The Ultimate Relic Stratocaster

Photo: colored shellacI used Vintage Amber, adding a bit of Tobacco Brown and Orange. I only mixed a tiny bit of color into the shellac: brown and orange needed just a fender stratocaster yjm relic
 drop on the end of a toothpick! Maybe ten toothpick-drops of the amber. A scrap of acrylic makes a good palette: I put a drop of each color on it, then picked up the tiny amounts I need with the tips of my toothpicks. Can you tell the old finish from the new? This relic finish was fast and fun. It took me less than two hours to create the checking with the knife blade, and over the next few days I only spent another couple of hours mixing and spraying. The result looks good. If the owner doesn’t tell his friends, nobody’s likely to know it’s ever been to my shop!