Relic'ing using paint masks...

[the_rising]

On the Fender CS relics as well as the homegrown ones that obviously rely on paint masks to show heavy wear areas (SRV, Mayer, Gallagher, etc), I noticed you rarely see much, if any, white primer edges peeping out from under the actual color/paint edges.

For those that have done paint mask relics, do you not use a primer before the color coat? Or is it there and just not visible/noticable?

[jrich99]

Huh?

[tonewoods]

I used a lighter shade of "butterscotch" to create "those" edges...

[musicalmartin]

I did wonder about this ,sort of just pondering a you do ..I have weathered many model railroad locomotives for customers and used a similar technique of having lighter and darker shades to highlight detail and make it look faded or worn .My friends white P bass from 63 was all faded and also had brown areas all over the body probably from absorbing nicotine in clubs and also natural nitro discoloration from the clear coat it may have had .I would have just used an airbrush but the situation didnt arise anyway.I wouldnt mind doing a body though as an experiment .

[JCSouthpawtele]

Similar paint mask techniques get used to do multi color paint jobs in many automotive shops. My sister used to do the layout and final cut for a paint mask company that made mask kits for the RV industry here in Elkhart. I could see how that might be a good idea to cover up the are you want to leave exposed. such as the edges and or make "fake" paint wear by leaving a piece of masking tape in place the slightly sanding out the edge of the "forearm wear" or "buckle wear" om the back. And to make shader coats edge out.