Artificial yellowing of finish and binding????

[jingle_jangle]

Artificial checking:

Place bass in walk-in freezer overnight. Remove and use hair dryer or heat gun to heat the surface, but not enough to blister. You should see checking within a minute or two. Repeat as necessary.

[kiramdear]

Artificial checking:

Place bass in walk-in freezer overnight. Remove and use hair dryer or heat gun to heat the surface, but not enough to blister. You should see checking within a minute or two. Repeat as necessary.

That would do it. The walk-in freezer is the tricky bit. Does it look really natural, Paul? I was thinking along the lines of a razor blade in the right hands. Fortunately we did as little faking as possible, thus never really mastered the techiques, except for color-matching repaired areas. A little pre-scoring might help set up natural patterns for breakage, i dunno... sounds time-intensive.

[jingle_jangle]

The good thing about natural processes is that they look natural, Kira. Although pre-scoring would work, the patterns, unless really well-researched and executed, would look phony.

Has anyone tried it? Well, that's how many Ricks received their checking, excepting that the walk-in freezer was a walk-out one (the great outdoor model) and the hair dryer was not necessary--all it took was a 70°F room.

Not that I'm a fan of relicking. There's actually a site on the Web (http://www.srvguitar.com/) that sells a downloadable pattern for SRV's exact finish defects, so you, too, can make an exact replica of his old #1. This guy also sells the "Custom" and "SRV" trailer-park lettering.

It's a strange world out there. I gotta get out more.

[kiramdear]

The good thing about natural processes is that they look natural, Kira. Although pre-scoring would work, the patterns, unless really well-researched and executed, would look phony.

That's what I meant about time-intensive. Unfortunately I'm really good with super meticulous jobs like that. I wouldn't want to do it, though. There's a fine but clear distinction between hiding repairs and faking a piece, and I'll only do the former.
Paul, I like it that you apply a subtle yellowing for "aging" the finish. Just enough to bump down the stark white "newness", and let Mom take over from there...