Tooslowhand wrote: ↑Sun May 11, 2025 10:02 am
Thanks Craig. I didn't realize the old ones used wallpaper. That's pretty cool.
The real original ones from the 60's that Fender made used a material called "Cling Foil". It was originally developed as a cabinet shelf liner, if I recall correctly. There have been plenty of other things like this that have used materials like wallpaper, some even have used fabric.
This run of Paisley builds we did over the last year was all done with a roll of wallpaper I bought on eBay about 10 years ago when I was working as a repair tech at Guitar Center in Cincinnati. I didn't have the ability to properly finish over it back then, much less the equipment to do it, so I held onto the roll.
When I started at G&L in 2023, I brought it with me and decided to build some guitars with it.
It's been out of print for the better part of about 6 years now, I've looked everywhere for more of it and can't find it. I've been talking to a friend of mine who makes vinyl graphics about re-creating it digitally, and the samples I've seen have been really great. They also are a LOT easier to spray a finish over and install. The actual wallpaper isn't self-adhesive, so I have to put it on with 3M spray adhesive. When the paper gets a lot more tightly curled, like the paper near the center of the roll, it's natural curl wants to overpower the adhesive and lift it off the body, so the last 4-5 of the builds were quite difficult to keep it down.
The other advantage to the digitized version is the ability to quickly change the colors. I've thought this pattern would look great with a black background as well, so we're looking into that option as well.
