Refurbished Bass With Custom Cutouts, Wood Burnt Finish and Stained Glass Inserts.

I Grabbed a bass guitar from the tip shop for very cheap, and I wanted to make something different with it. I remember seeing electric violins with weird and wonderful cutouts and holes in them and I wanted to emulate that sort of design. Also I wanted to add something into those cutouts and I thought that stained glass would make a really unique guitar! all that was left to do was put that onto paper.

I used:

• a drill
• a jigsaw
• a blowtorch
• a wire brush
• paint stripper
• varnish
• an angle grinder
• glass paints (Vitria 160)
• and a chisel

Most of these you can find at Bunnings, the glass paint I picked up from a local art store.

Oh. You'll need a guitar too. that may help

The guitar already had a funky bulge in the bottom corner and I wanted to play into that. So I desided to print out a picture of the guitar and sketch the holes i was going to cut. I followed the contour of the body and the pick guard so as to have a pleasing shape.

I used some generic paint stripper to take the paint and varnish off the body. (Remeber to dissaseble the guitar first!). I went through a stack of nitrate gloves, because the stripper just ate through them. I then sanded the body from 60 to 240 grit to get rid of all the stains and leftover stripper. Finally I transfered my design from my sketch to the guitar body and cut it out with a jigsaw, remebering to drill a hole in each of the ares I'm going to cut out so i can fit the jigsaw blade in.

Now its time for the fun bit! To wood burn wood you're going to need a blow torch. Move the flame around slowly, youre going to want a nice equal shade all over the guitar. Heres a couple of tips I found when I did this. try to avoid your edges, they burn quicker and do turn to ash when you hover over them too much. Also, make sure you get rid of all your leftover stripper, Mine turned a yellow colour when it was burned. Dont worry if this happens! You can just sand it down and start again. When you're happy with the colour of your guitar, use a wire brush to scrape off the ash. You'll know when it's done when you touch the body and your hand doesnt turn black.

following the instructions on the varnish I baught, I made 3 coats of varnish on the guitar, with 6 hours wait time to let it set. This leaves a tough exterior and enriches the colour you got with the wood burn.

You have the option here to cut your own stained glass to fit each of the holes, however It was easier for me to repurpose some stained glass from a dresser that was going to be thrown away. After tracing the holes I cut into the guitar into the glass I cut the glass with an angle grinder. Remember to lubricate the glass, otherwise it will crack under the heat and to cut larger than the outline, you can always make in smaller later. To colour the glass I used some glass paints (vitria 160), layered a couple of coats, let them dry in the sun and cooked in the oven (making sure to follow the instructions).

I used a chisel to cut a shelf in the back side of the guitar, so as to fit in the stained glass tightly and securely. Try it often and make sure that you have a snug fit so that it doesnt come out when you play the guitar.

Custom guitar, voila! I'm looking at making my own stained glass to fit into the guitar, so stay tuned for that fun addition!