Since I basically followed the tutorial on this site, I thought I'd register and share the results so far.
Instead of paisley, dragons, flowers etc, I went with iconic designer patterns, because why not have an instrument that girls like? So, I've made two Burberry basses and one Armani one. I'm slowly getting better - the first one took over a month, peeling off the fabric and starting over, and turned out crooked and too dark, so it looks OK in direct sunlight or a flash photo but basically just black on any stage without good lighting. I've sold it to a friend who's taking up bass, though. And yeah, the friend is a girl.
Second one took a couple of weeks and turned out better, but the edges look quite messy. Still, I did figure out how to keep the patter straight by putting down a reference line and taping the body down, and the pattern is obviosuly clearly visible.
Live and in action it looked like this - definitely passes the "recognizable instantly as Burberry in a dimly lit club" test:
I might take this one apart this week and try spraying a narrow black burst around the edges of the body to get the edges looking OK. This fabric is from a polyester jacket and it's very easy to work with - I still have enough to do another guitar or two, plus the absolutely awesome hanger loop with embroidered logo. So, there will definitely be another one of these.
On the third one I used a very thin scarf with huge Emporio Armani logos. To be honest being nearly transparent and loosely woven it was a huge pain to work with and to finish, but I managed to get the edges reasonably neat by painting a thin black line, so that's progress. Plus, well, it has huge Armani logos. But right now it looks pretty damn messy up close.
Today I'm trying to do a thicker finish on that pickguard to see if I can get it more shiny and looking less obviously like fabric. If that works I'll do the same with the body and headstock. I also have enough of this fabric left to do one more, but not sure if I'll use it. I'm trying to hunt down a reasonably priced Louis Vuitton monogram scarf, if there is such a thing.
I documented the process for the Armani bass on video and edited it down to a few minutes, if anybody's curious. Maybe after a few more I'll be able to do this well enough to make another video that could be called a tutorial, but this one's just a document.
So, look for updates and more basses soon, maybe even a guitar.
