Official Luthiers Forum!

Spraying lacquer past two days, going in for drop fills later today. The weather held out for us so the only real snag was contamination from the gun, which Todd expertly extracted.

I want to brand the center seem when I'm done, does anyone know where I should look for an electric brander? I saw some in Woodcraft but any suggestions are appreciated!

Get'em where they're made. Easier to work with the guys directly for a custom brand.

http://www.brandnew.net/estore/shopdisplayproducts.asp?id=3&cat=Custom+Irons

_________________
Chris Oliver
Infinity Luthiers
...in the shop.

live every minute...

A really nice looking brand that I saw here on OLF was posted by Haans on this thread:

viewtopic.php?f=10101&t=24221&p=329169&hilit=burn#p329169

He mentioned that he got it from:

http://www.infinitystamps.com/steel_stamps.html

I bookmarked his post because the stamps looked terrific. cheers

That's a high-risk operation!
I've got an electric branding iron (LeeValley) and it takes a bit of experimenting to know just how long to hold it on the wood to get a good 'brand' without burning-depends on the wood species. My usual mistake is to be overly cautious with the too-faint result. It also usually seems to require some 'rocking' to get an even brand. You only get one shot at branding unless you use some sort of positioning jig. Doing this through the soundhole will be tricky. You can 'clean up' some surface burning with sandpaper, afterwards.

BTW, when you are shopping for a branding iron, go for the electric model. Heating an iron in a torch would just add another (unwanted) variable to the whole operation.

Cheers
John

I use one, but I cannot remember where I bought it from.

I stamp the guitar before I put the top on.

Yup, here's Infinitie's sister company the does the branding irons...

http://www.brandingirons.com/

I usually make up many sections of center strip with the brand done, then pick the one I like. John is right, It's pretty chancy trying to hit the mark when the instrument's done.
The stamp is much harder, though, and I tried the brand on my last one on the peghead.

Us too, up here, if it wasn't raining, it was windy a couple weeks ago. Shot with my 4 stager, and I live a little close to my neighbors to shoot nitro, but I did it anyhow. Didn't have a problem with the slightly humid conditions, maybe the warmth of the turbine...