How to relic solder joints?

[BigE]

Hey guys...  I've been seeing guys that work on vintage guitars/amps "relic-ing" the solder joints.  Anybody have any info on how to do this?

thanks in advance...

[fdesalvo]

use wire brush or melt some flux?

[LooseChange]

Oh come on!

[Colas LeGrippa]

tongue and sand paper

[Platefire]

Now I've heard it all!  

Really! As one who has tore down a many of old PA, tape recorder and hi fi amps for conversions---back when they did old style point to point they made real solid mechanical joints. In other words the leads for each resistor or cap was tightly wrapped around a terminal strip/post maybe a couple of times and tightened up with wire pliers to where the amp would almost run without solder---but then in most cased put big globs of solder on top of that where a lot less solder would have done. So double wraps of leads at connections and globs of solder characterize a lot of vintage soldering--not all.

So if you ever tear down one of the old amps to build something else, it's definitely a job to undo all of that! So when I think of vintage solder joints, that's what I think of. Platefire  

[John]

So if you ever tear down one of the old amps to build something else, it's definitely a job to undo all of that!

You ain'ta kiddin!!

[Fresh_Start]

Do you mean adding a patina.

PbCO3has a brown color to it when damp. 

Paint the the joint with baking soda?  then wash. 

Hydrogen peroxide may give you the color you are looking for. 

Remember these chemicals are not always compatible the other electronics.

If I were to do this, from an ethics standpoint, you need to let the person receiving the amp that the repairs were patinaed.

Er, I think your last sentence is exactly the problem.  Why would anyone want to "relic" a solder joint unless it was to cover up (or worse) new work?

Chip

[clyde]

Naval jelly.

[G._Hoffman]

Er, I think your last sentence is exactly the problem.  Why would anyone want to "relic" a solder joint unless it was to cover up (or worse) new work?

Yup.  Don't do it.  It's dishonest, and repair work should NEVER try to hide itself from an educated observer.


Gabriel

[HotBluePlates]

There's only one legitimate reason to do this: An obsessive vintage guitar/amp owner who needs work done, but wants to keep the vintage guitar/amp from looking like it's been touched.

But once you learn the method for the legitimate use, scores of others will use it to create fakes.

Either way, there are other methods in ready use that unscrupulous people can use to build fakes. For example, antique radio collectors as a rule are not afraid to use modern caps for rebuild/restoration purposes, but often want to keep their set looking authentically old. They use various methods to restuff new caps into old packages to maintain the old look of the internals.

If people didn't get crazy and be willing to spend a silly amount of money for a old part that has some supposed advantage, there would be no unethical use for these methods. It would all simply be cosmetics.