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Make an armrest nearly invisible
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DetlefMichel |
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Joined: May 2011 Posts: 755 Location: Muenster/Germany | I always use armrests on my guitars, because of the sound improvements. But they are made of ebony and black and -ugly. I tried to work on an JP armrest for my Adamas guitar to make it more or less invisible. First step was to copy the rim of the guitar: Then fill the cut with gold colour, the white line will be the last step I found a good matching laquer for the edge:
Gold and red sparkles: Colour test with "brown red": Add red laquer and sparkles, little too much, was too shaky... Add the white line Add semi gloss spray varnish: Final colour test, better than black.
And here´s the result:
Edited by DetlefMichel 2019-03-13 11:54 AM | ||
Old Man Arthur |
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Joined: September 2006 Posts: 10777 Location: Keepin' It Weird in Portland, OR | Really, really, Nice! | ||
leonardmccoy |
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Joined: December 2015 Posts: 287 Location: Katmandu | How's the sound improved with an armrest? | ||
red-twins |
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Joined: February 2013 Posts: 176 Location: Cologne/Germany | Super Detlef. Fine works! | ||
DanSavage |
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Joined: June 2012 Posts: 2315 Location: Pueblo West, CO | Nicely done. | ||
Jonmark Stone |
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Joined: May 2008 Posts: 1555 Location: Indiana | Art. | ||
2wheeldrummer |
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Joined: February 2014 Posts: 704 Location: moline,illinois | Beautiful,you do amazing detail work | ||
arumako |
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Joined: October 2012 Posts: 1034 Location: Yokohama, Japan | WOW, DetlefMichel! That is amazing work! Do you carve all the details freehand? It looks like you manually color-match as well. Thanks for sharing...Incredible! | ||
DetlefMichel |
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Joined: May 2011 Posts: 755 Location: Muenster/Germany | Thank you for your interest and your kind commendations;-) @leonardmccoy: play a bass string and then touch the top aroud the area where normally your forearm rests on the guitar, and you will find that the sound is instantly damped. If you use an armrest the guitar top will always move freely and thus will produce a much brighter sound. Many high-end guitars today have armrests. This one is a John Pearse Armrest which is mounted with double adhesive tape on the edge of the body, on other guitar I use luthier-made armrests.All that because I 99% play acoustic guitars with no amplification. @arumako:I worked freehand, it shall only be a simulation of the top edge, for me it´s precise enough and I find that making things like this is great fun. I found the red colour on a RAL colour-chart and this one seemed the best compromise. Red colours always change strangely when you look at different angles and with different lighting. | ||
Patch |
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Joined: May 2006 Posts: 4226 Location: Steeler Nation, Hudson Valley Contingent | If that's free-hand, I'd hate to see you do something more precise! I feel inferior enough as it is. Really excellent work Detlef! Calendar-worthy, if I may say so.... And I imagine that the dampening effect you mention without an armrest is even more pronounced on a suspension mount system, so the effort is double worth it: You improved the sound of an Adamas (No small feat in itself!), and you had some fun in the process. It's the very definition of a win-win! | ||
standing |
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Joined: December 2008 Posts: 1453 Location: Texas | Wow, that’s some impressive craftsmanship! Not only does it blend-in perfectly to be nearly “invisible” as intended, if anyone does notice it, it matches so well that it looks like the guitar came that way. Very well done! | ||
DetlefMichel |
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Joined: May 2011 Posts: 755 Location: Muenster/Germany | @patch: You can not improve the sound of a guitar with an armrest, but you can preserve it. | ||
Patch |
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Joined: May 2006 Posts: 4226 Location: Steeler Nation, Hudson Valley Contingent | DetlefMichel - 2019-03-20 12:24 PM @patch: You can not improve the sound of a guitar with an armrest, but you can preserve it. A fair distinction to make! | ||
Mr. Ovation |
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Joined: December 2001 Posts: 7222 Location: The Great Pacific Northwest | This is very cool... but I guess I have long arms.. no part of my arm actually touches the guitar when playing. Now if I can only stop palm-muting out of habit when I'm playing an acoustic | ||
Tom The Piddler |
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Joined: March 2019 Posts: 26 Location: Cass County, Texas | DetlefMichel, beautiful work. You are a "true" artisan and craftsman for sure. Edited by Tom The Piddler 2019-03-21 12:19 PM | ||
alpep |
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Joined: December 2001 Posts: 10582 Location: NJ | nice work | ||
DarenSavage |
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Joined: December 2016 Posts: 128 | Youza! Very steady hand on the high-speed. | ||
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