Marshall Lee Working Guitar

a week into looking for a working prop for my Marshall Lee cosplay I decided it couldn't be too hard to make my own. It's a pretty straight forward build.

Materials
•guitar
•3/4" MDF
•paints
•clay
•screws
•liquid nails or wood glue of your choice

Tools
•bandsaw
•rotational sander
•soldering iron
•screwdriver

Step 1: Prepping the Guitar

I started with a cheap first act guitar. First step is to disassemble the guitar to prep for cutting, sanding, painting, etc. cut off the two sides to give you a rectangle shape. this is the main body that will support the string tension.

Step 2: Patterns

I cut out patterns from poster board just BC that's the largest sheet I had on hand that I could easily draw on and cut out. all of this was free handed so just go with what looks good to you.

Step 3: Sanding

I didn't take pics of this step. but it's pretty straight forward... make it nice and smooth

Step 4: Wood Work.

I cut out my patterns and left tabs at the bottom to give me a spot to glue and screw them to the main body for support. after everything has dried you can start sanding the bevels on the axe.

Step 5: Paint Time

I primed it in a black coat and painted the rest with rattle cans. easy enough..

Step 6: Adding the Electronics

I didn't want to drill out any big holes into the guitar so I just rewired the guitar and glued everything on the back. the knobs on the front are just glued on. they don't work.

Step 7: Skull

I sculpted the skull from air dry clay and painted it with black acrylic paint. I used more poster board to make a box around the tuning knobs so I could take off the skull and change the strings.

Step 8: Finishing It Up

now just screw on the neck and add the strings.

Step 9: Rock Out and Rule Your Vampire Kingdom