How do you Relic/Age Gold Knobs

[BassBeginer64]

I just had my Warwick upgraded with a new preamp and required a new stacked gold pot, now it sticks out like sore thumb, could replace the knobs but the tuners and bridge hardware will stick out, would cost about $400 to upgrade to pretty gold again, not gonna happen, so any tips on fading the new knob will help, thought about just using
fine steel wool to dull it.

 

[Beej]

I'd try fuming it a little to see if you can get it closer. Put it in a container and put some vinegar in the container and close the lid for a few hours to see how it does. Put the knob on a little riser of some kind so that it does not contact the vinegar directly and instead just gets exposed to the fumes. If nothing happens at all, then it may be a coated surface.

 

[RichterScale]

I was thinking something similar, but don't have enough experience to advise. The wear on the old ones is from acid and salt.
Hard to replicate exactly, especially if the new knob is a different formula paint and/or clear coated.
I would try Beej's method. Perhaps a combo of fine steel wool and acid fuming.

 

[1n3]

Hard to tell from this photo, but I suspect the new knob is gold plated, and the other two brass. If that's the case, I doubt there's a simple treatment that will make them look the same. Too many unknowns to advise, though.

 

[1n3]

New photo is better. Original bridge, tailpiece and knobs look like brass, probably clear-coated. The new concentric knobs look plated. IF the base metal of those is brass, you might be able to get them closer to the original hardware by stripping the plating. But it seems like it'd be easier to buy knobs that match the originals. You'd also have the black indicator circles then.

 

[TrustRod]

One option would be to just get black, for the one knob or all of them. For my tastes a close match is worse than a miss match.

Badass used to mix gold and black
img_0711-jpg.3181033

 

[mountainhick]

Rock tumbler.