Ways to Age a White Pickguard?

Doug

I'm thinking of aging the white pickguard on a 1990s offset so it harmonizes with the Maple neck.

Seems I'd need a technique that sort of dyes or absorbs into the plastic...I thought of spraying it with a light coat of Fender Neck Amber (Guitar ReRanch) but I'm guessing that would scratch off pretty easily.

Any suggestions on ways to do this?

feedbackismyfriend

soak it in pepsi, is one way that I've heard of aging stuff. Never tried it for myself though. Also, I aged one of the knobs on my Jag-stang by setting it on fire briefly, you could try that.

Richie

Lightly sand the whole pickguard, make some really strong, cold black coffee in a container big enough, and soak the pickguard in it for about half an hour. Then take it out and lightly dab it dry with a cloth or kitchen paper. I did the pickup covers on my Jag this way and it looks pretty decent.

Doug

Thanks, guys. I think I'll try the coffee soak first.

Any idea which will darken it more, coffee, Pepsi, or tea?

Richie

Definitely coffee. Make sure you don't soak it too long or it'll pretty much just go brown.

Doug

Thanks, Richie. I'll do it and let ya know how it turns out.

Earth

Hot Tea works better than coffee, its absorbed better. Don't need to sand anything either.

I've not done a PG but I've seen it done. It worked well to dull up some white witch hats i got too.

Doug

Thanks, Earth, for the additional tips. What I'm shooting for is to age the pickguard to a shade a bit lighter than the Maple fretboard & headstock.

Do you all agree that if I watch it closely I can pull it out when it looks right, then dry it before it gets too dark, no matter which solution I use?

feedbackismyfriend

Doug said: Do you all agree that if I watch it closely I can pull it out when it looks right, then dry it before it gets too dark, no matter which solution I use?

I would agree with that

Robbmonster

I had coffee-aged pickup covers once. Looked great, smelled great.

Would putting a pickguard out in direct sunlight for a while get the job done?

Richie

Robbmonster said: I had coffee-aged pickup covers once. Looked great, smelled great.
Would putting a pickguard out in direct sunlight for a while get the job done?

It'd probably have to be for a matter of months.

Robbmonster

Robbmonster said: I had coffee-aged pickup covers once. Looked great, smelled great.
Would putting a pickguard out in direct sunlight for a while get the job done?

Screw that, I need mine for doing stuff like holding the pickups in place 😁

feedbackismyfriend

Robbmonster said: I had coffee-aged pickup covers once. Looked great, smelled great.
Would putting a pickguard out in direct sunlight for a while get the job done?

nah just use duct tape 😛

Fran

I look forward to seeing the results on this.

Last time i tried Coffee.. it did'nt turn out amazing. One guy put his whole Jags-Stang in a sealed box and kept blowing cigarette smoke in there 😆

Doug

Several of you said the results of tea or coffee soaking would be modest. So, after my no-results experiment with the white plastic spoon, I thought there would be very low risk in a small test spot on the pickguard itself.

Dabbing tea, no affect. Letting it sit a few minutes. Zip.

Coffee, the same 2 experiments. Nada. Urine crossed my mind.

I'm thinking of a light spray of Fender Neck Amber. But the last thing I want is a pickguard with scrapes through to the white saying "I've been sprayed with Fender Neck Amber and now I look like it, don't I?" 🤮

So maybe I'll just let it be.

Richie

Doug said: Several of you said the results of tea or coffee soaking would be modest. So, after my no-results experiment with the white plastic spoon, I thought there would be very low risk in a small test spot on the pickguard itself.
Dabbing tea, no affect. Letting it sit a few minutes. Zip.
Coffee, the same 2 experiments. Nada. Urine crossed my mind.
I'm thinking of a light spray of Fender Neck Amber. But the last thing I want is a pickguard with scrapes through to the white saying "I've been sprayed with Fender Neck Amber and now I look like it, don't I?" 🤮
So maybe I'll just let it be.

When you say "let it sit for a few minutes", exactly how long is a few minutes? When I did mine it took at least half an hour. To be honest it could even have been up to an hour or so, it was quite a while ago now. And like I said, you need to have done some very light sanding so that the coffee has a surface it can actually bond to, which looks a bit more authentic in my eyes anyway since heavy use of a pickguard or any plastic parts would make it go matt.

Doug

That's the reminder I needed, Richie. To lightly sand it first.

The surface is so smooth and hard, of course it's not going to absorb any color unless it soaks for what, weeks? But the sanding...that will make the difference.

Thanks, mate.

feedbackismyfriend

herokurdt94 said: actually pick guard color is important. Because it's importance is in the aesthetics of the guitar

the heck???? 😕

what the freaking crap did that have to do with anything?

Richie

Ah not this clown again. 🙄

zemonsta

Richie said: Ah not this clown again. 🙄

as i said elsewhere, i #### hate this kid.