn't really feel I had to take it apart to do it. I could get to everywhere pretty easily. Thanks for the tips too I appreciate it. :-)
@@intheblues Sorry, not for me! I think it's BS. You wasted your time. Yes, I don't want a Steinberger kinda guitar, I like to watch things for their beauty, but this was not needed. Play that thing, I'd be more pleased.
@@InTheSh8 I will play it and have. Thankfully we are all unique individuals and we do the stuff we enjoy. :-) Rock on.
Don't forget the area around the strap buttons and the output jack.
Pencil lead is the trick for darkening the fretboard and neck. Sharpen the neck really really sharp, and use the side on the pencil lead, do a shading technique, and then smudge it this your fingers, don't do to deep with the pencil or not, it will be too hard to smudge. Loved the relic job, all for it.
I absolutely hate the idea of relicing guitars, BUT you did a good job, looks good to me for what you're going for, and we all have opinions about relicing. If I came home and saw my TE-52 looking like this I'd be heart broken, lol, cheers Shaner, well done.
Brew up some tea as a stain for the back of the neck. It's works well and is very subtle. You can do several coats of course
Love them s video. Watching you struggle actually got me motivated to give it a try😃
if you want that greyish look on the neck in your photo, I think the steel wool/vinegar method might work. there are a lot of videos online about using this method to make wood look aged and finishing guitars with it. I think Crimson Guitars (the english guy with head tattoos) have a video about it too.
Say goodbye to your pots, before this type of service it is necessary to remove all the electric components of the guitar, the dust of the wood enters the potentiometers and the coil of the pickup, it is really necessary to disassemble the guitar before this type of work,
am sorry
@Quiksilver taking the knobs off and adding masking tape to the posts should keep dust out of the pots and switch, and is a lot faster than taking it apart.
It would be hard to get the wear around the hardware like what would occur naturally if they weren't on the guitar. It is cheap hardware. So when finished doing the work to the guitar he can get proper hardware to rellace the cheapo asian stuff.
@Quiksilver I'm so used to everything being backwards that lefty pots actually throw me off.
looks pretty good without all the shine.. grab one of those little finishing sanders to knock down the laquer on the body, save your hands/time.. like someone else said burn it a bit (outside). to some of hte people saying the guitar is ruined i am calling bullshit on that!!
Didn’t see the link you were talking about by the bald British dude but pretty sure it’s a video I saw a couple times about relicing an older PRS. That PRS looks incredible at the end. I tried relicing a a Squier a few years ago, not easy to get a good result is it? I have seen people use coffee for darkening up some of the spots like the back of the neck you were looking to stain. Coffee is also good for “aging” plastic knobs etc. Great video.
The link is in the cards it's Crimson Guitars. :-) . Thanks mate.
To stain the bare wood I use cigarette ash and fretboard conditioner! (lemon oil or whatever!) Rub on some oil, then rub on some cigarette Ash, smudge it on with your finger then wipe off the excess with a cloth. done!
Take some graphite powder, put it on a sock, put the sock on your hand and rub it all up and down the neck. Makes it a greyish color like an actual vintage neck would
Black graphite powder for door locks can be found easy and cheap FYI (instead of using a pencil).