HuntinDoug

I make those for several shops. See this post for a little more info:

http://projectguitar.ibforums.com/index.php?showtopic=27069

Doug

huntindoug@aol.com

Mr Fuzz,

I may be able to help you out. I have a laser engraver, and a vinyl cutter. There is a couple different ways to get close to what you want.

I could cut you a "peel & stick" decal. It is actually a high gloss metal that goes under the clearcoat. They work really well. I've done tons of these for small shops. The downside is that the detail can only be so small...I'd have to see your design.

Or, I can do you a TR cover style "plate" that screws on. It is a plastic material with a brushed brass topcoat. The edges & engraving show up as black. It wouldnt look as heavy as brass, but they do look nice, and it can be cut into complex shapes without a problem. I do all of the custom & short run TR covers for the Jackson CS out of this material. You can check some out here:

www.parableguitars.com

I just changed to a new web hosting company, so the site is still being constructed. You'll be able to see some pics there though. The brass scans really dark. It's hard to get a good pic of it. Anyway....hope it helps.

Doug

Indian rosewood crosses inlaid into African brown rosewood. I used a .125" LMI headplate for the crosses. They are set in about .080" deep. You can't see it in the pic, but the grain in the inlays are indexed.

I have a laser engraver I do these with. The advantage is you can get sharp inside corners & points. Flames work particularly well. The disadvantage is it wont cut MOP or abalone. I just finished cutting the fret slots in the maple one.

Two 25.5in scale boards. Both are done in Pearlessence. I flipped the design on one of them. The two acorns fall in the 12th fret block:

Thanks guys! The symbols have no meaning...at least none that I know of. I drew them up from memory. I got the "Klingon Kollective" DVD for Christmas. It has episodes from all of the ST series. I had an idea for a cool carved top piece, so I banged this out while the idea was still fresh. I'll try to post pics of the rest of the board after I cut the frets.

Maple board, 25.5 in. scale. Done in red Pearlessence with a black outline. Each fret block has a different symbol. This one is going on a really cool carved top neck-thru project...

Go to a local hardware store for a 25ml tube of clear epoxy ($3 to $4). Order a 1 oz bottle of Master brand black furniture powder from StewMac ($8?). It works well, and will last you a while.

I've had this material laying around for some time now...worked with it a little bit. Today I decided to cut a "P" from one of my logos. It is a 2 color overlay: Abalone on top of MOP (both are laminated sheets). I will cut a .012" deep pocket to set the MOP in, then lay the abalone on top, then bury it in clear....We'll see how it comes out. The pick is there to show the actual size (sorry for the bad pic).

I thought this one up a couple days ago... Couldnt sleep last night, so I got up early to work on it. Just finished it up. Pearlessence on an African Brown Rosewood board, 25 1/2 scale. The black lines are deliberate....Gives it depth. This one is going on a cool project....Stay tuned.

This project has been in the works for a few months now. It's a project for Scott at Hembry Guitars in Washington state. He builds a lot of off the wall and over the top bolt ons. He does a lot of doublenecks...Really talented artist. Check him out at http://www.hembryguitars.com This one is a 12/6 string prototype.

He approached me about doing a mirror top on this project that was different than the run of the mill silver cracked mirror pieces I've done in the past. I threw out the concept, and he did the artwork...we refined it and came up with this:

Here is the body after I routed it out: http://members.aol.com/huntindoug/2iceb.jpg

This pic is the plexi set in prior to routing the neck pockets & pup holes. Scott is doing the polishing & installation of the mirror, so it still has the peel coat on it in the pic:

Scott wanted to make it a Paul Stanley tribute piece, so he came up with the face. I suggested cracking the silver only to make it look like the crackes originate in the eye. All you KISS buffs may remember in the movis "KISS meets the Phantom", Paul had a laser thing he shot from his starred eye. We didnt want to have a purple line shooting out, so we did this with the crack pattern instead. It should be cool when finished.

I emailed him these pics earlier today, he posted them and he already has some regular customers placing orders....go figure.

here are a few other recent mirror tops I've done:

http://members.aol.com/huntindoug/razor2.jpg

http://members.aol.com/huntindoug/icbengal2.jpg

http://members.aol.com/huntindoug/goldbass.jpg

http://members.aol.com/huntindoug/flag1.jpg

http://members.aol.com/huntindoug/rr1.jpg

http://members.aol.com/huntindoug/kelly2.jpg

http://members.aol.com/huntindoug/blueice.jpg

http://members.aol.com/huntindoug/blackice3.jpg

http://members.aol.com/huntindoug/rebelflag.jpg

http://members.aol.com/huntindoug/red1.jpg

http://members.aol.com/huntindoug/rx10d-3.jpg

http://members.aol.com/huntindoug/rx10d-2.jpg

That is gonna be killer! The contrast of the sunburst against the wing looks great. I wish I was going to NAMM this year to see it up close.

Cool!

You ought to do something like the lunar phase inlay. Further up the neck, use eye inlays of the same width, but, the eye progressively closing.

That's funny....I thought of that same thing after I finished it. I thought about using the same color as the wing on the flying eyeball for the eyelids. Either that, or doing cat eyes that squint and dialate as they go up the neck.

Very cool....Love the body too! Here is a "rising skull" inlay I recently did:

Thanks guys... Here is the other board. Something I dreamed up. The pic isnt as good on this one. The eyeball really has a lot of depth. Overall it's almost 12 inchs long. Not sure what I'm gonna do with it.

The ghost of Mike Wasowski

I did two rosewood boards last night. This one, and one of a flying eyeball w/bat like wings...I'll post more pics of that one later. I used Pearlessence & blue mirrored plexi to get the depth & reflection I wanted. I scribed the back of the mirror on the blue to get the lines in the iris. The diamiter is about .500in.

That looks very realistic! Nice work indeed.

True, but i dont really want a wood inlay. i dont like them all that much.

You may want to look into "pearlessence". It's low cost, 100% acrylic, and comes in several colors. It works & sands really nice, and has a nice swirl to it. I'm not sure where you can get it in the UK. Here are a couple Jackson "J's" I inlaid in a piece of ebony as a sample:

Cost in my area of the USA is $10 for a 5in x 9in piece, or $25 for a 12in x 24in piece. Hope it helps.

the work is great but Im really starting to hate the "bullet hole" thing..

mainly becuase I see it on these cheap cars and trucks that attacked pep-boys sticker rack.

a bomber Idea sounds cool, id like to see it.

Yea...the idea was to try something different with the inlay materials. The design is one I drew up from memory. I've seen the bullet hole stickers around here too. Once the FB is on, and the guitar is completed it should be cool.

Oops...Sorry about the multi pics. I'm a noob...won't happen again.

That is some really nice work HuntinDoug, do you only work in maple fretboards?

Really like the skull inlay...

Mike

I do these with a combination of using a laser engraver, a vert mill, and a hand dremel. I work with about every available FB wood. All the designs are ones I have drawn, or have in my files from sign jobs, or logo design I have done. The nice thing about the engraver is it can do sharp points unlike a CNC mill that leaves a radius. Here are a few others:

Birdseye with mahog flames:

pau ferro with pearlessence. The entire inlay is in 3 pieces. I tried a grey colored epoxy on this one.

http://members.aol.com/huntindoug/lock1.jpg

http://members.aol.com/huntindoug/lock2.jpg

Pao ferro with 3 color pearlessence

http://members.aol.com/huntindoug/crop.jpg

Nice work but only one pic is allowed per post!!!

I must admit that's pretty darned sweet, and props to taking on the task of inlaying into maple, especially with it coming out so well!!!

However, I do have one concern to voice... how well does mirror take to sanding? I'd be a little afraid that it wouldn't ever get back to that nice clear surface it is right now after the luthier sands in the radius... but then again I've never worked with mirror so I could be wrong and you can enlighten me

Regardless, SWEET! May we ask who in MD, cause I'm near and if I know them I might wanna go see it lol

Chris

Thanks Chris... It went to Tony at October Guitars. He may be a member here...I'm not sure. Your concerns are legit though. The sanding process has to be taken to higher level than other materials. However, if you clear it, the small scratches get covered, and it looks great. I think this board will end up on an airbrushed "WWII Bomber" strat.

Here is another mirror inlaid board I did for Tony:

If you like maple & skulls:

http://members.aol.com/huntindoug/skull3.jpg

http://members.aol.com/huntindoug/skull3.jpg

http://members.aol.com/huntindoug/skull2.jpg

I'm fairly new here. Thought I would post some of my recent work...This one is for a luthier in MD.

Black acrylic mirror & silver pearlessence bullet holes on maple. The mirror really gives it depth: