Hey! Guitar players, let's chat.

[steveneddy]

Here I am trying the new sticker on for size on a guitar that I already play regularly.

Once the exact size is worked out I will print about a dozen or so - about two pages worth - and install it on the new neck once it arrives from the builder.

Dang it! I ordered the wrong decal paper.

I needed the transparent type for the head stock but what I actually ordered was the white background material.

It's not that big of a deal but I was going to install one on the rear of a head stock on another guitar today just for practice when I discovered my mistake.

I'm will find a local hobby store with this material tomorrow and take care of this issue.

Here's a pic of the sheet - with one missing - with the three logo's on it.

The backwards logo was one I did by leaving the highlighted or "shiny" parts of the artwork and taking out the orangey yellow color and making the formerly colored in areas transparent then coloring in the spaces where there is no color with a gold paint pen to get closer to the original Fender colors.

If this works I will use this technique on the final product.

EDIT:

OK - got the clear sheets printed, ink dried, sprayed with sealer (so the ink won't come off while in the water) and cut out and installed on a test piece of wood.

I cleaned the already lacquered wood with alcohol to get rid of the dirt and grease from my fingers.

I then placed an already cut and trimmed water slide decal into a bowl of warm water with one to two drops of dish washing liquid in it to help move the sticker around on the wood after it releases from the backing paper. Only takes about a minute or less for the decal to release from the backing.

I took my fingers and wet the wood slightly with the slightly soapy water from the bowl then removed the water slide sticker from the bowl and started the process of sliding it off of the backing paper onto the test wood.

It starts off a little wavy but you simply take a dry paper towel and start blotting from the middle outwards to get rid of the excess water and make the decal stick. Be careful not to move the sticker during this process, but if you do move it back with your fingers gently but firmly (I know, just try it and you'll get the picture) and continue drying the decal. Do not rub the decal until it is completely dry and stuck to the wood.

This process only took a couple of minutes, but the results look like I spent hours. The final product looks like I printed right on the wood.

I used Testor Decal paper for inkjet printers, a good photo printer and a Testor #9200 decal kit that merely includes a can of clear sealer for the decals. This stuff is available at the local Hobby Lobby (in the US) or any other local hobby shop (radio controlled card, planes and trains).

I learned that what looks good on the computer screen may not look so good when the decal is actually applied to the surface with which you are working. Plain and simple colors without any computer generated highlighting of the image or lettering looks the best.

But overall this is an easy process if you follow the decal paper directions that come with the water slide printer paper and anyone could custom label computers, guitars, appliances or any other device that one usually sees decal type labeling on them.

Clear Testor Decal paper #9201
Testor Decal Kit # 9200

[steveneddy]

Out of the three logo's I printed up and installed on my "test wood", I only like the plain StevenEddy logo.

The one with the "highlights" or the one I colored in that I left the highlights in the design suck in my opinion.

I will make new stickers today removing the highlights and make a couple that are reversed with no highlights that I can color with the gold paint pen to see how that looks.

Hoping for the best.

Am I the only one who make their own headstock logos for custom instruments?

EDIT:

I think this is the final design.

Here is pic of the mock up on a pre-existing guitar.

[Frogs Hair]

It's a custom made Strat design guitar. It is not made by Fender but uses the Fender specs from many different years to make my ultimate guitar.

It is an alder body painted with Fender's Butterscotch Blonde (slightly transparent), hard tail bridge, unknown pickups at this time (still trying out different set ups), a 57-61 Fender maple neck but with a 10.5 radius fingerboard and Fender's smaller frets from the early 70's, some kind of special nut my guitar builder has been using and probably the standard Gotoh non-locking tuners.

I don't think that anyone will be able to tell this guitar from anything coming from the Fender Custom Shop and anything else. There is nothing fancy about it, just a nice setup for my needs and purposes.

I'll post pics when it gets back in my hands.

Just curious I have a Telecaster and G&L Legacy .

[steveneddy]

Just curious I have a Telecaster and G&L Legacy .

I have thought about going the G&L route many times.

I feel they are great guitars, but when it came time for this new build, they just didn't have what I was looking for, namely a hard tail bridge.

And Fender has hard tail bridges, but I either didn't want a mahogany fingerboard or the electronics weren't desirable to me.

Is your G&l Legacy a sunburst model? Do you play professionally or semi-professionally?

Also tell me about your amp setup with that Tele.

[Frogs Hair]

My G&L is a cherry burst , the owner of the local music store went to a trade show and brought a few back and I loved the look and the sound . They did not buy anymore because few people new that G&L was founded by Leo Fender and thought it was a another Strat copy.

Now the closest retailer is 50 miles away. As for playing , I haven't been paid for a while , I play some open mic nites at a coffee shop with a wide range of people from different musical backgrounds and the pay scale for bands is generally pretty low in this area. The club owners have a hard time making a profit with live music. Recently "Hair Metal " and "Classic Rock" cover bands are what you will see at many local outdoor festivals.

[steveneddy]

My G&L is a cherry burst , the owner of the local music store went to a trade show and brought a few back and I loved the look and the sound . They did not buy anymore because few people new that G&L was founded by Leo Fender and thought it was a another Strat copy.

Now the closest retailer is 50 miles away. As for playing , I haven't been paid for a while , I play some open mic nites at a coffee shop with a wide range of people from different musical backgrounds and the pay scale for bands is generally pretty low in this area. The club owners have a hard time making a profit with live music. Recently "Hair Metal " and "Classic Rock" cover bands are what you will see at many local outdoor festivals.

What's your amp setup when you play out or rehearse?

I'm actually more into amps than guitars. Although I'm pretty excited about this new guitbox I'm building now.

[fat tubby]

Also a banjo and a ukelele.. [/QUOTE]
right on

[ecr959]

Awful quiet on this thread lately. I just bought an Ovation elect/acoustic on ebay. Its a real beauty. Solid spruce top, sunburst finish. Actually, they call it Tuscan Sunburst, must be the shade of orange they use. Gotit as a refurb, so it cost me $100 less than a new one. But it was refurbed by the Ovation people so I trust it is "like new"

I put Ernie Ball Earthwood 12s on it, and it sounds really deep, rich, I love it. Now, I'm looking for a nice, used case for it, I'm looking at a Musicians Friend Dreadnaught case, its the right price ($50) and it is deep enough for my Ovation. Does anybody have an opinion about those MF brand cases ? For Acoustics ?


here's a pic of my new baby :

[GabrielYYZ]

didn't even know this thread existed...

me trying to improvise, keeping it simple with just D minor pentatonic and failing miserably:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pDuj5YQJkzk

notes: turn your volume down a bit, i made that video and some others to test my cam and the sound, so it's not very good. also, it gets repetitive after 1 or 2 minutes, that's just me trying to remember licks that fit the backing chord progression and the camera never helps

[Evil-Ernie]

My avatar picture is my home built Guit-o-min which is a guitar/theremin hybrid built out the ashes of a broken up Les Paul copy that I snapped the headstock off.

I made a bridge at the top to the neck, routed a shelf in the body to facilitate grover machine heads so it strung the opposite way round with the ballends at the top of the neck and tuning down at the bridge end. I then put a cutaway where the 'horn' used to be so I could fit my mini-theremin in with some vecro. There is a little flylead from the original electrics so the theremin sound mixes with the guitar sound down the same phono cable.

I can confirm it works and it doesnt sound too bad!

I also own a Gretch Duo-Jet solid body, a Curbow Bass, Yamaha RBX fretless bass and a Commodore semi-acoustic jazz guitar.