Introduction: How to Design a Guitar Using a Stencil

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For this project, I will be building a guitar and customizing it using a stencil

Supplies

You will need a guitar body and a neck, guitar strings, all the screws and springs, and the front plate with all the wires and tech parts. You will also need two clamps, one bottle of matte white spray paint, three pieces of cloth or paper, a stencil with your preferred design, masking tape, a screwdriver, wire cutters, safety goggles, and a soldering tool and wire. I would also recommend having a large workspace.

Step 1: Preparation

First, you will check if you have all the supplies and materials needed, then disassemble your guitar using a screwdriver from the strings to your front plate. When removing the front plate there will be two wires connected to the output and one connected wire to the back where the springs are. If all the wires are connected, then disconnect all three wires ( do not pull the wires, cut them using wire cutters). Move all the parts to a safe place except for your guitar body, you are going to need this part the most. (if your guitar came unassembled then you don't need to do the first step)

Step 2: Painting

Before painting, make sure the spray space is covered and protected ( Do not use the spray paint indoors otherwise you may inhale chemical fumes and could be exposed to cancer and other diseases!!!). Your stencil design needs to be able to fit onto the body (remember the frontplate/output takes up space so leave a little open area so your design won't be covered by the front plate or the output) stencil needs to be flat on the body and cannot have any open holes or corners. If your stencil fits then tape all sides of the stencil, then place the clamps where it won't affect your design. Once the stencil is ready then cover the entire top of the guitar with papers or rags. ( make sure all areas are covered it is very easy for the paint to spread under the guitar) Have your safety goggles on when you're ready to paint. Hold the spray nozzle at least 10-15 inches away and spray lightly, it´s better if you keep moving the can while spraying so the paint spreads evenly and try to stay in the stencil area. (Do Not spray all in one go otherwise your paint will be too liquidy and it will leak and ruin the design!) Spray in coats or layers if you need to. ( for layers, spray a little bit then wait 15-20 minutes and repeat the process until the design look legit and bright) When you are done painting don´t remove clamps, stencils, or rags, and leave the guitar in a safe drying space for 7-24 hours just to be safe.

Step 3: Re Assemble

Once your body is done then assemble the string placement and the springs for the whammy bar. Then grab the front plate the one black wire will go through to the back of the guitar try to it tie to the thread it used to be connected to. Grab the soldering tool and set it to 350 degrees Celsius wait for the tool to properly heat it up then solder the threads using soldering wire until threads are stuck together. (If you don´t know how to use a soldering tool then please watch a tutorial on how to solder this tool can be very harmful and dangerous) Then there will be a black wire and a red/yellow wire thee two wires will go through the hole that leads to the output. The output has two different wire placements the red/yellow wire connects to the bottom of the output (facing the ground) the black wire connects to the side placement which is always on the right side when facing toward you. when you are done soldering then screw in the neck, frontplate, backplate, and output. Insert the strings then tune the guitar, and plug in the guitar to the amplifier to see the wires are connected properly. if there's no sound then you probably have to swap the two black wires with each other meaning disconnect and swap the black wires then reconnect them (you can do this without fully taking the guitar apart) If the sound does play, then you are all done Congratulations!