Thought i'd post my progress on my guitar so far. After I burned the Lichtenberg pattern in, I let it dry for about a week and stained it over the weekend. The water from the pattern caused the grain to come out a bit but i didn't want to sand it to avoid removing some of the finer detals in the pattern. Stain came out alright, though.
I still need to wire it up and install the hardware. The kit I got came with hardware but I might buy new stuff. What it came with is kinda shitty.
These are the pegs for the bridge, which are a real piece of shit. As you can see, one peg is noticeably smaller than the other, and slips in and out of its hole real easy. I think I might just buy a proper bridge.
Also, I had some gold leaf laying around and I thought it would be neat to use it shield the cavities. I know most people use copper tape but I thought this would work just as well. I tested it with a 9v battery and its definitely conductive, so i think it should work well enough. It might not make a difference but no harm in it
looks great, monitoring!
>>955137
wow, that is brilliant, can you go into more detail on your method?
was it just a microwave transformer and vinegar?
for how long etc?
>>955137
Looks awesome. Good job.
Here, I took a video of when I started and turned it into a crappy webm.
>>955162
Yeah, so i did use a microwave transformer. I used a mixture of baking soda and water, about 3 spoonfuls and filled out like 3/4 way. No real science here but i did it the same every time. Then I put a coat on like 2-3 days before doing the burn to let it soak in, i found that letting it soak gives a better result. When I actually did the burn, I put another coat of baking soda mix on. I also filled a little spray bottle with the mixture because I found that the heat from the process dries out the wood and it stops burning. The spray bottle let me control the burn better. Also, occasionally it would catch on fire and burn because i think it had too much water so I would have to turn it off for a bit and let it dry. The clips i used weren't big enough to fit around the guitar, so used some machine clamps and they worked out pretty good.
>>955262
Mind fucking blown.
I tip my welding mask to you sir, your doing good work.
>>955262
That's real fucking cool.
>>955262
Totally stealing this idea for my next guitar.
>>955262
that was awesome thanks
>>955262
What finish/stain did you use one the wood?
>>955302
haha go ahead, its a lot of fun
>>955313
I just used min wax mahogany red and wipe on satin finish. I was worried the moisture from the process would affect the stain but I let it dry for about a week. I even put it in a trashbag with some damp rid because another anon suggested it but I didn't see a huge difference. Hopefully it wont fuck it up later in life
>>955317
That's fucking sick. I'm building a desk from scratch and this is definitely gonna happen.
>>955137
My first time on this board. Seeing this. Damn, pretty cool, OP.
Dumping some pics real quick
>>955377
>>955378
>>955379
>>955381
>>955377
Wow what a difference between this pic and the final product. I'm gonna guess the sanding and staining really cleaned up those burn marks.
>>955382
>>955386
>>955383
I actually didn't sand it after I burned it because I was afraid it would get rid of some of the detail. It was messier even before that pic but I rinsed it a little bit with a some water on a brush. The stain certainly did make a big difference though, especially the satin finish.
>>955387
I fucked up a little bit here. I was trying to make the neck pocket as tight as possible with a shim, but I wound up cracking the wood a bit when i pulled it out. I filled it with wood glue by squeezing as hard as I could into the crack. Hope it doesn't come to bite me in the ass later.
I think of it like my little liberty bell crack.
>>955389
The neck turned out pretty good and its super fucking smooth.
>>955390
>>955391
>>955389
In my experience wood good does an excellent job when properly applied. I think you'll be fine.
Also good to know about the non-sanding.
ty anon, ive never seen lichtenberg figures made before and nw i have a new experiment in my near future.
love the interwebs
pic is some of my electric shenanigans
>>955411
please tell me those logs are inoculated with shiitake?
>>955262
Can't wait for all the anon's to kill themselves trying this.
>>955137
I want do something similar, but for room decoration. Was thinking three 90mm x 90mm x 1.5mm wood sheet with lichenberg etching and then glued to thin canvas to be spaced apart by about 15mm across my place.
>>955485
Yeah, that's not a bad idea. I did all my testing on this plank of mahogany and it looks pretty cool, I might use it as decoration.
pic is right after i tested it, so its still wet. I stained it later but it looks about the same just a little less shiny.
>>955411
What am I looking at here?
>>955513
It appears to be electroplating. Could be wrong though.
>>955137
That is sexy as FUCK, anon. Bravo.
really fucking cool.
I've been toying with the idea of buying an SG kit and doing something like this.
even more motivated now.
those kits are a bit expensive though.
i could get a used epiphone sg for the same price maybe.
do you think i could sand it down and get good results?
>>955137
This is my fetish. I just ordered a transformer to do this a few days ago. Should be here today!
QUESTION:
I have a TIG/MMA welder.
If I put the return at one end of the wood
and the clamp for holding the rod at the other
wet the wood with baking-soda/water mix and turned it on.
Would I get this effect? Or would I get deaded?
>>955670
i believe a welding psu is the exact opposite of what you want for this task.
low voltage, high current into wood?
my estimate is that absolutely nothing will happen.
aren't welding supplies at single digit voltages and close to a hundred amps?
We did this to a bunch of 10' boards at my maker space to hand on the walls in the entryway a year or so back. I'll see if I can find a picture. Twin Cities Maker.
![lobby_woodwall[1].jpg](https://i.imgur.com/echPQ3h.jpg "lobby_woodwall[1].jpg")
>>955753
Had to go back to 2014 I guess.
![lobby_lightningwood[1].jpg](https://i.imgur.com/PhaCEDW.jpg "lobby_lightningwood[1].jpg")
>>955755
>>955711
I have no idea about the maths and numbers, but you where right, FUck all happend.
>>955759
You want high voltage to do this, so get a transformer out of a microwave or a neon sign or something.
>burning and stressing wood that's going to be tension
>>955513
My house has a rustic feel, so it'd do nicely. I'd imagine you got those deeply ingrained burns and patterns from spraying while it was on. That's a bit ballsy.
I didn't want to use the plastic pickguard the kit came with so I decided to cut one out of steel with a plasma. It looks pretty cool imo. Its a little rough, so I'm definitely going to have to beautify it.
I was thinking about doing some fancy engraving shit but it actually looks pretty good like this. I think I'll also do the cavity cover like this too.
>>955969
Yeah, I had the thing running for like 45 minutes. I'm sure the electric bill is going up.
>>955916
I don't think it'll be a problem. Its not that much burning. Plus I didn't do it anywhere near the neck. It would be funny if it just snapped when i put the strings on tho
>>955262
ive wanted to do stuff like this but its surprisingly hard for me to get a microwave transformer around here
>>955513
That would make a nice ass bench bro
>>956460
Try checking thrift stores near you or any kind of e-waste. I got three microwaves that way for really cheap
>>955262
Dayum son
>>955139
you should.
my recommendation is a roller bridge. and I'd recommend gotoh tuners. you should keep well in tune with that combo. any thoughts on you pickups yet? I assume PAFs.
I had wanted to do 57 classics in bridge and 57 classic plus in the neck. This is an inversion of gibson's standard configuration when using these two... usually it's the other way around. But I felt the neck pickup could use the slightly higher output.
>>955142
gold is slightly less conductive than copper but does not tarnish.
I can see the steel pick guard affecting some negative effects on tone but I don't know for sure what will happen. I have a suspicion it could create more feedback than usual. try it though.
>>955262
neat
>>955389
this could be a major problem. if it affects the neck angle or camber you could be in real trouble. I think you need to laterally clamp and glue to be reasonably sure no problems will come out later. It's probably too late now if you stained it. Worth it to go back and fix if you ask me.
shield your pickup cavities as well is my recommendation.
>>955317
the trash bag thing is smart for drying wood. They use this in pottery to let the clay slowly dessicate before firing. For just hitting the surface with a spray bottle though it shouldn't be necessary. Air dry should be totally fine in that case.
>>956460
>mfw meet friend yesterday
>"microwave fucked up yesterday, keeps tripping out electric so got a new one"
>I NEED A MICROWAVE
Stripped it and got the transformer out, don't know what to do next. How to wire the plug back on and where to connect wires.
Anyone got a link to how they wire up, or video?
>>956738
>doesn't know how to wire a transformer to the mains.
please dont kill yourself.
don't do this
>>956891
I mean I had to cut the plug out of the microwave,
there's two wires coming from the trans and I know you just take up the earth on the plug.
Other end of trans;
bottome coil cut and tape the ends
top coil is one end
and then connect a wire the the base of the trans and put that at the other end of the wood
once all connected up, then you plug it in, when finished you unplug it before even touching anything.
>>956891
You think i'de throw water on it if anything caught fire?
I'm not a retard, I just dont do electronics of any kind
>>956894
then try something less lethal before doing this mate.
I'm not calling you a retard, I'm just aware that this could easily kill you^^
>>956897
Such as?
I don't want to get into electronics, I just want to be able to produce this effect in wood, I make furniture and metal art work, sometimes containing wood.
>>956020
Looks great op. Idk about the pickguard, but make it gunmetal and I might change my mind.
Got some stuff over here to test out. Variable power supply, busted microwave or alternatively igniter. I'm also waiting on an ebonizing solution. Thanks for the thread and inspiration.
>>955916
he didn't use the bridge screws as electrodes, burn holes through the neck, or light up the scarf joint of a gibson
Almost done here. I did something wrong with the wiring, because the bridge volume knob doesn't affect the bridge pickup. I suspect it has something to do with the selector switch. Otherwise, the guitar plays reallly well and is a real joy to play. Last thing is to finish the cavity plate and it'll be done for now.
>>956689
I'll definitely upgrade my stuff once I graduate and start making money. Tuners would probably be the first thing, cause the ones here are a real piece of shit.
As for pickups, thinking about BKP Holy Divers. They're expensive but I like the way they sound. On the other hand, I might get Seymour Duncan JBs or something. I've never bought custom pickups before though, so I'm not an expert or anything
I already had roller tuners on order though because they're awesome. Thanks for the recommendation though.
Also, I gave up on using gold foil to shield the cavities. It was such a pain in the ass to use the stuff holy shit. I'll come back and use conductive paint when I buy new pickups.
>>957680
Looks amazing!
I'm not quite sure, but I think you can just use aluminium foil instead of gold foil, as long as you connect all the pieces to each other and to the ground wire.
>>957680
>shield the cavities
you are using humbuckers and shielded wire, right?
do you need to shield? i didn't.
very cool stuff!
I'm not really feeling that pickguard, honestly.
>>957906
No, you're right. It's not totally necessary, which is why I gave up with the gold foil lol. I'll probably never do it desu.
>>958179
There's no real point in using gold foil for shielding. It's about half as conductive as copper and it's main advantage, non-oxidizing, is not a concern for shielding.
>>955670
I don't think it would. But if you pump DC into the part, it's a pretty good way to derust/descale ferrous metals.
>>957680
best thread in /diy/ in years
thanks anon
>>957677
looks good. if you don't mind, on an unrelated note my dad used to make guitars. So he had one that was 99% finished but he needed a lower action bridge. ordered up a golden age roller bridge for him. I proceeded to use a bolt with a washer over a small section of pvc pipe over several layers of masking tape to extract the bridge bushings. basically used the tension of screwing into the bushing to pull it out so I could replace with new bushing with different thread and screw size. anyhow first one I did came out no problem albeit a little finessing since it is hard to pull. My dad had somehow locked a brass machine screw into the other bushing. I have no idea why. Anyway I asked him what he wanted me to do about it. he takes some pliers and breaks it off at the base for me. we decide to drill out the screw at this point. goes off center and we have an off center hole now in the bushing. dad thinks he'll just pull it off with wire cutters. proceeds to tear up the finish on that side. No change. finally I tell him to get a wood screw into the hole and use my method once it locks into the drilled hole (which it does). instead he gets a sort of vice and tries to lever it off the unprotected body itself leaving deep swirling dents where he did this and taking off a large amount of paint and clear coat (it was a finished guitar that just needed a new bridge). He basically ruined his own guitar because he's a fucking maniac. started taking a hammer to try and knock off the bushing from the side (why I don't know) and hit the pickup ring deforming it bad. It's always the same with him. overtighten bolts so they strip... mangling components... fucking destroying everything he touches. it fucking drives me nuts. And of course I don't know anything. My bushing was easy to pull he says. I hate hate hate working with people like him. Everything with him makes a 15 minute job a 3 or 4 hour clusterfuck. I'm so pissed off right now.
>>958924
the worst thing too is telling someone exactly what is going to happen, they don't listen to a word you say, then they make some excuse why it couldn't have turned out any other way.
>>959558
yeah, which is great, except i'm a guitarfag and i'm planning on doing this exact thing.
not that i need another guitar.
>>959626
hehe, I see your point.
I'm a tube fag, not that i need another tube amp.
I'd like to do this to, on an SG or LP kit maybe... or maybe on my synthrack?
>>959626
What if we put tubes on a guitar
>>959682
might be able to burn those lichtenberg patterns into your skin after you smash it on stage and 150 VDC makes good electrical contact with your balls on the follow-through.
>>958203
>shielding material
Can confirm. Rubber cement and aluminum foil silenced a single coil guitar of mine in a noisy room (monitors, florescent lights and shit).
>>959682
I've got some nuvistors. They put those in Neumann U47s. Pretty good mics I hear.
