How to Relic Darken Nickel Hardware Nickel Aging Solution

A pace-by-step guide for creating that "cleaved-in" look for your new amp kit.

A step-by-step guide for creating that "broken-in" look for your new tweed amp kit.

By Daniel Petrzelka

There is something almost a well-worn guitar that inspires me. It feels right, it looks correct, and it sounds right. Relic guitars may exist a controversial topic in some circles, but information technology's safe to say that many love the await, and countless practice the arts and crafts of simulating, replicating, and accentuating the toll of time on our six-string friends. Tweed amps often have this same aura—they vesture the effects of fourth dimension in their worn edges and shaded panels, with stains, rips, and stories untold. That broken-in look may accept no measurable outcome on the sound, but information technology is often more than fun to play. And in the stop, playing more is what information technology's all about.

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What You'll Demand

'57 Mini Tweed 5W Amp Kit
'59 Tweed 15W Amp Kit

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A new tweed amp kit is a killer sail for learning or practicing your relic technique, and one that is a little more than forgiving, in some respects, than a solid body. Many of the steps are like to relic'ing an instrument, and then allow's get into it.

A quick outline of the steps:

ane. Disassemble cab (mask interior)
ii. Spray articulate base coats
3. Reassemble or mask cab hardware and baffle locations (tan lines)
4. Historic period cabinet interior
5. Relic hardware
half dozen. Reassemble
7. Physically age tweed—dings, dents, and wear
viii. Add the finishing touches

Disassemble the Cab

The fist step is to remove the amp chassis, baffle, and hardware. Next is to mask off anything you don't want to get stain or end on. Recall, the inside of the amp would non have the same wear as the outside.

Articulate Base Laquer Coats

History and inspection propose that Fender lacquered nigh of the tweed amps they produced, likely with the aforementioned articulate nitro lacquer they were spraying on solid bodies of the era. This nitro would have gone on clear, and then time and gigs took their toll. We'll start in a similar way.

For the base of operations coat, shellac is a bang-up selection as it will stick to most anything and almost anything volition stick to it. I used freshly mixed 1lb cutting of blonde shellac with just a few drops of Harbinger-colored ColorTone Liquid Stain and sprayed information technology on with a traditional gravity-feed spray gun. You could use a brush, or spray it on with an droplets can of Zinsser Clear Shellac (employ a Preval Spray Unit), ColorTone Sanding Sealer or fifty-fifty ColorTone Clear Nitro Lacquer if you have some leftover from another project. This base coat doesn't need much, if any, color in it, equally the tweed itself volition darken every bit you apply a glaze or two. This footstep is just about sealing the tweed and giving the lacquer a clear base to stick to—commencement with the cab upside downward, all hardware and panels removed. Spray the edges, and then the middle of the panel, so flip the cab over to hitting all of the other sides. Two light coats on all tweed surfaces is a neat foundation.

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What You lot'll Need

ColorTone Liquid Stains
Zinsser Clear Shellac
Gravity-feed Spray Gun
Preval Spray Unit

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Toner, Tan Lines, and Technique

The side by side pace is all most adding the effect of yellowed, muddied nitrocellulose lacquer. Many of us honey the warmer, softer expect of vintage guitars and 50s tweed amps. That is a direct result of the yellowing of the nitro gloss coats that nigh all of the classic electrical and audio-visual builders used. Air and UV light are the primary crusade of the nitro yellowing, so reassemble your cab or tape off areas that would exist covered by hardware, baffles, and if you want, where the nameplate might have been. These covered areas would not age the aforementioned equally the exposed areas of tweed. We want to create some dainty tan lines.

I mixed my own shaded nitro lacquer with ColorTone Liquid Stains so that I could spray with my usual equipment. Vintage Amber and Tobacco Brownish are perfect for mixing up a range of colors, but I also used some Harbinger, Medium Brown, and Nazareth Mahogany. If yous don't have spray equipment, or don't desire to go crazy mixing colors merely yet, you could expect at using the ColorTone Aged Clear, Vintage Amber, and Tobacco Chocolate-brown aerosol cans. Read up on using aerosol—with the correct technique you tin can become keen results. Without having to worry about getting a nice smooth gloss cease as you would on an musical instrument, this project is an easy entry into spraying.

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What You'll Need

ColorTone Liquid Stains
ColorTone Liquid Pigments
ColorTone Aerosols (optional)

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Substantially, we're spraying a very subtle burst on the tweed. The shellac or lightly tinted base lacquer sprayed earlier helped plant an amber base of operations glaze. I like to spray another thin coat or two of Vintage Bister or Harbinger tinted lacquer to requite information technology a warmer, more yellowed look. If you lot spray thin coats the lacquer will dry out quickly, and you tin follow one coat almost immediately afterwards the other. Later two or three coats it'southward good to accept a pause and allow it dry for an 60 minutes or more. This too gives you a chance to accept the tweed cab into different light to exist sure the color is looking squeamish.

Just like spraying a guitar, showtime with the edges first and then striking the principal areas. There are two reasons for this: Showtime, information technology ensures you get a proficient glaze out on the perimeter, where the most wear is likely to occur. 2d, it helps to darken the edges for a pleasing transition (it also accentuates the physical wear later). Offset on the bottom of the cab with each sequential glaze, hit the bottom edges, the bottom, and so flip the cab over to work on the sides and top. I worked through several light burst coats with the Tobacco Brown and darker Vintage Amber tints, focusing on adding color lower on the cab and on edges that might collect dirt and the most sun exposure. I then finished off with a couple very light clear (tinted with Straw) lacquer coats. The goal is not to fill in the texture of the tweed, just to lay down some pleasing color and plenty lacquer to provide protection and some to wear away afterward.

Grill cloth collects a lot of dust, dirt and grime over the years and the bright gold and brown cloth can benefit from a light dusting of fourth dimension. For this step I masked off the areas of the baffle/grill cloth that would be hidden behind the tweed and airbrushed on a mixture of 1lb cut ColorTone Shellac, ColorTone Brown Pigment (adds opacity), and a little Tobacco Brown Stain. Spray from a little further back than you would wet coat on a solid surface—this should look dull and dusty.

Old Insides

Chiffonier interior relic treatment tin be done before or later on spraying the tweed. I chose to do this get-go, and then mask information technology off. If you choose to spray commencement, mask the exposed pine interior with Low Tack Protective Tape to proceed the overspray off.

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What Yous'll Need

Low Tack Protective Tape
Mixing Cups
Plastic Pipettes
Potassium Permanganate
Nitrile Gloves
Safe Goggles
Large Brush Large Brush

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60-year quondam pine rarely looks like the brilliant freshly planed and sanded interior of our repro cabs, only there are 2 piece of cake means to give the guts that anile await. One way is a light Medium Brownish stain with just a hint of Ruddy, but I prefer a more authentic anile look that can only be achieved with proper oxidation. The good news is that adding decades of oxidation is pretty easy with potassium permanganate. Mamie Minch did a Trade Secrets video several years back that inspired me to employ this on spruce cleats in vintage repairs. It can most instantly make fresh spruce wait correct at home in an older instrument.

Before you mix upward any of this chemical, know that it is a powerful chemical—gloves, goggles, and safe handling are key. Read the precautions. Also, know that a very lilliputian of the potassium permanganate (likewise known as KMnO₄) goes a long manner. Information technology but takes a tiny scoop of the cease of a pallet knife or mixing spatula in iv-8oz of water to brand a very strong solution. Watering it down tin assist tiresome the procedure and give yous time to layer on coats of the solution equally you work up to the level of color you want. I used a 2" wide brush on the master interior areas of the chiffonier every bit it helps cut down on the overlap and gives a more even coat. The potassium permanganate solution goes on bright purple, simply turns brown within seconds every bit it oxidizes.

Breaking it in

You tin can, of form, go out your 5F1 as a closet classic—beautifully aged color, without the dents, dings, stains and edge softening that comes with being hauled in and out of the van or to the bar. Maybe this amp was only played for a few years before beingness tucked under the bed or into the dorsum of the closet when a young guitarist headed off to school. If you are super fastidious near caring for your gear, if you blench at the thought of that beginning scratch or ding, STOP Hither—that amp looks beautiful, leave it alone. If you lot're having fun with the process so far, and want to develop some real mojo, let'southward go for information technology.

PUT AWAY the sandpaper, wire brushes, and files! Please. There are endless posts online about taking these to a lacquered tweed amp to simulate the wear of years on the road. We are trying to make a reproduction, an antiquity, a relic. It may take a little more fourth dimension, a piffling more care, but it volition as well have a little more natural wait and hopefully a little more mojo. It's unlikely many amps have really been worn over the years because of the blazon of abrasion provided by sandpaper and files. Rather, it'southward rubbing against your jeans, bumping into the van, sunlight, smoky confined, and treatment, rough-treatment at times that really wears on the tweed.

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What You lot'll Demand

Strip of Denim
Slice of Leather
Wood for Capitalist Board

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For breaking information technology in I employ iii primary things: a strip of denim, a piece of leather, and a backing board that's about ii-4 inches wide and a human foot to 18 inches long (nix special most those dimensions other than its easy to concord). If you have a favorite one-time denim jacket or pair of 501s around, they tin can work really well too—the metal buttons and brass rivets help with the aging. The essence hither is use the denim, wood, and leather to wear abroad and brighten the shaded lacquer in key areas—the rounded edges (especially along the bottom and front end), the raised portions of the seams in the tweed, the back console where you rub the cord every fourth dimension you set upwardly.

Think of it similar buffing a pair of boots—let the denim flex over the edges and utilise a back-and-forth buffing motion to brainstorm thinning the shaded lacquer. The leather can be used to burnish areas that might get wear from your paw or lighter habiliment from rubbing confronting your leg. Backing the denim strip with the board allows you to target the top edge of the seams along the meridian and front. Every bit you rub, the tweed will quickly lighten upward. You are cutting through the shaded lacquer back to your shellac base coat. Throughout this abrading/buffing, I have the opportunity to put a few dents in it. Knock the corner with the lath or drop a screwdriver on the top.

Go like shooting fish in a barrel, take it out into unlike calorie-free, and come back to it in the morning. It's easy to go too far. Here is where you lot tin can decide how hard of a life this tweed cab has lived. If it's led a life of leisure, the tweed may be perfect. If it's spent more than than a few runs at the Eagles Guild or as the phase amp at the club, y'all tin accept it further. Tears, coffee stains, liquor spills, and cigarette burns should be washed right—mix a potable, light a smoke or go out a coffee ring. Some of these are amend saved until the very, very end.

Hard-worn Hardware

Save this for last and then that you tin can remove overspray from the toned/shaded lacquering. Remove all the hardware that you had installed when spraying the final shaded lacquer and make clean them with solvent/lacquer thinner.

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What Yous'll Need

PCB Etchant Solution
Hydrogen Peroxide
White Vinegar
Tabular array Table salt
Rubbing Alcohol

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The primal ingredients here are a PCB etchant solution, hydrogen peroxide (3% solution that many of united states have in the medicine cabinet works fine), white vinegar (acetic acid) and salt. It is also a good thought to mix up a blistering soda and water wash for neutralizing the acids. The ferric chloride in the PCB etchant is the only actually chancy chemical here—read all of the precautions and protect your peel, optics, and lungs. That stuff is pretty serious. The simply chemical nosotros may apply that is more serious is Muriatic acid (hydrochloric)—only to be honest, the hazard vs visual benefit is minimal for this project, so unless you lot want to really historic period the chromed chassis face up plate, save that stuff for cleaning concrete.

The PCB etchant tin be used straight, simply it cuts nickel plating rapidly, and then you may want to sparse it down by as much as fifty% with water. For some steps, I use it direct, wiped on with a paper towel, and thinned, brushed on for other times. This chemic is about tarnishing the nickel-plated hardware on one end and at the other cease, it's about cutting into the nickel to betrayal the steel underneath.

The hydrogen peroxide, vinegar, and salt combine to make a solution that encourages oxidization and rusting of the metal parts. It will have little if any effect on the chrome or brass hardware but works wonderfully on steel or where nickel-plated pieces have been worn downward. At that place are countless formulas, simply what worked for me was about 3/4 cup of hydrogen peroxide, 1/8-1/4 loving cup white vinegar and maybe a tablespoon or two of salt. Mix information technology up and store in a plastic or glass jar.

Aging the screws and handle-mounting hardware is one of the few places I'll use abrasives as they help ensure you get down to the steel base in some areas. For the feet, I gently swipe them across some emery paper to approximate the amp having slid around on rough surfaces. For the screws and mounting hardware, I'll just striking the edges very gently with sandpaper to ensure I go a few rust spots in the adjacent steps. If you want a more "gently" relic'ed look, use watered-down PCB etchant. Dip or wipe the hardware with this solution for only a few seconds. For a "heavy anile" await, utilise the PCB etchant at full strength, just again for only a few seconds at a time. Either fashion, follow with a fresh water rinse and then neutralize in a baking soda and water wash. At this indicate, the hardware will look tarnished and you can stop at that place if it suits you.

I like a little surface rust for something that's from the 50s, then each slice of hardware needs some encouragement from the hydrogen peroxide/vinegar/salt solution. The trick here is that you need both the solution and exposure to air for the all-time results. You lot can spray information technology on with a small spray bottle or dip each piece and pile them upwardly to begin rusting. This can happen within minutes or take more than an hour. The process tin can be repeated several times as you build upward to the crumbling that looks correct. Don't forget the washers and mounting nuts from the input jacks likewise—that and a little scraping off of the panel numbers can actually make the chassis face up expect good.

Aging the chicken head knob is 2-part: wear and dirt. For the dirt, you can use whatsoever brown or black pigment and dye that simulates crud. There is something about the brownish Colortone Waterbase Pigment that works really well here—it has enough torso to build, dries apace, and sticks reasonably well to the plastic. Put on a pair of latex/nitrile gloves, squirt a very small drop of the water-based pigment (I used #5365) add a drib of Blackness or Tobacco Brownish dye to darken it only a petty and rub it into the knob. Every bit you rub, information technology volition dry and give a really grimy await. Work some into the white stripe on the pointer, just only enough to wait dingy, while even so leaving a petty white. Get out a little actress grime, every bit it can be worked back in the adjacent footstep.

Now, mount the knob and take note of the edges that your fingers would rub as yous turn it on-and-off, up-and-down. Any edges your fingers don't affect should be left crisp and untouched. Those that you exercise bear on tin can exist softened with greyness 3M Scotch-Brite. It's only fibroid enough to ease the edges, without putting phony scratches in the plastic. If you practice get more than scratches than you like, try following up past buffing with white Scotch-Brite. Remove virtually of the brown pigment, leaving merely enough to expect dirty.

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What You'll Need

3M Scotch-Brite Pads
ColorTone Waterbase Pigment

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For crumbling leather, I've never found anything that quite looks similar time itself. Whatsoever you do, skip the sandpaper. My approach is to dry it out a little with denatured or rubbing alcohol (acetone works too) anything that will aid dry the leather. You can then soften the white of the stitching in the leather past brushing on thinned-down dark-brown water-based pigment, or ColorTone Stain thinned with alcohol. Thin it way down and build up to an anile, dirty look for the thread—information technology's much easier to add than have away. Nosotros're going for a look that suggests that maybe the handle was replaced only a couple decades dorsum.

Grit Bunnies and Dryer Lint

What do you detect in almost any vintage amp? A little dust, lint, and a few picks (if you're unlucky maybe a fingernail, only we can choose to exit that out). Once your shellac or lacquer coats have dried, y'all tin reassemble and get-go adding some of these special seasonings. My top three for calculation dust are white ash from a fireplace, charcoal powder (crush charcoal or a piece from the same fireplace, and dryer lint—the best lint is the finer stuff from inside the dryer. Pull the lint screen and achieve your hand downwards inside and scrape out annihilation stuck to the sides. It has more than fine dust and debris than that which is on the screen itself. With these three, you tin can add grapheme to both the inside and outside of the cab.

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What You'll Need

Ash
Charcoal Pulverisation
Dryer Lint
Stiff Bristle Brush

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Put the speaker baffle in, as dust wouldn't be under information technology, and grab a cheap 1/2"-one" scrap brush. The ane/2 round stiff bristle brush I used work cracking also. Annihilation that allows you to work the ash and lint dust into the wood and tweed works great. Focus on working the calorie-free gray ash into the bottom of the cab—working it into any pino knots on the bottom and into the seams where the tweed ends. A footling brushing up the sides is OK, simply dust doesn't ordinarily settle there. Sprinkle in a very little of the coarse charcoal dust while you work. A light vacuuming volition remove the excess and get out y'all with a dusty look usually earned over many years. Finish with a little grit bunny from your lint jar and throw in a favorite pick.

Simply similar a relic guitar, y'all can really make your amp your own. From low-cal aging to a lifetime in smoky clubs, it's all upward to you lot. With just a footling time, some finish, and a few nicks and scratches, yous can have your amp tell a story. At present it's your turn to personalize your amp.

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