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Another Mother of Pearl signature logo

Malc2098

Malc2098

Sequoia
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Location
Tiverton
Name
Malcolm
A mate of mine commissioned a copy of a Les Paul guitar from China to his own specs and when it arrived, it had a manufacturer's logo on it that was indeed fraudulent.

He upped the spec of of the pickups and one or two other bits and absolutely loves the way it plays and sounds. he currently plays with a group of like mined souls playing 80's covers, but with a couple of 70s thrown in for good measure, e.g Hocus Pocus.

Anyway, having seen my signature logos, he asked me if I could do his and therefore cover the fraudulent logo.

He signed his signature on A4 with a felt tip and, took a photo and sent it to me.

A K Denne.jpeg

I imported that image into my CAD/CAM software and traced it.

Screenshot 2022-12-09 at 17.16.21.png

He was happy with that, but asked if I could elongate the letter K, which I did.

The insertion of his signature into the headstock would obviously not cover the hooky logo, so I recommended inlaying the MoP into a piece of ebony (now we're at the woodworking bit), which would the make it easier for me to pocket the ebony into the headstock.

AKD Ebony Ellipse and sig pocket Straight minus one lower.png

More to follow..
 
Nice. No.I son has a genuine Les Paul with a signature on the finger plate, one G Moore - Rob
 
So, he chose what sort of Mother of Pearl he wanted, I ordered it and it arrived 42mmx22mmx0.52mm.

I glued it to a piece of pdf with Titebond hide glue, so that I could release it afterwards with water and heat.

1A920888-3B61-4C3E-B56C-59E913707049_1_201_a.jpeg

Fixed to the CNC and press start.

[youtubessl]7piWvakJqp8[/youtubessl]https://youtu.be/7piWvakJqp8


Some member might like to reduce audio volume because the sped up cnc spindle might remind them of a bad time at the dentist!
 
I sourced a piece of ebony from my stash of instrument bridge stock.

Spoiler alert! Turn yer volume down!

[youtubessl]V-YWKzaS_Hs[/youtubessl]https://youtu.be/V-YWKzaS_Hs

After a couple of 0.05mm offsets, it dropped in.

90F95961-EC17-4F52-8940-C136FAD022DA.jpeg

Then the ellipse profile was machined.

[youtubessl]kls-qKCYoBk[/youtubessl]https://youtu.be/kls-qKCYoBk

Then after securing underneath with clear CA glue, any gap filling was done with black CA glue.

D228E983-0F3A-4FD5-B661-779D297ECBBB_1_201_a.jpeg

There were still a few tiny bubble holes around the MoP and these were filled along with any pores with pore filling resin.
 
The next bit was tricky. How do I set the headstock up on the spoilboard of the cnc, what with its rake angle and locating the ellipse exactly to cover the errant logo.

We took measurements, we carbon traced the headstock, photoed the headstock, imported it into the software, registering everything from the centre line, as you do. Only trouble was, nothing was regular! The tuner holes were nothing like equidistant from the centre line.

I made my best estimation from measurements and made a jig with threaded inserts the width apart of the centres of the top two tuner holes. And the 'job' zero point was at the centre top of the jig.

I set it up on the cnc and routed the ellipse pocket. Then, after I sanded off the bottom 0.1mm of the machined ellipse to remove it from the stock, I dropped the ebony ellipse in the pocket.

8E272A92-C63B-4C73-A4AC-CBDC1DA93DBC.jpeg

So, bite the bullet time. Lay the headstock on the secured jig and secure it with M5 bolts and cork washers to avoid crimping the headstock finish, and lay the guitar on a workmate all bathed in swaddling bands.

PXL_20221205_120224013.MP.jpg

OK. We hadn't wrapped the blankets round the body at this point, but we did. Note the digital level box to ensure it was level with the spoil board in the x and y axes. Was it 'eck as like!

Oh, well. In for a penny.

[youtubessl]88qMIfQvOb8[/youtubessl]https://youtu.be/88qMIfQvOb8

Please excuse the camera movement. He was quite excited while he was filming it. Anyway this is how it looked after dropping the ellipse in.

PXL_20221205_125301364.MP.jpg

Then after all that, the whole set up seemed about 0.5mm out which resulted in the very tip of the tail of the first letter of the hooky logo still being visible. We tried covering it with sharpie and other ink, but it seemed more obvious, so we decided to leave it as part of the instrument's history.

He wanted a satin finish, so after doing the usual clear and black CA glue approach to securing and gap filling, rubbing back level, I gave it a few coats of nitrocellulose and rubbed it back to 12000 micro mesh.

He loves it and that MoP really sparkles in the light.

3D9EC9E6-1FF3-4F22-8ACF-3F112177A557.jpeg
 
Fascinating to see the level of patience and attention to detail required. CNC work is definitely not the same as "push a button and the machine does everything"!

Also interesting to see that a Chinese knock-off can be made into a good guitar.
 
Andyp":sjzzj2ws said:
I bet you and your mate are well pleased with that.
Click to expand...

Well pleased, thanks, Andy. I'm not so pleased with my spray finish, because I'm still learning.
 
Mike G":2xdnpt3c said:
Blimey, that was nerve wracking!
Click to expand...


You're telling me, Mike!!

I told him that I was only going to do it if he was there, too, while the guitar was on the machine. We did dummy runs with no cutter in the spindle to make sure as best we could that everything would end up in the right place.

It was only 0.5mm out and that was down to Chinese tolerances. :D
 
AndyT":3fuo3pnl said:
Fascinating to see the level of patience and attention to detail required. CNC work is definitely not the same as "push a button and the machine does everything"!

Also interesting to see that a Chinese knock-off can be made into a good guitar.
Click to expand...

Thanks, Andy. Yes, a lot of thought has to go into the design of a piece, its tool, its toolpaths, feeds and speeds…I could go on.

He specified to the Chinese company that he wanted a one piece body and a one piece neck. Normally the bodies are two piece, and sometimes the necks, like those that I've made, are scarf jointed at the headstock. He really likes the way it plays and sounds, now he's fitted higher spec pickups.

It seems the Chinese can make whatever you want, so long as you specify exactly what that is. If you want cheap copies, that's what you get. If you want something of high quality and pay for it, you get it.
 
The axe in action in a barn recorded on an iPhone.

[youtubessl]cAsZ_VmtT4M[/youtubessl]
 
I bet that last bit meets the definition of increased pucker factor!

Nice job Malcolm.

Can I ask what you use as pore filing resin please?
 
have you thought about doing this for other people? I would like a MOP logo for my guitars and don't have the machines or time really to learn how to do it, and would rather pay somebody else to do it for me.
 
thetyreman":woo8xxio said:
have you thought about doing this for other people? I would like a MOP logo for my guitars and don't have the machines or time really to learn how to do it, and would rather pay somebody else to do it for me.
Click to expand...

Ben, I'm flattered that you think I could professionally provide you with a service. But I am completely amateur, self taught, I am retired, nor am I set up as a business. My mate asked me as a favour, and I get my lounge ceiling re-plastered by him in a few months when I decorate it. And it was blooming' nerve-racking setting the guitar up and 'hoping' everything would fit. As you saw it didn't. That isn't something I would want to be paid for. I'm sorry.

I don't know if there are any luthier workshops out there that would do this. Certainly in the US more are using cnc machines. I don't know about the UK industry and if there is much take up of cnc use to supplement instrument building and modification work. I just entered 'guitar modification cnc uk' into a search engine and I found two straightaway, and the first advertised inlay work. So there are firms out there that would take on that work.

I've also got another favour on the go after Christmas for another mate and this is delaying all my own hobby work. ;)
 
Nice.

Interesting vid of the guitar in action too. He's good. Do you know what amp he is using? Amp and pedals influence sound a lot. Hocus Pocus is not at all easy. Jan Akkerman was / is a virtuoso player who most guitarists admire. His acoustic version of Hocus Pocus on You Tube is well worth watching to see the complexity he is capable of.

Really impressed by the CNC inlays Malc.
 
AJB Temple":2s1q3uff said:
Nice.

Interesting vid of the guitar in action too. He's good. Do you know what amp he is using? Amp and pedals influence sound a lot. Hocus Pocus is not at all easy. Jan Akkerman was / is a virtuoso player who most guitarists admire. His acoustic version of Hocus Pocus on You Tube is well worth watching to see the complexity he is capable of.

Really impressed by the CNC inlays Malc.
Click to expand...

Thanks, Adrian.

BTW, I forgot to mention, Jan Ackerman is his wife's cousin.
 
Ah, there we go.

I used to play this in a band years ago. Always loved the track.
 
As a matter of interest Malc, once he has paid for a high quality Chinese Les Paul copy, and bought high end handwound humbucker pickups, quality pots, bridge and fitted presumably Grover tulip tuners ?, does he save anything versus buying a genuine Gibson Les Paul? I don't know how much they are now mind you.

Just looked on the Andertons web site and they range from £2k for the base model to around £8k for the Custom Shopped ones. He will definitely make a massive saving versus a tricked out and special woods custom shop guitar.
 
very nicely done Malc and whilst it would be possible to do by hand would have been a really difficult thing to achieve, so Id say that your abilities with the CNC are well paid for here.

but I don't want you to get big head, so you should have done an oval inlay to surround the ebony and the grain is running the wrong way. :)

just kidding obviously.
 
AJB Temple":2w1fdik3 said:
As a matter of interest Malc, once he has paid for a high quality Chinese Les Paul copy, and bought high end handwound humbucker pickups, quality pots, bridge and fitted presumably Grover tulip tuners ?, does he save anything versus buying a genuine Gibson Les Paul? I don't know how much they are now mind you.

Just looked on the Andertons web site and they range from £2k for the base model to around £8k for the Custom Shopped ones. He will definitely make a massive saving versus a tricked out and special woods custom shop guitar.
Click to expand...


I think he's done OK.
 
Very impressive Malc. You've clearly got on top of your CNC after an epic build thread. Well done.
 
RogerM":63c5cdou said:
Very impressive Malc. You've clearly got on top of your CNC after an epic build thread. Well done.
Click to expand...

Thanks, Roger. It sill frightens the living daylights out of me! I hold on to the emergency stop button as well as the dust extractor hose every time! :)
 
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