srv pre #1 guitar build

[artandsoul]

Just received a hadean relic sunburst guitar for 85.00 shipped from reverb. Was just to dam cheapo for me to not buy lol and thinking its time to go out my normal mod zone of pickups and tuners swap out and go for the og goat srv clone for the hell of it. Im thinking a clone where the srv is on the horn of the guitar and no srv logo on pickguard . It was chrome tuners and bridge unlike the later gold hardware.

I figure a 85.00 guitar already reliced some although its under the matte clear coat dam rondo will make a good starter on the heavily worn srv relic style. It is a cheapo guitar and a distressed relic is the only way to go with it in the end to make it uglier than it already is. Ill say it had very sharp fret ends out the box unlike the hadean teles i got which are fantastic harley benton killers . No high frets just fret ends were real sharp which I instantly did out the box and i thought this could be a great srv relic .
I know the headstock wont work for a real fender but ill try and make it as fender shape like as possible to make it work good enough! dont see me buying a fender neck for more than guitar cost lol.

anyone have any good pointers on relic builds before i go crazy with an exacto , sandpapper and stains? Im sure this is gonna be hell in the end i mean a fun build lol. I found a black pickguard for 7.00 new shipped and some vintage tuners for 25.00 shipped from reverb, im thinking of hand painting the srv logo on horn sticker with finger nail paint since its 80% worn off in pics i have found as well as the fender logo its 90% gone in pics online making the fake waterslides more easy to use since its mostly gone.

[Partscaster]

I'll be psyched to watch it change.

[artandsoul]

I'll be psyched to watch it change.

Its gonna be a project for sure! once i get done doing pickups, pickguards and parts swaps on the other 4 guitars i just got pulled apart today ill get goin on it by sat or sunday. ill def post a few pics on the way there figure it will take a week maybe less depending how much i mess with it im sure ill slowly relic the body to death for a day lol.
Added a pic of what im thinking on getting close to .The #1 is one beat to hell guitar its a little to much for me dont want it that destroyed lol

[Partscaster]

It might be funny to have a different set of initials on the horn

ie, OCD, ED, TBA, IDK, OMG, LOL, ...etc

[artandsoul]

Well hell I got hesitant on the hadean srv build. Looking at the headstock and knowing now I cant really get it as fat as a real fender style. then looking at the hairy benton strat being a thicker more square body edges like a fender I'm thinking I need to buy something like an older affinity squier that are alder body to do the srv clone on. I didn't think this though well with 4 guitar projects in the works and 1 in the mail today lol.
I've been searching on reverb , ebay and fb marketplace for a beat up older squier with alder body to use but no luck yet. Just gives me more time to find better pickups to use and maybe gold trims if i find them cheapish. already got the old school looking "custom" and the srv sticker if i use it and the fender water slide just patiently waiting on a better victim to pop up.

[andrewsrea]

anyone have any good pointers on relic builds before i go crazy with an exacto , sandpapper and stains?

What I have found to be useful:
* Take your time. Remember a little bit goes a long way.
* Study images of real vintage guitars in played-in condition and notice how the defects actually appear. For instance, nitro finished flaked-off and the left-over sharp edges got 'softened' over years of playing. Versus the graduated sanding techniques that faked relics use. IMHO, many relics look ridiculously faked because they don't look at all like battle damage.
* Related, nitro flakes typically followed the guitars natural grain. in other words, the flakes look like puzzle pieces tend top pe shaped like the white spaces inside the dark lines of the grain.
* Put a little muriatic acid in a glass jar and put that in an old tupperware with metal parts you want to corrode. Don't reuse the tupeprware for food. have baking soda and water on hand as a neutralizer and spray it on the parts before using them. Us e safety glasses and gloves. Oil non sealed tuners and screw threads afterwards. Mask the threads and bridge contact points for tremolo bridge screws, trem claw scres and neck attachment screws.
* Heat gun on low, followed immediately by canned compressed air (like you clean computers with), will check and crack most finishes. May take a few attempts with poly or nylon finishes.
* A Watkins Wood Restorer (Lowes, Home Depot), or a little gun oil or penetrating oil mixed with a minute amount of dust and dirt will give a played-in look to exposed wood.
* Pick damage areas include the last few frets near the body. Small pieces of course Scotchbrite pads are great for this.
* "Roll' the finger board edges for a comfortable, played-in feel, with the round shaft of a Phillips head screwdriver, by rubbing it on the sharp corners.
* Rosewood fretboards get slightly scalloped on the frets that get played, especially in the 1st through 4th strings. They also get divots right under the strings, typically a 1/2mm wide. You can replicate this, by gently using a straight pick along a straight edge.

[artandsoul]

anyone have any good pointers on relic builds before i go crazy with an exacto , sandpapper and stains?

What I have found to be useful:
* Take your time. Remember a little bit goes a long way.
* Study images of real vintage guitars in played-in condition and notice how the defects actually appear. For instance, nitro finished flaked-off and the left-over sharp edges got 'softened' over years of playing. Versus the graduated sanding techniques that faked relics use. IMHO, many relics look ridiculously faked because they don't look at all like battle damage.
* Related, nitro flakes typically followed the guitars natural grain. in other words, the flakes look like puzzle pieces tend top pe shaped like the white spaces inside the dark lines of the grain.
* Put a little muriatic acid in a glass jar and put that in an old tupperware with metal parts you want to corrode. Don't reuse the tupeprware for food. have baking soda and water on hand as a neutralizer and spray it on the parts before using them. Us e safety glasses and gloves. Oil non sealed tuners and screw threads afterwards. Mask the threads and bridge contact points for tremolo bridge screws, trem claw scres and neck attachment screws.
* Heat gun on low, followed immediately by canned compressed air (like you clean computers with), will check and crack most finishes. May take a few attempts with poly or nylon finishes.
* A Watkins Wood Restorer (Lowes, Home Depot), or a little gun oil or penetrating oil mixed with a minute amount of dust and dirt will give a played-in look to exposed wood.
* Pick damage areas include the last few frets near the body. Small pieces of course Scotchbrite pads are great for this.
* "Roll' the finger board edges for a comfortable, played-in feel, with the round shaft of a Phillips head screwdriver, by rubbing it on the sharp corners.
* Rosewood fretboards get slightly scalloped on the frets that get played, especially in the 1st through 4th strings. They also get divots right under the strings, typically a 1/2mm wide. You can replicate this, by gently using a straight pick along a straight edge.

Some great pointers there for sure thanks! Ive been looking at real relic guitars online for awhile to get the feel of where some relic needs to be and where it really doesnt lol. Ill agree its easy to over do it ive done some distressed furniture and stuff and less is more.

[artandsoul]

I looked around for a used squier and seems like there none around worth buying im not paying 200 for a bullet lmao. Im gonna use the hadean for the build anyway since its cheap enough to me to sample relic on. went ahead and tore it down and started some on the neck today. Figure it will take me awhile to get this done like I want, gonna be a relic but adding some touches to make it little better or different. Ill post some pics tomorrow of the neck and body maybe i can get the neck prepped for finish coats tomorrow.

[artandsoul]

A work in progress but I got neck half there. Yes i went to far for most people but i like it better with a more real beat up look. Most of these relics i see look to much like they were dinged with some keys and few scuff marks.
I figure since i dont have a the big round headstock shape I made it look like its was broken off. Printed off a fender headstock template and used it for shaping closer to fender fatness as it will get couldnt do much. Think ill name it the cheapy ray vaughn or maybe the steve ray rondo since its no where close to a fender neck look and def rondo

got some matte lacquer cleat coats now on the neck for waterslide prep they finally came in mail today

[tonebender]

There is a toilet cleaning fluid called The Works that will make chrome or nickel looked aged. It only takes a little for short time.

[artandsoul]

There is a toilet cleaning fluid called The Works that will make chrome or nickel looked aged. It only takes a little for short time.

Yeah i read about using that and thats what ill use since i already have it handy. I'll probably be putting the stock crap parts back on it after some aging. I dont see putting a lot in this steve ray rondo wrong everything so cant be anywhere close to the real thing. Ill have a whole 30.00 in it with the stickers, blk pickguad , strings and waterslide without buying different parts lol. So its more like the cheapy ray rondo version now , I've got 135 in it all the way lmao

[Partscaster]

+1 for snapped off headstock look.
You are ahead of the modern relic styles.

[artandsoul]

+1 for snapped off headstock look.
You are ahead of the modern relic styles.

Had to do something out the box with that tiny headstock shape! its meh but works for the cheapy ray rondo

[Tiga]

Is the neck pocket on the Hadean fender spec?

[artandsoul]

Is the neck pocket on the Hadean fender spec?

really dont know the size but the stock neck is pretty good for a cheapo guitar.

[artandsoul]

got water slide done came out good enough. I havent done a waterslide since i was 10 on aiplane models lol, just gotta matte clear over it few times tomorrow when its well dried. the cheapy ray rondo body is getting some worn aging today got the sander out and exactos and my instant relic box a tupperware full of scrap screws and parts it will get thrown around in. Its NOT gonna look like a srv clone but more like if srv played on it for another 10 years. more relic than it needs and probably gonna get relic done today in 30 minutes lol. dont see me spending days on a basswood hadean. Once i find a good cheap useable guitar or squier the right color ill sit for days and make it look right this is just a fast relic more like a wall hanger in the end.

[artandsoul]

well i done with the cheapy ray rondo. didnt come out like i wanted but that was user error lol. I let my granddaughter help me sand for a min and thats about all it took to get it way to much gone on the top. I actually didnt go down to bare wood used water based paint mixed with stain and cig ashes to get dark spots. this guitar has clear cost over the wood, then painted then a real light clear coat again over the paint. It would take hours to get through the clear on the body and i gave up real quick on stripping it down to stain the body like i wanted. its a 85.00 guitar, i have 3 hours and 120.00 in it now lol it looks great for 120 bux to me. yeah the srv sticker is a little crooked lmao "fail" but looks strait when playing.
threw on some 11-52 strings and it plays pretty nicely for a cheap crap relic guitar. used the stock crap pickups and wiring in the end.
I still wanna get a better body and neck to do a real srv clone but still havent found a good trasher yet. ended up doin the relic on body in about 45 min sprayed clear and done , looks more like a cheapo china clone lol still plays nice and looks o.k. not great but good for cheap wall hanger probably end up selling it when i find a good body to relic better.

[Partscaster]

Good job. I wonder how low pressure sand blast would look, maybe from a distance, to destress areas like pickguard .

[artandsoul]

the more i look at the pics here makes me think If it was made in india or pakestan and was 140 shipped it would look ayesome lol! the guitar and pickguard is way more worn than pics really show ill post some close ups tom. I use to have a 150lb sandblaster and id say the best way to relic is exacto knife u can get super detail that sander can take away in 5 sec lol. Ill def use razor or exacto next round and no sanders but hand foam sander since even with 220grit its to easy to remove to much to fast.

[Partscaster]

The snapped off headstock is my favorite. Could have happened in a a bar room fight.
I think you may need to file a patent so no one from Chibson or Trender copies it.
They might try to start a new Skull Worn series.
Advanced Pro Skull Worn Series could even have a fake tooth imbedded into snapped off area.
Okay, maybe I'm taking it too far. But I do like the snapped off headstock look.