Official Luthiers Forum!

This may be an unusual question, and I hope you guys can help.

I've recently been given the opportunity arise to market my guitars at a local store. I have yet to get a guitar on the shelf simply because of some extrenuating circumstances. Before I begin to put my guitars on the racks, I would like to get a good, professional-looking soundhole label. The books don't give much in the way of guidance on designing these, and I am not real good with 'Flash' or any of the other graphic designing software. I've used some business card templates in Word, but have not been happy with the results - they don't look like guitar labels.

If there is some online generator I am overlooking, or if I am making this too big a deal, I hope someone can point me in the right direction. This has been bugging me for awhile now.

Thanks much!

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Jake

~Make a joyful noise unto the Lord~

Nope, you're not missing anything Jake, there's no "label generator" program AFAIK. Ya just have to be creative and come up with a design yourself, or make friends with an art student or something....

There have been threads on this topic before - do a search for them - there are a lot of pictures of peoples labels that will give you ideas. I print my own on acid-free archival paper and stick them in using permanent super-thin double-sided tape (the stuff I use for sticking lasered brass plates on wood plaques - from www.laserbits.com).

Cheers,
Dave F.

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Cambrian Guitars

"There goes Mister Tic-Tac out the back with some bric-brac from the knick-knack rack"

I got a friend who's good with photoshop to make me a label. I'm not sure if he used photoshop or something else though. I print them on parchement paper and glue them in with white glue.

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I didn't mean to say it, but I meant what I said.
http://www.brackettinstruments.com/

I initially started using my mandolin labels (photoshopped and printed on old timey paper) but for the guitars I decided to go with the burn in stamp and peghead stamp. It's fitting with the style of guitars I make...

My label paper comes from a small Andalusian village about 50km from Granada. The wood fibers are chewed and regurgitated by rare Andalusian goats, mixed with a blend of natural gum and resins and rolled out by hand on the thighs of nubile young gypsy women. I mix my own hide glue, in a water-to-glue ratio and a touch of Jerez brandy that I've experimented with for many years, to adhere the labels to the guitar. I feel this is very important to achieving the authentic guitar sound. The goatherd/paper makers say that some high-altitude Alpine spruce (preferably Slavic) can be used but that they generally prefer Adirondack.

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Ron

You might engage a graphic designer.

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formerly known around here as burbank
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http://www.patfosterguitars.com

I create mine on the computer with a photoshop program, then print them on selfstick labels i get at office max.

I think that laser jet printers are water fast, but ordinary ink jet printers are not. If you use a water soluble ink, a few drops of water from an in-hole humidifier will ruin the label. You can "convert" a water soluble lable to water resistant by color xerox at the Kinkos.

Thanks guys; I guess I'm just going to have to stop being timid and let my creativity take the lead. Which shouldn't be a problem, since my creativity is what has built these instruments to begin with.

I'll tinker a bit today and tommorow, and I'll see if i can't come up with something.

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Jake

~Make a joyful noise unto the Lord~

Do you use goats of as particular color or just use any of them as long as they're Andulusian?

I've been wondering this for a long time.

Haans....those stamps are cool! Where can they be purchased?

Alan, the stamps can be ordered here, the branding irons are a division...
http://www.infinitystamps.com/steel_stamps.html

Hi, Jake. You should certainly try a little design work on your own first. I'm a professional graphic designer / advertising guy who has also taught a lot of college people about commercial art. My advice is turn your computer off and pick up a pencil. It is much more liberating and far less limiting. Work out your design first, and then either use your computer to render it or locate a friend who can help you with that part of it. If you start designing on your computer, you will be purely limited by the software on your computer (and by your relative mastery of the software). Don't be surprised if you have a hard time arriving at a design. It is VERY hard to be objective about one's own design work. Also, don't be surprised if your graphic design skills aren't up to your guitar building skills. They might or might not be.
Even if you acquire pro-level graphics software, don't expect it to create something for you. It's just the same as your shop tools: You can have the best-equipped shop in your city, but that is NOT what makes you a guitar builder. Your ability makes you a guitar builder. Your computer and your software are just tools. They will never come up with an idea. That part is up to you.

Having said all that, get out your pencil and plunge in. You'll have a lot of fun, and you might succeed very well. If not, then find a design student or a professional designer to help. They will cost a bit, and you have to expect that.

Good luck with it, and congrats on finding a local dealer for your instruments. That's pretty cool!
Patrick

Once you have your sketch worked out, locate a local graphics artists. Call some print shops, they can help. I use one locally myself. I just give her an idea of what I want and we iterate from there. Once it is done, she sends me a special file that printers can use to make copies.

Mike

I took about 25 minutes Sunday afternoon to draw up a beta for a label - and was thouroughly pleased! I will post pictures of it tommorow, but I want to thank you guys for the suggestions and encouragement.

I searched the topic on the forum and found many good ideas that influenced my design, I guess I was just trying way too hard.

Thanks much!

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Jake

~Make a joyful noise unto the Lord~

Those look really nice! fwiw, Rockler is a little cheaper. I don't have experience with either one, however.
http://www.rockler.com/product.cfm?page=10369

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"...you have to get over your strict adherence to your largely imagined notion of absolute perfection..."

Here's another source for branding irons:
http://www.brandnew.net

-C

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Freeborn Guitars
and home of BeauGuard©

I used Word, and print with my ink jet printer on some nice parchment paper, acid- and lignin-free. The label is quite small. I print out a sheet of a dozen or so of them. To waterproof and protect it, I seal it with shellac (this also brings out the color and texture of the paper nicely), and then brush on a coat or two of satin polyurethane. Then I cut them out with scissors. I'm very happy with my super-simple design:

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Todd Rose
Ithaca, NY

https://www.dreamingrosesecobnb.com/todds-art-music

https://www.facebook.com/ToddRoseGuitars/

I really like the simple looks of the Stamp and the Brand, as well as Todd's label.

I am getting closer and closer to buying one of those electric branding irons that says something like:

Hand Made Guitar
John Cox
Seneca, SC

Thanks

John

You can take a picture of the design, put it into paint which should be on an MS computer, and work it from there from just the photo. It would have a hand-crafted look. Then off to kinkos. They may have color lazer

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Here is what a Parlor Guitar is for!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oEa8PkjO6_I

Ssshhhhh! Nobody's supposed to know about my robots! It'll blow my whole image!

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Todd Rose
Ithaca, NY

https://www.dreamingrosesecobnb.com/todds-art-music

https://www.facebook.com/ToddRoseGuitars/

just flipping through the lee valley catalog and came across these. which seem to be about half the price most of those other branding irons that i have seen posted.

not sure if htey are as good and most likely not as many configuration choices but who needs more than 2 lines ?

http://www.leevalley.com/wood/page.aspx?c=1&p=32191&cat=1,43456,43462

I spent a few hrs. doodling with my own FIRST LABEL design......with a pencil and paper. Did it in ink and then scanned it on my computer...used computer to brush in background colors until I came up with something I liked.
I then used a little heavier paper and misted it with shellac (like Todd) and glued'r in with with glue. Of course.....the more I look at it ...the more I will probably do something else next time.

Could be every label I do will be as different as every guitar I make.

Kent Bailey

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Wood Creations by Kent A. Bailey
EXCELLENCE IN SCULPTURE, CARVING, LUTHIER, ARCHITECTURAL MILLWORK AND DESIGN

http://www.kabart.com

Hey, Kent, do we get to see it? Good on you for doing your first iteration with a pencil before you went to the computer! I'd seriously like to see how it turned out for you. How about you, Jake?