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How can I age my historic pickguard?

Mulder

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Jan 8, 2002
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229
I have a 2001 'authentic R8 and would like to make the pickguard a little more 'yellowed'. Any suggestions? I tried John Catto's method with micromesh and analine dye and it didn't work on the stock guard on my authentic.
 

Winston

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Jul 17, 2001
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There's been a lot of discussion about how to age plastic parts in the past. I was smoking a turkey and I got the idea of putting the parts in the smoker while the turkey is getting happy. I haven't tried it yet but I think it might produce some good results. Has anyone tried this?

:fatty
 

GrinchMob

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Jan 1, 2002
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RIT dye and about 5 seconds!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The guard absorbs the dye like a sponge!

Also, some carefully placed scuffing and scratches.;)
 

gibs

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Nov 9, 2001
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Really strong tea....and as scarymr1 mentioned, some subtle abrasions prior to immersing in the luke warm tea...only abrase the places that would be logical...don't do overkill...........or it will look like a two year old got hold of some crayons and did a number on the walls of their room.......

seriously, abrase very little if you want a good look.....remember that there are other plastic parts that won't look like the guard, so you might wanna dip them too, but logically they won't need any abrasion at all, just a bit of color change from the tea immersion....leo
 

McMad

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Aug 25, 2001
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How to age your pickguard

Ride it around on the front bumper bracket of a Pinto with bad brakes in rush hour traffic.
 

bluesroom

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Jul 17, 2001
Messages
443
I aged my tuner buttons by blowing smoke through a straw.Very authentic looking.It takes a few days for the tobbaco smell to disappear but who cares.It looks real.But I'd test it out on a spare plastic pickguard first.I didn't try that.different parts react differently.I had no luck with tea or coffee.Also claening the parts first helps.
 
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Buzz

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Sep 22, 2001
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I have some before and after pics on my digital cam, that I havn't yet put into an online photo album. I can email them to you, but I think I'll be posting a link to picture trail very soon.

I used brown paste Kiwi in a can, I experimented with Rit but it looked too dark, not like the pics in BOTB. John Calto says analine dye works evan better, and I'd like to see some pics of his. You will notice that there are varying degrees of yellowing on the plastic of original Bursts, so it's a matter of how you like it. Using some oooo steel wool will speed up the process, but I found the plastic absorb it without it. I started with a spare pickup rings, than after I liked the results, I did my pickgaurd, pickup rings, and jack plate.
The harder you rub it in, the more it takes, than you can rub out the excess with some swirll remover. I look thru BOTB and noticed that certain areas of the pickgaurd are more yellowed, and I copied the ones I liked the best. Comparing mine to the pics, the color looks very close. I also made the rings darker in the appropriate areas.

I also noticed that the inlays on some of the original Bursts in BOTB had yellowing, usually those that had the most yellowed plastic. But, I did not do it to my inlays (not yet anyway). I'm pretty sure most or all of it can be rubbed out if you don't like it. If you search under key word Kiwi you'll find alot more posts on this topic.
Makes no sence to have aged hardware and finish on my authentic and have the plastic looking brand new. Fender's been doing this on their "relics" for years, when is Gibson going to do it?
 

Buzz

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Oh yeah, you'll need to remove all of those parts to do this, it requires alot of finesse and elbow greese. The tuning pegs don't seem to absorb it, and I didn't do the selector ring because they look whiter than the rest of the plastic in BOTB. I think some people have used amber dyed flat lacquer or poly on the tuners to give them that orange look. Uncle Lou's has great looking replacment tuner tips to replace those greenies, I got a set on ebay for $20.00, but havn't put them on yet, pics are on the way.
 

Marshallhead

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Jul 19, 2001
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I use rit dye-scrub the pickguard with 0000 steel wool first and immerse it in the dye(mixed with warm water). Be careful though with your color selections.
 

Mulder

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Jan 8, 2002
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229
It worked !! ;-)

First off, thanks for all the responses. :lol1 I wound up trying the RIT dye method and it worked like a charm. First I mixed a little ecru with yellow gold for the guard. Then I sanded it back down a bit and dyed it again with just the yellow gold. Then I bleached the p/u rings a bit and dipped them in the yellow gold so they would not be quite as dark as the guard. It came out pretty good. Here's some pics:

The first one is the guard before:

guard.jpg
face.jpg
full2.jpg



I may get some white rings and try to dye those. The stock parts all seem to have a 'pinkish' hue to them.
 
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A

Alley Cat

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Take your plastic parts (or the whole guitar) and stick it up above the bar or hang it from the ceiling at the smokiest bar you know... shoudn't take more than a week or two....

Al
 

1958teaburst

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Feb 18, 2002
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permanant amber marker can be found at all craft stores .rub it on your finger thenrub the pickgaurd.thats it
 

Buzz

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Oh, when I read the previous posts about the rit dye, I thought that they recommended brown. I only tried brown, not mixing any colors. Arts and crafts stores have alot of colors, department stores that usually only have a few. I picked up a can of Kiwi white and tried it on a spare selector ring, but no matter how I rubbed it didn't change color at all. I replaced my pinkish selector ring with an off the shelf Gibson, and it was much better. I guess that there are bad batches of plastic out there that are too pink. My pickup rings were o.k.
As for ciggerette smoke, I think you could get the same results if you soaked them in hot water with a bunch of butts.

I really can't tell any difference from those pics except a bit on the neck pickup ring. Is it just the pics or are the tints very subtle, both? It looks "real", alot like the Murphy refin I auctioned last December.
 

Buzz

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"I think you could get the same results if you soaked them in hot water with a bunch of butts." I was refering to ciggerette butts of course!
:lolspin
Nice knobs, are those DMCs?
 

Jim Barth

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Jul 21, 2001
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Mulder,

Looks pretty DAMN good to me.

I got to try that.

Any guess as to how much yellow gold you used i.e. a spoonful to an 8 oz glass, a tablespoon to quart, whatever...

How much ecru did you then add?

I'd like to duplicate your guard as much as possible.
 

Mulder

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Jan 8, 2002
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Buzz,

The rings still seem a bit too dark; I'd like some more contrast. Most of the ones in BOTB seem to have a little more contrast than mine. Yes, the knobs are DMC's.

Jim,

I used about 1 cup of hot water (not boiling) and poured it into a rectangular tupperware container. I added almost half of the 'ecru' powder packet and then a dash of the 'golden yellow' and stirred it together. Then I stuck wooden shish-kabob skewer sticks thru the holes in the pickguard and swished it around in the dye for a minute or two. The longer you keep it in, the more it dyes so you can take it out and check it for the color you like. You can buff it back with auto compound or micromesh to give it an 'uneven' look. Mine has that around the edges which doesen't show in the pics but it looks 'real'.
 

Jim Barth

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Jul 21, 2001
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Mulder, thanks I'll give it a whirl as soon as I can get my hands on a spare Historic guard.

Don't want to take a chance on screwing up my one and only.
-
 

Buzz

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Here are a couple pics of how mine look with just brown kiwi paste. First pic: before the pickup rings were done. Second pic: Shows the contrast of before and after on a spare ring, with the top edge only done. http://www.picturetrail.com/buzzr/750730
 

Flamed93+

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Jan 1, 2002
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Mulder....that looks like BOTB baby!!!

I was going to suggest let it sit in the bottom of a giant bong for a while....
your idea works too...

:lol2
 
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