Transferring artwork to a guitar face

[jr5522]

Greetings everyone,

I was unable to find a catagory on guitar finishing so I figured this would be the best place to ask this question:

I'm an artist as well as a guitarist and recently I produced an extra-ordinary piece of artwork on the PC. I've been frantically searching the internet and search engines trying to find information on how to, and possibly a company that would be able to transfer the image to a decal or some such to transfer to the guitar face and be able to clear coat over it. Basicially without bleeding occuring, etc. I'm really "diggin'" the piece and would like it to be a permanent situation. I need a company that will do a "one-off", rather than 650 copies for $800 as this is a rather large image and I figured I could just trim for the pickup holes, etc. Does anyone here know of such a company?? And has anyone here ever done this type of thing in the past that could give me some suggestions/advice??

[JohnH]

You may be wanting to have the artwork onto a specific guitar, but I think Peavey have a system whereby you can customise one of their own guitars by adding an image onto it derived from a jpg file of your choice

John.

[sumgai]

Junior,

I've seen ads for these services on eBay for a long time. Try searching there for others, but the first thing I found was:

Custom water slide decal service (on eBay)

Or feel free to google the entire innerwebs, your choice.


HTH



sumgai

[newey]

jr-

If the image is smaller than 8.5X11", you can try to DIY. Waterslide decal paper is available for either inkjet or laser printers in a standard letter-sized sheet.

I use the stuff for headstock decals, but I've never tried it on a larger decal. You'll need to have a flat surface and be ready to squeegee out any air bubbles. And don't do it on bare wood, put at least a coat of clear down first.

Once you print the decal on your printer, you must then also clearcoat the decal paper before applying the decal to "lock" the inks. After application, many coats more are required to bury the edges of the decal. Also, use an exacto knife to cut out the decal, don't use scissors as they tend to fold the edge a bit.

This method would probably be your cheapest alternative. If the result isn't acceptable, you can always sand it all down again and look to have it done professionally in some fashion.

[sumgai]

newey,

What's your decal read...... Freeze-o-Caster?


;D

[newey]

Freeze-o-Caster?

LOL- That's worth a rimshot!

Actually, somewhat predictably, it says "Newey Guitars". You can get an amazing number of headstock decals out of an 8 X 11 1/2" sheet, so I have enough of these to keep making guitars into my Depends years.

[sumgai]

I can just see it now....

Newey Guitars, home of the
[glow=red,2,300]DEPENDableCaster[/glow]

<insert sound of cracking drumstick>

[crazymanandy]

You might direct your question over to the ReRanch Forum. There are some folks there who have done similar things to what you're asking, and they may be able to help you.

CMA