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A Clockwork Guitar, the Steampunk Stratocaster

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Mon, 01/01/2007 - 00:00 — Jake von Slatt

I have a Fender US Highway One series Stratocaster, which is a half decent guitar, but looks just like a million other Strats.  I had been planning to replace the pick guard with a black mother of pearl guard but my experiments in electrolytic etching made me think I'd like to try something a bit more unique.  Thus the Steampunk Strat was born.

I started by scanning the pick guard and printing out a bunch of copies that I could sketch on until I got the image that I wanted.

Next I carefully traced an outline of the pick guard and begun to draw my image.  The concept was to make the pick guard look like a brass clock escapement with gears, cogs and a flywheel.

 

scanning the pick guard  drawing the escapement for the clockwork guitar
 
Google images was instrumental in finding images of clock escapements I could cadge features from.  Once I had a good drawing I scanned it back into the computer and filled in the black area with the Gimp (a Linux image editor like Paint Shop Pro).  This gave me a mock-up to test on the guitar.

 

google images escapement  paper mockup of steampunk stratocaster


Next step was to cut the brass and to iron a laser printed reverse image on it.  See my article on Electrolytic Etching for the details of that process.

brass pick guard blank
 
There were some gaps and flaws in the toner mask so I touched it up with paint.


Into the copper sulfate bath, I made a nice cathode grid and a new plate holder out of brazing rod for this project.

etching clockwork guitar pick guard  cathode and anode for the etching tank


Mysterious energies etch away the copper and zinc components of the brass.  I love that blue!

blue cogs of mystery


The etched pick guard was cleaned up with steel wool, drilled and the pickup holes cut out.  Then painted with 2 coats of Krylon Ultra Flat Black.

etched fender pickguard  flat black pick guard


After the paint dried overnight I sanded away the high spots, polished it a little with some more steel wool and gave it a couple of  coats of lacquer.

sanding pick guard
 
I painted the pickup covers and knobs with Krylon Plastic Fusion paint and re-assembled the pick guard to the guitar. If you are interesting in making your own, the original artwork can be found here.
 
The Clockwork Steampunk Stratocaster Guitar
The finished Clockwork Steampunk Stratocaster !
Articles:
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Comments

Punkerpan - Sat, 07/26/2008 - 00:13.

good job jake!

gryosium von krieger - Fri, 08/21/2009 - 17:09.

i love what you have done to your strat i would love to something similar please send me the template

swabby1965 - Sun, 12/21/2008 - 18:51.

Now you have an awesome one of a kind Strat. Sweet!

Jake von Slatt - Mon, 12/22/2008 - 10:35.

Actually, I recently sold her to none other then Nathaniel Johnstone of Abney Park!  Rumour has it she has already laid down several smoke'n tracks on the new album!

eL3VEn - Wed, 01/07/2009 - 20:05.

Hello I'm a fan of steampunk as a style and thriving culture and also a huge fan of your site and works, I have a request that if its not to much trouble would be a great help and very much appreciated; I too have a Highway one strat and i love what you have done with yours and i was hoping that i could possible get your template to make my own clockwork strat from your design, I also plan to do a few designs of my own using the technics i have learned from your site but nothing i have drawn has compared to yours in representing the steampunk style. It would be much appreciated.
Thank you for your time.
-Max R. Barton

LonePhantom - Thu, 03/26/2009 - 04:25.

That pickguard is absolutely awesome. I'd love something like that for one of my guitars. I reckon continuing the theme on the rest of the body would be brilliant too.

damnallmyemails - Wed, 04/08/2009 - 14:36.

wow jake man you have a serious cool idea here i wonder do you still have the artwork for this guitar i would love to do this on my strats pickguard but i couldn't find very many gears cogs and wheels and my drawing sucks lol. anyway you have this scan still around and could a brotha use it

ed

jstanfield - Tue, 06/02/2009 - 14:19.

Excellent work Jake!

Where on earth did you get the idea for the copper sulfate bath for the pick guard?

I ask only because I'm working with a company that is producing music instruments, and they're looking for something interesting to do with an aluminum panel aside from painting or covering it in Tolex. I thought of this and wanted to know where you got that idea?

Jake von Slatt - Tue, 06/02/2009 - 16:13.

It's an old process used for making etchings of the print variety, I found most of the best information here: http://www.greenart.info/galvetch/contfram.htm
I've seen aluminum electrolytically etched in salt water with good results as well.

tacamaral - Thu, 06/25/2009 - 23:55.

Man, that's excellent work! Congratulations.

Using your techniques, I have done somethings myself (nothing compared to this guitar, though).

I showed this guitar to a friend of mine who owns a stratocaster and - guess what - he asked to write you asking for the template (as others have done). : )

Is it at all possible?

Thanks a bunch for all the info.

All the best.

Jake von Slatt - Fri, 06/26/2009 - 10:57.

 Sure, drop me an email and I'll send it to you!
Thanks for the kind words!
Jake.

Elduderon - Mon, 06/29/2009 - 10:53.

Man, I Really like your work!

I'm Trying to do the same with one of my guitars, but i can't create a a real good art...
Is there any way you can send me the original that you used in your guitar?
'Cause I just can't draw something as cool as you...

Thanks a Lot for the help, and congrats for the job!

steedy123 - Sun, 07/05/2009 - 20:57.

This is seriously fantastic work Jake. Would you mind if you sent me the template of the full design or something? My love for steampunk grows stronger and stronger the more I see masterpieces like these =)

Ferlo - Sun, 07/26/2009 - 14:37.

I mean, the guitar looks great, but I think you should've used Eastwood Guitar's Airline 2P DLX in Sunburst. It already looks pretty steampunk with the crimson pickguard and all. This is just my opinion. I don't know how hard it would be to acquire a new plain pickguard for it, so in that sense the Strat was a good idea.

bybenjamin - Wed, 09/02/2009 - 17:11.

I came across this page a while back and it inspired me to play around with the process myself. The first time out I was able to create this great self-portrait...
http://www.flickr.com/photos/bybenjamin/3881998038/in/photostream/

I haven't used electricity in the process yet, but I might if only to speed up the process: etching took over two hours.

Thanks for all the photos, information, and inspiration. :D

~Benjamin

Rxyrox - Sun, 09/13/2009 - 12:40.

Jake: Love the etching. Could I get a copy of it e-mailed? Full credit to your "lateral thinking" projects. P.S.: My brother has the same amp cabinet, turned into an amp, but nowhere near as enhanced!!

Rex

saganhill - Mon, 09/21/2009 - 22:12.

Do you sell your work? I would be interested in buying this for my Strat.

Thank you,
SP

doug - Fri, 11/06/2009 - 18:47.

Do you sell your work ?I would be interested to have a steampunk-like telecaster pickguard....
Your work is fantastic it's really amazing ! Thanks

Jake von Slatt - Sun, 11/08/2009 - 17:53.

I don't do commisions but my design are all Creative Commons, Attribution, Share-alike so if you find a local craftsperson to male one for you they are welcome to the original designs.

Cheribean - Thu, 10/06/2011 - 16:18.

Jake

What a great idea! , I have bought a gutair for my son and want to steampunk it for him, can you share your original desgin and I will get on and start steampunking :0)

Cheers

Cheri.

Jake von Slatt - Thu, 10/06/2011 - 16:46.

The original artwork is linked in the article. Send me pics! :)

Jake

Cheribean - Thu, 10/06/2011 - 17:26.

Cheers Jake - I found it.......I'll be sure to post a couple of pics (hopefully all goes well and I dont blow the house up :0) .......

Clockworckbutcher - Fri, 01/22/2010 - 05:02.

This guitar is beautiful than other steampunk guitars I have saw.
Guitar with metal body dosen't sound beutiful.

How much does it all cost with out guitar ?

I have idea to make my black les paul look something like this.
Unfortunately I don't have pickguard on my guitar and my budget is tight.

Les paul pickguard picture

My guitar looks like this

Voltor07 - Tue, 04/10/2012 - 22:54.

Zemaitis made a gorgeous metal guitar in the 70's. Beautiful aluminum with etching.

Andratte - Tue, 01/26/2010 - 15:04.

You do really wonderful work. While I am sure that you have been told that many times, one more wont hurt.

I used your etching guide and have the process down. My question is how did you cut the brass in this shape so perfectly? I understand how you made a guide, but what tools did you use to cut it?

Thanks!

Jake von Slatt - Tue, 01/26/2010 - 15:16.

 A band saw, and then I cleaned up the edges with a belt-sander.

machinecorpse - Mon, 02/15/2010 - 00:54.

Dude,

I love the attention to detail and the industrial revolution feel to the stuff you build and modify. I just finished building a new metal guitar myself. Here is a link if your interested.

http://viewmorepics.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewPicture&friendID=152895653&albumId=1750678

I just discovered your sight today whilst looking for ways to chemically plate copper to iron. I'm so glad I found your sight. I think I'll be making a Wimshurst Machine of my own very soon. Like in the next few days.

Awesome,
Kris Barton
Wasilla, Alaska

DreamHazard - Tue, 04/27/2010 - 12:28.

What strength of copper sulphate is your solution? I can buy it online in crystalline form, but I don't know how much I'd need to use in solution

Jake von Slatt - Tue, 04/27/2010 - 12:54.

The best thing to do is to mix it so that you draw current at the maximum rate your power source can provide. If you use a 12 volt 1 amp power supply (which I advise) then about a teaspoon per quart should suffice.

DreamHazard - Tue, 04/27/2010 - 12:58.

quart? sorry, I'm metric... damn Systeme Internationale lol

where did you draw that conclusion from? I don't understand what you mean by "drawing current"... Surely that would only apply to a half-cell? I was going to hook it up to a car battery charger.

sorry to be so irritating (and British lol)

Jake von Slatt - Tue, 04/27/2010 - 13:16.

There are two pints in a quart - sorry I'm allergic to Metric!  XD

Set everything up with plain water and apply the power. I am assuming that your charger has a meter on it. Mix in a teaspoon at a time until the meter reads 5 amps or so if it is a typically sized charger. If it's a large charger you can go for a higher amperage.  Regardless, even a small amount will work so start small and experiment.

DreamHazard - Tue, 04/27/2010 - 13:23.

ahh, just drop some in and see then! should've just said!

yes, it's a bloody bugger not being able to use proper British measurements, we used to measure it in cups of tea!

Anyway, thanks for that... I'm planning on doing some plates, and maybe a decal for my violin, provided it doesn't sound too bad (I'm guessing it will, but it'll still look cool =D)

insightfool25 - Thu, 08/26/2010 - 16:09.

Hey Jake,

I'm working on a similar project, and I followed the link to the electrolytic ethcing where you discuss the gauge of brass for the notebooks, but I was curious as to the gauge of brass you use on this guitar? I imaging it'd have to be thicker, like 8 gauge or something to more closely simulate the thickness of the original pickguard. Would you mind sharing? Thanks!

Mike

randi - Sun, 10/03/2010 - 23:49.

Really appreciate your splendid work and very nice concept about clockwork steampunk stratocaster guitar. Your work is really like an expert guitar engineer. I would be more than happy to share more ideas with you in this regards and if you would have also mentioned what equipment did you use to cut the brass then that would be great to know because I am also planning to use brass in designing my personal custom guitar. Your cutting is very clean, smooth and really marvelous idea to use iron, with this wide possibility of variations, and the idea of ironing the laser printed reverse image was amazingly devious.

Steve Sims - Mon, 11/15/2010 - 08:42.

Do you have any plans to custom paint the Strat to match? The pick guard is a fantastic idea.

SteamShark - Thu, 12/23/2010 - 12:54.

And is there any way to make a steampunk Warlock?