Back in April-May 2014, I had fixed an electronically-defunct Yamaha guitar for Tulsa guitarist and singer Charlie Redd, and added some decals to it. After pulling things loose on it and tracing the wires, it turned out to be the very last thing I checked, two wires broken off the output jack. It gave him enough confidence in me to let me restore the pickguard artwork on his Epiphone guitar. As near as I can tell from the photos of the label inside, it’s a Model EJ-2000BE.
At first, he wanted to scrap the pickguard and put something on a new one; the original artwork had mostly worn off. But what was left was so nice, that I convinced him to let me see what I could do with it. Here’s what I started with, and what I came up with, which I applied in early June 2014:
The left image below shows what I designed in PhotoShop, and the right shows how it came out using a Quik Print vinyl decal. It lost some snap and resolution in the printing (they always do), but it was inexpensive and reasonably durable. Quik Print uses an HP flat bed printer that must have a resolution of about 300 dpi. The decal is covered with a thick clear vinyl overlaminate about 0.005 inch. Since the decal adhesive is considered permanent, I applied it only to the plastic pickguard, which can itself be removed and replaced, though not easily I think.
But Charlie likes it. The last time I checked, about two months later, he said it had not worn or peeled yet.
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