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trying to get an aged and or vintage look for my strat pickguard. does anybody have any recommendations on how i can do this?

i'm pretty sure letting it soak in coffee is a technique that has been used......do a search for that, or i bet somebody here had done it before

1st thing to do is rub it down with some very fine 0000 steel wool. This will
take the shine off it and leave you with a matte like finish. Then if you want
to tint it? there's gotta be a 100 different ways?? Coffee,tea ,Shoepolish?
I can't comment on what works the best? (Never tried Um') But the steel
wool trick works good.

They make a special tool for that, you can get them from Musician's Friend or you local music store.

Click here for a picture.

Use these to scrape sideways across the pickguard, contacting the strings in the process. Apply this technique 1-2 hours a day for 10 years and your Strat will look much older. Your playing will improve, too.

Sorry, sore subject. See my take on quot;relic-ingquot; in the recent thread on tribute guitars.

I would try shoe polish. I tried to age a Gibson truss rod cover, soaking it in coffee for a week with no change. Alot of the plastics they use today are highly resistant to staining.

Play a bar gig four nights a week for the next 30 years, and we'll see how aged it looks.


Originally Posted by Rich_SThey make a special tool for that, you can get them from Musician's Friend or you local music store.

Click here for a picture.

Use these to scrape sideways across the pickguard, contacting the strings in the process. Apply this technique 1-2 hours a day for 10 years and your Strat will look much older. Your playing will improve, too.

Sorry, sore subject. See my take on quot;relic-ingquot; in the recent thread on tribute guitars.

rofl

thats what i was about to say

I tend to agree with the natural relicing idea, but the reality is that modern pickguards wouldn't look aged until about 25 years!

One time, I had accumulated a bunch of white strat pickguards in a drawer and decided to 'age' them, then sell them. Here's the method that worked the best...

KMC is right about the steel wool. You need to gently take all the glossy shine off the pickguard for any dye to adhere to it. Do it till the plastic is dull white.

In a big wok or pot, heat up a mixture of tea, coffee, tobacco, and a few spoonfuls of yellow curry. You can buy small bags of curry at the grocery store for $2. That's what helps to give it the nicotine look. Use a lot more brown in the mix than curry yellow. Use just a spoonful or two of curry, or the guard will turn canary yellow.

DO NOT SUBMERGE THE PICKGUARD IN HOT WATER or it will warp. Wait till the water has cooled off, then let the pickguard soak in it for a day. Don't worry about getting the pickguard TOO colored.

The final step is to tame the dye by wiping the pickguard with pure bleach to bring the shade of tan/yellow down to the desired shade. I like to make the pickguard just a bit overdone, because over time the dye fades from the light. What you end up with is a pickguard that actually looks 40 years old.

Good post GJer. I just wanna go on the record That I also dislike relic'in
a guitar. But some times you have to restore a guitar. My cousin recently
got his original 79' oly white Strat back in a trade. The body was well worn
and turned a nice bannana pudding. But the guy he sold it to had a 22 fret
ESP neck on it and a Stag-mag in the bridge. my cousin wanted back to the
way it use to be, Or atleast look like a 79' strat. So i had him order a USACG
large CBS headstock neck. When i took the ESP neck off I noticed the original
pickgaurd was hacked up for the extra fret? So I grabbed a white strat gaurd
from my parts bin. It looked stupid, all shiney on the well worn body? that's
why I hit it with the steel wool untill it looked close to the original.
I think it came out pretty good. Hmm, just piss on it.

Thats what the pro's do!


Originally Posted by GearjoneserI tend to agree with the natural relicing idea, but the reality is that modern pickguards wouldn't look aged until about 25 years!

One time, I had accumulated a bunch of white strat pickguards in a drawer and decided to 'age' them, then sell them. Here's the method that worked the best...

KMC is right about the steel wool. You need to gently take all the glossy shine off the pickguard for any dye to adhere to it. Do it till the plastic is dull white.

In a big wok or pot, heat up a mixture of tea, coffee, tobacco, and a few spoonfuls of yellow curry. You can buy small bags of curry at the grocery store for $2. That's what helps to give it the nicotine look. Use a lot more brown in the mix than curry yellow. Use just a spoonful or two of curry, or the guard will turn canary yellow.

DO NOT SUBMERGE THE PICKGUARD IN HOT WATER or it will warp. Wait till the water has cooled off, then let the pickguard soak in it for a day. Don't worry about getting the pickguard TOO colored.

The final step is to tame the dye by wiping the pickguard with pure bleach to bring the shade of tan/yellow down to the desired shade. I like to make the pickguard just a bit overdone, because over time the dye fades from the light. What you end up with is a pickguard that actually looks 40 years old.

thanks for the great advice

After you buff it with steel wool you can wipe it down with a stain. That will give it the color you are looking for. I think ReRanch sells the quot;vintage Yellowquot; in a spray can. But IMO don't bother..... any finish you put on the guard will wear off once you start beating on it a little. After all it is a Pickguard!!

Yeah, the natural light in your home actually fades the yellowing. It's best to make it look dramatically stained, then put it on your guitar. In about a month, the stain will fade, and the look will be more natural.

If you're brave enough to relic a shiny new body, the steel wool trick works for that too.

Yeah, flank's right. If it's a Fender part (not a copy), soak it in really dark, strong black coffee.