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  • JL December 2, 2016 at 7:31am

    First go to the used instrument section of your neighborhood GC, local thrift stores, pawn shops and look at what real age does, paying attention to WHERE the wear spots are (corners/edges) where the dirt/sweat/beer stains are (little splashes around, evidence of running down the face to the lower edge).

    Look at where you touch the pickups when you play.

    let these guide you, less is more, a little ageing can add character, too much looks like a Martha Steward wanna-be forgot to take their meds...

    a little sanding some  edges and corners, not all, just where your hand or pick are most likely to hit,  a little squirt bottle spritz of vinegar/cola/orange juice or other mild acid to add a few spots of wear/tarnish/stain, not a lot, smudge/stiple on some black laquer paint and then wipe it off (good but not perfectly cleaned off)

     check out some of Adam Savage's one day builds on tested.com, he is a master at aging things that look real, not PHO-distressed

  • Kigar November 30, 2016 at 12:51pm

    Another look is to take a torch and pass it over the chrome to "blue" it, motorcycle pipes often give the best illustration of this.  Don't try this with a chromed plated zinc part (I learned the hard way when it melted)!

    • JL > Kigar December 2, 2016 at 7:17am

      Zinc melts at only 787 deg F. making it cheap to cast items that don't need to be strong such as door handles, toy cowboy cap guns, padlock trim plates, rack mount cable guides, motorcycle carburetors...

      Learned that the hard way taking a zinc cap off a brass pilot screw with a blow torch (d'oh).

    • Titch the Clown > Kigar November 30, 2016 at 3:21pm

      I had a weird experience trying to silver solder a car door handle together when the thing melted out from inside the chrome before the solder did..

  • darryl kernaghan November 29, 2016 at 6:17am

    If you have a grinder, just grind some metal near the covers and spray them with hot sparks, then wet them and set them outside for a few days, you can speed it up a bit by brushing  a little hydrochloric acid on them and wash it off after an hr or 2

    • jabes > darryl kernaghan November 29, 2016 at 6:56am

      thankyou  guys, I have all those things except the cola (only use it with dark rum ) i'll give it a go ,the covers are easily removable...

  • Ron "Oily" Sprague November 29, 2016 at 6:12am
    The first would be to take off the chrome covers, and physically distress them by lightly sanding them in various spots to expose the base metal beneath the chrome coating. Attack it with a hammer, or a length of bicycle or other chain. Dump the covers in a tub or pie pan of wet sand, and tumble / shake them in that for awhile. Yet another method would be to chemically distress them with...ammonia. Also known as pee. Before you laugh or get disgusted. Eric "Badfinger" Davenport, a CBN member, did exactly this for one of his resonator builds. Or use citric acid (concentrated lemon juice), Coca Cola (phosphoric acid, but not too long, as both tooth enamel and some metals will actually dissolve if left in too long), or acetic acid (common household vinegar). Don't leave the covers in any of these longer than 12-24 hours.
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