Burberry plaid fabric bass thread

[Meddle]

When I see Burberry, I see;

[Smilodon]

Originally Posted by Meddle

When I see Burberry, I see;

hehe. I don't think they have the same problem in the US. I was thinking exactly the same as you when I first saw this thread, though.

(I have no personal experience. Just something I picked up after hanging out on a British forum for the last ten years.)

[pklima]

LOL, in Eastern Europe it's considered a trendy girly brand. You can't go outside in this weather without seeing at least one woman in a Burberry plaid scarf, though I'm sure most of them are cheap fakes.

I've got the headstock sealed enough that it has a flat surface and the texture of the fabric is completely buried, so it's ready for finishing. The body and pickguard are not quite there yet. This is how things look today:





How to deal with the pickguard screw holes, though? I guess I can't just wait till the pickguard is finished then try to put the screws through, I'll need to cut round holes and remove enough of the fabric for the screw heads, right? I've got some special knives for cutting holes in leather, basically thin pipes with sharpened ends, those could be a good way to make those holes, but should I do it now or wait till the finish is done?

Also, I'm considering spraying the back of the neck black while I'm at it.

[Floyd Eye]

If you're going to cover the pickguard, I think it would have been cool to line it up so as to make it "Invisible".

[pklima]

Yeah, I agree that it would look best if I could get the pickguard pattern lined up perfectly with the body, but there's no way I'd be able to pull that off properly. Maybe once I've done 2 or 3 of these, but not right now.

[Floyd Eye]

Originally Posted by pklima

Yeah, I agree that it would look best if I could get the pickguard pattern lined up perfectly with the body, but there's no way I'd be able to pull that off properly. Maybe once I've done 2 or 3 of these, but not right now.

You could buy another identical shirt couldn't you?

[pklima]

I do have enough material left from a sleeve to do the pickguard again and line it up if I wanted to. I just don't trust my ability to get it lined up properly.

[pklima]

Done with brushing on filler coats, started spraying. First attempt at a burst came out way too wide - I made a burst shield but it looks like I had it too high off the body and sprayed too horizontally, so I sanded most of the black paint off a day later and did it again with the shield lower. I also sprayed the neck in black, and I think I'll do a narrow black burst around the pickguard tomorrow, just to get some more practice at this kind of thing.





I think it's realistic to have it ready for a gig on the 28th?

[bluestarbass]

Could I ask you more about your original idea? I really liked that idea. We're you able to purchase vinyl with that print on it? I'd really like to do a Burberry pickguad. I've done an argyle pickguad before, but I hand painted it.

[pklima]

You should be able to get vinyl printed at a shop which does signs and other advertising materials, but you'll have to tell them what to print. I can send you the png file used for the bass in the first post - it will print well at any scale, PM me if you'd like that. A pickguard will probably be more than enough, haha.

Whether with fabric or vinyl, the hardest part seems to be dealing with the sides and edges and other rounded bits. That's basically why I'm trying to just do the top, pickguard and the top of the headstock now, instead of trying to do the top, back and sides of the body 360 degrees around. Just a pickguard should be easy. You don't need to get vinyl that will stretch over curved surfaces, heat it or anything, just stick it on and trim the edge. The pickguard on the original bass was the part that came out the best by far with no problems.

I'm just taking this way too far... I've also bought a Burberry jacket in a bigger version of the pattern in the classic beige color, now I'm hunting for another bass to cover that with. I'm sure I can make this look much better when I do it again.

[pklima]

Doesn't much look like progress, but I think I'm done spraying. Gonna let this cure for a couple of days, then see how much it will polish.



Edit - one more:

[Big Brother]

Great idea, that is beautiful.

[pklima]

Great idea, mediocre execution, but I'm already planning to do better next time.

[TRyan5289]

Nice job

[pklima]

Started wet-sanding today. Got things smooth, now I gotta sand out the scratches and make them shiny... I haven't done this before so hopefully I'll make it without sanding all the way through the finish and having to go buy another can of clear...

Also bought a Peavey Milestone to be the next victim. Should be in my hands in a couple of weeks, hopefully about the time this one is 100% done.

[SallyGrowler]

How to deal with the pickguard screw holes, though?

cigarette burn would give you a perfect cauterized hole (depending on the integrity of the fabric).
I like what I see so far.

[DwaynieAD]

what did you end up using to:

attach the fabric:

seal the fabric:

clear coat the fabric:

sorry if i missed all those

[pklima]

Originally Posted by DwaynieAD

attach the fabric

Polymer glue, vinyl-based, a Polish domestic brand

Originally Posted by DwaynieAD

seal the fabric

Syntilor nitrocellulose-based sealer, I think that's a Western European brand

Originally Posted by DwaynieAD

clear coat the fabric

Dupli-Color clear gloss spray

[pklima]

Originally Posted by SallyGrowler

cigarette burn would give you a perfect cauterized hole (depending on the integrity of the fabric).

For those screw holes I ended up using something I had laying around for years which I have just discovered is a cork borer set. Never knew what it was really called until today. It looks like this:

[etoncrow]

Too bad you do not have another shirt with the same pattern and color you could wear while you played this bass...maybe on your next one you could buy two shirts.