Call me irresponsible, but I bought a guitar in the middle of a pandemic. And not just any guitar, a dream guitar of mine that was offered to me at a price I simply could not refuse. That dream guitar happens to be a very specialGibsonTrini Lopez Standard built for NAMM 2019, and honestly, I couldn’t be more thrilled. Sure, I would have loved this one in red, but I’ll get over the finish soon enough.
As part of the deal, the seller included a spanking new Bigsby B7 vibrato, a component that’s almost mandatory whenever I acquire a semi-hollow instrument. I love the look, the performance, and the tonal options that come with having a vibrato. Truly, Jazzmasters have ruined me.
One problem: the brand-new Bigsby contrasted horribly with the already tastefully aged hardware and VOS finish package. I didn’t come this far to purchase a guitar with tons of vibe just to slap on a shiny part and throw off my whole aesthetic, so I set about the task of ageing that Bigsby by a few years in a matter of days.
Bigbsy vibratos come highly polished from the factory, with a gleaming presence that matches most of the modern production guitars they’ll be fitted to, but in the case of a guitar like mine, that gleaming complexion sticks out like the proverbial sore thumb.
Trini上的镍硬件已经化学衰老，这一过程是在任何数量的代理商中用浴缸模拟多年的汗水，从工业到日常家居用品。这是行业中的正常做法，以及使用岩石不倒翁为零件带来硬磨损的外观。两种练习都是有效的，有时两者的组合真的很有吸引力。
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I’m DIY all the way, and also highly unmotivated to actually buy something to make a part look dull, so in the hope of adding a generation of wear to my Bigsby, I turn to a trusty old favourite: distilled white vinegar.
我一直在吉他维修中使用白醋。当我拥有一条从Rust冻结的老式桥马鞍时，这是我第一件事。我在碗中倒了一点醋，让零件浸泡过夜，当我醒来时，它通常是完全可调节的。这对于实际从桥板或拾音器盖中去除生锈也是有用的东西，因为这是日常物品，因此很容易在房子周围。
奇怪的是，我用来去除生锈的同一件事可能是老化零件的完美技巧，但请记住：并非所有零件都相等。醋可以与某些金属反应，包括铁，铜和铝。您仍然可以使用它来清洁这些金属，但是将其固定在任何长时间的时间内都可能导致氧化。等等，Bigsby又来了什么？哦，是的，砂铝。
What I’m going to do here is prepare my metal, pour some vinegar into a container, and give that Bigsby a smelly bath. But first, a warning: even the most well-intentioned students of the relic process can accidentally ruin parts, so if you’re going to do this job know that artificially ageing parts can be risky business. Assume that all warranties are now void.
To prep the Bigsby for the job, I dull a bit of the shine to give the vinegar a little bit more to work with. A perfectly smooth surface would be less apt to oxidise under these conditions, and if you think about it, through years of use, parts do indeed lose their shine naturally.
为了完成此任务，我使用大约800和1000粒度的砂纸来脱光Bigsby，遵循尾灯的风格化线，而不是像一块木头上那样在明显的直线上打磨。然后，我将达到1500粒度，以使我在颤音单元的身体上留下的一些标记。是的，我是假老化的，但我不希望它看起来是假的。
After this light work, I dismantle the vibrato, which includes removing the arm, spring, and a few tiny parts I don’t want to risk ageing and thus rendering unusable. It’s also advisable to fully remove the moving components of the Bigsby, including the string anchor/pivot mechanism and the string roller bar, but I have to admit that, due to sheer impatience, I don’t go quite that far. But if you’re using sterner stuff than vinegar, you can definitely damage the precision bearings that allow the Bigsby to work smoothly.
我准备了一个浅容器，并确保我的颤音很合适，然后将足够的蒸馏白醋倒入容器中以覆盖。我选择的容器是我厨房抽屉中唯一合适的容器，太浅了，无法完全淹没整个零件，因此我使用纸巾覆盖了悬挂在ER，ER，醋管线上的钻头，很快就吸收了足够的吸收。做这项工作。
然后等待。我在星期六的下午4:00左右开始了这个过程，当它开始看起来有些多云时，我开始在浸没的前五，六个小时内看到最微小的结果。但是，直到第二天，该零件才真正开始照顾我的外观，大约24小时后，它肯定已经失去了新的光泽。
I removed the vibrato and rinse it off, then compare it to the hardware on my guitar. Close, but not quite there yet. So, I once again leave it in the vinegar bath overnight, and by the next morning the vibrato has really achieved the proper patina.
In total, it takes about 39 hours for the vibrato to match the hardware on my Gibson, and honestly I’m impressed. The process couldn’t be simpler, and as long as you’re patient, the vinegar does its job beautifully. I will add that rinsing is a crucial part of this process, because if you leave the vinegar to pool on the metal and evaporate, it leaves behind the telltale marks of sloppy fake relic’ing.
It’s worth pointing something out that I didn’t realise until I was already well underway – the arm, roller and string anchor bars and stock spring won’t age in the same way as the aluminium body of the vibrato does. All of the aforementioned ‘extra’ parts are plated on most models, usually nickel like mine, so don’t be alarmed if they don’t come out looking as dull. Thankfully, this is also true of most vintage Bigsby vibratos as well.
那么，我的厨房基于厨房的硬件老化票价如何与《遗物》（Relic Biz）中的某些大人物的尝试？好吧，我会说。我并不是要欺骗这里的任何人，我的目标不是绝对钉住老式的Bigsby Vibrato的外观，只是为了使自己的视觉满意度足够震惊。
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如果您接近它，您会看到一些不一致的区域和一两个区域中的流体线，我不像我想的那样冲洗过，但是，嘿，这对我来说已经足够了。
And the best part is that I’ve only given the thing a head start – it will continue to age along with the guitar as it’s played and abused, so I’m happy with it. Now all that’s left is to work up the courage to put some holes in my new guitar! Wish me luck.
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