aging successes and failures

[bellKnob]

Hi Forum. my first post...

Upgraded from an '01 standard to a washed cherry '58 reissue this month. VERY happy with the sound/feel, but I wasn't thilled with the newness of the parts... so, after browsing the Forum for days reading about all the techniques y'all used, I aged it:

1) Used RIT liquid "Yellow" and "Cocoa Brown" on the pickguard. This is THE way to go. First, I buffed it all down with 000 steel wool. Then I soaked it in a very hot mixture of both colors for less than 2 minutes. It comes out coffee brown (scary), but you then just buff it down again using the steel wool. I left the dark areas aound the edges like all the guards in BOTB. Then soak it just in the Yellow for the same. Dry. It looks identical to me to a real one. And all the buff marks in the coffee color get smoothed out during the 2nd soaking, so don't worry too much about them. The mixture was half bottle of dye and about 4 cups of water.
2) Used the "etching solution" trick from radio shack - it works, sorta, but DO NOT mix metals in the same tank! I put the whole ABR-1 unit in there, along with the tailpiece, and some sort of electroplating occurred!! I think the saddles are brass (?), and anyway, when you have two different metals in an acid - they transfer and do wierd stuff - so I almost ruined the ($110) tailpiece. The ABR-1 was trashed. If you're going to use this technique, remove the saddles, and only do one piece at a time - for no more than a minute.
3) The pickup rings are a different plastic than the guard - they don't dye the same way, so just soak them in the yellow for a few minutes, and then buff it all away except a few areas around the screws.
4) The knobs are hopeless. Steel wool does nothing but scratch them, and Lucite doesn't absord any dye. I'm at a loss with these.
5) The switchring is JUNK. I threw it out. The allparts ring is a cool yellow/greenish color - but the letters suck - I buffed them away, and it looks great now.

All-in-all, worth doing if you like the broken in look. From 5 feet away, with my old eyes, it looks a BOTB guitar.
Anyone have a digital cam I can borrow??? ;)

[burst_king]

I'm going to try the method of using 2 cigarettes to every 5 incense sticks in order to simulate aging. Does anyone have experiece with this? I know that one of the Eds posted a website on aging, which I've looked at. I'm thinking that if I use a pack of a high tar cigarette (Marlboro?) and then don't touch the plastic for a few days that then the resis will have had a chance to soak in and won't rub off so easily. Hmmm, I'm still gathering parts for the experiment, does anyone know if this method works? Also, NOCD, how did the hydrochloric acid experiment go?

spin

[LesPauloholic]

I was under the impression that with the etchant solution that you just want to wipe it on then rinse it off, not soak the parts.

I wiped some on a nickel tuner I had and it looked pretty cool. I think I still like the acid vapor method better though.

[bellKnob]

Originally posted by LesPauloholic
I was under the impression that with the etchant solution that you just want to wipe it on then rinse it off, not soak the parts.

I tried that - but it just left wierd smudges and streaks. The only way to get it looking real random and uniformly aged is to just dunk 'em.
And the etchant is a hell of a lot less dangerous than the vapor method.

[jisham]

Originally posted by LesPauloholic
I was under the impression that with the etchant solution that you just want to wipe it on then rinse it off, not soak the parts.

I wiped some on a nickel tuner I had and it looked pretty cool. I think I still like the acid vapor method better though.

I "wiped" etchant solution and it worked great...have to do it a few times though to get rid of the randomness. On Plaintop59's suggestion, I also used a cig lighter on the tailpiece.

[Jim Barth]

With either muriatic acid or echtant solution you have to be absolutely certain there are no fingerprints or grease or oils on the part.

I dunk stufff in echtant solution.

Never done two parts at the same time

[fantom1]

Im telling ya, my method is starting to shape up very nicely, starting to look very good on the metal parts.

[burst_king]

Yeah I am gitardude! I'm not one to puff on the cancer sticks (don't ya just hate them being called that?) so I figure it'll be a "labor of love" getting those started. In theory this method should age them "accurately" while keeping them smelling fine (the incense). We'll see...

[bluesroom]

Etchant solution-------soak parts in lighter fluid to degrease them,and don't touch them with your fingers.Dunk the parts in etchant and then into soapey water immediately.Then wipe.this gives a nice eveness.continue untill you get the desired result.
Smoke-----I will go into greater detail when my guitar is finished,but it is by far the most authentic look for the Uncle lou buttons.I don't care what anyone says,I've tried etchant solution,surgens scrub,coffee ,tea,etc..Nothing works as good or looks as real.I don't smoke anymore so it was a little tricky and very ,very time consuming,but it looks better than the real deal.
I promise I will give you complete directions as soon as I can sit down for a while----- along with the other updates.I kind of wanted to assemble all my info in one place so anyone in the future could have a quick reference.
I want to say that my updates wouldn't have even been possible if it wasn't for the generous responses that I got over these past few months.The only credit I take is experimenting a little bit and spending a little cash along the way.

[surfreak]

Just play the damn thing for the next 10 years!

Blood, sweat and tears will do the trick better than any chemical.

[FLICKOFLASH]

Originally Posted by bellKnob

Hi Forum. my first post...

Upgraded from an '01 standard to a washed cherry '58 reissue this month. VERY happy with the sound/feel, but I wasn't thilled with the newness of the parts... so, after browsing the Forum for days reading about all the techniques y'all used, I aged it:

1) Used RIT liquid "Yellow" and "Cocoa Brown" on the pickguard. This is THE way to go. First, I buffed it all down with 000 steel wool. Then I soaked it in a very hot mixture of both colors for less than 2 minutes. It comes out coffee brown (scary), but you then just buff it down again using the steel wool. I left the dark areas aound the edges like all the guards in BOTB. Then soak it just in the Yellow for the same. Dry. It looks identical to me to a real one. And all the buff marks in the coffee color get smoothed out during the 2nd soaking, so don't worry too much about them. The mixture was half bottle of dye and about 4 cups of water.
2) Used the "etching solution" trick from radio shack - it works, sorta, but DO NOT mix metals in the same tank! I put the whole ABR-1 unit in there, along with the tailpiece, and some sort of electroplating occurred!! I think the saddles are brass (?), and anyway, when you have two different metals in an acid - they transfer and do wierd stuff - so I almost ruined the ($110) tailpiece. The ABR-1 was trashed. If you're going to use this technique, remove the saddles, and only do one piece at a time - for no more than a minute.
3) The pickup rings are a different plastic than the guard - they don't dye the same way, so just soak them in the yellow for a few minutes, and then buff it all away except a few areas around the screws.
4) The knobs are hopeless. Steel wool does nothing but scratch them, and Lucite doesn't absord any dye. I'm at a loss with these.
5) The switchring is JUNK. I threw it out. The allparts ring is a cool yellow/greenish color - but the letters suck - I buffed them away, and it looks great now.

All-in-all, worth doing if you like the broken in look. From 5 feet away, with my old eyes, it looks a BOTB guitar.
Anyone have a digital cam I can borrow??? ;)

I use boiled green walnut rhines it makes a hena type stain & micromesh & smoke for the knobs... warning I lost some saddle dipping a bridge in micuric acid ...use vapors only

[Todd Louis]

[phil47uk]

Originally Posted by surfreak

Just play the damn thing for the next 10 years!

Blood, sweat and tears will do the trick better than any chemical.

Phil.