Has anyone had success in discoloring white plastic pieces?

I'm particulary interested in the pickup covers. I was thinking about sticking them in the back window of my car. I've got some soaking in coffee right now, but I don't think that is going to work. How about cigarette smoke?

Do they make something that is designed to do this?

I got good results on a scratchplate with cigarette smoke. I lit 30 of em, 10 at a time and had the guard suspended directly above em.



It got a slight and I mean slight yellowing to it. I tried tea before that and got nothing.

I managed to age gold plated metal parts by soaking them in vinegar and orangejuice for a couple of days. Wiped em over with metal polish and dropped some penetrating oil into the tuners and all turned out great.
You need to pay a lot of attention to cleaning them up afterwards though.

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No no and no

I need to figure out a way to concentrate the smoke. I'm not actually looking for an "aged" look, but I can't find pickup covers for my parchment white guitar.

Surprisingly, getting no hole white pickup covers and discoloring them is the simplest solution I can think of.

Well sir please post your results and findings here. I for one would love to learn more about it. Aging guitars has become a 'closed shop' since people found out they can make from it.

Good for you old chap.

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No no and no

I read one time about someone using coffee.

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Chet Feathers

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I didn't Lose my mind, I traded it for this guitar.

+1. I also was told by a luthier a trick of the trade was to use instant soluble coffee in laquer, to achieve a more brownish tinted finish instead of the orange look on necks. He showed me an example and I must say I was stunned- it actually looked good.

anyway- yes, coffee, perhaps find the lightest steel wool you can possibly find, and lightly dull (if that) in a pattern consistent with strumming marks, then a few tablespoons of coffee in a tray of water. Id make sure its warm water- dissolve the coffee, let it cool down to room temp then drop your guard into it. Id tape off the back- it will look better.

Check it over a period of a few days.


Or you could get yourself a mint green guard

OR, http://pickguards.us/pricestrat.html

Xhefri will be pleased to see you can get a Strat Ultra Pickguard in any colour from these guys

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how about using one of those orange traffic cones to concentrate the smoke? put the cigarette inside the cone and place the desired place right above the opening of the cone?

Depends on the plastics but the first problem is if its not taking any color you need to break the coating over the top of the plastic. To do this use some 000 or 0000 steel wool. An alternate way is to rub the pickup cover into something abrasive like a piece of cloth or carpet. Just don't rub it on anything that will leave dye behind on the cover. Your only scuffing here not sanding back.

To color the cover you can use:
Coffee (either soaked or rubbed in)
Black tea
Brown shoe polish
Food colorings
Iodine (has that really sick yellow look - poison when digested)
Furniture stains (something that doesn't melt plastic).

The last two will stain almost instantly so be careful not to over do it.
Its a good idea to get a few throw away covers and plastic spoons even to practice on till you get the hang of it. Wipe excess stain off and let it cure for a few days to get an idea of what it looks like.

If you want a nicotine stain just pull a few cigarettes apart and soak the tobacco in water and chuck in what you want to stain. It not the most pleasant way to do it but you should be able to control the concentrate by removing or adding more tobacco.

Hi Rick: well if that's all this is about then just buy some parchment pickup covers here:

http://www.guitarpartsresource.com/covers_strat.htm

Professor Google helps a lot in these situations...

Cheers - C

OK, ive been wondering and I guess you may find this a dumb question- what is the difference between white plastic, and parchment?

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Hi Blertles: parchment is just a very slightly off-white that Fender came out with a handful of years ago. Not as dark as mint green or aged white - very nice, to my eye.

For a while it used to be difficult to find replacement parts in parchment, cos it was the new color on the block. But all the plastic parts are nowadays available in that tint: ya just gotta go looking for it.

Cheers - C

1993 Strat has 50mm hole spread. All new parts have 52mm hole spread. I can't seem to figure out how to find the proper sized holes. I have another thread, but no one has thrown any light on the subject as to how to obtain correct pickup covers.

The best solution I can come up with is pickup covers with no holes and either leave them hole-less or drill properly spaced holes. Alas, they only sell white and black no hole Pup covers.

It looks like coffee is the solution to this problem. What would this world be without coffee?

Hi again Rick: again, a moment's use of Google will find you the answer.

Here is a seller in the UK offering pickup covers in both 52 and 50 mm spacing:

http://www.axesrus.com/axepupcovs.htm#PUC

Parchment unfortunately is the one color not available in 50 mil spacing, because of course that size has never been used by Fender with that color. However, on that page Aged White is offered in both sizes, and that is close though not identical to parchment.

The nearest I can find at a very quick search in the US is this seller:

http://www.guitarpartsonline.com/produc ... 5957ea7a17

Again, no parchment, but the one they call "mint/cream" will be nearer than the stained white you are attempting.

That's the first site I came across Stateside. Google found it in 0.19 seconds. A moment's more searching will no doubt find others. Over to you.

Don't even think of putting covers with no holes on pickups if they have staggered poles. That would be a very lame solution - and still the wrong color.

Cheers - C