Official Luthiers Forum!

just finished this one up here recently, a buddy of mine convinced me to go the antiqued route, i was pretty hesitant at first and it hurt a little bit to do it, but i actually like it a lot now though, and its definitely a lot more unique and has a lot more character than it would otherwise. i did a tooled leather pickguard for it, and antiqued all of the hardware to give it the aged look. anyway, just thought i would share, let me know what you think, i suspect some will really like the "antiqued" look and some will not at all.

_________________
~shad peters

http://www.flickr.com/photos/petersinstruments/
http://petersinstruments.blogspot.com/
http://petersinstruments.com/

Hey, it actually does look old!
Great job.
How'd you rust those chrome plated parts?
You could have given it to me for a month or so,
and I could have put some dents in it without even trying.

I love it also Shad!
Has character indeed.

Now share your rusting techniques.

Joe

I love the guitar! The pickguard really adds to the look. I don't know if I could bring myself to puposefully ding up a new guitar though, but it does look cool

_________________
John Thiessen
http://www.iszacguitars.com

Wow! Really great stuff, Shad! I'll be honest, I usually hate the relic'd thing. I don't understand beating up a beautiful instrument you've just spent so much time making perfect. But yours is very tastefully done, and unique enough that it doesn't look like another tele you took some sandpaper to. I really like that you modified the body shape and didn't go for a yellow paint job.

Excellent work, Shad! Do you find that the leather pickguard dampens the sound at all? Just curious. I've never encountered leather on a guitar before.

Your headstock variation = Awesome.

ok, i guess i'll reveal all my secrets lol. actually there was really not a whole lot to it with aging the hardware, obviously chrome or nickel plating wont actually rust so i had to go a different route. i started out by taking all of the chrome parts and sandblasting them to knock the shine off. doing this alone gives the hardware a pretty good aged look, you get lots of little pitting and stuff in the chrome and it looks natural, much better than just taking sandpaper or something to it. the "rust" is just walnut stain, after i blasted them i put a light coating of stain on them and layed them on top of my pot belly stove to bake the stuff on, after it had sat there a couple hours and was pretty well baked on i took steel wool to it to wear off some of the areas that would naturally stay a little more polished and stuff. so there yeah have it, not much to it.

_________________
~shad peters

http://www.flickr.com/photos/petersinstruments/
http://petersinstruments.blogspot.com/
http://petersinstruments.com/

Thanks Shad, I wouldn't have figured that aging technique out for the metal parts. It sure came out nice!
And you're tooled pick-guard is killer!

Joe

Seeing a vision come together like this is always satisfying. This really did turn out nice!

Now...it's going to be REALLY funny when this guitar goes through three seperate owners and coincidentally comes back to you with a request to "restore" it. What you gonna do THEN?

_________________
I read Emerson on the can. A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds...true...but a consistent reading of Emerson has its uses nevertheless.

StuMusic

now that IS funny!!

_________________
My soundclick xx luthier blog xx luthier soundclick

Man that looks so authentic. I think that guitar would look good relic'd or not, but that extra level of craftsmanship is definitely impressive. Love the pickguard too.

Nice work ! Love the leather and the old worn look.

_________________
Ken

i wasnt really sure if it would or not either chris, i am not sure on the brand name right off hand, they carry it at our local menards, its not the minwax stuff, its slightly higher quality. but in anycase it was just an experiment and it turned out working, and it really did bake on hard, it took some pretty hard going with the steel wool to wear it down in the desired areas. i think that by sandblasting and scuffing up the surface first it probably helped it to adhere quite a bit.

_________________
~shad peters

http://www.flickr.com/photos/petersinstruments/
http://petersinstruments.blogspot.com/
http://petersinstruments.com/

Too cool!

_________________
http://www.casperguitar.com