Bare Knuckle Pickups Forum

Forum Ringside => Tech => Topic started by: Philly Q on June 19, 2008, 11:13:27 AM

Title: Anyone know how to engrave scratchplate material?
Post by: Philly Q on June 19, 2008, 11:13:27 AM
Once I've (hopefully) cleared out the guitars I'm selling at the moment, I was thinking about pimping my Mira with a tortoiseshell scratchplate and truss rod cover in place of the black ones.

Thing is, I'd really like to still have the "Mira" logo on the trussrod cover, but I have no idea how to do that.  I could try scratching it in but it would, inevitably, look shitee.  And I'd probably go through too many layers and end up with white bits and black bits. :(

I was wondering if there might be some kind of Dremel attachment which could do the job, but even then how would you get a uniform depth of cut?

Any ideas?
Title: Anyone know how to engrave scratchplate material?
Post by: badgermark on June 19, 2008, 11:21:43 AM
How about asking at a place that does engraving? Like a jewlers or key cutting place? They might look at you funny, but if you tell them the thickness you want cut I'm sure they could acommodate you.
Title: Re: Anyone know how to engrave scratchplate material?
Post by: kevincurtis on June 19, 2008, 11:29:04 AM
Quote from: Philly Q


Thing is, I'd really like to still have the "Mira" logo on the trussrod cover, but I have no idea how to do that.  I could try scratching it in but it would, inevitably, look shitee.  And I'd probably go through too many layers and end up with white bits and black bits. :(


Any ideas?


I reckon a decent penknife would get that done no problems ;)

By the by - the Potbelly is a gorgeous guitar, if only I had £400 to spare :(
Title: Re: Anyone know how to engrave scratchplate material?
Post by: Philly Q on June 19, 2008, 11:40:27 AM
Quote from: kevincurtis
I reckon a decent penknife would get that done no problems ;)

 :lol:  :lol:  :lol:

Haha, I asked for that one, didn't I!

Quote from: kevincurtis
By the by - the Potbelly is a gorgeous guitar, if only I had £400 to spare :(

Haven't you got any children you could sell?
Title: Anyone know how to engrave scratchplate material?
Post by: MrBump on June 19, 2008, 11:49:34 AM
Dremmels are pretty good for that kinda stuff - I made my entire scratchplate with one.  I think you can get a tool for engraving.
Title: Anyone know how to engrave scratchplate material?
Post by: kevincurtis on June 19, 2008, 11:53:08 AM
It was too good a setup to resist!

'Unfortunately' we are expecting our first child in October...so, far from having any to sell, we are currently spending out good GAS money on things for the prospective junior (and there are soooo many things I could buy at the moment!). I want to put a sad face here...but that wouldn't be true! Otherwise I would have bitten your hand off for it!
Title: Anyone know how to engrave scratchplate material?
Post by: Jonny on June 19, 2008, 11:53:26 AM
If you dremelled it, you could always color it with gold ink, so you don't see the black and white.
Title: Anyone know how to engrave scratchplate material?
Post by: Philly Q on June 19, 2008, 12:01:48 PM
Quote from: MrBump
Dremmels are pretty good for that kinda stuff - I made my entire scratchplate with one.  I think you can get a tool for engraving.

That's interesting - and going off-topic on my own topic  :roll: - which Dremel tools did you use for making the scratchplate?  

I have a Dremel but hardly ever use it, the couple of times I tried I couldn't figure out which bits/heads to use for what.  And they were forever breaking.  I think it's a piece of sh!t to be honest, but that may be a bad workman blaming his tools.  :roll:

I've made quite a few scratchplates but always with really basic tools like little hacksaws and files.  Which works fine, but takes forever - and it's a real pain in the arse trying to put a bevel on a concave curve (convex ones are fine)!!
Title: Anyone know how to engrave scratchplate material?
Post by: FELINEGUITARS on June 19, 2008, 12:14:26 PM
A decent engravers with a CNC  machine could do it for you
Supply the logo as the right kind of computer file and you could get it done
Title: Anyone know how to engrave scratchplate material?
Post by: MrBump on June 19, 2008, 12:29:05 PM
Quote from: Philly Q
Quote from: MrBump
Dremmels are pretty good for that kinda stuff - I made my entire scratchplate with one.  I think you can get a tool for engraving.

That's interesting - and going off-topic on my own topic  :roll: - which Dremel tools did you use for making the scratchplate?  

I have a Dremel but hardly ever use it, the couple of times I tried I couldn't figure out which bits/heads to use for what.  And they were forever breaking.  I think it's a piece of sh!t to be honest, but that may be a bad workman blaming his tools.  :roll:

I've made quite a few scratchplates but always with really basic tools like little hacksaws and files.  Which works fine, but takes forever - and it's a real pain in the arse trying to put a bevel on a concave curve (convex ones are fine)!!


I used the diamond circular saw thingy...  It went so fast, and was so sharp that I hardly needed to tidy up the edges at all.

As for beveling the edges, the sanding attachment did that perfectly on mine.

Loads of nasty fumes from the melting plastic though...  gave my a headache...

Mark.
Title: Anyone know how to engrave scratchplate material?
Post by: Philly Q on June 19, 2008, 12:56:12 PM
Quote from: FELINEGUITARS
A decent engravers with a CNC  machine could do it for you
Supply the logo as the right kind of computer file and you could get it done

Do you think they'd accept a tiny little order like that?  It seems like putting them to a lot of trouble for a one-off.

What do you do on something like JT's Preacher truss cover?
Title: Anyone know how to engrave scratchplate material?
Post by: Philly Q on June 19, 2008, 12:57:32 PM
Quote from: MrBump
Loads of nasty fumes from the melting plastic though...  gave my a headache....

Don't like the sound of that!  Fortunately that doesn't happen with hand tools.
Title: Anyone know how to engrave scratchplate material?
Post by: MrBump on June 19, 2008, 01:03:28 PM
Quote from: Philly Q
Quote from: MrBump
Loads of nasty fumes from the melting plastic though...  gave my a headache....

Don't like the sound of that!  Fortunately that doesn't happen with hand tools.


No, none too pleasant.

Also, because of the material, eye protection is probably a good idea.
Title: Anyone know how to engrave scratchplate material?
Post by: badgermark on June 19, 2008, 01:23:43 PM
Quote from: Philly Q
Quote from: FELINEGUITARS
A decent engravers with a CNC  machine could do it for you
Supply the logo as the right kind of computer file and you could get it done

Do you think they'd accept a tiny little order like that?  It seems like putting them to a lot of trouble for a one-off.

What do you do on something like JT's Preacher truss cover?


i said that in the first reply! Totally ignored. Is it cos my hair isn't long and curly? Well? That's discrimination that is.
Title: Anyone know how to engrave scratchplate material?
Post by: Twinfan on June 19, 2008, 01:28:36 PM
Phil - I think you may be able to order the parts from PRS?  I'd get in touch with a dealer and see if you can order them.  That's a much better option in my opinion.

I know my dealer offered to get me tortie parts if I wanted them as mine came with black ones.
Title: Anyone know how to engrave scratchplate material?
Post by: Philly Q on June 19, 2008, 01:54:04 PM
Quote from: Twinfan
Phil - I think you may be able to order the parts from PRS?  I'd get in touch with a dealer and see if you can order them.  That's a much better option in my opinion.

I know my dealer offered to get me tortie parts if I wanted them as mine came with black ones.

Yeah, I don't know why I didn't think of that  :oops: !  I wonder if they'd charge vastly over the odds?  Worth asking I guess.
Title: Anyone know how to engrave scratchplate material?
Post by: ToneMonkey on June 19, 2008, 02:15:41 PM
You could see if there's a trophy engaver in the yellow pages, I seem to remeber one doing a little plaque for one of my old mans models.  It was a long time ago but I think they used something along the lines of a key cutting machine.

You could also build a little jig with the dremel on one end to follow the lines of the original.  Obviously more work, but I'm sure it could be done fairly easily.
Title: Anyone know how to engrave scratchplate material?
Post by: donovan.x on June 19, 2008, 09:40:13 PM
Philly Q. I have a good friend who makes awesome custom scratchplates. he has made me 2, one of which is going on the Jackson I posted a while ago and he has done me 2 truss rod covers. This would be a doddle for him.

dapomatic3000@tiscali.co.uk

That is his email address, tell him I sent you.

Phil.
Title: Anyone know how to engrave scratchplate material?
Post by: Philly Q on June 19, 2008, 09:57:40 PM
:)  Cheers Phil, I'll keep a note of that - not planning to do anything just yet so I don't want to put the wheels in motion then change my mind.

Don't suppose you have any pics of the stuff he's made you, out of interest?
Title: Anyone know how to engrave scratchplate material?
Post by: donovan.x on June 19, 2008, 10:34:12 PM
I will post something tomorrow.
Title: Anyone know how to engrave scratchplate material?
Post by: gamesandy135 on June 20, 2008, 02:15:38 PM
Phil, you've really got me interested in all this!
 I spent a while drawing some designs for a les paul guard, then ended up with one very similar to the headstock design of an Epiphone Sheraton.
I'd be interested to see these designs as well donovanx.
Title: Anyone know how to engrave scratchplate material?
Post by: donovan.x on June 20, 2008, 08:49:24 PM
Here we go then guy's. The darker areas of the flame are a graduating red over spray, which isn't done any justice in the photo's.
Enjoy.
Title: Anyone know how to engrave scratchplate material?
Post by: Philly Q on June 20, 2008, 08:53:18 PM
:o  :o

Wow, that looks great!  So is the design engraved then painted in the engraving?  And what material is it made of?
Title: Anyone know how to engrave scratchplate material?
Post by: donovan.x on June 20, 2008, 09:17:43 PM
He painted it first and then engraved the scratchplate (which he also made for me) he used aliminium for material but he uses all sorts of materials.
Title: Anyone know how to engrave scratchplate material?
Post by: gamesandy135 on June 21, 2008, 07:33:09 AM
Hey, that does look good.
I may just give this friend of yours an e-mail.  Black Les Paul guard (Epi) with a gold engraving like the Epi Sheraton headstock, awesome.