Instrument Art

I like inexpensive instruments. You can cart them everywhere, you don’t have to worry about them, and you can draw on them.

So that is my new guilele. I like it. But, like many basic instruments, it is very plain. So I wanted to spruce it up in keeping with my medieval and renaissance music interests.

I start out by “sketching” my design ideas on some saran wrap with a sharpie. It’s an excellent system, because I can see how it would look on the instrument, without leaving marks. I came up with this design after looking at several period renaissance guitars, gitterns, and lutes. I didn’t have a way to create an authentic rose to cover the soundhole, and I didn’t want to potentially sacrifice any volume, so I decided to just embellish the area around the soundhole.

When I’ve got it more or less how I want it, I lightly sketch the outline on the instrument with a pencil. I say lightly, because as long as it’s light, it can be erased — if you press too hard you’ll leave indentations.

After I get it all sketched in pencil, I go over it with the sharpie very carefully.

And the finished product!

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