in which adam finds a novel use for 2-part epoxy putty :)

[the_adam]

Well...we had ofsted in at work the other week...so what better way to recover than to give the guitar a bit of a makeover?

Of course I don't actually have any money so it had to be done with the leftovers from making other stuff. Had done one inlay on it using sheet aluminium already but I had another design that I couldn't get right with my (wonderfully blunt) tools. So I thought...I've got some epoxy putty left...it sticks to wood...why not give that a try instead? :D And why not take some pictures just in case it goes right...

So after a couple of minutes the guitar was in jigsaw form...(I know it looks ok here but it was quite scratched and the stickers were starting to peel off!)
http://i1014.photobucket.com/albums/af266/the_adam_m695/adams%20guitar%20project/DSCF0380.jpg
Got the design just about how I wanted it...it was an interesting tattoo I'd seen someone with a while ago
http://i1014.photobucket.com/albums/af266/the_adam_m695/adams%20guitar%20project/DSCF0381.jpg
And by the end of the evening, one successful carving :) And a bed covered in sawdust...I should really have thought that through before I started!
http://i1014.photobucket.com/albums/af266/the_adam_m695/adams%20guitar%20project/DSCF0383.jpg
This is possibly the least fun I've ever had with masking tape...
http://i1014.photobucket.com/albums/af266/the_adam_m695/adams%20guitar%20project/DSCF0385.jpg
Several days later... (I'm not very good with paint :worried:)
http://i1014.photobucket.com/albums/af266/the_adam_m695/adams%20guitar%20project/DSCF0387.jpg
So...fill the hole with epoxy, clear coat over it and it's all done
http://i1014.photobucket.com/albums/af266/the_adam_m695/adams%20guitar%20project/DSCF0395.jpg
Of course being Adam I had to leave somewhere clever to dry...somewhere where lots of dust would fall onto it. But noone's going to be looking that closely, so I'm calling it a success...Any comments welcome!

[gremlin]

you do realise that now it's white it'll need cleaning more? That looks cool though. I think wood chips are probably more of an issue in a bed than toast crumbs so hope you've a good hoover! We have a nice collection of broken guitars, one Ibenez with a snapped head thanks to Clives kids, one Fender acoustic with a snapped head which himself bought cheap at a car boot but which epoxy resin seems to be keeping together nicely and one he built years ago which was beautiful but his ex left next to a storage heater and warped the neck, that one is in jigsaw state. I'd love to see it back together but we need an artistic person to do a design on the new fingerboard for him to then put gemstones in or something, it originally had abalone shell but he found it a bit boring. Guitars can be beautiful bits of artwork.

[the_adam]

Yep, it's always good to make something a bit unique :) Depending on what sort of design he's going for it's not too hard to get a reasonable result yourself. Very scary while you're doing the work but it's much more rewarding! When you have it done be careful who you take it to though, I had my old 12-string ruined a few years ago when I took it to a (good) music shop to have a split top repaired before I sold it. He damaged the finish and offered to cover it up with a piece of abalone - the piece he ended up using didn't vaguely match the guitar plus it's the worst inlay job I've ever seen :hissy: I'll probably end up redoing it when I have a confident day!

You're probably right about the cleaning, with it being a free job it had to be either this colour or gold hammerite though! To be honest you can see the dust in the lacquer if you get very close anyway, might have to sand down the top coat and redo it. Eventually :D