this post was submitted on 13 Jun 2023
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Luthier

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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.

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[–] mauns 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

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.

[–] slowneedler 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

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.

[–] mauns 2 points 1 year ago

That's awesome. Thanks so much for sharing!