Official Luthiers Forum!

As mentioned above the gold leaf or silver leaf could look really effective, but a suggestion might be to 'sink it' in the same way Rickenbacker did/do on their finger board inlays - make tehe channel in the headplate as you normally do... stuff in the leaf and then fill with clear lacquer (not totally sure what they use, but the same as your finish) when hardened simply scrape back the excess gold and lacquer and then finish.?

I might give this a go at some point...

or how about real gold dust?

http://www.goldleafsupplies.co.uk/acata ... 3.5ct.html

Ok, gold leaf eh? and gold dust...hmmm... ok ...here goes...

Well I am not familiar with the Rickenbacker process. If it is "sunken in" on lines as fine as Chris wants, the leaf will come out rather wrinkled looking, and can be a pleasing visual effect. Gold or any leaf for that matter is installed upon a very smooth ground of clay or what is called bowl or even gesso (artists ground before applying paint) and then attached to the ground with a coat of varnish that has allowed to develop a tack.

24k gold leafs ain't cheap, and is an art in itself to apply, but does get cheaper as the purity goes down, but not any easier to apply.....Since it will be covered with some sort of clear finish, then I would use what is called Dutch Metals or Dutch Leaf or fake gold leaf made from real brass...cheap like borstch.

A simple silk screen could be used to apply the varnish and when the tack has developed the leaf may be applied. Then burnished and the sealer or finish coat on top.

The real 24K gold powders available in Europe and North America are just not fine enough in their texture. They are useless for this application and a waste of money. The best gold powder in the world is prepared by the Newari tribes of Nepal, and as such has been a fiercely guarded tribal secret for the last 1000 years or so and is just not available over here. The binder is hide glue and the final product must be burnished to develop a final shine. Not only that, there is a rather lengthy and delicate process of washing the gold powder before it can be used. Again, gold powder for painting is not an easy art to master. My dwindling supply of gold powder came from an elderly monk in the order I belong to and the last Thangka painter to HH the Dalai Lama, but he has retired from painting now and as such my source for Newari gold has some what dried up. However plans are in the works for me to be returning to the east with in the next year so if your really interested in this stuff...stay in touch.

Ya, I know the above paragraph sound like a 2 bit fairy tail...however, check these pics taken at Nechung Monastery in the Himalayas of me and my work. When it comes to gold use in works of art and painting I know where for to I babble from.

If you want the real gold look I recommend going silk screen and leaf. Don't even think of painting it.

the Padma, Ragu Lama and a few monks rolling up some of my thangka paintings.


Sakyamuni Buddha done in the five precious metals and oil paint on panel



Chenrezig, Buddha of Compassion. Oil on gold leafed panel.



For gold gilding on instruments...see my Two Mando Builds some where on this site.


blessings
the
Padma

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Audiences and dispensations on Thursdays ~ by appointment only.


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Morning

Although I've never tried it, might this be a possibility.
http://www.inlaceonline.com/text/produc ... dusts.html

Cheers
Bob

I think he must mean the Rickenbacker fingerboard triangles. My understanding is that in the mid 60s Rickenbacker started using a material that was made in Mexico out of crushed shell with some sort of resin on top. This was a tile, I guess for floors or walls or whatever. Rickenbacker used it just like you would use solid shell for markers. I'm told it was time consuming to do and at some point the material stopped being available. Over time Rickenbacker has used various replacements one was using crushed pearl with resin poured into the fingerboard route.

These days there are some folks reproducing the original crushed pearl Rickenbacker triangle inlay look. Sometimes on new Ric guitars to make them look more like the old ones. They do indeed use real crushed MOP. Some of these folks worked for Rickenbaker back in the day. I don't think any of them hang out here but they do share their experience and techniques online.

Good product...similar in line to the Pearl Ex I mentioned earlier. Only in about 40 different colours.

However the Pear Ex has the Duo colours that really mimic the pearlessence of shell.

then there are sparklies in 3 different types of plastic, ln hundred of colours, from around .006 to about 3/16 in size...and in various shapes.

blessings

_________________
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Audiences and dispensations on Thursdays ~ by appointment only.


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