Exploring What Makes Vintage Look "Old"
Okay now the fun post, let's talk Vintage Guitars and look at some cool pics.
The more time I spend analyzing vintage guitars and seeing the varying relic work around, the more I clearly see the fine line between looking old and looking intentionally relic'd. We've all seen some aging which you look at and think "how could that ever happen naturally?"
To me, the point of Aging is to make things look genuinely old. The best analogy I have for this is comparing a Classic Car to a Rat Rod.
Rat Rod's intentionally look over the top, and in some cases unnaturally distressed. Whereas even a well driven non-restored Classic Car typically wouldn't look like that.
We want to take the same approach to our products, Classic Car Vibes.
Photos:
(Image: Realistic Relics) Here's an Original 1964 Strat Pickguard. Shrunken & Discolored. It's not covered in dirt, there's no cracks, and the truss rod notch isn't worn to hell, but it still looks "old". Why?
Well of course it is real natural aging, but the material itself discolors, it's not just a stain wiped on the surface - the discoloration penetrates into the top ply of the material. You could sand it, resurface it, buff it, and bring back most of the original color but there's no way to just clean it off and look new again. There's also no hard line transition between the discolored areas and the non-discolored area under the strings, it's a nice natural fade.
Now, that's just one example of a clean / noticeably aged vintage part, and yeah, many old guards do get dirty, cracked, and worn, but in general they often aren't beat to a pulp and covered in dirt.
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Compare that to this one:
(Image: Realistic Relics) RR Custom Aged 1959 8 Hole Strat Pickguard I did for the late and great Kim Lafleur of Historic Makeovers.
There's a bit of extra patina here, but it's a very similar vibe, not over the top. From this picture you can't see it, but the bevel is glossy just like old nitrate, and the surface is scuffed with a nice vintage sheen.
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Here's what I mean by scuffed / vintage sheen:
(Image: Eddie Vegas) Original 1961 Mint Guard - It's quite scuffed up, but it's not dull like it's been sanded, it still has that vintage sheen. It also has a particularly rounded bevel edge at the top corner. The original guards were buffed by hand and celluloid nitrate softens easily under intense friction - Because of this hand finishing, many original guards have a bevel which is extra rounded in some spots, and sharper in others.
In my opinion, a big part of what makes things look old is the way the material itself looks. I know I could make an "aged" pickguard with no discoloring, no dirt, no patina, and it would look practically new from afar, but up close, the customer receiving it would notice all the little details in the material that make it look old. That's the rough idea behind our VOS finish, but I know I could take that a bit further.
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A lot of Vintage Guitars are less aged than you'd think, take this one as an example:
(Image: The Music Emporium) 1964 Original Shoreline Gold Strat - The pickguard is almost as clean as new, but it still looks old.
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Here's my 1963 Strat, up close:
(Image: Realistic Relics) This guitar is also quite clean compared to some, but again it still looks old.
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The main point I'm trying to convey here is:
There's more than just dirt, discoloring, cracks and scratches that go into making things look old. Something I've started to appreciate more recently is that it's also the accumulation of everything together. If every single part is "Heavy" Relic'd, the entire guitar can look quite unrealistic.
For example: Even on a Vintage Strat that's been heavily played and worn, 1 small individual part like the Neck Plate might still look quite clean compared to other parts like the Knobs or the Tremolo - It's the accumulation of everything together adding up and perfectly creating that old natural look.
That's exactly how we want our new "Aged" tier to be, our inspiration is to capture the true look of old parts. Every individual part will have it's own carefully designed aging style to look natural, realistic and old. *Classic Car Vibes*
As mentioned in the previous post, our Custom Aging will always be available for anyone who wants something made your way. There's no denying that vintage guitars can, and do, get very heavily aged, so if that's your speed, "Custom" is there for you. Send in pics to clone, make any requests you want, and it'll be yours!
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(Image: Vintage Guitars FR) Original 1959 Strat Knobs - Ultra Worn - Heavy Patina and Discoloration - The Bronze Paint has completely worn out of the font
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(Left Image: TR Crandall) 1965 Strat - Natural Mint Color Guard much like our VOS
(Right Image: RetroFret) 1964 Strat - Same Color and Nitrate Guard - But Extra Greened & Discolored - Pickguard is still very "clean" overall
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(Image: Realistic Relics) Here's a Custom Tele Guard we did which has the same vibe as the RetroFret 1964 above. Heavily discolored, but clean, almost no dirt or patina.
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(Image: Joel's Vintage) 1965 Strat with Mint Guard - Very Light Discoloration - Noticeable Dirt / Patina around Knobs, Pickups, Screws, etc.
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Feel free to have a browse around the sites linked in the photos, it can be refreshing to take in the look of Real Vintage Guitars and appreciate the wide range they can vary.
We're looking forward to the next stages of RR, have a great week everyone!
For any Custom Aging questions please contact through our Web Chat and we'll be happy to discuss your project.
All the best,
-Q