Unusual Custom Requests
Antiquing and Aging a Fender Guitar
When Josiah mentioned the idea of customising his Fender guitar, I didn’t think he was serious at first. But he talked about creating an aged effect around the edges to make it more grungey and worn looking. Okay, I think I could give that a go.
Before: Josiah brought his guitar into the workshop.
Then he brought it into the workshop and I saw the high gloss finish. Oh wow, there’s a lot of lacquer on this guitar – I’m talking loads of resin! Now before I get a bunch of purist Fender lovers hating me right now, Josiah assured me that this was an old guitar, a very cheap model Fender Squier, and not very valuable. AND it’s HIS guitar, so what he does with it is his business, right? He has a few guitars and this is his least favourite which never gets played anymore, but he told me if it “looked cooler” he’d probably start playing it again. Haha.
It has the wood grain showing through under that hard resin finish, so that’s a nice start. Josiah just wanted it sanded back a bit around the edges and darkened to make it look like it was well worn.
So away we went – and I was truly hesitant – then just went for it with my orbital sander!
The resin stuff is pretty stinky, so it would’ve been wise to wear a mask!!
Starting the Aging Process
I decided to start with the Antiquing Tough Coat sealer, because you can always add the antiquing wax on top of the sealer, but not the other way around. If I started with the wax, the tough coat poly sealer would resist the wax and not be a stable surface, probably wearing off rather quickly.
To use the Antiquing Tough Coat, I poured a little onto a lint free cloth and wiped it all into the grains of the wood. The raw wood is the darkest patches you can see in the pic, the lighter the wood, the more resin is still on the surface. The antiquing tough coat still rubbed onto the areas of the resin that were sanded, as the surface was rough.
After applying the tough coat, I allowed it to dry. We wanted the aging to look a little more noticeable, so decided to add some Antiquing Wax on top of the tough coat. We even went a shade darker and added some Black Wax over that, everything blending nicely for an aged and worn effect.
The Completed Look
Josiah was happy with the amount of aging we had achieved, so we stopped there. And here is his “new old guitar”.
He’s a happy chap. Now to re-string this bad boy and play it once again!
After: aged and ready to rock!