Building a Steampunk guitar

[JimR]

Hi there, first post!

I have been fascinated by Steampunk for some time and now I finally had some time to try out my ideas building a Steampunk inspired guitar from parts.

I am in the middle of the build now, lots of details have been texture-painted, the wood has been antique-aged and some details have been mounted. I'm still looking for ideas for the upper left part of the body (must be flush with the surface to be playable) and for the head of the neck.





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/JimR

[SeVeNeVeS]

Hi there JimR and welcome aboard the good ship BG.

Like it! Uuuum, just a personal thing, not too sure about them clock gears.............

Do keep us posted on any updates.

[Lunajammer]

Then surely you're familiar with Tony Cochran's work. I think his stuff is so superb it transcends musical instruments and I use his pics to inspire me in other steampunk areas. A true artist, check out his site.

https://www.tonycochranguitars.com/guitars-for-sale.html

[J. Wilhelm]

I agree with Mr. Seveneves on the gears, I'd they're not attached yet, try to find something else. I really like the tail piece assembly /bridge /saddles in that finish, and the plate you used.

[JimR]

Thank you guys, I am considering other options as well on the gears (probably shouldn't have glued the small ones...)

Yeah, I have seen lots of great designs on Pinterest and the best ones always comes from Cohran!

Here's a status pic, I had strings on it for the first time yesterday and it needs a lot of setup work before it plays like my other guitars.



/Jim

[frances]

There is a song that we like about sticking gears on things and calling it steampunk.  Love how it is going - but I agree with the others on the gears.

[Mercury Wells]

I also agree about the gears, sorry about that.

I have few ideas, re:- the gears. So I'll be back some time later, after some research.

Hope you don't mind? 

[Deimos]

How have you attached the gears?
If you mar the surface in removing them, you can find something else to cover that spot.
You will need to put something there just to fill in the open space.
There are a lot of vintage mechanical (and electrical) things that would be appropriate.
Just as an example try this place:
https://vintagewireandsupply.com/
 

[Banfili]

Love the concept, and like the others, if the gears have no purpose, leave 'em off!
I'm more an acoustic person myself, and I make my own strumstick-type instruments - haven't 'punked any up yet, but I'm thinking about it!

[Kensington Locke]

I have a Squire Strat in disassemblage, waiting for the stars and parts to align...

Looking at Cochran's work, I saw maybe two gears (on two separate guitars).  I'm not absolutely against gears on a piece, they can signal a mechanical affinity.  But if they look tacked on, that's a buzz kill.  If there'd been a cutaway revealing part of a hear, and perhaps some other mechanism (like a ratchet arm working the notches), that'd sell it.

I think the stapled together look was brilliant, playing on that flesh theme would be a smart. Anything to build on that hybridization of flesh molded to technology would fit the existing motif better than the gears.

For my own project, I'd love to get a copper or brass pickguard (discarding the lightning thing I bought 12 years ago when I was looking to rebuild a crappy squire).

I'm also thinking of knobs that look like valve handles or something "larger".  Putting something like an mechnical switching arm for the pick-up selector.  And maybe a wooden knob on the end of the whammy bar.

It's also be cool to swap out the knobs on the tuning pegs for skeleton keys or something

Just some examples of alternate parts.  A new idea hit me while scrolling back to your pics.  Modify the guitar cable plug so it looks like an old-timey syringe (with the needle being the plug).  That would look wicked and fit with the biological nature of the the frankenstein appearance of patchwork skin.

Anything that harkens back to older, rugged onbjects, rather than a modern electric guitar.

[Lunajammer]

Just as an example try this place:
https://vintagewireandsupply.com/
 

Hey, thanks for posting this link! I've been looking for a site like that, I should have checked back to this thread sooner.