Dedicated to the craft of lutherie, the making of string instruments, and all those who practice it, admire it, or wish to learn about it.
This is a build from several years back. The body is chambered walnut sandwiched between Brazilian rosewood that was not useable for an acoustic guitar. I made the pickup rings, switch mount, and truss rod cover from copper and silver dust. It's not all polished up because I have played daily for almost five years.
Nice build. I really thought about using Alumimtone pickups on my current build, but ultimately went with something else. I really wish I could give them a shot IRL instead of relying on YouTube videos.I love the way they look.
Hey, welcome!
Thanks for sharing, this is awesome. I've never heard about making stuff from metal dust, what kind of process does that take?
Also what pickups are those? The covers on them look great.
The pickups are Lace Alumitones. They are ultra-quiet and articulate pickups and have no wire coils. The polished aluminum bar that you see is the conductor of the electromagnet. I also wired a ghost pickup system into the bridge.
I cut the pickup rings out of sheets of copper and melted silver dust into them. This gives a discoloration from the heat and splashes of silver on the copper substrate. I have been silversmithing for a few decades, but woodworking is always a challenge for me. When you mess up, you can't just melt it down and start over.
That's awesome. Thanks so much for sharing!