 
First, please read the disclaimer at the bottom of the page. I'm not a company selling information here. I'm just an enthusiast writing down some of the things I've learned.
Relicing (or antiquing, distressing, aging...) is an art form and it's all about subtlety. Remember that you can always relic a guitar more, but you can't go back and relic it less! If you're like me, you get into a project and have a tendency to over do it. Don't.
Some people prefer to relic a complete guitar while it's assembled. This makes sense because it leaves areas covered by the pickguard, etc. untouched, which is in line with what you'd expect from a true original vintage guitar. I personally like to take a guitar completely apart before I start, and I'll explain why below.
If you haven't checked out my list of recommended tools and materials, you'll probably want to do so.
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Once you have the body removed and all the hardware taken off, you're ready. If you want to do a "wear through" or remove some of the finish in areas where a player's arm might rub, read on. If you'd rather do a lighter relic than that, skip this step and go to step 2.
This is one of those things that is easy to OVER DO, so keep the goal of SUBTLE in mind. If your guitar is finished in Nitro Lacquer (Fender Custom Shop as well as some of the smaller builders like Callaham or Suhr), all you need is a roll of paper towel and some Lacquer Thinner (you'll want to be outdoors for this). If your guitar is something other than these, look below for Poly instructions. Saturate a paper towel with thinner and lightly rub where you want the finish to wear off. The most common place is the upper rounded edge of the body where a player's forearm would rub. I've found it works best to rub back and forth against the edge of the guitar as opposed to rubbing with the woodgrain or with the body contours. Rub back and forth a few times and stop to look carefully between each time. Once the Lacquer starts to break down from the Thinner it can wipe away very quickly, which makes it easy to over-do it.
Polyurethane finishes:
I definitely prefer Nitro for relicing, but I think many people exaggerate its benefits over other finishes. Some of the best guitar players around use a Poly finished guitar, and I guarantee all the know-it-alls couldn't tell the difference from listening! If I were making a list of factors that determine the quality of a musician's play, things like talent, creativity, amplifier quality, and pickup quality all come before the type of finish used. I'm not saying Nitro isn't great or even preferred, but let's not act like everybody out there with a different finish sounds like crap. OK, I'm now stepping off the soapbox...
It's really just the weather checking that doesn't work that well on Poly. You can do a worn area in the finish around where your forearm rubs when playing. Instead of Lacquer Thinner (described above for Nitro), use fine sandpaper. You can also lightly sand the entire surface of the body with very fine sandpaper (leaving as few visible "lines" or scratches as possible but taking the shine off). Then buff the whole surface to smooth it back out. This makes it shiny but just uneven enough to look old and worn. I would personally recommend skipping the weather checking on Poly, as it causes deep cracks though the finish as opposed to subtle, fine lines on the outer surface when using Nitro.
Note: If you have a Fender USA Vintage Reissue guitar, the steps above apply because those guitars are finished with an outer layer of Nitro. But under that is a thick layer of some kind of poly finish. The Lacquer Thinner will take off the outer Nitro finish but won't affect the under coat at all. So you can get down to where the wood is visible, but only visible under the clear Poly (or whatever it is) coating. Just FYI. (I've been told that the Highway One series are also Poly covered by a layer of Nitro, but I don't know for sure.)
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The next step is lightly distressing the surface in general. If you look at original vintage guitars, you'll notice that in addition to dings and scratches, there is a subtle uneveness or motling on the surface from being handled over and over for many years. To make the finish so it's not pefectly uniform and shiny, I lightly wet sand it with very fine grit paper. Some people use parafin wax as a lubricant, but I think water works great for this purpose. Just fill a bowl and sand gently all over the body with the woodgrain (even if you can't see the grain under the finish, sand in the direction you know it goes). I start with about 1000 grit and work up to 1500 or 2000. This should leave a satin finish--fairly even but not glossy.
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Before buffing, I usually go to the nicks, scratches and dings phase. This way the buffer will slightly round and soften the scrapes so they don't look like they happened yesterday. Remember our motto: Less is more. That whole thing about dragging a guitar behind the car to relic it is crap. The key to dings and scratches is to make them look random, with no discernable pattern. And I usually stick with the areas that are most likely to get dinged "in the real world." Just start small and do a few, usually on the front or back along the bottom edge. I've used things like a screwdriver, keys on a keychain, and pliers. Just avoid "tool marks" that make it look like it was done on purpose.
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Then I buff the whole body to bring back the shine. After all, even vintage guitars are generally shiny! You can use a 'real' buffer with soft cotton, but I use the budget buffer: a power drill with a buffing wheel attachment. Mine is a 6" soft buffing wheel you can find at Home Depot, Lowe's, or other hardware store. The main thing to remember on this step is to keep the buffer moving around on the surface of the body--don't stay in one sport EVER or the friction will heat up and smudge through the Nitro finish in an instant. For the same reason, don't press too hard. The results you want will occur with gentle, even pressure and by gliding the buffer back and forth over the finish evenly. This process should bring back the shine but with just enough subtle inconsistencies to make it look old.
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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.
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Please don't hesitate to contact us if you have any questions!
| Note: By reading this site and using any of the techniques or materials shown, you agree that you do so at your own risk and at the risk of your instrument. Using aging techniques and materials that were designed for something else to make a guitar look prematurely antiqued is a volatile and unpredictable process. You or a loved one could get hurt or even killed. Your guitar or some part of it could get damaged or ruined beyond repair. You agree to hold me, my friends, family, co-workers, employees, agents, attorneys, acquaintences, distant relatives, alter-egos, descendants, ancestors, and anyone I've ever known or will know, completely harmless and not liable for anything, anywhere at anytime. |
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