Raised Ivy/vine Pattern...

[Ford]

I had the idea of doing a raised Ivy/Vine pattern on the top of a guitar I'm working on, but I'm at a loss as to how I could accomplish this.

I thought of maybe carving it with chizzles, but that might be out of my league. Ideally I'd want to do this on a carved top PRS style guitar. I also thought of molding it out of something like bondo, but I cant immagine that going over well.

Any ideas?

[Brian]

Make a template of the image you want and attach it to the body using a temp adhesive such as the spray kind for artist's then sand blast around it.

[unclej]

if you have access to and are accomplished with a scroll saw you could cut it out of a matching or contrasting wood and make an aplique to be glued onto the front of the guitar. i've never done it with anything as fine as ivy but i've applied dolphins, a yellow rose of texas, a hawk and a buffalo...on different guitars of course..and it looks great.

brian..i've got a lady friend who blasts pics and designs and such on crystal. she's got a computer that she can create her design and then print out a mylar template with a light adhesive on the back and uses that to blast. i've got her working on a dragon for me now to be used on a guitar. this one will blast the dragon and make it a depression rather than blasting around it and making it high relief. i'll post some pics when i finish the 4 or 5 projects that i have half completed now.

[Ford]

unclej,

Interesting, I bet it wouldnt behard for me to make the ivy vine on my computer. Do you know where I could get something like that done, or what to look for? How much do you suppose that would cost, to have it sand blasted? I'd assume maple would be fine for something like that...

Neat thought, thanks!

[unclej]

ford, i'd start with the phone book and call some of the glass companies in your area. a lot of them do blasting for custom doors and such. hobby shops might have a line on someone in your area that does blasting on ashtrays, glasses, etc. i have no idea what it would cost 'cause i haven't done it on a guitar yet. besides, i did say that she was "a friend" so she'd better not charge me anything.

if you have a shop with a descent compressor you might look into getting yourself a little outfit. seems like harbor freight tools has some for a little as $40-45.

good luck.

[Ford]

Good Beans!

Thanks unclej!