Making a Cold Cast Bronze Pickup Surround

[@decomputerleraarable]

Every time I think: "Keep your hands off this!" But then something more beautiful comes out.

[@phillipjackson2877]

I think those bronze flowers would make some pretty cool looking knobs

[@VAXHeadroom]

Polishing the resin parts with the fret rubbers is genius - gives a great look! I love that the molding process keeps the wood grain in the finished part. When you're ready to do a run in solid bronze get in touch 😁

[@paulbeckwith5981]

Best film you've done for months, no posturing or padding, excellent!

[@andresilva8444]

Surely you have machinery to CNC billets or aluminium, bronze and even copper.

[@rayrayokmusic]

Very good video Ben! I absolutely love your manic cravings for new stuff. Inspirational for sure! I gotta go do this now. Soooo many ideas…..

[@ManuelKellermann]

Looks really good and is, depending on the amount of powder used, probably a lot lighter lighter than solid metal, which I find good on a guitar.

[@cheapskate8656]

The new tool handles look awesome. Ben, thanks for showing this cold cast bronze. I am currently building an acoustic guitar with a fibre glass top and back. I used iron oxide to make them black but your video showed me that I could potentially make a bronze guitar. Mind blown.

[@rockpilerising]

Looks cool but I saw the title and imagined molten metal running around your workshop... you know "one pickup ring to find them and in the shadows of Dorset bind them".

[@jeffcampanale3540]

That's fuckin brilliant! Didn't know you could do that

[@dewayner1454]

I like the way that turned out. Have you given any thought about making pick guards like that? I am working on a tele style guitar and think that a pick guard like that would be the perfect one to set it off for what I am trying to get

[@jeremyanson8795]

Love the video, the idea, the experimenting and the end result.

[@eross21]

so after you make a silicone mold. before you take it off the plug. you should make a layer of plaster mixed with some sort of fiber cloth and gauze cloth. it will for a rigid shell that will hold your silicone mold in the exact spot it needs to be in for casting. that eliminates warping

[@krisvind1715]

that is a really cool technique, man you could do a lot of weird stuff with this

[@josedomingosteixeira1379]

Just what I needed.

[@RocketPunkArt]

I feel like sand casting pickup surrounds would be even cooler. Me, on the other hand, I'm kind of waiting to see if my fablab will get a hydraulic press so we can also build a gas forge to make Damascus steel (or even mokume gane, or copper Damascus) to make pickup surrounds, tuning knobs or pot knobs, or even like a Telecaster-style bridge since we have a metal bender. That would be awesome, but yeah, buying a second hand hydraulic press is quite expensive

[@jefferywarburton2116]

This is somewhat similar to how you get dentures. A u shaped tool full of goop is placed in your mouth and you are instructed to close your mouth for a time. After the mold is created of the teeth they can be removed and your face is allowed to heal. Once the mouth has healed an additional mold is made of the gums and the denture can be made. That being said somehow in modern times the goop used for this has been made to have a minty taste.

[@Adventuresfromtheshedofdreams]

We used to make the swords for the Commonwealth war grave memorials using this technique. Sadly, zero scrap value needs to be a thing these days. Pickup ring looks great 👍

[@NotThatOneThisOne]

Love it. Want to try out myself.

[@jipes]

Great Idea it looks awesome for the skull logo. Dear Ben as for the pickup ring will it be sturdy enough after fully curing ? It seems so flexible

[@eamonnparsons3155]

Oh wow, what a coincidence! I have been planning some builds and have been looking at hardware. I've been wanting to emulate the look of the ESP Custom Labs Exhibition hardware, which certainly holds the appearance of cast bronze, though I believe it's etched brass. So this was a very interesting video to see from you. Should I be able to get my hands on the ESP TM20 bridge, I might just have to look at casting in bronze as a bit of an experiment!

[@mattomon1045]

It looks Great Ben

[@stephenhursey1506]

It's a great Finnish just enough shine to give it a worn and natural patina look only concern is the overall strength. But if can keep a flexibility in the thin sections it should be OK 😊

[@m_b4]

Could you make pickup covers using this method?

[@normbarrows2]

All I've seen so far is the thumbnail, and already you've inspired me to make something most Piratical in the way of a guitar - Argh matey! So when will Crimson be releasing your new line of bronze guitar hardware? It would be a must-have for a build like that. Now you have to do some real bronze casting. We want to see sparks flying and hot metal flowing! Now that I've watched the video, it's obvious this will work for surrounds, knobs, etc. I assume things like tuner gears and saddle screws are out of the question. Is the material strong enough to make simple bridges, nuts, and tailpieces? What about frets? When used with sand and powdered stone is the result a pickup surround that looks like its carved from stone? That might be a cool look.

[@Kevin-nr9lj]

This is so cool 😮

[@davedavem]

Well I'm doing that!!

[@davedavem]

Any reason you used polyurethane resin rather than epoxy resin? I only have the latter, but I have some crimson inlay powders, so I fancy trying this.

[@cheapskate8656]

Good question, I'd like to know as well.

[@kiltymacbagpipe]

Ben says to him self “how can I make this impossibly more complicated” and another episode gets posted.

[@davidteasdale1]

Is that a little Bill Carter infill plane I see in your hand? Someone's been treating themselves!

[@ravencroftguitars]

20min curing resin?!? Holy shit.

[@filquina9869]

Looking good Ben. I just finished a hammered copper archtop with a coldcast copper fretboard I intended for this years GGBO… any updates?

[@PaulCooksStuff]

There isn't a ggbo anymore, at least not in its previous form(s). There's a long introspective video months ago about how he broke himself. From what I recall, there was maybe still going to be the dozen or so KZbinrs category and charity auction. Every guitar built to the same design remit. And perhaps there'll be an informal public build-along on the same design remit (because they can't stop you), but there wont be any registration or administrative overhead from the Crimson side, or sponsors/voting/prizes. But even that limited yt category doesn't seem to be happening.

[@PaulCooksStuff]

17m45s into kzbin.info/www/bejne/p3jUpmqqr9eao5Isi=nalH2RbtogW32ibC

[@filquina9869]

@@PaulCooksStuff I know, that’s what I was asking for updates about, even without prizes, etc I wanted to be a part of it if it’s going to happen

[@josedomingosteixeira1379]

My brain is going: copper, try copper!!

[@declanwhite]

you know bronze is 80-90% copper, right lol

[@MrDeanelwood]

@@declanwhite Yeah but 100% copper is copperier!

[@rosiehedgehog]

Hmm...would have preferred the silicone mold to be used to make a wax blank then use the wax blank to create a mold that could take molten bronze and lost wax casting to make the surround. Mostly because then there's no resin involved and you get a solid metal surround.

[@josteinbjrshol3016]

How about getting a furnace and make the real deal-that would be something.

[@kiltymacbagpipe]

I’m kind of disappointed Ben doesn’t have a small forge in his backyard.

[@garethsnaim8174]

Sound quality on this is terrible do you have a set of drums in there or something?

[@johngrant5749]

Maybe the battery is dying on his lavaliere mic?

[@stuartgrier5605]

Very nice Ben, but if you do produce these pickup rings you will need to make bridges and tuning pegs with the same colours as having different coloured metal components on a guitar is ugly.

[@scottiecasey9312]

Ben u should do a guitar with a floyd rose set up

[@UrbanGarden-rf5op]

Interesting technique. Not trying to rain on your parade but.. I've had great results airbrushing standard parts with "enamel" model paint and then applying a couple of layers of shellac for protection. There are a lot of colours to choose from, including different kinds of copper blends. And how about a red volume knob and a green tone knob on a matte black pick guard😉 I've also found that at least some metal parts actually are made of a core of brass with an added layer of chrome or black paint. So it's just a matter of sanding down the paint job if you want the steam punk look. ✌✌

[@cheapskate8656]

I'm about to do this on my fibre glass acoustic although I'm using colour changing paint. The problem I'm having is when I put the clear coat on, it often melts the layer beneath. Any tips would be appreciated :)

[@UrbanGarden-rf5op]

​@@cheapskate8656 I've never worked with fibre glass but I guess some types would not like solvents such as the alcohol in shellac or the one in regular clear coat. Have you considered using epoxy or super glue? Note that both can be hazardous to your health, if you're not carful when applying. Some epoxies also contain alcohol so you may have to do some studying to find the right kind. There is also transparent "enamel" model paint (Revel) but I believe the solvent in that is a close relative of naphtha. Just spit balling here, as I have no deeper knowledge of the properties of fibre glass. But AFAIK there are different kinds, using different kinds of resins. So the trick would be to find out what goes with your kind of resin. I don't fully understand if you put paint over the fibre glass or if you somehow "dye" the actual fibre glass. Whichever way, the binding agent of the top layer would be the critical one. Since fibre glass is very strong in itself I would guess you are doing this for aesthetic reasons. But if the clear coat is there to protect a layer of paint it would be easier to find a more resilient paint. I would suggest testing different approaches on small sample pieces. The best of luck with your project. Make music, not war. ✌✌

[@cheapskate8656]

@@UrbanGarden-rf5op Thank you very much for the detailed answer. For clarification the resin isnt the issue. So, I put down a black gloss coat (paint) Then put down the colour change paint. So far so good. The the clear coat melts the colour change paint and the colour moves and becomes patchy. Hope that makes sense.

[@UrbanGarden-rf5op]

​@@cheapskate8656 I'm intrigued. What kind of colour change paint do you use? There seems to be different varieties. Some are "permanent" while others change colours with heat. I guess you're not using the heat activated variant. Although that would be a cool live feature. The guitar changing colour when the gig gets hotter😎 They seem to use "permanent" varieties to paint cars. I would think that such paint is very tough and wouldn't need any further protection. But I'm not in the car industry. And maybe you are extra cautious about scratches. As stated before, start by figuring out what the binding agent is and what dissolves it. Then try something with different properties. ✌✌

[@rossstokes4822]

Are you smoking Ben? Ive never noticed nicotine stains on your fingers before

[@CrimsonCustomGuitars]

For my sins I picked up a very old addiction.. Temporarily 😢