| Here's the design. I took more time and actually did a fairly comprehensive design myself, but Zach still computerized it for me. I wanted it to be flowery, but not confusing, and not be specifically oriented in any direction. To me, the lines are vine-like structures growing from the tree in the corner, and are constantly moving around and over each other. | |
| I traced the design's cutout onto my sheet of brass, and brought it to a machine shop. They got it ready for me within a few days, and were fairly accurate with the cuts. | |
| Here's the guard after the toner transfer, but before I cleaned it up. The white parts on the curly Q's and such are bits of plastic that I had to scrape off with a needle. Make sure to get rid of them, as they will act like the mask. | |
| Here's the same thing after I painted it and took the plastic off. Because I had to paint so much of it, a lot of the edges came out a bit uneven. This doesn't matter to me, as I wanted a vintage look, and the crevices that it left hold a little bit of paint. | |
| Just a shot of the setup before I did anything. That color for the solution is perfect, go for it. Also, you can see the cathode I used in the corner. It covered the surface area of the plate fairly well and evenly. | |
| Here, the etching is in progress. The bubbles are hydrogen gas, and this time it bubble much more than the last. After about 15 minutes, the bubbles formed a pretty thick foam on top that I stirred away when I wanted access to the piece. | |
| The plate before I cleaned it off... | |
| ...And after. With a bit more scrubbing, all of the toner came off as well. | |
| If you click on the image you can see the detail in the etch. It's uneven where it was protected because of the paint, but the unprotected areas are flawlessly even. | |
| Here is the plate after I drilled most of the guide holes in it. I'll use these holes to start sawing, which I did by hand for the pickup and switch holes. Also, make sure the holes you drill for the knobs and such are big enough, I had to expand these later. | |
| This is my sawing setup. I'm using a Jeweler's saw with #8 blades. The "Bur Life" on the chair is wax to keep the saw lubricated. | |
| Here's a closeup of the sawing process. It's slow going, but guide holes make good checkpoints. | |
| After I cut out all the holes, it looked like this: | |
| This is the difference between clean and tarnished brass. The tarnished part is dull and more yellow, but after a quick polish, it's bright and clear. | |
| I painted it with flat black primer that I bought in an automotive store. | |
| Now that the paint's dry, it looks like a black plastic pickguard, but it isn't, I assure you. | |
| Here's my proof. I used Q-tips soaked in acetone (nail polish remover) to take off the paint. Don't worry if you get acetone on the paint you don't mean to take off. As long as it is still on the metal, the lacquer will cover that flaw. | |
| Here it is with all of the paint removed on the raised spots. I couldn't be happier with it. | |
| And after some lacquer, it's shiny and impervious to tarnish. Now I get to assemble it and my guitar! |