Hi,
new on board. I hope more luck here, then on the children boards.
Question: Does anyone know a cheap way, or a way that really works, to artificially "age" the pickguard, knobs and such?
I would appreciate your help!
Hi,
new on board. I hope more luck here, then on the children boards.
Question: Does anyone know a cheap way, or a way that really works, to artificially "age" the pickguard, knobs and such?
I would appreciate your help!
Hey,
that was very, very kind of you and I thank you very much for this.
I had something like that in my mind, but was thinking about tea instead of coffee.
I shall try as you've suggested.
will try this...have a early 90 pu cover and pickup to go on an 83 strat...not yellowed enough to match...
I dye the parts in warm black coffee for several minutes.
I've done this on Fender brand p/u covers, knobs, trem tip and switch tip.
Some other brands parts use a plastic that can't be dyed this way.
The dyed parts very closely match Fender's aged parts and it's permanent.
Agree with Don.. I put them on hot coffee, in the microwave oven, exactly on time as the coffee begins to boil. If you like greenish/yellowish parts, try green tea. But be sure that the plastic material fits the method...Not every brand is proper for this, some parts SHRINK REAL BAD due to the heat, especially knobs. Obviously, they are useless afterwards...
Recently I tried some "Noiseless" covers, it worked fine.
Older Dimarzio work also fine, I've colored dozens of them.
Kinman's covers are also built for this purpose, they become colored fairly easily.
And last: Avoid normal oven/gas heating, almost all parts become useless if they touch the ground of the pot/pan due to the extreme heat there (which always happens, because they are heavier and fall down). Try better microwave, the heat is inducted more homogeneously there. And don't forget to check the plastic!!!
I had some Fralin covers several years ago that wouldn't dye no matter what I did to them.
I dyed a set of Fender covers and used them instead.
I read on Fralin's site that they changed the plastic to one that can be dyed.
To avoid shrinkage on the knobs, you can take 3 junk potentiometers and put the knobs on them. Then boil your coffee, remove it from the microwave and then drop your parts in it. Let the parts cool before removing the knobs from the shafts. The knob might shrink a bit, but it will still fit on the shaft.
If you're bored, you're not groovin'.
I've cooked them in strong coffee, but you have to be carefull. I'v over cooked them and they came out totally brown... not aged....
I've used Kiwi brown too.
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I don't put the parts in coffee that's hot enough to shrink or distort them.
I like the coffee to be very warm.
Yes, warm coffee is the key. It might take a little longer, but what the heck- you're already getting a 15-20 yr jump. You can wait 15-20 min!
I've had covers & knobs that wouldn't take aging, either. If you tap two covers together & they go "plup, plup, plup", chances are they'll work. They are a softer plastic. If they go "click, click, click" they won't.
Its a mad mad world!! Aging is what happen as time passes and we play our guitars. Some people take good care of their equipment, while other dont give a damn, and end up with battered axes after a year or so. Appearently this is cool. So cool that Fender makes "preaged" guitars, at a premium, of course. Claptons Blackie looks the way it does because of being heavy played for a long time. Any guitar being heavy played, ie several hours each day, will show it. Why not age the guitar this way, leaving the coffee to drink during breaks? Also the playing skills will rise.
greetings
ps (ask the wife for another guitar for Xmas?)
I personally like the cream colored plastic parts due to their COLOR, and don't give a damn if they are aged, old, new, or whatever. It simply inspires me, e.g. to see the strat plastic parts in a different (darker) color than the pickguard, and that is all about. I really hate the snow white parts...
Real aging happens of course through time, it is a specific "vibe" that an axe becomes, and includes much more than a different color on plastic parts: scratches, scars and - above all - that special, unique "smell" that an old, over-many-nights-used axe has...
milk and cream with your coffee,Sir?
What if you like the look of aged plastic, but have several guitars? How are you going to play them all several hours a day? I've got four Strats, not to mention my Teles & then there are my Gibsons. If I like the look of aged plastic I'm going to have it.:)Originally Posted by barentsman
On the other hand the bright white knob on the replacement tremolo arm that I put on my '57 Strat looked pretty bad compared to the original pickup covers and older knobs.
Sure I could wait for the knob to age naturally, but why not have matching parts on my guitar today?
On a new guitar I dye the parts not to age them but to break up the vast white plastic areas of a Strat with a little color.
Excellent point. With a day job, wife, kids, house, not to mention a batch of great guitars to play, they'll never get good and worn out looking.
the white is what i am trying to get rid of...it will stick out like a sore thumb...the rest of the guitar is naturaly aged...and it plays well...just want it all to look nice and make the new addition look like his brothers...has the same part number and all on the back...am sure it will sound the same...what was in there was a very hot and noisey single coil circa 1986 or so...too much top end...very unstratish...it would have been...in my opinion...better to put a hot rails or something else in there...when i have played this guitar live i always used the 3 4 and 5 positions...stayed away from that monster...anybody want it?...i don't...has a black cover on it...the covers on the others had been painted black to match it...as well as the knobs...have been slowly removing the paint with an exacto knife, 000 steel wool and small amounts of nail polish remover...have worked on it for about 3 hours and am almost done...they look much happier now...spray paint is a pain to remove.
kw
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