Has anybody here ACTUALLY

fasteddie455 · November 8th, 2006, 09:07 PM

frozen their Tele then stuck it in an oven in order to get the lacquer checking in their finish? I've heard of people doing this , but I have not heard of anyone personally , specifically doing this. Has anyone here done this? Does it work? Got any pics? I am interested in checking my nitrocellulose lacquered tele ( I painted it with Reranch laquer) and am wanting a method to achieve longer more parrallel cracks and less spider web-like cracks. Has anyone REALLY tried this method? I am interested in hearing about it.
fasteddie

P.S. If you don't "get" relics , or your answer to the post is "just play it a bunch" or " don't carry it in a case" then please just skip to the next post. I am not looking to compare and contrast the relative merits of "relicing" a guitar . thanks.

JDC · November 8th, 2006, 11:48 PM

My tele has parallel checks in the finish, but they weren't put there by the method you mention.
Mine wasn't done purposely, so I have no information on the "oven method". In my case, the checking occurred in a relatively short time period and *I think* was prompted by heat exposure (sun) when I was playing outdoor venues on the state fair circuit one summer season.

zane · November 8th, 2006, 11:55 PM

Custom Shop uses "Compressed Air"...in a spray can...
...used car keys for to get the dings....
saw an article with pix of one of em doing it...

eryque · November 9th, 2006, 12:00 AM

More specifically, the custom shop uses cans of propellent like you'd use to blow dust off your keyboard. They hold the cans upside down so the sub-zero fluid comes out and freezes the lacquer, which makes it shrink faster than the wood, so it cracks.

fasteddie455 · November 9th, 2006, 12:28 AM

is that canned air ( or other propellants) caused the cracks to be spider web-like (I think, not convinced anyway) ....perhaps due to the cooling of only a small area at a time,...not the guitar as a whole.....not real sure though

fasteddie

Uriah T. · November 9th, 2006, 02:29 PM

It's gonna take at least six months after spraying and final sanding before you'll get any good cracking. I have tried the freezer method and it didn't work so well. You will get longer cracks on a thicker paint job, regardless of how you do it, and spider webbing if you try cracking the paint too soon.

This has been my experience; the best method I've seen is an inadvertent overnight trunk stay in Boston in the winter. Leaving all the hardware and neck on gives you more realistic stress cracks. But you're in Texas, so perhaps the freezer method'll work enough. Just leave it in there overnight, not an hour or two. And leave the hardware on, it won't hurt the electronics any.

I'm surprised nobody's posted that picture of the strat dragging behind a truck yet. I'm hopeful that conversations around relics will mature a bit, you don't see people literally insulting others because of other aesthetic decisions.

EDITED TO ADD: Oh, boy! Do not throw your guitar in the oven unless you want to see your paint bubbling up and then have to strip it and start over! Don't ask me how I know this. But even at a relatively mild 200degrees, disaster will ensue. At most, take a hair dryer real quick to the surface after the freezer.

Stuco · November 9th, 2006, 02:42 PM

I second the not putting it in the oven thing.

The Amazing Phil · November 9th, 2006, 03:10 PM

Yeah, prehaps airing cupboard or something, warm and dry, but not something used to cook food.

Fret Wilkes · November 9th, 2006, 03:41 PM

My Martin checked inadvertantly in the mid 80's. We were all sitting around my sisters house in January playing and singing in front of the Franklin Stove. It was nice and toasty inside and REALLY cold outside.

At one point my brother in law was playing the D28 when he decided to take it across the yard from the main house to his office/gym. He was out the door in a flash and the Martin has had heavy checking ever since.

I remember my 1983 '57RI Statocaster checked heavily one winter as well, although I don't remember a specific "event". Just temperature changes from warm houses/clubs to cold cars I guess.

Fret

JDC · November 9th, 2006, 08:45 PM

Gradual (and cumulative) heating/cooloing ...as refenced above, is the way (as I mentioned) that I got inadvertant parallel checking.

Don't know what the(temperature) is during the summer in direct, but I'm sure playing outside during one fair season caused enough expansion/contaction in the wood/finish to cause my checking.

cottoneyedjoe · November 9th, 2006, 10:50 PM

I have a 76 Strat that now has a chequed finish. If you really want to do it the right way, do it like I did with help from my parents.

My mom would turn off the electric heat in the room that guitar was in during the winter days to save electricity. That room would get cold, cold, cold. The guitar was always in its case.

I would come home from school and turn the electric heat on and take it out of the case. About six years of this and POOF! You got a great relic job!

I remember I was so miffed when I first started seeing it. I like it now....

fasteddie455 · November 9th, 2006, 11:00 PM

Any chance you could show some pics? thanks!
fasteddie

November 8th, 2006, 09:07 PM	#1 (permalink)
fasteddie455 TDPRI Member Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: Arlington, Texas Posts: 98 6 Photos	Has anybody here ACTUALLY frozen their Tele then stuck it in an oven in order to get the lacquer checking in their finish? I've heard of people doing this , but I have not heard of anyone personally , specifically doing this. Has anyone here done this? Does it work? Got any pics? I am interested in checking my nitrocellulose lacquered tele ( I painted it with Reranch laquer) and am wanting a method to achieve longer more parrallel cracks and less spider web-like cracks. Has anyone REALLY tried this method? I am interested in hearing about it. fasteddie P.S. If you don't "get" relics , or your answer to the post is "just play it a bunch" or " don't carry it in a case" then please just skip to the next post. I am not looking to compare and contrast the relative merits of "relicing" a guitar . thanks.

November 9th, 2006, 12:00 AM	#4 (permalink)
eryque Poster Extraordinaire Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: albany, ny [not chicago] Posts: 7,125 44 Photos	More specifically, the custom shop uses cans of propellent like you'd use to blow dust off your keyboard. They hold the cans upside down so the sub-zero fluid comes out and freezes the lacquer, which makes it shrink faster than the wood, so it cracks. __________________ my blog: eryque.blogspot.com Updated 9.17.08! Subscribe_____________________

November 9th, 2006, 12:28 AM	#5 (permalink)
fasteddie455 TDPRI Member Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: Arlington, Texas Posts: 98 6 Photos	my experience is that canned air ( or other propellants) caused the cracks to be spider web-like (I think, not convinced anyway) ....perhaps due to the cooling of only a small area at a time,...not the guitar as a whole.....not real sure though fasteddie

November 9th, 2006, 03:41 PM	#9 (permalink)
Fret Wilkes Tele-Holic Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: Harmony, R.I. Age: 51 Posts: 917 23 Photos	The big oven and the big freeze My Martin checked inadvertantly in the mid 80's. We were all sitting around my sisters house in January playing and singing in front of the Franklin Stove. It was nice and toasty inside and REALLY cold outside. At one point my brother in law was playing the D28 when he decided to take it across the yard from the main house to his office/gym. He was out the door in a flash and the Martin has had heavy checking ever since. I remember my 1983 '57RI Statocaster checked heavily one winter as well, although I don't remember a specific "event". Just temperature changes from warm houses/clubs to cold cars I guess. Fret __________________ See, I didn't reconize ya when ya first drove up till ya stuck yer hand out and wove then I seen right off who ya was and knowd ya. Epiphany: The Ignore List can make the TDPRI and even BETTER place to be!

November 9th, 2006, 11:00 PM	#12 (permalink)
fasteddie455 TDPRI Member Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: Arlington, Texas Posts: 98 6 Photos	Hey guys ..... Any chance you could show some pics? thanks! fasteddie

November 8th, 2006, 11:48 PM	#2 (permalink)
JDC Tele-Meister Join Date: May 2003 Location: Las Vegas, Nevada Posts: 296 4 Photos	My tele has parallel checks in the finish, but they weren't put there by the method you mention. Mine wasn't done purposely, so I have no information on the "oven method". In my case, the checking occurred in a relatively short time period and I think was prompted by heat exposure (sun) when I was playing outdoor venues on the state fair circuit one summer season.

November 8th, 2006, 11:55 PM	#3 (permalink)
zane Tele-Afflicted Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: Panther City,Tx Posts: 1,026	Custom Shop uses "Compressed Air"...in a spray can... ...used car keys for to get the dings.... saw an article with pix of one of em doing it...

November 9th, 2006, 02:29 PM	#6 (permalink)
Uriah T. Tele-Meister Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: Maine in the Braine Posts: 179 8 Photos	It's gonna take at least six months after spraying and final sanding before you'll get any good cracking. I have tried the freezer method and it didn't work so well. You will get longer cracks on a thicker paint job, regardless of how you do it, and spider webbing if you try cracking the paint too soon. This has been my experience; the best method I've seen is an inadvertent overnight trunk stay in Boston in the winter. Leaving all the hardware and neck on gives you more realistic stress cracks. But you're in Texas, so perhaps the freezer method'll work enough. Just leave it in there overnight, not an hour or two. And leave the hardware on, it won't hurt the electronics any. I'm surprised nobody's posted that picture of the strat dragging behind a truck yet. I'm hopeful that conversations around relics will mature a bit, you don't see people literally insulting others because of other aesthetic decisions. EDITED TO ADD: Oh, boy! Do not throw your guitar in the oven unless you want to see your paint bubbling up and then have to strip it and start over! Don't ask me how I know this. But even at a relatively mild 200degrees, disaster will ensue. At most, take a hair dryer real quick to the surface after the freezer.

November 9th, 2006, 02:42 PM	#7 (permalink)
Stuco Friend of Leo's Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: GA Posts: 3,127	I second the not putting it in the oven thing.

November 9th, 2006, 03:10 PM	#8 (permalink)
The Amazing Phil Tele-Holic Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: Luton, England Age: 23 Posts: 558	Yeah, prehaps airing cupboard or something, warm and dry, but not something used to cook food.

November 9th, 2006, 08:45 PM	#10 (permalink)
JDC Tele-Meister Join Date: May 2003 Location: Las Vegas, Nevada Posts: 296 4 Photos	Gradual (and cumulative) heating/cooloing ...as refenced above, is the way (as I mentioned) that I got inadvertant parallel checking. Don't know what the(temperature) is during the summer in direct, but I'm sure playing outside during one fair season caused enough expansion/contaction in the wood/finish to cause my checking.

November 9th, 2006, 10:50 PM	#11 (permalink)
cottoneyedjoe TDPRI Member Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Midlothian, Va Posts: 61	I have a 76 Strat that now has a chequed finish. If you really want to do it the right way, do it like I did with help from my parents. My mom would turn off the electric heat in the room that guitar was in during the winter days to save electricity. That room would get cold, cold, cold. The guitar was always in its case. I would come home from school and turn the electric heat on and take it out of the case. About six years of this and POOF! You got a great relic job! I remember I was so miffed when I first started seeing it. I like it now....