Relic Techniques

This section will give references for relic techniques and image examples.

My best reference is a natural relic 70 Stratocaster that I bought in the early 90s.  The previous owner played in a punk band in NYC and brought it into a local music store to swap for something else. I bought it right after he left. He played it hard, banged it up a little and apologized for sticking his cigarettes in the strings of the headstock when he played.   

The nitro colors are aged and dark. weather checking and wear are obvious and not overdone compared to the relics on the street.  

Weather Checking

Note original old nitro finish looks green under a black light and new nitro looks purple/blue

Taken from: Relic Deluxe - Vintage Relic Guitar How-To and 50s Pinups for Fender Stratocaster, Telecaster, Jaguar, Jazzmaster, and Gibson Les Paul, SG, and ES-335 330 Guitars

"The last step is weather checking in the clear coat finish, where there are little lines like spider veins running along the finish. What causes this on original vintage instruments is the way the body wood contracts and expands over time. Being stored in differing climates over the years affects the wood; whether in a car, closet, studio, girlfriend's apartment, or whatever. To relic the guitar, we simply speed up that process so it happens in a matter of minutes. As with the other steps, be SUBTLE. The first few guitars I did were so checked they looked like puzzle pieces glued into the shape of a guitar!

Anyway, start by holding a hair dryer about an inch away from the surface of the body and moving it back and forth so that you're heating up about half the surface area on one side. After the surface is good and hot (maybe 3-4 minutes), hold your can of compressed air upside down and generously spray frosty liquid over the area you heated up. You will probably hear some light popping and cracking. The wood was expanded by the heat of the hair dryer, and the frost from the compressed air rapidly cools it down and makes it contract. The finish doesn't expand and contract as quickly as the wood, which causes the weather checking. After the frost I run the hair dryer over the same area again, which of course expands the wood again and increases the checking effect.

Now repeat this process on all parts of the body where you want the weather checking. It's probably more realistic to have it here and there as opposed to covering the entire surface of the guitar body. As soon as you've gotten it how you like it, polish the entire body's surface with a clean, dry cotton rag and some polish. This is because the frost liquid will leave a slight residue that resembles hard water spots you might get on your car if you washed it and let it air dry. For polish I use 3M Finesse It II, which was originally designed for cars".

Pickguard

New plastic pickguards are to shiney and if you look at actual guards from the 40s, 50s and 60s most are in good shape without much scratching but they are slightly dulled. The dullness is not usually from dirt buildup which is easy to replicate. They are dull from the uv light degrading the plastic surface evenly across the entire piece. Solvents and other chemical treatments do not work to give this effect. Steel wool or other abrasive pads will take away the gloss but show swirl or directional scratching. The best result is using Stewmac medium polishing compound followed by swirl remover polishing compound on a drill with a buffing pad.

I went back later and did more work to deglaze since it was still to shiny. Wet sanded lightly with 1200 micro grit paper then buffed with medium paste to get a little shine back.  Looks better and also better to make small changes and do not to much in the first step.  You can always go back and do more but you can not 'undo' things to easily.

One side note on repairing body play scratches like in the photo. They can be removed or greatly reduced with the same polishing compounds. Care must be taken not to polish through thin old finish coats. Weather checking will also be removed which is not prefered so I tend to leave them on but at times reduce them with a light buffing like on the guitar in the picture.

Metal Pieces

Many youtube videos and websites relic metal pieces by buffing them with steel wool, placing them in a box and shaking them to nick them up then acid treating to oxidize the surface especially in the roughed up spots.  These are way overdone if you look at the Fender Custom Shop series. 

The metal wear on the old strat is plenty of tarnish but still a lot of shine. No nicks and very minor scratching. The screw heads and portions of the bridge show heavier tarnishing. 

Here is what works to get this close with nickel plate hardware.

1. Don't bang it up or only minor nicks.

2. Acid bath headspace ov sealed container for 2 1/2 hours to oxidize the finish

3. Air dry or 4 hours without wiping or rinsing

4. wipedown with a damp paper towel or cloth

Parts in plastic tray over muriatic acid

New and shiny hardware

Final tarnished parts

Fender Custom Shop Relic Examples

They study old used guitar examples then reproduce them in their timeline series. These are 'right' based on wear compared to others that are more extreme and go into heavily used or slightly abused categories.

Some Examples Working on Technique