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Post subject: Highway One Relic Project
Posted: Thu Aug 23, 2007 1:45 pm
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All -- I have decided to start a relic project with my sunburst Hi[img]ghway one (pre-upgrade) Strat. With all the interest in relicing guitars out there I figured I would put some pictures out there and try to get some input and possibly some opinions about the quality of the work... I have already read all of the anti-relic sentiment online so feel free not to repeat all the worn out cliche(')s

Here is one pic, but you can hit the link below for more...


Image


http://stratproject.googlepages.com/highwayonerelicproject


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Posted: Thu Aug 23, 2007 2:02 pm
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Can't really help you with the body, because there are just soo many ways to go about "wearing" your guitar out.

Although I can tell you a really good way on ageing your plastic parts, like pickup covers, switch tip, knobs and whatever. It's a really, really good method. The good side is it keeps you from having to buy the aged parts.

If your interested I'll list the instructions.


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Posted: Thu Aug 23, 2007 2:10 pm
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Yeah, I was going to use coffee or tea, but I am not real confident in that method... if you have something better I would LOVE to hear it.

thanks bro,
best,
j


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Posted: Thu Aug 23, 2007 2:49 pm
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hehe, Well, the funny thing is, that is the method, coffee and tea. But it works, and works well. I've done it and couldn't be happier. If it's done right it will look very authentic, matter of fact in my opinion it looks better than the ones you can buy. Plus it gives you the option on how dark you want them.

Anyway, here's how I do it.

1. Fill a pot with just enough water to completely cover the parts.

2. Add 2 tea bags (doesn't really matter which brand, I used Tetley)

3. Add 1 tablespoon coffee grounds (again, doesn't matter which brand, I used Maxwell House).

4. Put the pot on the stove at high and bring it to a boil. (DO NOT PUT PARTS IN YET).

5. Once the miracle sauce (hehe) starts to boil real good, then stir around the ingredients, mash the tea bags around a few times to get'em flowing.

6. Now add the parts, whatever you do keep stirring the parts around, (DO NOT LET THEM SIT STILL, they might melt against the pot).

What happens is the parts heat up and let themselves stain. The coffee and tea together create this perfect tint. This process happens really fast, so you might want to bring one of the parts out about every 2 seconds to check and see if their dark enough for ya. I had my pickgaurd close by to compare the parts with it to see how dark I wanted them.

You could also do one pickup cover alittle darker than the other to make it look even more authentic. If you look at some naturally worn older guitars you'll notice that some parts are darker than others, it all just depends though.

Unfortunately this doesn't work on the tremolo arm tip, it's obviously a different type of plastic, same as used for the pickgaurd.


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Posted: Fri Aug 24, 2007 9:04 am
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This is a great site for somebody to check out that is going to relic a guitar. All kinds of tips and tricks. :arrow:

http://www.relicdeluxe.com/default.asp

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Post subject: Neck Pics
Posted: Fri Aug 24, 2007 9:30 am
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Yeah, www.relicdeluxe.com is great... that is the site I have been using...

Guitar Hurricane -- Your write-up is really cool... I'm definitely going to give that a shot. Do you sand the parts at all first, or do you just put them right into the water?

thanks again...

Also, here are some pics of the neck...

Image

Image


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Post subject: Re: Neck Pics
Posted: Fri Aug 24, 2007 12:04 pm
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yisrael42 wrote:
Guitar Hurricane -- Your write-up is really cool... I'm definitely going to give that a shot. Do you sand the parts at all first, or do you just put them right into the water?


Nah, there's no need to sand, just drop'em in.

One other thing, if your wondering about the gold painted numbers on the knobs, don't worry about them, it doesn't effect them, their not gonna come off or anything like that.


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Posted: Fri Aug 24, 2007 12:05 pm
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how much time do you estimate it'll take you to put it all together?


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Posted: Fri Aug 24, 2007 1:09 pm
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Well, I started the project on Tuesday night... I sanded the body over the course of two evenings... I also used Muriatic acid to relic the hardware... I DID NOT put the hardware in the acid... I put it in a cup and put the cup in a big plastic storage box with the hardware and let the fumes do the work... that took about an hour...

I think i will probably give the tuners, neck plate, jack plate, and bridge plate some more time in the acid fume box tonight.

The neck sanding was done over two evenings, but most of the work was done on it last night... It is a newer Highway One neck so it is light colored wood and therefore it is difficult to relic the same way they do in the custom shop... I didn't want to get involved with nitro sprays either so i just sanded off most of the finish from the back of the neck and the headstock around the logo to give a similar effect as though i put on a decal...

Next i need to work on the plastic parts and the pickguard... I am doing it with a tortiose guard, not mint green, so that just needs sanding, but the pickup covers, switch button, and knobs need to be worked on.

I think I will also be re-wiring the electronics (texas specials)...

I am going to try some weather checking tonight too... i will post pics if it goes well.

thanks for the interest! I would love to hear your opinions.

thanks,
j


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Posted: Fri Aug 24, 2007 2:04 pm
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lookin good!

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Posted: Fri Aug 24, 2007 3:22 pm
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Like it. You might want to look at other worn Strats. The guys at Fender talk about what kind of player "played" the guitar. If your a rythem guy, playing a maple necked Strat, you'll have more ware on the lower end of the nick. If your a lead player then you might have more ware in the upper register area of the fret board. Also the back of the neck might be worn away down to the raw wood.

If you palm you bridge while you pllay then the bridge might have more corrosion on the bridge sadles.

Check out SRV's, Jimmy Vaghn's, and anyone else who plays an old Strat.

Looks cool.

Paris


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Posted: Mon Aug 27, 2007 8:32 am
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Here are a couple of pics of my higway one all of the paint wear is natural but the spot behind the bridge.

Image

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Posted: Mon Aug 27, 2007 8:33 am
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Posted: Mon Aug 27, 2007 8:44 am
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Can you post a picture of the hardware? I would like to see how it looks.

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Posted: Mon Aug 27, 2007 8:45 am
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Thanks for all the response... I have some more pics now, you can check them all out here...

http://stratproject.googlepages.com/hig ... licproject

But here are some of them...

Image

Image

Image

Also -- about the neck wear, if i take it down to raw wood, doesn't that make it much more likely to warp? I am interested if anyone knows the answer to that.

as always, opinions and suggestions welcome!

Best,
j


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