ByronBlack Posted August 12, 2005 Report Share Posted August 12, 2005 I'm thinking about covering a guitar in a highly textured leather, what effect would this have on the tone, would it make it too 'muddy' ?? And has anyone else done this before? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
unclej Posted August 12, 2005 Report Share Posted August 12, 2005 byron, someone posted a thread about leather just last week i believe. do a search on leather in this, the finishing catagory, and a lot of your questions should be answered. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ByronBlack Posted August 12, 2005 Author Report Share Posted August 12, 2005 That question (last week) was about hardening a scratchplate, and i've already done a search. There is one quite useful thread about how to stich/glue the leather, but what i'm after is some insight into how it might affect the tone. I've already done some research on the web without any real information. Anyone else got any first hand experience with this? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doc Posted August 12, 2005 Report Share Posted August 12, 2005 Byron, Back in the 60's and maybe the early 70's Fender made a Telecaster that had a leather covering. I only ever actually saw and played one and it's been damn near 40 years ago, but I don't remember it being substantially different from a standard Telecaster. I seem to remember it being a "Frontier" model. The leather had a front back and side piece and was held together with leather wrap binding, and had western tooling on the face. I dopn't recall having seen one anywhere since and I don't think I've ever seen one on ebay, which is odd. Can't have made many of them. Hope this helps. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ByronBlack Posted August 12, 2005 Author Report Share Posted August 12, 2005 Any information is well received doc, thanks. I'll look into that model to see if there are any noted tonal differences, the leather i'll be using is 0.7mm thick and will be glued on and hidden around the edges by a normal binding method, I can't see it making a huge difference. Either way it shall be an interesting experiment. Cheers Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drak Posted August 12, 2005 Report Share Posted August 12, 2005 Go to the main site on PG, then look up 'material finishes', that will show you how to apply it. Then look up Waylon Jennings, his guitar was covered in leather (I'm pretty sure anyway) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marksound Posted August 12, 2005 Report Share Posted August 12, 2005 Byron, Back in the 60's and maybe the early 70's Fender made a Telecaster that had a leather covering. I only ever actually saw and played one and it's been damn near 40 years ago, but I don't remember it being substantially different from a standard Telecaster. I seem to remember it being a "Frontier" model. The leather had a front back and side piece and was held together with leather wrap binding, and had western tooling on the face. I dopn't recall having seen one anywhere since and I don't think I've ever seen one on ebay, which is odd. Can't have made many of them. Hope this helps. ← Waylon Jennings had the only one I'd ever seen until recently. Mosby Guitars makes covers, and I've seen others. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ByronBlack Posted August 12, 2005 Author Report Share Posted August 12, 2005 Thanks Drak, Marksound. From that link I found the confirmation that i was looking for: "Tone is not affected to any noticeable degree" Drak, it was the PG material cover tutorial that made me think of using textured leather in the first instance, I have a beat-up strat copy which i'm going to use as a test model. One last thing, do you think I should apply a clear finish? I've seen some with and some without, and i'm conflicted as to what is best. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mickguard Posted August 12, 2005 Report Share Posted August 12, 2005 There's a guy on ebay selling leather-covered telecasters, you can ask him. And doesn't Waylon Jennings play a leather-covered guitar? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drak Posted August 12, 2005 Report Share Posted August 12, 2005 I'd leave it natural. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marksound Posted August 13, 2005 Report Share Posted August 13, 2005 Waylon Jennings had the only one I'd ever seen until recently.And doesn't Waylon Jennings play a leather-covered guitar? ← Used to. Dead now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rhoads56 Posted August 13, 2005 Report Share Posted August 13, 2005 try this.... get a length of maple, cut it EXACTLY in half so each piece is around 500mm Hold it vertically, 1/5 from the top, between two fingers. Tap it 1/5 from the bottom, with a piece of wood. Check the same ringing sound is found on both pieces. Do everything the same...) Glue a piece of leather on ONE ONLY (full length) and try it again. Realise it DOES effect it, and decide against it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ByronBlack Posted August 13, 2005 Author Report Share Posted August 13, 2005 Perry, Thanks for the idea Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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