Distressing a basic Nickel Tailpiece

[Kip Welty]

anyone know how to do it ? give it worn look to match my distressed Glenn mandolin ? (The mandolin is distressed really nice) but the Nickel (or maybe chrome) tail piece cover is perfect and yuk, shiny.

[Lee Callicutt]

I have put a "ScotchBrite," or matte finish on chrome motorcyle parts with judicious use of high grit (1500,2000) grit wet or dry sandpaper and 0000 steel wool. Pretty nifty, satin nickle look, if that's what you're looking for. Experiment on something you don't particularly care about.

[Michael Lewis]

Find out if it is chrome or nickel. Just sweat on nickel to tarnish it, then buff it with some very fine compound, really concentrating on the edges to wear through it in a few places. If it is chrome just find another tail piece.

[Eddie Sheehy]

This from an interesting rant I came across recently:

"After seeing the price-gougers selling tailpieces and pickguards they have removed from instruments before selling them...figure drop the price on a mando with unoriginal tailpiece and pickguard by $100-$200 and then try to sell the tailpiece for $250+ and the Pickguard for another $250... not too shabby.... kinda insulting to offer them to the guy who just bought the mando with the "newer" parts though (oh, they're not from your mando they came from a broken one... lottsa broken Gibbos are for sale...don't ya think? And for any of you out there that need to replace a tuning-machine or gear...it's cheaper to buy an entire shabby mandolin and scavenge the parts than it is to pay $150 - $200 for "genuine antique tuners" that are only a near-match anyway.... Anyone out there who is on hard times and is a half-decent metal-machinist or woodworker should consider supplying the "missing tailpiece-cover" market. I'll bet some really nice wooden custom or replica-covers could be produced to supplement a craftsman's income in these hard times...."

Anyways, by all means get a "newer" tailpiece, pickguard etc. and distress them to match the mando. Any tailpiece-cover is better than no tailpiece cover. A tailpiece-cover that blends with the instrument is better than one that does not.

I kinda like the suggestion of wooden tailpiece covers though..... I know I've seen them on mandocellos somewhere....

No names have been mentioned or implied in this post and it should stay that way.

This is entirely a work of fiction and contains no characterizations of people living or dead, including me. It is not meant to disparage the people who salvage parts from unsalvageable mandolins and who supply these to others who wish to maintain the originality of their mandolins when parts been lost, broken, or degenerated over time. The opinions expressed herein are solely those of the author, whoever he is.

And now the news from abroad..."Dorothy, what's the local gossip?"

[Skip Kelley]

You can use muriatic acid on the tailpiece to tarnish it. But, be careful as this stuff is dangerous. The fumes alone are nasty. It can be purchased at any hardware store. It is usually used to clean things like concrete.

[mandroid]

I put a piece of ebony on the top of my tailpiece and it is

now a nice extension of the armrest.

Epoxyed it on the TP cover and then finished the wood with it on there

some folks add an inlay into the wood then...

[your name here]

[woodwizard]

anyone know how to do it ? give it worn look to match my distressed Glenn mandolin ? (The mandolin is distressed really nice) but the Nickel (or maybe chrome) tail piece cover is perfect and yuk, shiny.

***
Send it to me with your mandolin and after I play it hard for about a month I guarantee I will have your tail piece destressed from my acid sweat .

[Spruce]

You can use muriatic acid on the tailpiece to tarnish it. But, be careful as this stuff is dangerous. The fumes alone are nasty. It can be purchased at any hardware store. It is usually used to clean things like concrete.

Careful with that stuff....
Seriously....

I like etchant solution instead for getting a very aged look.
You can get it at Radio Shack...
It can be a little nasty, but nothing like muriatic acid...




I you just want to take the "new" off, try putting the tailpiece in a small tupperware container with some vinegar for a day or two....

[Frank Russell]

Yep, white vinegar is what I've always used to tarnish a new pair of spurs so they didn't look like I just walked out of the tack store with them that day. Frank

[jimbob]

expose it to beer, sweat, picante sauce, BBQ sauce, etc. All of the nickel on my poor ole Banjo is well distressed

[MikeEdgerton]

Or you could put it out in the driveway and back the Ford over it a few times....

[Eddie Sheehy]

Or you could put it out in the driveway and back the Ford over it a few times....

Take it off the mandolin first....

[Kip Welty]

thanks for the tips, love this site and the humor, really do, just my style, I have a distressed lefty glenn that i love. sounds awesome, wood is distressed nicely. but allen (allen jones, great builder of Glenn Mandolins IMO) did not distress the very shiny 99 cents tailpiece cover. 99 cents is fine with me, I not sure what is is made of, don't really care other than figure out how to make it look worn, showing a little other metal thru kind of look.

so.............. get my ford out, put the tailpiece in vinegar (off the mandolin) and cement acid in a small plastic container and run it all over with the truck is what i figure will work. then sand it with steel wool and put er back on....................

[Spruce]

Well, the nice thing about aging large metal parts (Les Paul pickup covers, Telecaster bridges, and mando tailpieces come to mind) is that you can hammer these easily replaceable parts, and it draws your eye to the more delicate art of antiquing the wood and varnish, which is not so replaceable (or easy to do)...

Does that make sense?

[Links]

Liver of Sulpher (a benign chermical - but don't eat it) is used to patina silver and copper. A friend of mine uses it on antique silver after it has been cleaned too thoroughly and all of the patina removed - a no no for antiques! I suspect that it will also work on nickel.

[musicofanatic]

With the acid treatment, I've always heard one should expose the part to just the fumes, as opposed to total immursion. Dangle the part into a container of muratic, or etching solution, just above the liquid. Don't leave it too long; check results frequently. Keep your nose outta there.