If you started playing guitar when you were young, or know someone who did, you might have a small, horrible-sounding children's guitar lying around. They don't play well enough to use, they're lightweight and durable, and they're easy to mod, so why not turn one into a tricked-out mock electric to accompany your next rockstar halloween costume?
Steps
- Check out your guitar. Does it tune? How does it sound? Determine whether or not you plan on playing it after modding it. This will tell you how roughly you can handle it and whether you can mess up vital parts like the sound hole and the tuning keys.
- Decide what type of guitar you want to make your toy look like. Get a guitar catalog, a real guitar, or look online and check out some different styles: Strat, Tele, SG, Les Paul, etc. Get a pen and sketch out what cuts you'll have to make to mimic the shape on the guitar body. For example, for a Les Paul or Tele you would need to chop off a piece below the neck to get the cutaway design, and for an SG or Strat you would have to do the top and bottom. Don't try anything like a Flying V or Warlock; these won't work with an acoustic.
- Cut away! A bandsaw works best for this, but you can use a handsaw, craft knife, or X-Acto if need be. Expect rough results, though. Sand the edges.
- Find a piece of wood or cardboard to fit inside the cutaway and cover the hole. Cut it down to size and glue it in with wood glue (note: if your guitar has a gaudy toy label inside, you may want to cover it with something more authentic. The only way to do this is to glue the label in before you seal the cutaway.)
- Paint your guitar. Most acoustics aren't painted, while electrics are: painting your guitar can make or break the look. Black is a good colour for all guitars, but if the existing wood is pretty you may want to let some shine through by experimenting with spray paint to get a "sunburst" finish (fading from black, dark brown, or red around the edges to golden or orange in the center of the top).
- Check out the picture of a guitar you used in step one. Look at the details (for example, knobs, pickups, fretboard inlays, strap pegs, rod cover, pickguard, etc.) and see how you could replicate them. Odds and ends from around your house or the hardware store will work for most details.
- Glue on each little component. We used a colored plastic binder cover for a pickguard, white colored pencil to do the inlays (adding light pink and blue highlights gives it a pearly shine), tiny plastic boxes for the pickups, a piece of the old pickguard for the rod cover, and nuts for the knobs.
- Add stickers, if you want to get really hardcore. You can find inkjet sticker paper at the office supply store or just glue on pieces of paper. A strap wouldn't hurt, either. Sanding parts of your guitar will make it look road-worn and vintage, if you're after that.
Things You'll Need
- Small, low-quality kid's acoustic guitar
- Paint of some kind
- A bandsaw or handsaw, or craft knife
- Odds and ends for the little bits.
