Ageing a body

[tomjackson]

I want to lightly age my strat body.  It is finished in Artic white Nitro and I'm thinking of getting an aged Fatboy plastics set so want some light wear so it doesn't look odd against the pickguard.

Manchester guitar Tech advised sticking the body in a freezer will laquer check.  Has anybody tried this?

Just after some ideas for light wear that will not make it look like I've had a go at it with some sandpaper.

The body is a 1994 AM standard body that was refinished by me and my dad with aerosols so it's not so perfect as shouldn't be messed about with. 

[Matt77]

You can also buy spray to freeze it to -50 degrees instead, and then warm it up with a hairdryer
Coincidentally, I bought some on Sunday so it should arrive by the end of the week.
I can bring it round to test when I drop that pedal off if you want.

[tomjackson]

Matt, sounds good.

What are using it on?

Will my Stat be your Guinea Pig?  Lets try it on the back first!

[Matt77]

I'm going to use it on an unbuilt tele that I don't even have the parts for yet.
I'll test it on the back of my already checked and beat up gibson

[Roobubba]

unbuilt teles are the second best kind of teles

[James C]

unbuilt teles are the second best kind of teles

the best being smashed perhaps Roo?

[Sifu Ben]

I've found that a decade of shift work and a lifetime of high impact martial arts training has aged my body considerably :(

[MrBump]

Cigarettes, alcohol and prescription drugs age a body wonderfully.

[38thBeatle]

A few non prescription drugs do too or so I have heard.

[WezV]

the spray/hairdryer will make it craze - but it isnt the easiest technique to make look natural as you tend to work on a small area at a time which can lead to an uneven effect

for more natural crazing it helps to do the whole thing at once.  but its the same hot/cold process - and obviosuly you need to watch out for the effect the heat can have on the guitar(especially necks).

but try keeping the guitar somewhere warm for a day or so to aclimatise (something like an airing cupboard - a few degress warmer than its natural environment), then freeze it for 1/2 and hour before taking it out again and putting it somewhere warm with a warm air blowing across it if possible

[Philly Q]

Am I right in thinking all this freezing-and-warming only works on nitro?

[WezV]

yeah, other finishes do crack with age  but not in the same way or to the same degree... they  become 'cracked' rather than 'crazed'

[Roobubba]

unbuilt teles are the second best kind of teles

the best being smashed perhaps Roo?

I was going with kindling, but smashed works too. At least with kindling, you actually get something good out of it (energy), rather than just splinters :)

[Matt77]

So you wouldn't like this video then Roo?
Especially 2:36

[Transcend]

unbuilt teles are the second best kind of teles

the best being smashed perhaps Roo?

I was going with kindling, but smashed works too. At least with kindling, you actually get something good out of it (energy), rather than just splinters :)

yeah but smashing it would be amazingly fun for you, then you could burn it too to get the energy.

Seems like a WIN WIN situation to me